JP5219986B2 - Position estimation system, communication terminal, and position estimation method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a position estimation system, a communication terminal, and a position estimation method.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a system for estimating the position of a counterpart terminal based on position information obtained using a GPS (Global Positioning System) function is known. For example, in the system described in Patent Document 1, mutual positional information obtained by GPS is mutually exchanged using Bluetooth, which is short-range wireless communication, thereby measuring the relative positional relationship with the counterpart terminal. ing.

JP 2003-230173 A

  By the way, the position information obtained by using the GPS function usually has an error. For this reason, in the system described in Patent Document 1, the influence of errors increases as the distance to each other approaches in searching for a partner terminal, and it is difficult to accurately estimate the position of the partner terminal located at a short distance.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a position estimation system, a communication terminal, and a position estimation method capable of accurately estimating the position of a search target communication terminal located at a short distance in order to solve the above-described problem. There is to do.

  A position estimation system according to the present invention is a position estimation system including a search target terminal that is a communication terminal to be searched, a search terminal that is a communication terminal that searches for a search target terminal, and a position information collection server. A first terminal position acquisition means for acquiring first terminal position information indicating the position of the search target terminal, a transmission means for transmitting the first terminal position information acquired by the first terminal position acquisition means to the search terminal, The search terminal includes a receiving means for receiving the first terminal position information transmitted by the communication means, a short-range wireless communication means for performing short-range wireless communication with the searched terminal, and a short-range wireless communication means The distance information calculating means for calculating the distance information between the terminals indicating the distance between the search terminal and the searched terminal based on the communication state by the short distance wireless communication by the short distance wireless communication means is in the connected state In addition, based on the first terminal position information received by the receiving means and the inter-terminal distance information calculated by the distance information calculating means, a position estimating means for calculating the position of the searched terminal, and a calculation by the position estimating means Display means for displaying the position of the searched terminal.

  In addition, the communication terminal of the present invention is a short-distance wireless communication that performs short-range wireless communication between a receiving unit that receives first terminal position information indicating a position of a search target terminal that is a search target communication terminal and the search target terminal. Short-distance wireless communication by wireless communication means, distance information calculation means for calculating inter-terminal distance information indicating the distance between the own terminal and the searched terminal based on a communication state by short-range wireless communication means, and short-range wireless communication means Position estimation means for calculating the position of the search target terminal based on the first terminal position information received by the reception means and the inter-terminal distance information calculated by the distance information calculation means when Display means for displaying the position of the searched terminal calculated by the position estimating means.

  Further, the position estimation method of the present invention is a first terminal position acquisition step for acquiring first terminal position information indicating a position of a search target terminal that is a communication terminal to be searched, and a communication terminal for searching the search target terminal. Short-distance wireless communication step for performing short-range wireless communication between the search terminal and the search target terminal, and inter-terminal distance information indicating the distance between the search terminal and the search target terminal based on the communication state in the short-range wireless communication step When the short distance wireless communication in the short distance wireless communication step and the distance information calculating step to be calculated are in the connected state, the first terminal position information acquired in the first terminal position acquisition step and the distance information calculation step are calculated. A position estimating step for calculating the position of the searched terminal based on the inter-terminal distance information, and the position of the searched terminal calculated in the position estimating step Characterized in that it comprises a display step of displaying.

  According to these inventions, even if there is an error in the first terminal position information indicating the position of the search target terminal, the distance between both terminals located at a short distance by the inter-terminal distance information obtained by the short distance wireless communication. The distance can be grasped, and by adding this inter-terminal distance information to the first terminal position information, the position of the search target terminal located at a short distance from the search terminal (own terminal) can be accurately estimated. . Further, by displaying the position of the search target terminal, it is possible to accurately notify the search terminal user of the search terminal position. Here, the short distance means a distance in which communication by short distance wireless communication is possible.

  In the position estimation system of the present invention, the search terminal is connected to the second terminal position acquisition means for acquiring the second terminal position information indicating the position of the search terminal, and the short-range wireless communication by the short-range wireless communication means is connected. Azimuth calculating means for calculating azimuth information indicating the azimuth of the search target terminal with respect to the search terminal based on the second terminal position information and the first terminal position information when The position of the search target terminal can be calculated based on the second terminal position information at the time of becoming, the azimuth information calculated by the azimuth calculating means, and the inter-terminal distance information calculated by the distance information calculating means. preferable.

  Further, in the communication terminal of the present invention, the second terminal position acquisition means for acquiring the second terminal position information indicating the position of the own terminal and the short distance wireless communication by the short distance wireless communication means are connected when the short distance wireless communication is in the connected state. Direction calculating means for calculating the direction information indicating the direction of the searched terminal with respect to the own terminal based on the two terminal position information and the first terminal position information. It is preferable to calculate the position of the search target terminal based on the two-terminal position information, the azimuth information calculated by the azimuth calculating means, and the inter-terminal distance information calculated by the distance information calculating means.

  Furthermore, in the position estimation method of the present invention, the second terminal position acquisition step for acquiring the second terminal position information indicating the position of the search terminal and the short-range wireless communication in the short-range wireless communication step are in a connected state. An azimuth calculation step for calculating azimuth information indicating the azimuth of the search target terminal with respect to the search terminal based on the second terminal position information and the first terminal position information. In the position estimation step, It is preferable to calculate the position of the search target terminal based on the second terminal position information, the azimuth information calculated in the azimuth calculation step, and the inter-terminal distance information calculated in the distance information calculation step.

  According to these inventions, the second terminal position information when the short-range wireless communication between both terminals is in the connected state, the direction information of the search target terminal with respect to the search terminal (own terminal), the inter-terminal distance information, , The position of the search target terminal is estimated. When the short-range wireless communication is in the connected state, the search target terminal is located at a relatively distant position within a short range with respect to the search terminal, and thus the error in the direction information is considered to be relatively small. Therefore, by narrowing down the azimuth in which the searched terminal is located by the azimuth information and estimating the position of the searched terminal based on the second terminal position information and the inter-terminal distance information, the estimation accuracy of the position of the searched terminal is further increased. It can be further improved.

  Further, in the position estimation system of the present invention, it is indicated in at least one of the first terminal position information received by the receiving means and the searched terminal position information indicating the position of the searched terminal estimated by the position estimating means. It is preferable to have a map server provided with map matching means for recalculating the position of the search target terminal by performing map matching processing, which is processing for correcting the position based on map data.

  According to the present invention, since the position of the search target terminal is corrected by the map matching process based on the map data in the map server, it is possible to accurately estimate the position corresponding to the position of the building or road.

  In the position estimation system of the present invention, the display means searches for the position indicated in the first terminal position information received by the receiving means when the short-range wireless communication by the short-range wireless communication means is in a disconnected state. It is preferable to display as the position of the terminal.

  When the short-range wireless communication is in a disconnected state, it is considered that the search target terminal is in a range exceeding the short-range range with reference to the search terminal. According to this invention, when the search target terminal exceeds the short range, the display means displays the position indicated by the first terminal position information as the search terminal position. An appropriate position can be estimated according to the distance.

  In the position estimation system of the present invention, it is preferable that the display unit changes a display mode of the position of the search target terminal according to a communication state by the short-range wireless communication unit.

  According to the present invention, the display mode of the position of the searched terminal on the display means is changed according to the communication state of short-range wireless communication, that is, the distance of the position of the searched terminal. The location information of the search terminal can be transmitted visually, and convenience can be improved.

  According to the present invention, even if there is an error in the first terminal position information indicating the position of the searched terminal, the distance between both terminals located at a short distance is grasped by the distance information between the terminals by short distance wireless communication. By adding this inter-terminal distance information to the first terminal position information, it is possible to accurately estimate the position of the search target terminal located at a short distance from the search terminal (own terminal). Further, by displaying the position of the search target terminal, it is possible to accurately notify the search terminal user of the search terminal position.

It is a block diagram which shows the system configuration | structure of the position estimation system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the portable terminal in the position estimation system of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the position information collection server in the position estimation system of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the map server in the position estimation system of FIG. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of a portable terminal. It is a sequence diagram which shows the process sequence by a position estimation system. FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating a processing procedure following FIG. 6. It is a figure which shows the display display until near field communication connects in the process of FIG. 6 and FIG. It is a figure which shows the display display in position estimation and map matching of a to-be-searched terminal in the process of FIG. It is a figure which shows a display display when both terminals further approach from the state shown in FIG. It is a sequence diagram which shows a process in case the to-be-searched terminal leaves | separates and once goes out of the near field communication area, and then enters the near field communication area again.

  Hereinafter, a position estimation system, a mobile terminal, and a position estimation method according to preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. When possible, the same reference numerals are given to the same parts, and redundant descriptions are omitted. In this embodiment, unless otherwise specified, the “position” is a position based on the world coordinate system. Further, the position information obtained by the GPS function is called “GPS position information”, the position information obtained by the calculation of the mobile terminal is called “longitude / latitude information”, and the position information obtained by the map matching process of the map server is called “map position information”. .

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of a position estimation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The position estimation system S estimates the position of another portable terminal when one portable terminal (search terminal) searches for another portable terminal (searched terminal) in the position estimation system S, and the one portable terminal It is a system for alerting | reporting the estimated position of another portable terminal with respect to this user. The position estimation system S includes a mobile terminal A, a mobile terminal B, a network NW, a position information collection server 10, a map server 20, and a GPS satellite 30. The mobile terminal A, the mobile terminal B, the location information collection server 10, and the map server 20 are connected to be communicable with each other via a network NW that is a mobile communication network. The mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B can acquire GPS position information of their own terminals by receiving radio waves from a plurality of GPS satellites 30 respectively.

  Hereinafter, each component which the position estimation system S has is demonstrated. 2, 3, and 4 are block diagrams illustrating configurations of the mobile terminals A and B, the location information collection server 10, and the map server 20, respectively.

  First, the mobile terminals A and B will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the mobile terminals A and B include a network communication unit 1, a GPS reception unit 2, an incident angle calculation unit 3, a Bluetooth (registered trademark, the same applies hereinafter) communication unit 4, a distance calculation unit 5, a latitude and longitude calculation. Unit 6, button unit 7, telephone directory storage unit 8, and display 9. In the following description of these configurations, the case where the mobile terminals A and B correspond to search terminals will be mainly described. In the following, “Bluetooth” which is short-range wireless communication may be abbreviated as “BT”.

  The network communication unit 1 is a part that performs communication with the network NW shown in FIG. The network communication unit 1 communicates with the location information collection server 10 and the map server 20 via the network NW, in addition to performing communications for calls and emails. The network communication unit 1 has its own GPS position information (second terminal position information) calculated by the GPS receiving unit 2, search request information generated by the button unit 7 and indicating a request for searching for a search target terminal. , And the disconnection notification information generated by the Bluetooth communication unit 4 is transmitted to the position information collection server 10. The network communication unit 1 receives the search permission notification information for the search request, the BT activation request information, and the GPS position information (first terminal position information) of the search target terminal transmitted from the position information collection server 10. The network communication unit 1 sequentially stores the received GPS position information of the search target terminal. The network communication unit 1 corresponds to a receiving unit.

  Further, the network communication unit 1 transmits to the map server 20 the GPS location information of the search target terminal received from the location information collection server 10 and the latitude / longitude information of the search target terminal calculated by the latitude / longitude calculation unit 6. The network communication unit 1 receives the map position information of the mobile terminal B transmitted from the map server 20. Further, when the mobile terminals A and B are terminals to be searched, the network communication unit 1 receives confirmation request information for requesting confirmation for the search request transmitted from the position information collection server 10. In addition, the search permission notification information for notifying that the search is permitted for the received confirmation request information is transmitted to the position information collection server 10.

  The GPS receiving unit 2 is a part that simultaneously receives a plurality of radio waves from the GPS satellites 30 shown in FIG. 1 and calculates (acquires) GPS position information (second terminal position information) of the own terminal based on the received radio waves. is there. The calculation of the GPS position information by the GPS receiver 2 is performed every predetermined time. The GPS receiver 2 sequentially stores the calculated GPS position information. The GPS receiver 2 corresponds to a second terminal position acquisition unit.

  The incident angle calculation unit 3 calculates incident angle information (azimuth information) indicating the incident angle (azimuth) of the terminal to be searched with respect to the own terminal when the short-range wireless communication by the Bluetooth communication unit 4 is connected. It is. This incident angle is calculated with reference to north. When the BT is activated by the Bluetooth communication unit 4, the incident angle calculation unit 3 stores the latest GPS position information of the terminal stored in the GPS reception unit 2 and the map position of the search target terminal received by the network communication unit 1. Based on the information, the incident angle information is calculated. The incident angle calculation unit 3 corresponds to an azimuth calculation unit.

  The Bluetooth communication unit 4 is a part that performs short-range wireless communication (hereinafter referred to as “BT communication”) using the BT with the Bluetooth communication unit 4 of the search target terminal. When the network communication unit 1 receives the BT activation request information, the Bluetooth communication unit 4 activates the BT and detects the connection state with the search target terminal. The Bluetooth communication unit 4 executes BT communication with the search target terminal. Further, when the BT communication cannot be performed, the Bluetooth communication unit 4 determines that the BT communication is in a disconnected state, and generates disconnection notification information for notifying the disconnected state. The Bluetooth communication unit 4 corresponds to a short-range wireless communication unit.

  The distance calculation unit 5 calculates the inter-terminal distance information indicating the distance between the own terminal and the search target terminal based on the communication state by the Bluetooth communication unit 4, that is, the radio wave intensity of the BT communication received by the Bluetooth communication unit 4. It is. The distance calculation unit 5 corresponds to distance information calculation means.

  The latitude / longitude calculation unit 6 is a part that calculates the longitude / latitude information of the search target terminal when the BT communication by the Bluetooth communication unit 4 is in a connected state. The latitude / longitude calculation unit 6 includes the GPS position information of the own terminal used for the calculation of the incident angle information by the incident angle calculation unit 3 while the connection state with the search target terminal is detected by the Bluetooth communication unit 4, and the incident Based on the incident angle information calculated by the angle calculation unit 3 and the inter-terminal distance information calculated by the distance calculation unit 5, the longitude / latitude information of the search target terminal is calculated. The latitude / longitude calculation unit 6 corresponds to position estimation means.

  The button unit 7 is a device for designating a search target terminal by generating search request information indicating a request for searching the search target terminal. The button unit 7 acquires the telephone number of the search target terminal stored in the telephone directory storage unit 8 according to the user's operation, and includes the acquired telephone number in the search request information together with the telephone number of the own terminal. Further, when the portable terminals A and B are terminals to be searched, the button unit 7 notifies the confirmation request transmitted from the position information collection server 10 that the search is permitted according to the search permission operation by the user. Search permission notification information is generated.

  The display 9 is display means for displaying the position of the search target terminal. When the BT communication by the Bluetooth communication unit 4 is in the connected state, the display 9 acquires the map position information of the search target terminal received by the network communication unit 1 and displays the position of the search target terminal indicated by the map position information. indicate. Further, when the BT communication by the Bluetooth communication unit 4 is disconnected, the display 9 acquires the GPS location information of the search target terminal received by the network communication unit 1 and displays the search target terminal indicated by the GPS location information. The position is displayed to the user as the position of the searched terminal. Furthermore, the display 9 changes the display mode of the position of the search target terminal according to the communication state of the BT communication by the Bluetooth communication unit 4, that is, the received radio wave intensity. The display mode on the display 9 will be described in the description of processing by the position estimation system S below.

  Next, the position information collection server 10 will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, the location information collection server 10 includes a communication unit 11, a location information storage unit 12, a confirmation request unit 13, an inter-terminal distance calculation unit 14, a BT range detection unit 15, a BT activation request unit 16, and a subscription. A person information storage unit 17 is provided.

  The communication unit 11 is a part that communicates with the network NW shown in FIG. The communication unit 11 communicates with the search terminal and the search target terminal via the network NW. The communication unit 11 receives the GPS position information (second terminal position information and first terminal position information) and the disconnection notification signal of each terminal transmitted from the network communication unit 1 of the search terminal and the search target terminal. The communication unit 11 receives search request information transmitted from the search terminal, and transmits confirmation request information generated by the confirmation request unit 13 to the search target terminal for the received search request information. Further, the communication unit 11 receives the search permission notification information transmitted from the search target terminal, transmits the received search permission notification information to the search terminal, and updates the search target terminal stored in the position information storage unit 12. GPS position information is transmitted to the search terminal.

  Further, when the BT range detection unit 15 detects that the distance between the search terminal and the search target terminal is within the BT communication range, the communication unit 11 displays the BT start request information generated by the BT start request unit 16. While transmitting to a search terminal and a to-be-searched terminal, the newest GPS position information of the to-be-searched terminal memorize | stored in the positional information storage part 12 is transmitted to a search terminal. Further, even when the communication unit 11 receives a disconnection notification signal, the communication unit 11 transmits the latest GPS position information of the search target terminal stored in the position information storage unit 12 to the search terminal. The communication unit 11 corresponds to a transmission unit.

  The position information storage unit 12 is a part that acquires GPS position information of each terminal received from the search terminal and the search target terminal. The position information storage unit 12 sequentially stores the acquired GPS position information of each terminal. The location information storage unit 12 corresponds to first terminal location acquisition means.

  The confirmation request unit 13 is a part that generates confirmation request information for the search request information received by the communication unit 11. When the search request information is received by the communication unit 11, the confirmation request unit 13 stores the destination information (for example, mail address) corresponding to the telephone number of the search target terminal included in the received search request information, and stores the subscriber information. Extracted from the subscriber information stored in the unit 17. Then, the confirmation request unit 13 generates confirmation request information including a confirmation request message so as to be transmitted to the destination indicated by the extracted destination information of the search target terminal. As a confirmation request message in this case, for example, a message such as “Mr. XX (user of the search terminal) is searching for you. Are you sure you want to allow the search?” Is applicable.

  The inter-terminal distance calculation unit 14 is a part that calculates an inter-terminal distance that is a distance between the search terminal and the search target terminal. When the communication permission is received by the communication unit 11 from the search target terminal, the inter-terminal distance calculation unit 14 is based on the search terminal stored in the position information storage unit 12 and the GPS location information of the search target terminal. Calculate the distance between terminals.

  Based on the inter-terminal distance calculated by the inter-terminal distance calculation unit 14, the BT range detection unit 15 confirms that the search terminal and the search target terminal are within the BT communication range, that is, within a short range. This is the part to detect. In the BT range detection unit 15, a predetermined inter-terminal distance that enables BT communication is set in advance. In the present embodiment, the predetermined inter-terminal distance is set to 100 m. The BT range detection unit 15 determines whether or not the inter-terminal distance calculated by the inter-terminal distance calculation unit 14 is 100 m or less, so that the search terminal and the search target terminal are within the BT communication range. To detect.

  The BT activation request unit 16 is a part that generates BT activation request information for requesting activation of the BT for the search terminal and the search target terminal. The BT activation request unit 16 generates BT activation request information when the BT range detection unit 15 detects that the search terminal and the search target terminal are within the BT communication range.

  Next, the map server 20 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, the map server 20 includes a communication unit 21, a map matching unit 22, and a map database 23.

  The communication unit 21 is a part that communicates with the network NW shown in FIG. The communication unit 21 communicates with the search terminal via the network NW. The communication unit 21 receives the GPS position information and longitude / latitude information of the search target terminal transmitted from the search terminal. Then, the communication unit 21 transmits the map position information of the search target terminal generated by the map matching unit 22 to the search terminal.

  The map matching unit 22 is a part that recalculates the position indicated by the GPS position information and the longitude / latitude information of the search target terminal received by the communication unit 21 by collation with the map database 23. The map database 23 stores map information and floor information (floor map, etc.) of commercial facilities included in the map information, and the user of the search terminal and the search target terminal walks to the map information and floor information. This includes image information obtained by photographing major possible locations with reference to the user's viewpoint. The map matching unit 22 recalculates the position of the searched terminal by performing a map matching process that is a process of correcting the position indicated by the GPS position information and the longitude / latitude information of the searched terminal based on the map database 23. Then, the map position information of the search target terminal is generated by superimposing the most calculated position on the map information (map information or floor information when longitude / latitude information is used).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the mobile terminals A and B. As illustrated in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the mobile terminals A and B include a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 102, which is a main storage device, and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 103, and wireless communication for controlling wireless communication. A communication module 104, an auxiliary storage device 105 such as a flash memory, an input device 106 such as a numeric keypad, an output device 107 such as an LCD, and the like are provided. The functions described above of the mobile terminals A and B are exhibited by the operation of these components. The location information collection server 10 and the map server 20 include a communication module connected to a LAN or the like instead of the wireless communication module 104, and other configurations are the same as the hardware configuration shown in FIG.

  Next, the flow of position estimation processing executed by the position estimation system S having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIGS. In the following description, the mobile terminal B functions as a search target communication terminal, and the mobile terminal A functions as a communication terminal that searches for the mobile terminal B as an example. In other words, it is assumed that the mobile terminal A is the searching mobile terminal and the mobile terminal B is the searched mobile terminal.

  First, the GPS receivers 2 of the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B calculate the GPS position information of their own terminals (steps S1 and S2), and sequentially store the calculated GPS position information. Step S1 corresponds to a second terminal position acquisition step.

  Next, the network communication unit 1 of the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B transmits (uploads) the GPS position information of the own terminal calculated by the GPS receiving unit 2 to the position information collection server 10 (steps S3 and S4). . The transmission here is, for example, once every 5 minutes. As a result, the location information collection server 10 periodically receives the GPS location information of the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B through the communication unit 11.

  Next, the location information storage unit 12 of the location information collection server 10 acquires and sequentially stores the GPS location information of each terminal received from the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B (step S5). Step S5 corresponds to a first terminal position acquisition step.

  Next, the button unit 7 of the mobile terminal A designates the mobile terminal B as a search target terminal by generating search request information including the phone numbers of the mobile terminal B and the mobile terminal B according to the user's operation (step). In S6), the network communication unit 1 of the mobile terminal A transmits the generated search request information to the position information collection server 10 (step S7).

  Next, when the search request information is received by the communication unit 11, the confirmation request unit 13 of the location information collection server 10 sends confirmation request information including a confirmation request message so that the mobile terminal B is transmitted as a destination. Generate. Here, a confirmation request message such as “Mr. XX (user of mobile terminal A) is searching for you. Are you sure you want to allow the search?” Is included. And the confirmation request information produced | generated by the confirmation request part 13 is transmitted to the portable terminal B by the communication part 11 of the positional information collection server 10 (step S8).

  Next, when the confirmation request information is received by the network communication unit 1 of the portable terminal B, the button unit 7 of the portable terminal B displays search permission notification information for notifying that the search is permitted according to the user's operation. Generate (step S9). When the search permission notification information is generated, the network communication unit 1 of the mobile terminal B transmits the generated search permission notification information to the position information collection server 10 (step S10).

  Next, when the communication unit 11 of the location information collection server 10 receives the search permission notification information, the communication unit 11 transmits the received search permission notification information to the mobile terminal A and also stores the mobile terminal B stored in the location information storage unit 12. The latest GPS position information is transmitted to the search terminal (step S11). Thereby, the search relationship that the mobile terminal A searches for the mobile terminal B is established. Although not shown, when the user of the portable terminal B performs an operation not permitting the search in step S9, the search disapproval notification information indicating the search disapproval is generated by the button unit 7, and the generated search disapproval is generated. The permission notification information is transmitted to the location information collection server 10, and the process ends without the search relationship between the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B being established.

  When the latest GPS position information of the mobile terminal B is transmitted together with the search permission notification information in step S11, if the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B are not within the range of BT communication with each other, the display 9 of the mobile terminal A A screen as shown in (a) is displayed. FIG. 8A is a diagram illustrating a case where the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B are not within the range of BT communication. As shown in FIG. 8 (a), in the display map M1, three stages of ranges P, Q, and R centered on the mobile terminal A are shown on the map. The ranges P, Q, and R are a 10 m range P indicating a range of 10 m from the mobile terminal A, a 50 m range Q indicating a range of 50 m, and a 100 m range R indicating a range of 100 m, respectively.

  For example, the display 9 is centered on the mobile terminal A, and the range from the 10m zone P to the 50m zone Q is colored yellow, and the range from the 50m zone Q to the 100m zone R is colored blue. And display. The display map M1 indicates that the mobile terminal B is located outside the range of the 100 m zone R. In addition, the display process of the display map M1 on the display 9 here is performed by downloading map data corresponding to the position of the mobile terminal B from the map server 20.

  Next, returning to FIG. 6, upon receiving the search permission notification information, the network communication unit 1 of the mobile terminal A transmits (uploads) the GPS position information of the own terminal calculated by the GPS receiving unit 2 to the position information collection server 10. (Step S12). Further, when transmitting the search permission notification information, the network communication unit 1 of the portable terminal B transmits (uploads) the GPS position information of the own terminal calculated by the GPS receiving unit 2 to the position information collection server 10 (step S13). . The GPS position information is transmitted in steps S12 and S13 with a time interval narrower than that in steps S3 and S4, for example, once every three minutes. That is, when the search relationship between the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B is established, the frequency of uploading the GPS position information is increased as compared to before the search relationship is established.

  Next, the location information storage unit 12 of the location information collection server 10 acquires and sequentially stores the GPS location information of each terminal received from the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B (step S14).

  Next, when the search permission notification information is transmitted / received by the communication unit 11 of the location information collection server 10 and the GPS location information of each terminal from the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B is received, the terminals of the location information collection server 10 The distance calculation unit 14 calculates the inter-terminal distance between the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B (step S15).

  Next, moving to the sequence diagram of FIG. 7, the BT range detection unit 15 of the location information collection server 10 determines whether or not the inter-terminal distance calculated by the inter-terminal distance calculation unit 14 is 100 m or less. Then, it is detected that the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B are within the range of BT communication with each other (step S16). If the inter-terminal distance calculated by the inter-terminal distance calculation unit 14 is greater than 100 m, the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B are not within the range of BT communication, and the BT range detection unit 15 performs steps S15 and S16. Repeat the process.

  Next, when it is detected by the BT range detection unit 15 of the location information collection server 10 that the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B are within the BT communication range, the BT activation request unit 16 of the location information collection server 10 BT activation request information is generated. And the communication part 11 of the positional information collection server 10 transmits the produced | generated BT starting request information to the portable terminal A, and the latest GPS positional information of the portable terminal B memorize | stored in the positional information storage part 12 is portable terminal. A is transmitted to A (step S17). At the same time, the communication unit 11 of the location information collection server 10 transmits the generated BT activation request information to the mobile terminal B (step S18).

  Next, when the BT activation request information is received by the network communication unit 1 of the portable terminal A and portable terminal B, the Bluetooth communication unit 4 of the portable terminal A and portable terminal B activates the BT, respectively (steps S19 and S20). ). Thereby, the portable terminal A and the portable terminal B are connected to each other by BT communication and can communicate with each other.

  Next, the network communication unit 1 of the portable terminal A transmits the latest GPS position information of the portable terminal B received from the position information collection server 10 to the map server 20 (step S21). The latest GPS position information of the portable terminal B transmitted here corresponds to the GPS position information of the portable terminal B when the BT communication by the Bluetooth communication unit 4 is in a connected state.

  Next, when the GPS position information of the portable terminal B is received by the communication unit 21 of the map server 20, the map matching unit 22 of the map server 20 maps the position indicated by the received GPS position information of the portable terminal B. By performing the matching process, the position of the portable terminal B is recalculated (step S22). Then, the map matching unit 22 generates the map position information of the mobile terminal B by superimposing the most calculated position on the map information stored in the map database 23.

  Next, the communication unit 21 of the map server 20 transmits the map position information of the mobile terminal B generated by the map matching unit 22 to the mobile terminal A (step S23).

  Next, when the map position information of the portable terminal B is received by the network communication unit 1 of the portable terminal A, the incident angle calculation unit 3 of the portable terminal A is stored in the received map position information and the GPS receiving unit 2. The incident angle information of the portable terminal B is calculated based on the latest GPS position information of the own terminal (GPS position information of the portable terminal A when the BT communication is in the connected state) (step S24). Furthermore, the display 9 of the portable terminal A displays the position of the portable terminal B indicated by the map position information together with the map information. Step S24 corresponds to an azimuth calculation step.

  FIG. 8B is a diagram illustrating a case where the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B are connected to each other by BT communication. FIG. 8B shows a display map M2 on the display 9 of the portable terminal A when the incident angle information is calculated in step S24. Here, the mobile terminal B is located in the vicinity of the 100 m zone R with the mobile terminal A as the center. Further, the incident angle of the mobile terminal B with respect to the mobile terminal A is an azimuth shifted from the north (upper side in the figure) to the east side (right side in the figure) by the angle θ with respect to the mobile terminal A. In this case, the incident angle calculation unit 3 of the mobile terminal A calculates the incident angle of the mobile terminal B as an angle θ. Furthermore, the display map M2 is an enlarged map display compared to the display map M1 when the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B shown in FIG. 8A are not within the range of BT communication.

  Next, returning to FIG. 7, the Bluetooth communication unit 4 of the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B performs BT communication with each other (steps S25 and S26), and the distance calculation unit 5 of the mobile terminal A is based on the received radio wave intensity. The inter-terminal distance information is calculated (step S27). Step S25 corresponds to a short-range wireless communication step, and step S27 corresponds to a distance information calculation step.

  Next, the latitude / longitude calculation unit 6 of the portable terminal A uses the GPS position information of the own terminal used for calculation of the incident angle information, the incident angle information calculated by the incident angle calculation unit 3, and the distance calculation unit 5. Based on the calculated inter-terminal distance information, the longitude / latitude information of the mobile terminal B is calculated (step S28). Step S28 corresponds to a position estimation step.

  FIG. 9A shows a display map M3 when the longitude / latitude information of the mobile terminal B is calculated in step S28. Here, the position of the mobile terminal B is the position separated by the inter-terminal distance L calculated in step S27 toward the incident angle θ calculated in step S24 with the position of the mobile terminal A as a reference. In the display map M3, the mobile terminal B is displayed at an intermediate position between the 50 m zone Q and the 100 m zone R, that is, in the vicinity of 70 m from the mobile terminal A.

  Next, returning to FIG. 7 again, the network communication unit 1 of the portable terminal A transmits the latitude / longitude information calculated by the latitude / longitude calculation unit 6 to the map server 20 (step S29).

  Next, when the longitude / latitude information of the mobile terminal B is received by the communication unit 21 of the map server 20, the map matching unit 22 of the map server 20 maps the position indicated in the received longitude / latitude information of the mobile terminal B. By performing the matching process, the position of the portable terminal B is recalculated (step S30). Then, the map matching unit 22 generates the map position information of the mobile terminal B by superimposing the most calculated position on the map information or the floor information stored in the map database 23.

  Next, the communication unit 21 of the map server 20 transmits the map position information of the mobile terminal B generated by the map matching unit 22 to the mobile terminal A (step S31).

  Then, when the map position information of the portable terminal B is received by the network communication unit 1 of the portable terminal A, the display 9 of the portable terminal A displays the position of the portable terminal B indicated by the received map position information together with the map information. It is displayed (step S32). Step S32 corresponds to a display step.

  FIG. 9B shows the display map M4 displayed in step S32. As shown in FIG. 9B, in the display map M4, the position of the mobile terminal B based on the longitude / latitude information shown by the broken line is corrected on the road passing through the side of the building by the map matching process. Further, when the position of the mobile terminal B based on the longitude / latitude position information is a commercial facility, map position information considering the floor information of the commercial facility is generated, and a floor map of the floor on which the mobile terminal B is located is displayed. Is done.

  Furthermore, the position of the portable terminal B is sequentially notified to the user of the portable terminal A by repeating the processes of steps S25 to S32. When the distance calculation unit 5 detects that the distance between the terminals is within a predetermined range (for example, within the range of the 50 m zone Q), the display 9 of the portable terminal A has a display mode shown in FIG. Change to map M5. In the display map M5, an arrow is displayed from the direction in which the mobile terminal B is located along with the image information of the floor on which the mobile terminal A is located.

  Through the series of processes described above, the position of the mobile terminal B is notified to the user of the mobile terminal A, and the user of the mobile terminal A can find the mobile terminal B. Note that, on the display 9 of the portable terminal B that is the search target terminal, the GPS position information of the portable terminal A may be transmitted from the position information collection server 10 to display the position of the portable terminal A. In this case, an arrow in the direction in which the mobile terminal A is located is displayed together with the image information of the road where the mobile terminal B is located, as in the display map M6 shown in FIG.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 11, a description will be given of processing when the mobile terminal B, which is the search target terminal, leaves and once goes out of the BT communication area and then enters the BT communication area again. In the following description, it is assumed that the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B are located within the BT communication range at the first time and the BT communication in the above-described steps S25 and S26 is being executed.

  First, when the mobile terminal B leaves the mobile terminal A and goes out of the range of BT communication, the Bluetooth communication unit 4 of the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B detects the disconnection state of the BT communication (steps S51 and S52), and disconnects. Generate notification information. When the Bluetooth communication unit 4 detects the disconnection state of the BT communication, the network communication unit 1 of the mobile terminal A and the mobile terminal B transmits the generated disconnection notification information to the location information collection server 10 to thereby perform the BT communication. Is disconnected (steps S53 and S54).

  Next, when the disconnection notification information is received by the communication unit 11 of the location information collection server 10, the communication unit 11 of the location information collection server 10 displays the latest GPS location of the mobile terminal B stored in the location information storage unit 12. Information is transmitted to the portable terminal A (step S55). Next, the network communication unit 1 of the portable terminal A transmits the latest GPS position information of the portable terminal B received from the position information collection server 10 to the map server 20 (step S56).

  Next, when the GPS position information of the portable terminal B is received by the communication unit 21 of the map server 20, the map matching unit 22 of the map server 20 maps the position indicated by the received GPS position information of the portable terminal B. By performing the matching process, the position of the portable terminal B is recalculated (step S57), and the map position information of the portable terminal B is generated. Next, the communication unit 21 of the map server 20 transmits the map position information of the mobile terminal B generated by the map matching unit 22 to the mobile terminal A (step S58).

  Then, when the map position information of the portable terminal B is received by the network communication unit 1 of the portable terminal A, the display 9 of the portable terminal A displays the position of the portable terminal B indicated by the received map position information together with the map information. Displayed (step S59). Step S59 corresponds to a display step.

  As described above, according to the position estimation system S according to the present embodiment, even if there is an error in the GPS position information indicating the position of the search target terminal, the distance calculation unit is performed by the BT communication in the Bluetooth communication unit 4. The distance L between both terminals located at a short distance can be grasped by the distance information between terminals obtained in step 5, and by adding the distance information between terminals to the GPS position information of the terminal to be searched, 6 makes it possible to accurately estimate the position of the search target terminal located at a short distance from the search terminal. Further, by displaying the position of the search target terminal on the display 9, it is possible to accurately notify the search terminal user of the position of the search target terminal.

  Further, according to the position estimation system S according to the present embodiment, the GPS position information indicating the position of the search terminal when the BT communication between both terminals is in the connected state, and the incident angle information of the search target terminal with respect to the search terminal Based on the inter-terminal distance information, the position of the search target terminal is estimated by the latitude / longitude calculation unit 6. In this way, by narrowing down the direction in which the search target terminal is located based on the incident angle information and estimating the search target terminal position based on the GPS position information of the search terminal and the inter-terminal distance information, The estimation accuracy of the position of the searched terminal can be further improved.

  Further, since the position of the search target terminal is corrected by the map matching process based on the map database 23 in the map matching unit 22 of the map server 20, an accurate position corresponding to the position of the building or road can be estimated.

  Further, when the search target terminal exceeds the range of the BT communication, the display 9 displays the position indicated by the GPS position information of the search target terminal as the position of the search target terminal. An appropriate position can be estimated accordingly.

  In addition, since the display mode of the position of the searched terminal on the display 9 is changed according to the communication state of the BT communication, that is, the distance of the position of the searched terminal, the position information of the searched terminal is given to the user of the searching terminal. It can be communicated visually, and convenience can be improved.

  In addition to such actions and effects, the position estimation system S can be applied to search for a mobile terminal in a meeting in a building such as a large facility, and a child whose parent is in a short distance. It can also be applied if you want to search. Moreover, it can also be applied to the search for pets by attaching a device having the same function as the portable terminals A and B of the above embodiment to the pet. In that case, the processing from the search request to the search permission in steps S7 to S11 shown in FIG. 6 is omitted.

  Furthermore, by mounting a device having the same function as the mobile terminals A and B of the above embodiment on each of a car and a person, and a car and a bicycle, a person or a bicycle located at a short distance of the car can be used using a BT. This makes it possible to prevent pedestrians and bicycles from jumping on street corners.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above embodiment, the BT in the mobile terminals A and B is activated when the BT range detection unit 15 of the location information collection server 10 detects that the mobile terminal is within the BT communication range. The BT may be activated when a search target terminal is designated or when a search is permitted in the search target terminal.

  In the above embodiment, the incident angle information and the longitude / latitude information of the search target terminal are calculated in the search terminal. However, the position information collection server 10 may perform the same calculation. In this case, the inter-terminal distance information obtained by the BT communication may be uploaded from the search terminal to the position information collection server 10.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where the position of the portable terminal B shown by the map position information which passed through the map matching process was displayed on the display 9, the display 9 is a latitude longitude calculating part which has not passed through the map matching process. The position indicated by the longitude / latitude information calculated by 6 may be displayed as the position of the mobile terminal B.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Network communication part (reception means), 2 ... GPS reception part (2nd terminal position acquisition means), 3 ... Incident angle calculation part (azimuth calculation means), 4 ... Bluetooth communication part (short-distance wireless communication means), 5 ... distance calculation part (distance information calculation means), 6 ... latitude and longitude calculation part (position estimation means), 9 ... display (display means), 10 ... position information collection server, 11 ... communication part (transmission means), 12 ... position Information storage unit (first terminal position acquisition unit), 20 ... map server, 22 ... map matching unit (map matching unit), 23 ... map database (map data), A, B ... mobile terminal (communication terminal), L ... Distance between terminals, S ... position estimation system, θ ... incident angle (azimuth).

Claims (9)

A position estimation system having a search target terminal that is a search target communication terminal, a search terminal that is a communication terminal that searches for the search target terminal, and a position information collection server,
The location information collection server includes:
First terminal position acquisition means for acquiring first terminal position information indicating the position of the searched terminal;
Transmission means for transmitting the first terminal position information acquired by the first terminal position acquisition means to the search terminal,
The search terminal
Receiving means for receiving the first terminal location information transmitted by the communication means;
Short-range wireless communication means for performing short-range wireless communication with the searched terminal;
Distance information calculation means for calculating distance information between terminals indicating the distance between the search terminal and the search target terminal based on a communication state by the short-range wireless communication means;
When short-range wireless communication by the short-range wireless communication means is in a connected state, based on the first terminal position information received by the receiving means and the inter-terminal distance information calculated by the distance information calculating means Position estimation means for calculating the position of the searched terminal;
Display means for displaying the position of the searched terminal calculated by the position estimating means. The search terminal
Second terminal position acquisition means for acquiring second terminal position information indicating the position of the search terminal;
Direction information indicating the direction of the searched terminal with respect to the search terminal based on the second terminal position information and the first terminal position information when the short-range wireless communication by the short-range wireless communication means is in a connected state Azimuth calculating means for calculating
The position estimation means includes the second terminal position information when the connection state is established, the azimuth information calculated by the azimuth calculation means, and the inter-terminal distance information calculated by the distance information calculation means. The position estimation system according to claim 1, wherein the position of the search target terminal is calculated on the basis of.   Map data about the position indicated by at least one of the first terminal position information received by the receiving means and the searched terminal position information indicating the position of the searched terminal estimated by the position estimating means. 3. A position estimation system according to claim 1, further comprising a map server provided with a map matching means for recalculating the position of the searched terminal by performing a map matching process which is a process of correcting based on the map matching process. .   The display means displays the position indicated by the first terminal position information received by the receiving means as the position of the searched terminal when the short-range wireless communication by the short-range wireless communication means is in a disconnected state. The position estimation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:   The position estimation system according to claim 1, wherein the display unit changes a display mode of the position of the searched terminal according to a communication state by the short-range wireless communication unit. Receiving means for receiving first terminal position information indicating a position of a search target terminal that is a communication terminal to be searched;
Short-range wireless communication means for performing short-range wireless communication with the searched terminal;
Distance information calculating means for calculating inter-terminal distance information indicating the distance between the own terminal and the searched terminal based on a communication state by the short-range wireless communication means;
When short-range wireless communication by the short-range wireless communication means is in a connected state, based on the first terminal position information received by the receiving means and the inter-terminal distance information calculated by the distance information calculating means Position estimation means for calculating the position of the searched terminal;
And a display means for displaying the position of the searched terminal calculated by the position estimating means. Second terminal position acquisition means for acquiring second terminal position information indicating the position of the terminal;
Direction information indicating the direction of the searched terminal with respect to the own terminal based on the second terminal position information and the first terminal position information when the short-range wireless communication by the short-range wireless communication means is in a connected state Azimuth calculating means for calculating
The position estimation means includes the second terminal position information when the connection state is established, the azimuth information calculated by the azimuth calculation means, and the inter-terminal distance information calculated by the distance information calculation means. 7. The communication terminal according to claim 6, wherein the position of the search target terminal is calculated based on. A first terminal position acquisition step of acquiring first terminal position information indicating a position of a search target terminal which is a communication terminal to be searched;
A short-range wireless communication step of performing short-range wireless communication between a search terminal that is a communication terminal for searching for the search target terminal and the search target terminal;
A distance information calculation step of calculating inter-terminal distance information indicating a distance between the search terminal and the search target terminal based on a communication state in the short-range wireless communication step;
When the short-range wireless communication in the short-range wireless communication step is in a connected state, the first terminal position information acquired in the first terminal position acquisition step and the inter-terminal distance calculated in the distance information calculation step A position estimating step for calculating the position of the searched terminal based on the information;
A display step for displaying the position of the searched terminal calculated in the position estimating step. A second terminal position acquisition step of acquiring second terminal position information indicating the position of the search terminal;
Direction information indicating the direction of the search target terminal with respect to the search terminal based on the second terminal position information and the first terminal position information when the short-range wireless communication in the short-range wireless communication step is in a connected state An azimuth calculation step for calculating
In the position estimating step, the second terminal position information at the time of the connection state, the azimuth information calculated in the azimuth calculating step, and the inter-terminal distance information calculated in the distance information calculating step The position estimation method according to claim 8, wherein the position of the search target terminal is calculated based on.

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