JP5621813B2 - Information providing method, client, and computer-readable recording medium - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing method, a client, and a computer-readable recording medium that provide information to a user by searching a document database and the like, and in particular, performs a search on a condition specified by a user or an information provider. The present invention relates to an information providing method for providing information, a client, and a computer-readable recording medium.

  Conventionally, as a living information closely related to the geographical location of the real world where the user exists, information on nearby stores provided by using weather forecasts provided on TV, radio, newspapers, advertisements inserted in newspapers, etc. And bargain advertisements. In addition to this information, there is a tourist information pamphlet for sightseeing spots as information related to geographical locations, and this pamphlet may also be visited in the future, and the user wants to know immediately in some cases Information. Such information is also provided by a URL address WWW (World Wide Web) which is a recent Internet. For example, if you use the service provided by YAHOO (http://www.yahoo.co.jp/), an Internet provider like this, you can know the weather forecast of where you live, It is also possible to obtain information such as travel destinations and sightseeing spots near the home in real time, for example. This is because the information obtained from the WWW, such as the provider YAHOO, is classified by region such as prefecture and city by human power, and inputs the information, and this input information is provided to the user. Users follow the links written as “Regional information” from homepages such as YAHOO to narrow down the location (geographic information) and areas of interest. You can get information about the place.

  In addition, the service provided by MAPION (http://www.mapion.co.jp/) described in Japanese Patent No. 2756483 “Advertising Information Supplying Method and Registration Method” is provided by the information provider. It is possible to place information you want to send on a flat map. The user can narrow down a place of interest from the MAPPION home page and display a map of the area including the place. If there is information such as “Fireworks Festival” registered by the information provider in the area, it is displayed on the map with icons and characters.

  Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-72347 “Position Corresponding Information Providing System” describes a method of acquiring information corresponding to the current position of the user from the information system and providing it to the user. The method described in this publication allows the search server to receive position coordinates indicating the current position of the user from information such as an address, for a plurality of position related information search servers that are publicly operated on the Internet in advance. It is related with the technique which acquires the information regarding a user's present position from a some search server by converting into a format.

Japanese Patent No. 2756483 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-72347

However, the above method has the following problems.
(1) In the first known example (YAHOO), since the information to be searched is classified for each region for the convenience of the information provider, it is possible to search only for the region unit. That is, it is difficult to perform a search that spans a plurality of regions or designates a range on a map.

  (2) In the second known example (MAPION of Japanese Patent No. 2756483), information is arranged and displayed on a plane map, and although the problem (1) can be solved, It is necessary for the user side to separately investigate or infer the time, transportation, and the like required to reach. In other words, when considering using the information in the real world, it is possible to control the information to be acquired by using a measure such as the required time and distance from your current current position or the place where you plan to go. That is not possible. For example, in response to a user request such as “I want to know a tourist spot within walking distance from a travel accommodation”, the user cannot easily acquire information in the second known example.

  (3) In the third publicly known example (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-72347), in order to make a search request using the position information as the only search key to the position related information search server that is publicly used, There is a problem that information that is not attached cannot be obtained. For example, if there is a branch of a company near the user and the user wants to obtain information about the company, the branch information is not registered in the server as an object related to the location in advance. The user cannot get information about the company. In addition, since a special search server linked to location information such as a location related information search server and linked to information on a specific facility such as a branch office is used, it cannot be easily used as an information source from an existing database. There is also.

  In the three known examples described above, the information provider side registers information using only information related to the position as a unique keyword, and the user acquires information using it as a keyword. However, according to this method, even if the information provider side tries to limit the distribution range of information due to geographical conditions, for example, it cannot be done. It is not easy for an information provider to select a user for distribution even if he / she intends to distribute information to a resident in the range of 3 km around the user and an interested user, for example, based on the location of his / her store. Therefore, there is a demand for an information providing apparatus having means for arbitrarily setting information distribution conditions on the information provider side.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an information providing apparatus capable of providing effective information in cooperation with a real world situation. In other words, information recipients (users) are within a physical distance from where they live or are interested, or can be reached within a reasonable amount of time (position The information is provided based on the information receiver within the reachable range (within a range acceptable or temporally acceptable), and for the information provider, the information user is registered It is an object to obtain an information providing method or the like that can distribute information based on the reachability of a user within a range within a distance or within a reasonable time.

Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to use a simple configuration while omitting the process of registering and classifying location information in an existing database in advance without using an information search server regarding location in particular. And
Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to obtain an information providing method or the like capable of performing an advertisement or the like from a second client for providing service information or product information to a user as regional information.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a user location preference DB that holds user location information together with a user ID, a document registration location index that holds a correspondence relationship between a document ID of a document input by a terminal and a distribution registration location. The document distribution condition, which is an area condition for distributing a document, is associated with the document ID among the area conditions set at least one of the distance, route, time, and fee from a certain location input by the terminal. The distribution registration location is retrieved from the document distribution condition DB stored and the document registration location index, the document distribution condition corresponding to the document ID of the document is obtained from the document distribution condition DB, and the distribution registration is acquired. From the location and the document distribution conditions that have been read, an area for document distribution is determined, and the facility name on the map or A map DB that holds road connection relation information together with coordinate information and the user place preference DB are searched, and a list of user IDs registered within a geographical range that meets the conditions is obtained together with the document ID. A map / user search means to be passed to the document DB search means; and a document DB search means for searching from a document DB holding a document that provides the user with the document corresponding to the document ID from the map / user search means. This is an information providing server characterized by that.

  The invention according to claim 2 manages the ID for each user, assigns a user ID to the location information having the location information received from the terminal, and registers the user ID in the user location preference DB, and the user location preference User location preference DB held in the information together with the user ID, document registration location index holding the correspondence between the document ID of the document input by the terminal and the distribution registration location, and the distance from a certain location input by the terminal A map / user search means for transferring a document distribution condition, which is an area condition for distributing a document among the area conditions including at least one of route, time, and fee, together with the document ID to the document DB search means, and the map A user who has retrieved and received the document corresponding to the document ID from the user search means from the document DB holding the document that provides the user with the document Information including: a document DB search unit that is passed to the document notification unit together with a list of D; and a document notification unit that notifies the corresponding user of the document contents based on information from the document DB search unit. It is a providing server.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the area condition rule DB that holds the area condition in which the distance, route, time, and fee from a certain place are set in a rule format, and the map / user search means according to claim 21 The document format and the distribution registration location are received from the document registration location index, the document distribution condition corresponding to the document ID is acquired from the document distribution condition DB, and the rule format registered in the document distribution condition DB The location condition analysis means for classifying the area condition with reference to the location condition, and when the straight line distance is specified as the area condition, the location information and the area condition are received from the location condition analysis means, and the location information Straight line distance range area calculation means for calculating the area of the specified distance radius around the specified location, and the route specified as the area condition If the location information is analyzed, the location information and the region condition are received from the location condition analysis unit, a route region calculation unit that calculates a region along the designated route, and a reachability condition is specified as the region condition. In some cases, the location information analysis unit receives the location information and the region condition, and has at least one region calculation unit selected from reachable region calculation unit that calculates a reachable region according to the condition. , Receiving at least one area information calculated from the straight distance range area calculating means, the route area calculating means or the reachable area calculating means, receiving the area condition designated from the terminal, and the map DB and the A list of user IDs registered in the map area is acquired from the user location preference DB, and the acquired list is combined with the document ID A serial document DB search unit to pass area user search means, an information providing server, characterized in that it comprises a.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a client for providing a document to a user, the client including an input means for inputting a document to be provided to the user on an information providing server, and the document to the user. A distribution registration location for distribution to the user and a distribution condition for distribution to the user are input by the input means, and the document is passed to the user via the server with the distribution condition and the distribution registration location to the information providing server. It is a client for providing a document to a feature user.

  The invention described in claim 5 includes location condition input means for inputting location information of a location in which the user is interested, or an area condition including at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a charge from a location, and information To the providing server, the location information and the area condition are output from the location condition input means, the document distribution condition corresponding to the document ID is obtained, and the document distribution condition is read from the distribution registration location and the read document distribution condition. The map DB that holds the facility name on the map or the road connection relation information together with the coordinate information and the user place preference DB are searched by using the area as a condition, and the user place preference DB is matched. Receiving means for acquiring a list of user IDs registered in a geographical range, transmitting the searched document, and receiving the transmitted document; and the received sentence It is a client, characterized by having a display unit for displaying.

  The invention according to claim 6 is a document registration unit for registering a document to be provided to a user, and a correspondence relationship between the document ID of the document input from the document registration unit and the distribution registration location with respect to the information providing server. From the document DB that holds the document distribution condition that is the area condition for distributing the document among the area conditions together with the document ID and that provides the user with the document corresponding to the document ID. The client is characterized in that it is searched and passed to the document notification means together with the received list of user IDs, and the other document is notified of the obtained document contents.

  The invention according to claim 7 is a location acquisition process for acquiring location information of a virtual or real user in real time, and a region condition including at least one of a distance from a location, a route, a time, and a charge, A process of presenting a rule format of area conditions that can be specified and inputting the area conditions, a process of holding the received user position and notifying the user position every time the user position is updated, and the notified user A process of receiving a position and the input area condition, searching for an area on the map, acquiring a search result from the map DB, and using a document DB based on the result obtained by the acquisition process And a process for presenting the obtained search result to the user. The method for retrieving geographical information is characterized by comprising:

  According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a place condition input process for inputting place information of a place in which the user is interested or an area condition including at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a charge from a place, and information To the providing server, the location information and the area condition are output from the location condition input means, the document distribution condition corresponding to the document ID is obtained, and the document distribution condition is read from the distribution registration location and the read document distribution condition. The map DB that stores the facility name on the map or the connection relation information of the road together with the coordinate information and the user place preference DB are searched by using the area as a condition, and the user place preference DB is matched. A receiving process for acquiring a list of user IDs registered in a geographical range, transmitting the searched document, and receiving the transmitted document. The client for executing the processing to the information retrieval apparatus according to recording the readable program a recording medium characterized.

  The invention according to claim 9 is a document registration means for registering a document to be provided to the user, and a correspondence relationship between the document ID of the document input by the document registration processing and the distribution registration location with respect to the information providing server. From the document DB that holds the document distribution condition that is the area condition for distributing the document among the area conditions together with the document ID and that provides the document corresponding to the document ID to the user. A client-readable program for executing processing is recorded in an information search device characterized in that the information is retrieved and passed to the document notification means together with the received user ID list and the obtained document contents are notified. This is a recording medium.

  The invention according to claim 10 is a document that holds a correspondence relationship between a document ID of a document input by a terminal and a distribution registration location, a process that holds user location information together with a user ID in a user location preference DB. Document distribution, which is an area condition for distributing a document, out of the area conditions that set at least one of the distance, route, time, and fee from a certain place input by the terminal The distribution registration location is searched from the processing for storing the condition in the document distribution condition DB in association with the document ID and the processing for storing in the document registration location index, and the document of the document is searched from the document distribution condition DB. The document distribution condition corresponding to the ID is acquired, and an area to be distributed is determined from the distribution registration location and the read document distribution condition. The map DB that holds the facility name on the map or the connection relation information of the road together with the coordinate information and the user place preference DB are searched by using the area as a condition, and registered within the geographical range that matches the condition. A map / user search process for obtaining a list of user IDs to be sent to the document DB search means together with the document ID, and a document for providing the document corresponding to the document ID from the map / user search process to the user A recording medium storing a program readable by a server for executing an information retrieval process by an information retrieval apparatus having a document DB retrieval process for retrieving from a document DB to be retrieved.

  According to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, a location acquisition unit that acquires location information of a virtual or real user in real time, and a document registration that holds a correspondence relationship between a document ID of a document input by a terminal and a distribution registration location. Among the area conditions in which at least one of a location index and a distance, route, time, and fee from a certain location input by the terminal is set, a document distribution condition that is an area condition for distributing the document is the document ID. A document distribution condition DB that is stored in correspondence with the document, and the distribution registration location is read from the document registration location index, and the document distribution condition corresponding to the document ID of the document is acquired from the document distribution condition DB, Based on the distribution registration location and the read document distribution condition, the facility name on the map or road connection relation information is stored together with the coordinate information. Search the map DB and the user location information recorded in the user position holding means, obtain a list of user IDs registered within a geographical range that matches the conditions, and together with the document ID A document DB search for searching from a map / user search means to be passed to the document DB search means, a document DB holding a document that provides the user with the document ID corresponding to the document ID received from the map / user search processing, and a user ID Document DB search means to be passed to the document notification means together with the list of documents, document notification means for notifying the user of the document contents from information from the document search notification means, and document ID of the document that the document notification means notifies the user And the user ID for notifying the document, the document exceeds the upper limit of the number of notification users specified by the document registration means. In this case, the notification user management means for notifying the document deletion means of the document ID of the document to be deleted, and the document ID of the document exceeding the number of notification users is received from the notification user management means, and the document ID of the corresponding document is received. And a document deletion unit that deletes the document distribution condition and the distribution registration location corresponding to each from the document distribution condition DB and the document registration location index, respectively.

  The invention according to claim 12 manages the ID for each user, and assigns the user ID to the user location information including the virtual or real user position acquired in real time from the first terminal, thereby maintaining the user position. User management means passed to the user, the user position holding means for holding the user ID received from the user management means and the user location information, the document ID of the document information input by the second terminal, and the document Set at least one of a document registration location index that holds a correspondence relationship between distribution registration locations for distributing information to users, and a distance, route, time, and fee from a location input by the second terminal A document distribution condition DB that holds a document distribution condition corresponding to the document ID, which is an area condition for distributing a document in the area condition, From the document registration location index, the distribution registration location and the document distribution condition corresponding to the document ID of the document are read from the document distribution condition DB, and the map is read from the read distribution registration location and the read document distribution condition. The map DB that holds the above facility name or road connection relation information together with the coordinate information and the user location information recorded in the user position holding means are searched and registered within the geographical range that meets the conditions. A map / user search unit that obtains a list of user IDs to be sent to the document DB search unit together with the document ID, and a document provided from the document DB to a user corresponding to the document ID received from the map / user search unit From the information of the document DB search means and the document DB search means to be passed to the document notification means together with the list of user IDs Document notification means for notifying the user of document contents, document ID of the document notified to the user by the document notification means, and user ID for notifying the document, and the document registration means by the document registration means Notification user management means for notifying the document deletion means of the document ID of the document so as to be deleted when the upper limit of the designated number of notification users is exceeded, and the document of the document exceeding the notification upper limit from the notification user management means Document deletion means for receiving an ID and deleting the document distribution condition and the distribution registration location corresponding to the document ID of the corresponding document from the document distribution condition DB and the document registration location index, respectively. It is an information providing server.

  According to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided user location holding means for holding virtual or real user location information and a user ID, a document ID of a document input by a second terminal, and distribution registration of the document. To distribute a document out of a document registration location index that holds a correspondence relationship with a location, and an area condition set by at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a charge from a certain location input by the second terminal Corresponding to the document ID of the document from the distribution registration location and the document distribution condition DB from the document registration location index that holds the document distribution conditions corresponding to the document ID and the document registration location index. The document distribution conditions are read, and the facility name or road connection relation information on the map is read from the read distribution registration location and the read document distribution conditions. Is retrieved together with the coordinate information and the map DB and the user location information recorded in the user position holding means, and a list of user IDs registered within the geographical range matching the conditions is obtained. A map / user search means to be passed to the document DB search means together with the document ID, and a document to be provided to the user corresponding to the document ID received from the map / user search means from the document DB, and a document together with a list of user IDs The document DB search means to be passed to the notification means, the document ID of the document notified to the user, and the user ID for notifying the document are managed, and the upper limit of the number of notification users designated by the document registration means is determined. An information providing server comprising: a notification user management unit that does not give an instruction to notify the document when exceeding.

  According to the fourteenth aspect of the present invention, a user ID is assigned to user location information including a virtual or real user position acquired in real time from the first terminal by managing an ID for each user. A user management means to pass, a user position holding means for holding the user ID and the user location information received from the user management means, a distance, a route, a time from a certain location inputted by the second terminal, and Among the area conditions for which at least one of the charges is set, the document distribution condition DB that holds the document distribution conditions corresponding to the document ID, and the document registration location index, The distribution registration location and the document distribution condition corresponding to the document ID of the document are read from the document distribution condition DB, and the read distribution registration is read. From the location and the document distribution conditions read, a map DB that holds facility name on the map or road connection relation information together with coordinate information, and user location information recorded in the user location holding means are searched. A map / user search means that obtains a list of user IDs registered within a geographical range that matches the conditions and passes the document ID to the document DB search means together with the document ID, and from the document DB, from the map / user search means Search for a document to be provided to the user corresponding to the received document ID, and pass the document DB search means to the document notification means together with the list of user IDs, the document ID of the document to be notified to the user, and the user ID for notifying the document If the document exceeds the upper limit of the number of notification users specified by the document registration means, the document text is deleted. A notification user management unit that notifies the document deletion unit of an ID; and a document notification unit that notifies the corresponding user of the document contents from the information of the notification user management unit according to an instruction from the notification user management unit. It is a characteristic information providing server.

  According to the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, a location acquisition unit that acquires, in real time, location information of a virtual or real user, and a document distribution registration location and a distribution condition for the document information to be provided to the user to the information providing server The location information updated in real time from the location acquisition means is held, and the facility name on the map or the connection relation information of the road is coordinated using the location condition and the area condition. At least one of facility information or location information is extracted from the map DB held together with the information, a document provided to the user is searched using the extracted facility or location information as a keyword, and the document provides an upper limit on the number of information provided. Check if it exists, if it exceeds, delete the corresponding document and the registration location and distribution conditions. If not, send the searched document. Is a client, characterized in that it comprises a receiving means for receiving a document transmitted from the information providing server by, and display means for displaying the document thus received.

  According to the sixteenth aspect of the present invention, a location acquisition unit that acquires location information of a virtual or real user in real time, and a document distribution registration location and a distribution condition for the document information provided to the user to the information providing server are attached. The location information updated in real time from the location acquisition means is held, and the facility name on the map or the connection relation information of the road is coordinated using the location condition and the area condition. At least one of facility information or location information is extracted from the map DB held together with the information, a document provided to the user is searched using the extracted facility or location information as a keyword, and the document provides an upper limit on the number of information provided. Check if it exists, and if it exceeds, do not send an instruction to notify the document, do not send the document, and if it does not exceed A client, comprising: a receiving unit that receives a document transmitted from the information providing server by giving an instruction to transmit the searched document; and a display unit that displays the received document. .

  The invention according to claim 17 is a client for providing a document to a user, the client including an input means for inputting a document to be provided to the user to an information providing server, and the document to the user. The distribution registration location for distribution to the user and the distribution conditions for distribution to the user are input by the input means, and the distribution conditions and the distribution registration location are passed to the information providing server via the server to the other client, Check whether there is an upper limit number to be passed to the user for the document, and delete the document that exceeds the upper limit number together with the distribution registration location and distribution conditions, and send documents that do not exceed the upper limit number It is a client for providing a document to the user characterized by this.

  The invention according to claim 18 is a client for providing a document to a user, the client including an input means for inputting a document to be provided to the user to an information providing server, and the document to the user. The distribution registration location for distribution to the user and the distribution conditions for distribution to the user are input by the input means, and the distribution conditions and the distribution registration location are passed to the information providing server via the server to the other client, Check whether there is an upper limit number to be passed to the user for the document. If the upper limit number exists in the document, do not send an instruction to send a document that exceeds the upper limit number, and send an instruction to send a document that does not exceed the upper limit number. A client for providing a document to a user, characterized by transmitting the data in a

  According to the nineteenth aspect of the present invention, the document information from the second client and the distribution registration location for determining the geographical location where the document information is desired to be distributed are associated with each other and registered in the document registration location index. Processing for registering document information from the client and distribution conditions for distributing the document information to the user in the document distribution condition DB, processing for determining whether or not the registered document has a condition for the maximum number of distributions, A process for notifying the document ID and the distribution upper limit number of the document when the upper limit number exists, a process for adding the user ID to the current location of the user and holding the user position, and holding the received user position , A process for notifying the user position every time the user position is updated, and acquiring the distribution condition for each document ID registered from the document distribution condition DB, and the document registration location index The document distribution registration location is acquired for each registered document ID, a process for acquiring a list of user IDs matching the area condition, a user ID list and a document ID are received from the map / user search means, and the document DB The process of acquiring the document by searching for the document, the process of passing the document content, the user ID list, and the document ID, and the process of determining whether or not the document has the upper limit number In this case, the document distribution condition and registration location information are deleted from the document distribution condition DB and the document registration location index, and if not exceeded, the processing is executed to notify the user. This is a method for searching for geographical information.

  The invention according to claim 20 associates the document information from the second client with the distribution registration location for determining the geographical location where the document information is to be distributed, and registers it in the document registration location index. Processing for registering document information from the client and distribution conditions for distributing the document information to the user in the document distribution condition DB, processing for determining whether or not the registered document has a condition for the maximum number of distributions, A process for notifying the document ID and the distribution upper limit number of the document when the upper limit number exists, a process for adding the user ID to the current location of the user and holding the user position, and holding the received user position , A process for notifying the user position every time the user position is updated, and acquiring the distribution condition for each document ID registered from the document distribution condition DB, and the document registration location index The document distribution registration location is acquired for each registered document ID, a process for acquiring a list of user IDs matching the area condition, a user ID list and a document ID are received from the map / user search means, and the document DB A process for acquiring the document by searching for the document, a process for passing the document content, the user ID list, and the document ID, a process for determining whether or not the document has the upper limit, and for each document ID And counting the number of users who have notified the document, and if the count value exceeds the upper limit value, the first client is not instructed to notify the document, and the count value exceeds the upper limit value. If the value does not exceed the value, an instruction to notify the user is issued, and the geographical information is searched.

  According to a twenty-first aspect of the present invention, for the purpose of distributing document information to the first client, the second client registers the document information with respect to the server by adding the document distribution registration location and distribution conditions. The server executes a process for determining whether or not the registered document information has a condition for the distribution upper limit number, and if the upper limit number exists, the document ID of the document and the distribution upper limit The process of notifying the number is executed, the current location information of the first client is received from the first client, the process of holding the user position by adding the user ID is executed, the received user position is held, and the user When the location is updated, the user location is notified, the document registration location and distribution conditions are acquired for each document ID, the number of users who have notified the document is counted, and the maximum number of distribution for the document is reached. In addition, when the counted number of notification users exceeds the upper limit, the first client is not notified of the distribution of the document, and when it does not exceed, the distribution notification is performed and the first client is notified. This is a method for searching for geographic information characterized by being sent to a network.

  The invention according to claim 22 is a process of registering document information from the second client by adding a document distribution registration location and a distribution condition, and from the second client to the server, A process for notifying the document ID and the upper limit of distribution, a process for acquiring the current location of the first client as a user by the first client and holding the user position, and the first client each time the user position is updated The process of notifying the server of the user position, the process of receiving the user ID list and the document ID by the server, searching the document DB and acquiring the document, and the user notifying the document ID and the document for each document ID A process for recording a list of IDs, a process for determining whether the number of user IDs in the recorded user list exceeds an upper limit, and a result of the determination process. A process for deleting document distribution conditions and registration location information when the upper limit value is exceeded, or a process for sending the document contents to the first client when the upper limit value is not exceeded. This is a method for searching for geographic information characterized by.

  The invention according to claim 23 is a process of registering document information from the second client by adding a document distribution registration location and a distribution condition, and from the second client to the server, A process for notifying the document ID and the upper limit of distribution, a process for acquiring the current location of the first client as a user by the first client and holding the user position, and the first client each time the user position is updated The server notifies the server of the user position, the server receives the user ID list and the document ID, searches the document DB, acquires the document, and notifies the document ID and the distribution upper limit number for each document ID. The document registration location and distribution conditions for each registered document ID from the processing to be performed, the document distribution condition DB, and the document registration location index. A process for acquiring a user ID list, a process for counting the number of users who have notified the document for each document ID and checking the upper limit number, and if the result of the check is that the upper limit value is exceeded, A method for searching geographical information is characterized in that an instruction to notify one client is not issued and the content of the document is transmitted to the first client when the upper limit is not exceeded.

  The invention described in claim 24 is a process for holding virtual or real user location information and user ID in the user location holding means, the document ID of the document input by the terminal, and the distribution registration location of the document. A document registration location index, and a document in an area condition set with at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a charge from a certain location input by the terminal. Corresponding to the document ID of the document from the distribution registration location and the document distribution condition DB from the processing of storing the document distribution condition as the area condition in the document distribution condition DB in association with the document ID, from the document registration location index The document distribution conditions to be read and the facility name on the map or the link of the road are determined from the read distribution registration location and the read document distribution conditions. Search the map DB that holds the relationship information together with the coordinate information and the user location information recorded in the user position holding means, and obtain a list of user IDs registered within the geographical range that meets the conditions The map / user search process passed to the document DB search means together with the document ID, and the document DB provided to the user are searched for the document provided to the user corresponding to the document ID received from the map / user search means, and the user Document DB search processing to be passed to the document notification means together with a list of IDs, document ID of the document notified to the user by the document DB search processing, and user ID for notifying the document are managed, and the document is registered in the document Notification user management processing for not instructing notification of the document when the upper limit of the number of notification users specified by the means is exceeded, and the notification The document ID of the document exceeding the notification upper limit is received by the user management process, and the document distribution condition and the distribution registration location corresponding to the document ID of the corresponding document are deleted from the document distribution condition DB and the document registration location index, respectively. A recording medium storing a program readable by a server for executing an information search process by an information search apparatus having a document deletion process.

  The invention according to claim 25 is a process for holding virtual or real user location information and user ID in a user location holding means, a document ID of a document input by a terminal, and a distribution registration location of the document. For distributing a document out of a region condition in which at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a charge from a certain location input by the terminal is stored in a document registration location index Corresponding to the document ID of the document from the distribution registration location and the document distribution condition DB from the processing of storing the document distribution condition as the area condition in the document distribution condition DB in association with the document ID, from the document registration location index The document distribution conditions to be read, and from the read distribution registration location and the read document distribution conditions, Search the map DB that holds the contact information together with the coordinate information and the user location information recorded in the user position holding means, and obtain a list of user IDs registered within the geographical range that meets the conditions Then, a map / user search process to be passed to the document DB search means together with the document ID, a document to be provided to the user corresponding to the document ID received from the map / user search means is searched from the document DB, and a list of user IDs A document DB search process to be passed to the document notification means, a document ID of the document notified to the user, and a user ID for notifying the document are managed, and the number of notification users specified by the document registration means An information search process is executed by an information search apparatus having a notification user management process that does not give an instruction to notify the document when the upper limit is exceeded A recording medium characterized in that because of the server has recorded readable program.

  According to the twenty-sixth aspect of the present invention, a location acquisition process for acquiring location information of a virtual or real user in real time, and a document distribution registration location and a distribution condition for the document information to be provided to the user to the information providing server are attached. The location information updated in real time from the location acquisition means is held, and the facility name on the map or the connection relation information of the road is coordinated using the location condition and the area condition. At least one of facility information or location information is extracted from the map DB held together with the information, a document provided to the user is searched using the extracted facility or location information as a keyword, and the document provides an upper limit on the number of information provided. If it exceeds, the corresponding document and the registration location and distribution conditions are deleted. By doing so, a client for executing an information search process by an information search apparatus having a reception process for receiving a document transmitted from the information providing server and a display process for displaying the received document is readable. The recording medium is characterized by recording a program.

  According to the twenty-seventh aspect of the present invention, a location acquisition process for acquiring virtual or real user location information in real time, and a document distribution registration location and a distribution condition for the document information to be provided to the user to the information providing server are attached. The location information updated in real time from the location acquisition means is held, and the facility name on the map or the connection relation information of the road is coordinated using the location condition and the area condition. At least one of facility information or location information is extracted from the map DB held together with the information, a document provided to the user is searched using the extracted facility or location information as a keyword, and the document provides an upper limit on the number of information provided. Check if it exists, and if it exceeds, do not send an instruction to notify the document, do not send the document, and if it does not exceed A receiving process for receiving the document transmitted from the information providing server by giving an instruction to transmit the searched document, a display process for displaying the received document, and an information searching process by the information searching apparatus A recording medium on which a program readable by a client for execution is recorded.

  The invention described in claim 28 is an input process for inputting a document to be provided to a user in an information providing server, a distribution registration location for distributing the document to the user, and a distribution condition for distributing to the user. Is input to the information providing server, the distribution condition and the distribution registration location are passed to the other client via the server, and the existence of the upper limit number to be passed to the user is confirmed. A client for executing an information search process by an information search apparatus having a process for transmitting a document that has an upper limit number and deletes the document exceeding the upper limit number together with the distribution registration location and distribution conditions, and a document that does not exceed the upper limit number Is a recording medium on which a readable program is recorded.

  The invention according to claim 29 is an input process for inputting a document to be provided to the user to the information providing server, a distribution registration place for distributing the document to the user, and a distribution for distributing to the user. The condition is input by the input means, the distribution condition and distribution registration location are passed to the information providing server via the server, the document is passed to other clients, and the existence of the upper limit number to be passed to the user is confirmed. An information retrieval process is executed by an information retrieval apparatus having a process for sending and sending a document that exceeds the upper limit number, and a document that does not exceed the upper limit number is issued and sent. A recording medium on which a program readable by a client for recording is recorded.

  [Operation] According to the invention described in claims 1 to 11, the user can perform a search on the condition of a physical distance range from the place where the user has registered. In addition, the search for documents to be provided to the user can be done by simply searching for the name of the facility or place searched within the range that matches the geographical conditions as a keyword. The system can be realized with a simple mechanism without requiring a prior work process such as classifying registered documents. This also means that the existing document DB can be used without requiring any special work.

  Further, according to the first to eleventh aspects, the user can perform a search on the condition of a physical distance range from a place where the user has registered. In addition, the search for documents to be provided to the user is simply performed using the name of the facility or place searched within the range that matches the geographical conditions as a key. The system can be realized with a simple mechanism without requiring a prior work process such as classifying registered documents. This also means that the existing document DB can be used without requiring any special work.

  According to the inventions according to claims 4, 5, 10, and 11, the user is conditional on the distance and time required from the place of interest or residence that he / she has registered, or a route such as a path that he / she often takes. Related information can be acquired. Also, the user can acquire related information on the condition of the distance and the time required from the place of interest or residence registered by the user, or on the route such as the path that the user frequently passes.

  According to the inventions of claims 12 to 20, not only the user can obtain information asynchronously but also continuously change his / her position and area condition, and according to it, the search result of geographically related information in real time You can get it.

  According to the invention described in claims 21 to 26, the information provider side can add geographical distribution conditions, and according to the conditions, it is possible to provide geographically related information such as advertisements of actual stores to nearby users. become.

  According to the invention described in claims 21 to 26, the information provider side can specify the document distribution conditions in more detail, and can provide the user with geographically related information.

  According to the invention described in claims 12 to 20, 27, and 31 to 36, even for a user who moves in real time in a virtual space or a real space, the information provider side is related to the position of the user by specifying a condition. Information can be provided.

  According to the invention described in claims 31 to 49, it is possible not only to have a user in a specific place but also to provide information with a limited number of information provisions. It can be provided as information.

  According to the first to eleventh aspects of the present invention, a user who is a client can perform a search on the condition of a physical distance range from a location registered by the user. In addition, the search for documents to be provided to the user is simply performed using the name of the facility or place searched within the range that matches the geographical conditions as a key. The system can be realized with a simple mechanism without requiring a prior work process such as classifying registered documents. This also means that the existing document DB can be used without requiring any special work. Further, the user has the same effects as described above regardless of the classification at the time of document registration on the information provider side.

  According to the invention described in claims 23 to 29, regardless of the classification at the time of document registration on the information provider side, the user desires the physical distance range from the place where he / she has registered according to a predetermined condition. Search within range. In addition, the search for documents to be provided to the user is simply performed using the name of the facility or place searched within the range that matches the geographical conditions as a key. The system can be realized with a simple mechanism without requiring a prior work process such as classifying registered documents. This also means that the existing document DB can be used without requiring any special work.

  According to the inventions of claims 12 to 20 and 34 to 37, the client can not only obtain information asynchronously, but also continuously change his / her position and area condition, and according to the geographically related information, Search results can be acquired in real time.

  According to the invention described in claims 21 to 24, 28, 31 to 49, the client can distribute the document to the user by specifying the document distribution condition in more detail on the information provider side, and the user can You can enjoy providing related information.

  According to the first to twelfth aspects of the present invention, the user can perform a search on the condition of a physical distance range from a place where the user has registered. In addition, the search for documents to be provided to the user can be done by simply searching for the name of the facility or place searched within the range that matches the geographical conditions as a keyword. The system can be realized with a simple mechanism without requiring a prior work process such as classifying registered documents. This also means that the existing document DB can be used without requiring any special work. Further, the user can easily use the system regardless of a complicated system configuration and the operation of the system for searching.

  According to the inventions according to claims 4, 5, 14 to 19, 23 to 25, and 28 to 29, in addition to the above-described operation, the user is conditioned on the distance from the place of interest that he / she has registered, and the required time. Or related information can be acquired on the condition of a route such as a path through which the user often passes. Further, the user can easily use the system regardless of the complicated system configuration and the operation of the system for searching.

  According to the inventions according to claims 12 to 20, 27, and 31 to 36, not only the user can obtain information asynchronously, but also the location and area conditions are continuously changed, and geographically related information accordingly. The search results can be obtained in real time. Further, the user can easily use the system regardless of the complicated system configuration and the operation of the system for searching.

  According to the invention described in claims 21, 24, 28, 30 to 49, it becomes possible for the information provider side to specify the document distribution conditions in more detail and to provide geographically related information to the user. Moreover, since the user can observe the inside of the store with a free stroll in a certain area and a realistic update according to the user's preference, it can be enjoyed with a more realistic virtual reality feeling. Further, the user can easily use the system regardless of the complicated system configuration and the operation of the system for searching.

  According to the inventions of claims 28 and 30 to 49, the information provider side adds geographical distribution conditions and provides geographically related information such as advertisements of actual stores to nearby users according to the conditions. Is possible. The information provider can provide a more detailed service to the user, or provide a service to the user according to the timing of a product such as seasonal limitation, and the user can respond to the user's preference, Since you can observe the store in a free walk and a realistic update in a certain area, you can enjoy it with a more realistic virtual reality feeling. Further, the user can easily use the system regardless of the complicated system configuration and the operation of the system for searching.

  According to the invention described in claims 30 to 49, in addition to the above-described operation, the information provider side adds a geographical distribution condition, and provides geographically related information such as an advertisement of an actual store in the vicinity according to the condition. This can be done for any user. In addition, information related to the user's position can be provided to a user who moves in real time in a virtual space or a real space by designating conditions on the information provider side. Furthermore, it is possible not only to have a user at a specific place but also to provide information with a limited number of information provisions. For example, coupons with limited quantities can be provided as document information.

  According to the invention described in claims 30 to 49, information related to the user's position can be provided to the user who moves in real time in the virtual space or the real space together with the above-described action by the information provider side specifying the condition. Can be provided. In addition, it is possible not only to have a user at a specific place but also to provide information with a limited number of information provisions. For example, coupons with limited quantities can be provided as document information.

  As described above, according to the present invention, a map database is searched by a geographical region based on a user's registered place of residence or a point of interest (a point where information is desired). By searching the document database again based on the building names and place names that exist in the searched area, information related to the location registered by the user (location or starting point for obtaining information) can be easily obtained. Things will be possible.

  In addition, it is not necessary to determine in advance the registration location of documents included in the document database, and the existing database can be used in the system with a simple configuration. Furthermore, information can be acquired by specifying more detailed region conditions by appropriately combining information such as a straight line distance, a route region, and reachability as a geographical region search condition.

In addition, by combining with a means for the user to move in the virtual world or to acquire the current position of the user in the real world, the user can not only acquire information asynchronously, but also according to or accompanying the movement of the user Information can be acquired in real time.
For information providers, it is possible to provide geographical information that is convenient for the information provider side by adding geographical conditions for information distribution to information that provides advertisements, etc. It can be carried out.

  In addition, by combining information based on information such as straight distance, route area, and reachability with information distribution conditions, specify more detailed geographical conditions, such as targeting areas within 15 minutes on foot from the store. Thus, it is possible to search for information and provide information.

  Furthermore, by combining with a means for the user to move in the virtual world or to obtain the current position of the user in the real world, not only information is provided asynchronously, but information is provided in real time as the user moves. You can do it.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data registered into user place preference DB103 of 1st Embodiment by this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the structural example of 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the rule stored in area | region condition rule DB201 of 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data registered into user place preference DB103 of 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a model diagram which shows the search object area | region at the time of designating a path | route area | region as area | region conditions in 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the user interface of 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the other structural example of 5th Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the further another structural example of 5th Embodiment. It is a figure which shows an example of the other structural example of 6th Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of 6th Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 7th Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example which divided the structure of 7th Embodiment of this invention into the 1st client, the server, and the 2nd client. It is a figure which shows an example of the other structural example of 8th Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of 8th Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 9th Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 10th Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of 10th Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 11th Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 12th Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of 12th Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 12th Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the apparatus structure of the server or client used for this invention.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described by way of embodiments of the present invention with reference to the drawings.
<First Embodiment> As shown in FIG. 1, the first embodiment of the present invention includes a place condition input means 101, a user management means 102, a user place preference DB 103, a map DB 104, and a map information search means. 105, a document DB 106, a document DB search unit 107, a document notification unit 108, a reception unit 109, and a display unit 110.

  For example, in this embodiment, as described in the second embodiment below, the client and the server are divided, and the client may be configured to include at least the location condition input means 101, the receiving means 109, and the display means 110 as clients. it can. In some cases, the display unit 110 or the reception unit 109 may be omitted, and in this case, the display unit 110 or the reception unit 109 may be included in one of these two units. The server has at least map information search means and document DB search means. The user management unit 102 and the user place preference DB 103 can be configured to be included in either or both of the client and the server.

  When the user management means 102 and the user location preference DB 103 are included in the server, as shown in FIG. 1, the client is connected to the user location preference DB (database) 103 via the user management means 102, and this DB Is connected to the map information search means. When the user location preference DB 103 is included in the client, the client is connected to the map information search means 105 via the user management means 102, and the map information search means 105 is connected to the document DB search as shown in FIG. It is connected with the means 107. The map information search means 105 and the document DB search means 107 are connected to the map DB and the document DB, respectively.

  In the first embodiment of the information providing apparatus according to the present invention (preferably a neighboring information providing apparatus for searching in a specific neighboring area based on a certain point), the system includes location information having position information, and identification From the map DB that holds the area name that sets the area within a specific distance from the location and holds the facility name on the map and / or the connection relation information such as the facility connected to the road together with the coordinate information, the facility information and / or Map information search means for extracting location information; and document DB search means for receiving facility information and / or location information from the map information search means and extracting documents to be provided to the user using the information as a keyword. ing. Such a facility is not particularly limited as long as it is available to the user. In addition to the facility, the connection information includes natural places such as beaches, parks, and mountainous areas.

  The place condition input means 101 used to configure the information search apparatus according to the present invention includes user place preference information having place information where the user lives or is interested, and geography at the time of information search. The area condition indicating the target range is registered. The user management unit 102 manages the ID for each user, assigns the user ID to the user location preference information and the region condition received from the location condition input unit 101, and registers the user ID in the user location preference DB 103. The user place preference DB 103 holds the user place preference information and geographical search conditions together with a user ID. The map DB 104 holds facility names, place names, and road connection information on the map together with coordinate information.

  The map information search means 105 receives the user place preference and the area condition from the user place preference DB 103, and searches the map DB 104 for the name of the facility or place that matches the condition. The document DB 106 holds a document provided to the user. The document DB search unit 107 receives the name of the facility or place as a search result from the map information search unit 105, and searches the document DB 106 for a corresponding document using it as a keyword. The document notification unit 108 presents the retrieved document to the user.

  The operation of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the user who uses the information providing apparatus separately or combines place preference information, which is information including his / her address or whereabouts, a place where he / she wants to obtain information, and the like by the place condition input unit 101. And register. Various methods can be used for this registration method. In the present invention, for example, the user inputs an address of a corresponding place (such as a user address or an address and an area where the user wants to obtain information). From the display means 110 (including any display means such as a liquid crystal screen such as an LCD, a plasma display, an EL element screen, and a cathode ray tube) displaying a map or the like on which at least a place to be registered is displayed, the location is directly displayed to the user using the interface. Can be converted into latitude / longitude information from the pointed location by a known method, and this latitude / longitude information can be acquired as location preference information. Such an interface can be used without limitation as long as it can input the user's intention, and includes an input device including a pointer (which can input an intention display by a part of the user's body: for example, input by viewpoint, finger Input, voice input, etc.).

  Further, the location condition input means 101 also inputs a region condition for limiting the geographical search range of the information to be provided if the user determines that it is necessary at the same time as the location information registration. The input method of this information is the same as the location information (preference information having position information, hereinafter referred to as location information). For example, the search range is expressed as a character string such as “within a radius of 500 m” from the registered location preference information. Also good. As another method, a certain point is pointed, and at least one distance range from the point is displayed on the display means, and the user selects and inputs this by a conversation method, or the user defines the position. Can be input through an interface (including information input by a pointer from the display screen. Also, the user's current position information or the like is obtained directly or indirectly by a terminal). In addition, it is possible to appropriately adopt a method such as inputting numerical information indicating a distance by a conversation method or selecting a user from a plurality of displayed candidates.

  The above is explained in further detail as follows. Here, an example with reference to FIG. 2 is shown. As shown in FIG. 2, an example is given in which the location condition input means 101 receives data “5 7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo” as location information and “within a radius of 500 m” as an area condition. . The location information used in the present invention is composed of attribute data such as “location name” and “latitude / longitude” as shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. As described above, the location information is a system in which the user searches for the land information that the user wants to obtain using the information providing apparatus according to the present invention by inputting the location information (a certain point or a certain area). . Then, the user only has to input location preference information including location information and region information via some input means. The location information used at this time is the “location name”, “latitude / longitude” exemplified above. It is not limited to only attribute data such as “”. That is, if the user points to a certain area by some method, the data is included in the location information used in the present invention. Then, it is only necessary to input at least one of the attribute data constituting such location information, or a combination thereof.

  Information input by the place condition input unit 101 is sent to the user management unit 102. The user management means 2 preferably manages necessary user IDs for each user in order to distinguish users who use the system. In order to prevent illegal intrusion of the current user's ID on the system side (server side or server), for example, by going through a procedure of logging in to the system using an ID and password issued for each user. In order to access the server, means for connecting to the server via a password or other illegal intrusion prevention means can be provided separately from the server. This means can be acquired independently of (not shown))). In the user management unit 102, the current user ID is added to the location information and the area condition from the location condition input unit 101 and registered in the user location preference DB 103.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of a data format registered in the user location preference DB 103 when the ID of the current user is “1234” and the data exemplified above is input. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the user location information and area condition information are composed of attributes of “location name”, “latitude / longitude” (above, location information), “user ID”, and “area condition”. . Further, at least one of the attribute values of “location name” and “latitude / longitude” may be described. As described above, the place preference information includes the place information and the area information. However, the place preference information may not include the area information.

  In this embodiment, the attribute name “location name” shows an example in which address information input using text data as character information is stored. However, any data format may be used as long as it is character information. But the style is not limited. Further, as described above, when location information is input on the map with points or the like, instead of “location name”, for example, “north latitude 35 degrees 38 minutes 45 seconds east longitude 139 degrees 45 minutes 5 seconds” Information as the “latitude / longitude” attribute is stored. In this case, as described above, a value input by a pointer may be converted into latitude / longitude information by a known method, or may be input as character information as described above. it can. Note that the user may directly input these, but when inputting via location condition input means such as a portable terminal, the current position of the user can be received on the server side, In this way, the user can execute a search without directly inputting the user position.

  Further, the “area condition” included in the place preference information is not an essential item, and if no condition is specified, the search can be executed according to the area condition prepared in advance on the system side. For example, the “region condition” may be set so that a search is performed within this range by setting a threshold value around a certain point as the origin and centering on this origin. Further, this threshold value may be a single value such as a radius centered on the origin, or a plurality of threshold values may be set such that a rectangular range is provided centering on the certain point described above. Furthermore, it is possible to appropriately set a certain point as a reference, such as setting within n meters on the east side from this point. It is also possible to set an area including a certain point (addresses such as city, town, n-chome, etc.) or to set all areas adjacent to this area. Such setting is not particularly limited and can be freely defined. For example, an example of such a region condition is shown in FIG. As shown in this figure, the area conditions are: linear distance (range centered on a certain point), route (specified range from a certain point as a base point, specific range from this route), reachability (on foot) Range specification, transportation fee, time required, etc.).

  Here, as described above, for example, according to the example shown in FIG. 2, the data stored in the user place preference DB 103 is an example of a data format represented by a pair such as a user ID of the attribute name and 1234 of the attribute value. Can be mentioned. For example, according to FIG. 8, the attribute name is the item name (or data name) of the X name, Y city, Z town 2-3 of the attribute value with respect to the place name of the attribute name, and the attribute value is the item. It can be expressed to represent a specific value or data value of a name (data name). In the present invention, a general relational database system can be used as means for realizing the user place preference DB 103. That is, a database schema is defined with each attribute as a field, and one place preference information (including at least one of place information and area condition) of a user is expressed by one record. In this case, even when the user designates a plurality of places and conditions, it can be handled by registering a plurality of records having the same user ID or by making a series of data. In accordance with a normal relational database, these can execute operations such as selection, combination, separation, etc., as appropriate, or can be executed by combining these operations as appropriate. The range of this relation (association) is not limited to those related by, for example, related concepts using a dictionary function or the like, but also includes concepts that are closely related to each other in the region. You can also. It should be noted that in the present invention or the embodiment including the present embodiment, other possible systems in which such relations or operations are executed may be used instead of the relational database system, or other relational databases and other possibilities may be used. Various databases or systems may be combined as appropriate. The process described so far is the process until the user registers his / her place preference information.

  On the other hand, in the present invention, the map information search means 105 operates independently of the process of registering the user's place preference information described above. First, the map information search unit 105 searches the user place preference DB 103 and acquires place information and area conditions for each registered user ID. In the case of this embodiment, as described above, “5-7 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo” is obtained as the location information of the user whose user ID is “1234”, and “within a radius of 500 m” is obtained as the area condition. Next, a search using the map DB 104 is performed for a map area that satisfies this condition. Here, the map DB 104 stores building names, place names, and the like listed on a general map together with position information, and is a database that is generally used in a system called a geographic information system (GIS). It can be realized with the equivalent. In other words, in the present invention, any database can be used as long as it can search map data by specifying a geographical condition such as a linear distance, an adjacent relationship, or a rectangular area. .

  The map information search means 105 searches the map DB 104 and acquires a list of building names and place names existing in the target area, and also store names. For example, as a result of an area search “within a radius of 500 m” from “5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo”, the names “Tamachi Station”, “NEC”, “Tamachi Library” and “Shiba 4 Minato-ku, Tokyo” Area information such as an address or facility name such as “Chome” is included in this list. The map information search means 105 passes these search result lists to the document DB search means 107 together with the user ID. This area information includes character information.

  The document DB search unit 107 uses the search result received from the map information search unit 105, and preferably performs a search for the document DB 106 using the character information included therein as a search keyword. The document DB 106 stores documents to be presented to the user and can be searched using keywords. Such a document DB can be searched, has no limitation other than having geographical information, and can be used in any database. It is also possible to search using a page on the WWW (world wideweb). In this case, by finally presenting the page on the WWW or the URL address of the page to the user, the search function in the document DB search unit 107 is used, and a search is executed by using an existing web page search engine. You can also Furthermore, in the present invention, it is possible to search by appropriately combining these.

  The document DB search unit 107 passes the search result obtained as a result of the search as described above to the document notification unit 108 together with the user ID. At this time, the information can be extracted when the keyword used in the keyword search and the keyword recorded in the document DB completely match. The condition can be displayed by a known percentage display, for example, to notify the user. The document notification means 108 notifies the corresponding user of the retrieved information with reference to the user ID. The means for notifying is not limited, and for example, e-mail or fax may be used, or notification may be made directly on the website. It is also possible to notify when the user next uses the system. The notification is preferably notified directly on the website.

  For example, in the present invention, an example of information search when such an information providing apparatus is used can be shown by the flowchart shown in FIG. The example shown in this flowchart shows only an example when the information providing apparatus according to the present invention is used.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 3, the user's location information and area conditions are input by the location condition input means 101 and registered in the user location preference DB 103 (steps S101: 101 → 102 and 102 → 103 (only numbers here) ) Represents the figure number, and so on.)) This registration can be entered at any time by the user in advance. Next, the map information search unit 105 reads the registration information from the registered user for each user ID, and acquires the location preference information and the area condition (step S102: 103 → 105). And it searches using map DB from the acquired information and the acquired area | region conditions (step S103: 104-> 105). Thus, a list of building names, place names, store names, etc. is acquired (step S104). This list is transferred to the document DB search means 107 together with the user ID (105 → 107), and the document DB search means 107 searches the document DB using the character information included therein (step S105). : 106 → 107). The obtained result is transferred to the notification means 108 (107 → 108) and notified to the user via the reception means (step S106: 108 → 109). By this notification, the user can receive (receive) the search result directly or via some medium from the information providing apparatus according to the present invention, and view (preferably display it on the display means). Thus, in this embodiment, user recognition / confirmation (step S100), location preference information / region condition registration (step S101), geographical information / related document extraction (steps S102 to S105), and user notification ( Step S106). As described above, when the user location preference DB is on the client side, the ID input from the user can be performed after the above-described step S101. Such ID confirmation can be set at any time. The user ID to be used is not limited to character information such as numbers and kanji characters, and may be any user ID such as a voice print or a fingerprint that can be identified. In this way, the user ID may be any means that can be determined as a specific individual. For example, an individual (individual) can be recognized and confirmed by reading a difference in physical changes such as electrical, magnetic, and optical. it can. Such user IDs can also be used in other embodiments. If the place preference information stored in the place preference information DB includes common place preference information with other people, share the common information and associate the user ID information with the shared portion. In addition, in this way, the storage capacity of the user location preference DB can be compressed, thereby making it possible to omit the search time.

  By doing so, the user can acquire information by limiting the physical distance range from the location where he / she has registered. Further, since the user does not need any preprocessing for the document DB, it can be realized with a simple configuration. Moreover, an existing database can be used, or used together for search, etc. in combination.

  <Second Embodiment> In the first embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, an example in which all the components except the receiving means 109 and the display means 110 are on the server has been described. In the second embodiment, the client and server are separated as described in the section of the first embodiment. Such a configuration example is shown in (1) and (2) of FIG. As shown in these drawings, the client and the server are connected via a line (wired and / or wireless line). As a client, it has place condition input means 101, receiving means 109, and display means 110. The server also includes a user management unit 102, a user location preference DB 103, a map DB 104, a map information search unit 105, a document DB 106, a document DB search unit 107, and a document notification unit 108. .

  As the server, a DB (database) such as a map DB and a document DB exists independently (separated) from the client and the server without being included in the server, and is organically connected to the client and / or the server via a line. It can also be connected. That is, the server only needs to include the map information search unit 105 and the document DB search unit 107. Since the document notification means 108 is preferably on the server side, it is desirable to have at least the map information search means 105, the document DB search means 107, and the document notification means 108 as a server. This can be similarly adopted in other embodiments.

  Furthermore, in the second embodiment, the client can be configured to include a location condition input unit 101, a user location preference DB 103, a reception unit 109, and a display unit 110 as a client. The operation flow of this embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment except that the order of step S101 and step S100 is switched. Note that the map DB 104 and the document DB 106 may be configured to be used via a network.

  Further, the user management unit 102 can be held independently of the server, and can be connected to the server of the main body after collating with the ID data from the client as the user. That is, in the second embodiment, each DB (database) may be configured to be used when there is an access from the server side or the client side. For example, when the user location preference DB is not included in the server and exists independently, it can be accessed after collating the ID data of the client recorded in the user management means. In addition, when this access is performed, the user location preference DB 103 and the server of the main body can be configured not to repeat the collation from the user management means, and after the collation independently, between the server and the client It is also possible to connect the user place preference DB 103 via the Internet. As described above, the DB shown in the second embodiment is configured to be substantially included on the server side, or connected via the Internet or the like, and configured to exist substantially independently. It is also possible to do. This also applies to the embodiments described below. For example, when the configuration shown in (1) of FIG. 4 is adopted, the above step S101 is performed from the client location condition input unit 101 to the user management unit 102 of the server. Thereafter, the processing up to step S105 is performed in the server, and step S106 is performed by the client reception unit 109 from the document notification unit 108 of the server.

  When the configuration shown in (2) of FIG. 4 is adopted, the difference from (1) of FIG. 4 is that step S101 is processing in the client (101 → 103), and the other processing is the same. Will be. However, the user ID is confirmed after step S101.

  <Third Embodiment> Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. In the third embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the map information search means 105 used in the first embodiment includes a place condition analysis means 202, a straight distance range area calculation means 203, and a route area calculation means 204. And the reachable area calculation means 205 and the map area search means 206, and the location condition analysis means 202 and the location condition input means are connected to the area condition input means DB.

  Accordingly, a function that can specify a route, a required time, and the like as the place condition is further added to the function of the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 5, the area condition rule DB 201 holds area condition rules that can be specified by the user.

  The map information search means 105, which is a component of the first embodiment, receives location information and area conditions (for example, at least one of distance, route, time, and fee from a location) from the user location preference DB 103. . The above-mentioned “distance from a certain place” is the same as the region condition described in the first embodiment. The “route” is used as a concept including a continuous area such as a road including one or more places. The term “time” is used in all meanings related to a time in which conditions are restricted, such as a certain fixed time and a certain time starting from a certain time. Further, “charge” is used to include a charge spent on everything. For example, a traffic fee, an entrance fee, a participation fee, and the like are included as fees, and for example, a fee calculated according to certain conditions such as a guide fee and a service fee is also used for the meaning of “fee”.

  In the present embodiment, the location condition analysis means 202 refers to the rule information registered in the area condition rule DB from the received location information and area conditions, analyzes the contents thereof, and corresponds to each area calculation means. Is given place preference information consisting of place information and area conditions. The straight distance range area calculation means 203 receives the place information and the area condition from the place condition analysis means 202 when the straight distance range is designated as the area condition, and obtains the area of the designated distance radius around the designated place. calculate. In the description of the present embodiment, the description will be made within a range in which the linear distance is a radius. However, in the linear distance range area calculation unit 203 used in the present embodiment, the above-described “distance from a certain place” is used. It can also be calculated.

  Further, when a route is designated as the region condition, the route region calculation unit 204 receives the location information and the region condition from the place condition analysis unit 202 and calculates the region along the designated route. The reachable area calculation means 205 receives location information and area conditions from the location condition analysis means 202 when reachability conditions (for example, “time” and “fee”) are designated as area conditions, A reachable area is calculated according to the condition. The map area search means 206 receives area information from the straight distance range area calculation means 203, the route area calculation means 204, and the reachable area calculation means 205, and is included in the map area using the map DB 104. Search for building names, place names, store names, etc.

  The point configured in the third embodiment as described above is a difference (difference) between the first embodiment and the second embodiment. One or more area conditions are passed to one or more area calculation means of the place condition analysis means 202, straight distance range area calculation means 203, route area calculation means 204, and reachable area calculation means 205. May be. Therefore, the data transmitted from the area calculation means 203 to 205 may be output from one of the means, or may be output independently from two or more of the means. Even when data is input to and / or output from these means, it can be set freely.

  Next, the operation of the third embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, the process until the user registers his / her location information and area conditions is the same as in the first embodiment. However, the location condition input means 101 reads the type of rule from the area condition rule DB 201 and presents the area condition options to the user (presents the input condition) in order to be able to specify a plurality of area conditions. The area condition rule DB 201 holds types of area conditions that can be selected by the user and their phenotypes. FIG. 6 shows an example of rules held in the area condition rule DB 201. As shown in this example, it defines how each condition is expressed in accordance with the type of condition. For example, when reaching conditions by walking are specified, “within walking $ X minutes” The area condition is described in the form of “within 10 minutes on foot” according to the definition of the area condition expression, and the information of one point is stored as the attribute value of the place name or latitude / longitude by the information of “point” of the place expression. It is stipulated. Here, the description “$ X” indicates that it is a variable on the rule. When a route is designated as an area condition, the character string “route designation” is stored as the area condition, and information on multiple places is stored as a place name or latitude / longitude attribute value. Is stipulated.

Hereinafter, a case where the user with the user ID “5678” designates the following three types of place conditions (conditions 1 to 3) via the place condition input unit 101 will be described as an example.
Condition 1 (straight line distance): “Within 500 meters radius”
Condition 2 (Route): Route condition 3 (reachable) from “X Prefecture Y City Z Town 1-3-3” to “X Prefecture Y City Z Town 5-6-7”: “X Prefecture Y City Z "Town 15-minute walk" from "Machi 1-chome 2-3"
FIG. 7 shows an example of data stored in the user place preference DB 103 when these conditions 1 to 3 are designated. Next, the map information search means 105 reads the location conditions as shown in FIG. 7 stored in the user location preference DB 103 for each user ID (or for each user), and maps the building names and place names on the map according to the conditions. Search from the DB 104 and pass to the document DB search means 107. In this process, the difference from the first embodiment is that different area calculation means as shown in FIG. 5 to 203 in FIG. 5 are used for each type of area condition in order to process a plurality of location conditions. Is a point. To explain the above in detail, first, the place condition analysis means 202 of the map information search means 105 sets the place conditions as shown in each row of FIG. 7 stored in the user place preference DB 103 from the place preference DB 103 for each user ID ( Or for each user), from the condition type (field field) of the read location condition, the area condition type is distinguished by referring to the area condition rule DB 201 to determine whether the area condition type is a straight line distance, a route, or a reachability. In the case of distance, it is passed to the straight distance area condition calculation means, and the user ID and the location condition result are passed to the corresponding area calculation means according to what. Similarly, the “route” in condition 2 and the “reachability” in condition 3 are the conditions of other areas, respectively, and the location condition result together with the user ID data is sent to the route area calculation means or reachable area calculation means, respectively. hand over. Location Representation In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, there are three types of area calculation means: a linear distance range area calculation means, a route area calculation means, and a reachable area calculation means.

  When the area condition of the read place preference information is a condition that defines a straight distance range as in the condition 1, the straight line distance range area calculating unit 203, which is one of the area calculating units, calculates the map area from the place condition. Perform the calculation process. For example, the place name information is converted into latitude / longitude information using the map DB 104 from the place name information indicated by “X prefecture Y city Z town 1-chome 2-3”. The circular area data indicating “within” is transferred to the map area search means 206 together with the user ID.

  If the read area condition is a condition that defines a route such as Condition 2, the map area calculation process is performed by the route area calculation unit 204, which is another area calculation unit. For example, a route passing through a plurality of points given as region conditions is calculated, and a set of rectangular regions having a predetermined width along the route is passed to the map region search unit 206 together with the user ID as a search target region. FIG. 8 schematically shows a search target area based on the area condition in the case of the condition 2 described above. A region that is a distance of a predetermined width d along the calculated route is a search target region. The value of the width d does not have to be a constant value for all routes. For example, the road width through which the calculated route passes is defined as a reference and, for example, 1.5 times the reference road width is defined as d. You can also search.

  Various known methods can be employed for calculating the route, but a route search system such as that used in a car navigation system may be used. As a result, it is possible to obtain route information between a plurality of points. When the area condition of the read location preference information is a condition that defines the reachability as in the condition 3, the reachable area calculation unit 205 performs a map area calculation process. Here, the following processing is performed according to given conditions.

  For example, in the case of condition 3, the distance that can be reached by “15 minutes on foot” is calculated (for example, it can be calculated because the standard of human walking speed is 4 km / h. Not only this walking speed but also age etc. or geography Taking into account the general conditions (for example, the undulations of the land) or the average time when crossing the road, and further, the map DB is used to read the undulations of the land and take this undulation into account to calculate the walking speed, ) By associating this calculated value with the road connection information possessed by the map DB 104, the registered location “Y city, Z city, 1-chome 2-3,” “15 minutes on foot. A set of routes that can be reached under the condition “ For the set of routes, as performed by the route region calculation unit 204, a rectangular region having a predetermined width along the route is set as a search target region and passed to the map region search unit 206 together with the user ID.

  In addition, as conditions for indicating reachability, fare (fare including all transportation systems such as buses, taxi trains) and required time (walking, bicycles, motorcycles, motorcycles, automobiles, etc.) It is also possible to set or search according to the required time required. For example, it is possible to calculate (search) an area (for example, a rectangular area) along a route that can be reached under given conditions by using timetable data issued by a transportation facility or the like and map data. Next, the map area search means 206 is a place that is map area data to be searched from at least one of the map DB 104, the straight distance range area calculation means 203, the route area calculation means 204, or the reachable area calculation means 205. When the preference information is received, the map DB 104 is searched to obtain a list of building names and place names existing in the target area, and further the names of shops. Since this process performs the same processing as that described in the first embodiment, description thereof is omitted. After this processing, the processing performed by the document DB search means 107 and the document notification means 108 is the same as that described in the first embodiment, and this description is also omitted.

  By doing so, the user can make conditions based on the distance, travel time, fare, etc. from the places he / she is interested in and where he / she has registered, and the routes he / she often takes or the route he / she wants to search. As a condition, related information can be acquired. In this way, the user can acquire related information on information about a place where a search result is to be obtained, starting from a specific (arbitrary) point or within a certain range from the route.

  That is, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 10, the place condition input means 101 reads a list of area condition types and expression formats from the area condition rule DB 201 and presents the area conditions to the user (first client). (Step S201: 201 → 101). The user inputs necessary conditions and the like by referring to the presented area condition, and registers the place preference information including the place information and the area condition (step S202: 101 → ( 102 →) 103). Next, the map area search unit 206 extracts the stored location conditions for each user ID from the user location preference DB 103 (step S203). From the extracted place conditions, the place condition analysis means 202 refers to the area condition rule DB (201 → 202), and the area conditions of the place preference information input by the user are classified into three. In the present embodiment, the area condition is classified into one of three of a linear distance range area, a route area, and a reachable area (step S204: 202 → 203, 202 → 204, or 202 → 205). One). There may be one or more area conditions input from the user. These area conditions are three as described above, and are calculated by 203 to 205 as shown in FIG. 8 (Step S205 to Step S207: In this calculation, the area calculating means At least one of them refers to the map DB: at least one of 104 → 203, 104 → 204 or 104 → 205). The result is passed to the map area search means 206 (step S208: at least one of 203 → 206, 204 → 206 or 205 → 206). The map DB is searched using this result (104 → 206).

  Thereafter, the result is notified to the user in the same manner as in steps S104 to S106 of the first embodiment. As described above, the flow of this embodiment includes the same user recognition / confirmation as in the first embodiment (step S100), area condition presentation (step S201), location preference information / area condition registration (step S202), It consists of classification of area conditions included in the place preference information (steps S203 to S208) and user notification (step S209). In this embodiment, the user ID is confirmed in the same manner as in the first embodiment. However, in this embodiment, this confirmation may be performed before the step S201 or immediately after this step. Although it is general, it may be performed appropriately thereafter. For example, if the user location preference DB 103 is included as a component as a client as shown in FIG. 4 and the user management means 102 is on the server side, preferably the confirmation of the user ID is immediately after step S201, When both the user location preference DB 103 and the user management unit 102 are not included as clients, it is often performed when connecting to a so-called server before step S201.

  In this embodiment, just like the first embodiment, in addition to the configuration of the third embodiment described above, the client described in the second embodiment and the server can be separated. That is, only the map information search means 105 and the document DB search means 107 are configured on the server, and the remaining place condition input means 101, user management means 102, user place preference DB 103, map DB 104, document DB 106, and document notification means 108 are provided. For example, it is configured as a client on a terminal owned by a user and configured to use a DB group on a server via a network.

  The server may include a map DB 104, a map information search unit 105, a document DB 106, and a document DB search unit 107, and may include a location condition input unit 101 and a user location preference DB 103 as clients. As the client, the location condition input means 101, the user place preference DB 103, and the document notification means 108 are configured, and as the server, connected to the map information search means 105 via the user management means 102, this map information search means 105 is further connected to the document DB search means 107, the map information search means 105 and the document DB search means 107 are connected to the map DB 104 and the document DB 106, respectively, and the document DB search means 107 is Via the Internet or other line to the client It is configured to be connected.

  Further, the location condition input means 101, the receiving means 109, and the display means 110 are configured as clients, and the map information searching means 105 is connected as a server to the map information searching means 105 via the user management means 102. Is connected to the document DB search means 107, and the map information search means 105 and the document DB search means 107 are connected to the map DB 104 and the document DB 106, respectively, and the document DB search means 107 is connected to the user place preference DB. Document notification means 108 is connected. The receiving means 109 is always on the client side. In some cases, the display means 110 may not be provided. Further, the document DB search means 107 can be configured to be connected to a client via a line such as the Internet. The user location preference DB 103 may exist as another server. Further, the user management unit 102 can be held independently of the server, and can be connected to the server of the main body after collating with the ID data from the client as the user.

  That is, in the third embodiment, each DB (database) may be configured to be used when there is an access from the server side or the client side. For example, when the user location preference DB is not included in the server and exists independently, it can be accessed after collating the ID data of the client recorded in the user management means. In addition, when this access is performed, the user location preference DB 103 and the server of the main body can be prevented from repeatedly performing collation from the user management means. It is also possible to connect the user place preference DB 103 between clients via the Internet. As described above, the DB shown in the first embodiment is configured to be included on the server side, or configured to be connected via the Internet or the like, and configured to exist independently of the server. Is also possible as in the second embodiment. In the present embodiment, the area condition rule DB is newly added. However, it may be configured to be included on the server side. In this case, as described above, in step S201, the server side From 201, a process of presenting area conditions by the client 101 is added as a new process. Others are the same as those in the first embodiment or the present embodiment.

  Further, the configuration of the map information search means 105 used in the third embodiment can be similarly used in the map information search means 105 of the following embodiments. Also in the third embodiment, as described in the sections of the first and second embodiments, in addition to the above-described configuration, for example, only the map information search means 105 and the document DB search means 107 are installed on the server. It is also possible to adopt the configuration and configure the rest on the client side, and other server configurations and client configurations can be employed.

  <Fourth Embodiment> Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Compared with the first to third embodiments, the fourth embodiment has a function of providing the user with information that matches the location conditions while acquiring the location and area conditions specified by the user in real time. Furthermore, it is added. Referring to FIG. 10, the fourth embodiment obtains a place designated by the user in real time instead of the place condition input means 101 and the user place preference DB 103, as compared with the first to third embodiments. A location acquisition unit 301, a user position holding unit 302, and an area condition designating unit 303. The location acquisition unit 301 acquires a location designated by the user in real time. The user position holding unit 302 acquires the user location information and the user ID from the location acquisition unit 301 through the user management unit 102, and holds the information in combination. The area condition specifying unit 303 specifies an area condition in real time for the user's current position.

  Next, the operation of the fourth embodiment will be described. The place acquisition means 301 is a means for acquiring a place designated by the user in real time or virtual (virtual). For example, on a terminal (including a terminal such as a mobile phone, a device such as a personal computer that can be connected to the Internet and other devices that can be connected to the Internet: the same applies to other embodiments), a map (a flat two-dimensional map or a three-dimensional map) 3D map), and the user moves the pointer indicating his / her position displayed on it or confirms or inputs the current location to acquire the position of the user that changes every moment. it can. Moreover, it is possible to acquire a user's position in real time by means, such as the said pointer, that a user moves within the three-dimensional display which reproduced the actual scenery. Further, the user's current position can be acquired in real time using a GPS (Global Positioning System: including D-GPS) device, for example, instead of explicitly specifying the position. . It should be noted that the user can change the user by changing the current position by inputting the current position virtually every moment virtually by the location input means 101 used in the first embodiment or the like. By sequentially acquiring the position on the server side, the information search result can be notified to the user side according to the position change information of the user position presented by the user side or the like.

  In this embodiment, the user management unit 102 adds an ID for each user to the user location information from the location acquisition unit 301 and passes it to the user location holding unit 302. The user position holding means 302 holds (stores) the position of the user received from the user management means 102, and the map information search means 105 whenever a new position is notified from the location acquisition means 301 through the user management means 102. Notify user location. As a method for expressing the user's position, for example, it can be expressed by displaying latitude and longitude. On the other hand, the area condition designating unit 303 obtains a list of types of area conditions that can be used from the area condition rule DB 201 and their expression formats, and presents them to the user. The user inputs an area condition via the area condition specifying means 303 using the template of the expression format. The area condition input from the user is sent to the map information search means 3. Thereafter, the processing in the map information search means 105, the document DB search means 107 and the document notification means 108, and the operation in the reception means 109 and the display means 110 are the same as those in the first to third embodiments. .

  That is, the map information search means 105 receives the current position of the user from the user position holding means 302 and the area condition specified by the user from the area condition specifying means 303, and searches the area on the map according to the place condition. Then, a building name or a place name included in the area is obtained. Next, the document DB search means 107 searches the document DB 106 using this information, and the obtained search results are presented to the user via the document notification means 108 and the reception means 109. Here, the difference from the first to third embodiments is that the processing from the map information search unit 105 to the document notification unit 108 is performed in real time every time a new user position is notified from the user position holding unit 302. The point is that processing is performed.

  FIG. 11 shows an example of a user interface according to the fourth embodiment, in which a means using three-dimensional display is used as the place acquisition means 301. This screen is displayed when the user who accesses the system designates a place where the user wants to visit, for example, by pointing a point on a planar map using a pointer or by directly entering an address or the like. It is a screen. The user indicates his / her position with this pointer while moving around the space of the landscape display screen on the left three-dimensionally displayed by the user position pointer. The landscape display screen at this time corresponds to the location acquisition unit 301.

  The input field described as the area condition in the upper right place condition designation screen corresponds to the area condition designation unit 303. Here, the three-dimensional display of the cityscape as displayed in the landscape display screen is, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 8-16930 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-167678) “determining three-dimensional numerical data from stereo image data. Method ". As shown in this gazette, three-dimensional data of terrain is acquired by stereo matching (acquiring corresponding points of left and right images) based on images obtained from aerial photographs or satellite data (digital), etc. Then, by processing this by a publicly known method such as the official gazette, a three-dimensional display of the cityscape can be obtained. In the present invention, such processing can be performed by a conventional method. However, this processing is not performed. For example, for a place where the user is likely to visit, information on the place is stored in advance, and when a visit instruction based on a pointer instruction requested by the user is input The stored information can be appropriately extracted and displayed on the screen. By doing as described above, the user can continuously change his / her position and area condition, and can acquire a search result of geographically related information in real time accordingly.

  In the present embodiment, for example, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 12, when the current position changes from moment to moment, the user obtains the current location of the user by the location acquisition unit 301. (Step S301). The user management unit 102 adds a user ID to the acquired current location of the user and passes it to the user position holding unit 302 (step S302). The user position holding means 3 holds the user position received from the user management means 102, and notifies the map information search means 105 of the user position whenever the user position is updated from the location acquisition means 301 (step S303). Independently of this, the area condition designating unit 303 obtains a list of area conditions and expression formats from the area condition rule DB 201 and presents them to the user (step S304). With reference to these presented lists, the user inputs region conditions. The input device used for input may be a so-called terminal or any form, and is not limited. In this way, the user's current position and the area condition from the user are obtained, and the map information search unit 105 acquires the search result of the list using the map DB 104 (step S306). The list includes building names, area names, store names, place names, and other geographical information as described above. A keyword is extracted from the acquired results, and the document DB 106 is searched using the keyword (step S307 (step S105)). Thereafter, the user is notified in the same manner as in step S106 of the first embodiment (step S308 (step S106)). In the flow of this embodiment, the user recognition / confirmation of the first embodiment is not described in the flow. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13, the flow includes user position detection (steps S301 to S303), region condition presentation (steps S304 to S305), and geographic information search / related document extraction (steps S306 to S306). S307) and user notification (step S308).

  As described above, in the description of the fourth embodiment, the case where all the components are on the server has been described as an example.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the position of the user changes from moment to moment in reality has been described. However, in the case where the position of the user changes in a virtual manner, this embodiment can also be realized. In the form of the location condition input means 101, the user updates the user position one after another, and the user place preference DB updates the data to the map information search means 105 from time to time, and the map information search means 105 updates it. The map DB is searched one after another based on the user position, and the keyword is extracted for each of the plurality of results based on the information obtained from the plurality of results, and the document DB search means 107 according to each keyword. Then, it can also be realized by retrieving a document from the document DB in the same manner as described above. Note that other embodiments such as the third embodiment can be similarly realized.

  <Fifth Embodiment> In the fifth embodiment, the configuration of the fourth embodiment is divided into a client and a server similar to those of the second embodiment. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13A, the client includes a location acquisition unit 301, an area condition designation unit 303, a reception unit 109, and a display unit 110. Then, as a server, user management means 102, user position holding means 302, map DB 104, map information search means 105, document DB 106, document DB search means 107, document notification means 108, and area condition rule DB 201 And have.

  In the fifth embodiment, user position holding means 302 can be further provided as shown in FIG. In FIGS. 1A and 1B, the map DB 104, the document DB 106, and the area condition rule DB 201 are configured not to be included in the server and the client, and these DBs (databases) are connected via lines. , Connected to servers and / or clients.

  In some cases, the area condition rule DB 201 can be provided on the client side by downloading or the like. When such an area condition rule DB 201 is accessed with, for example, a server, it is automatically downloaded and updated to the latest area condition. You can also As shown in the fifth embodiment, as in the first embodiment, the server is configured by the map DB 104, the map information search means 105, the document DB 106, the document DB search means 107, and the area condition rule DB 201, and the client The location acquisition unit 301, the user management unit 102, the user position holding unit 302, the area condition designation unit 303, and the document notification unit 108 can be configured on a terminal held by the user.

  As described above, as shown in FIGS. 13 to 14, the client has a location acquisition unit 301, a user position holding unit 302, and a document notification unit 108 as a client, and a user management unit 102 as a server. The map DB 104, the map information search unit 105, the document DB 106, the document DB search unit 107, the area condition rule DB 201, and the area condition designation unit 303 are configured. In this configuration, the configuration described in the section of the present embodiment, the user management unit 102, and the user position holding unit are reversed. With such a configuration, the user ID confirmation for confirming the user is preferably performed after registration in the user location preference DB. Other operations are performed in the same manner as described in this embodiment.

  Further, as the configuration of the present embodiment, for example, the location acquisition unit 301 and the user location preference DB document notification unit 108 are configured as a client, and the map information search unit 105 is configured as a server via the user management unit 102. The map information search means 105 is further connected to the document DB search means 107. The map information search means 105 and the document DB search means 107 are connected to the map DB 104 and the document DB 106, respectively. The document DB search means 107 can be configured to be connected to a client via a line such as the Internet. Further, the map information search means 105 is connected to a specified area condition specifying means 303 for the user to specify an area condition in real time for his current position. The means 303 is accessible to the area condition rule DB. The user location preference DB 103 may exist as another server.

  The user management unit 102 may be independent from the server, and after collating with the ID data from the client client, the user management unit 102 may be connected to the main server. That is, also in the fifth embodiment, as in the first embodiment, each DB (database) may be configured to be used when there is an access from the server side or the client side. Further, for example, when the user position holding means 302 is not included in the server and is connected to the server or the client via the Internet, for example, it is accessed after collating the ID data of the client recorded in the user management means. It can also be done. In addition, when this access is performed, the user location preference DB 10b3 and the server of the main body can be prevented from repeatedly performing collation from the user management means. It is also possible to connect the user place preference DB 103 between clients via the Internet. In this way, the DB shown in the first embodiment is configured to be substantially included on the server side, or connected via the Internet or the like, and configured to exist substantially independently. It is also possible to do.

  The operation of the fifth embodiment is the same as that of the fourth embodiment. If the client and the server are configured in the example shown in FIG. 13A, the processing on steps S301 and S304 is performed on the client side, and the configuration shown in FIG. 13B is adopted. In addition to the above process, the process of step S303 is added. When the configuration shown in FIG. 14 (1) is adopted, the processes of steps S301 and S304 are performed, and when the configuration shown in FIG. 14 (2) is adopted, the process of step S301 is performed. . The remaining steps described above are performed on the server side.

  <Sixth Embodiment> Next, a sixth embodiment of the (neighboring) information providing apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. Compared with the first to fifth embodiments described above, the sixth embodiment further includes a function that allows a document providing side to specify conditions for providing document information to a user. As shown in FIG. 15, the sixth embodiment has no map information search unit, document registration unit 401, document registration location index 402, document distribution condition DB 403, map / user, compared to the first embodiment. The difference is that the search means 404 is included. In the document registration unit 401, the information provider registers a document to be provided to the user in the document DB. The document registration location index 402 holds the correspondence between a document and its distribution registration location. The document distribution condition DB 403 holds conditions for distributing documents to users. The map / user search unit 404 reads a location where a document is registered from the document registration location index 402 instead of the map information search unit 105 of the first embodiment, and the corresponding document from the document distribution condition DB 403. The user location preference DB 103 is searched using these two pieces of information, and a list of users registered within a geographical range that matches the conditions is acquired.

  Next, the operation of the sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described. First, document information to be provided to a user such as an advertisement is stored in the document DB 106 by the information provider via the document registration unit 401. At this time, the information provider simultaneously registers a distribution registration location for determining a geographical location where the user wants to distribute his document information and a distribution condition for distributing the document information to the user. The document registration unit 401 issues a single document ID determined for the document information to be registered, the ID / distribution registration location pair in the document registration location index 402, and the document ID / distribution condition pair as Register in the document distribution condition DB 403.

  These pieces of information respectively correspond to the user's place preference information and area conditions in the first embodiment, and the description format is, for example, a place name for a distribution registration place, a specific point (for example, input by a pointer, etc.), The same thing as what was demonstrated in 1st-3rd embodiment, such as a store name and the value of the latitude longitude, can be used. For example, assume that a certain store registers a specific location “5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo” as the distribution registration location of the advertising document A of the store and “within a radius of 1000 meters” as the distribution condition. This presents an advertisement document A (document information advertisement A) to a user who has registered location preference information within a radius of 1000 meters centered on “5-7-1 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo”. Means that. On the other hand, the location preference information of a plurality of users is stored in the user location preference DB 103. Since the process of storing this information is the same as that described in the first embodiment, a description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the map / user search means 404 performs processing in the following procedure.
(1) A document ID and document distribution registration location information are acquired from the document registration location index 402, and a document distribution condition corresponding to the document ID is acquired from the document distribution condition DB 403.
(2) An area to be distributed is determined based on the acquired distribution registration location and distribution conditions.
(3) On the condition of the determined area, the user place preference DB 103 is searched to obtain a list of user IDs that register their place preference information (having at least place information) in the area.
(4) The acquired user ID list is notified to the document DB search means 107 together with the document ID.

  Here, whether or not the area condition is met is determined by converting a user's favorite place and document distribution registration place into latitude and longitude, and calculating a numerical value necessary for the condition judgment such as a straight line distance. This can be realized by using the functions of. Further, when a part of the route selected by the user passes through the area, it may be determined that the area condition is met. In this case, as will be described later, the user can obtain information from the information provider by means of a digital communication means including a banner advertisement, electronic mail, or the like, or by fax.

  The document DB search means 107 receives a document ID and a list of user IDs to be notified of documents from the map / user search means 404, searches the document DB 106 for a document corresponding to the received document ID, and stores the contents. The document ID is passed to the document notification unit 108 together with the list of user IDs.

  The operation of the document notifying unit 108 is exactly the same as that of the first embodiment, and the delivered document is notified to the target user by, for example, an e-mail or a WWW site by referring to the user ID. As described in the first embodiment, the notification means is not particularly limited. As described above, the notification means can be obtained on the WWW site, by e-mail or other digital communication means, or by fax, etc. It is also possible to notify the document content by a banner advertisement or the like when accessing the system.

  For example, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, the information provider as the second client registers, in the document DB 106, document information having a distribution registration location where the information is desired to be distributed and a distribution condition to the user (first client) via the document registration unit 401 ( Step S407: 401 → 106). Thereby, the document registration unit 401 issues a document ID (step S408). The document ID and document distribution registration location are registered in the document registration location index 402 (step S409: 401 → 402), and the document ID and distribution conditions are registered in the document distribution condition DB 403 (step S410: 401 → 403). . At this time, the document ID is encoded or encrypted to protect the document information, or when the document has a threshold as a distribution condition or has a distribution deadline, only the document is deleted. Such a program can be added to this document.

  Independent of the registration, the map / user search unit 404 acquires the document ID and distribution registration location information from the document registration location index 402. Further, the map / user search unit 404 acquires the document distribution condition from the document distribution condition DB (step S401: 403 → 404). At this time, preferably, if there is a medium such as a document or coupon that has an upper limit or threshold value according to the document distribution conditions, it is confirmed (step S420), and the upper limit value or threshold value is exceeded. In the case (step S430), distribution of a document or coupon having an upper limit value or threshold value is stopped (step S440). In the present embodiment, steps S420 to S440 can be omitted.

  Next, after determining the area to distribute the document (step S402), the user place preference DB 103 is searched using the decided area as a condition, and a user ID list in which the preferred place is registered is acquired (step S403: 103 → 404). . The acquired user ID list is notified to the document DB search means 107 together with the document ID (step S404: 404 → 107). Next, the document DB search unit 107 receives the document ID and the user ID list from the map / user search unit 404, and searches the document DB using the document ID (step S405: 106 → 107). This search result is passed to the document notification means 108 together with the user ID list. (Step S406: 107 → 108). The subsequent steps are the same as the operation of the document notification means, that is, performed in the same manner as step S106 of the first embodiment, and description thereof is omitted here (step S407 (step S106)). The flow of this embodiment includes user recognition / confirmation (same as step S100), location preference information / region condition registration (same as step S101), document distribution stop (steps S401, S420 to S440), information provision It can be divided into input (steps S407 to S410), map information / related document extraction (steps S403 to S406), and user notification (step S407).

  By doing so, it is possible for the information provider side to add geographical distribution conditions and provide geographically related information such as advertisements of actual stores to neighboring users according to the conditions. Become. As described above, in the description of the sixth embodiment, an example in which all the components are on the server has been described. The server is configured by a user location preference DB 103, a map DB 104, a document DB 106, a document registration unit 401, a document registration location index 402, a document distribution condition DB 403, a user management unit 102, and a map / user search unit 404, and on a terminal owned by the user In addition, the location condition input unit 101, the document DB search unit 107, and the document notification unit 108 can be configured as clients.

  <Seventh Embodiment> The seventh embodiment is characterized in that the sixth embodiment is divided into a client and a server. As shown in FIG. 17, the client includes a place condition input unit 101, a user place preference DB 103, a receiving unit 109, and a display unit 110. The server includes a user management unit 102, a map DB 104, a document DB 106, a document DB search unit 107, a document notification unit 108, a document registration unit 401, a document registration location index 402, a document distribution condition DB 403, It comprises a map / user search means 404. In the present embodiment, the map DB 104, the document DB 106, and the document distribution condition DB 403 may be provided outside the server, and these DBs may be connected to the client and / or server via a line.

  The operation of the seventh embodiment is the same as that of the sixth embodiment. However, in the seventh embodiment, in step S403, the user ID is sent from the user location preference DB 103 in the client to the map / user search unit 404 in the server, and in step S407, the document notification unit 108 is used by the server. The retrieved document information or the like is transmitted to the receiving means on the client side. In the flowchart of FIG. 16, the other steps are mainly steps in the server. In the seventh embodiment, the configuration of the sixth embodiment is divided into the client and the server. However, as shown in the figure, the first client (user: map information is obtained by the information search device of the present invention). It is also possible to divide it into a person who searches and obtains it), a server, and a second client (a person who provides information to the user via the server).

  Such a first client can have the same configuration as the client of the present embodiment. Further, as the server configuration, the same configuration as that of the server of this embodiment can be adopted except that the document registration unit 401 is omitted. The second client has a document registration unit 401. In this case, when compared with the operation in the seventh embodiment, the document registration means is included in the second client. Therefore, steps S407, S409, and S410 are performed between the second client and the server. It becomes an exchange. Note that the second client may further include a document input unit 409 and a display unit 410. The document input unit 409 and the display unit 410 can be provided when a configuration including a document registration unit is employed.

  Also in this embodiment, each DB (database) is configured to be used when accessed from the server side or the client side (at least one of the first client and the second client). May be. For example, when the user location preference DB is not included in the server and exists independently, it can be accessed after collating the ID data of the client recorded in the user management means. In addition, when this access is performed, the user location preference DB 103 and the server of the main body can be prevented from repeatedly performing collation from the user management means. It is also possible to connect the user place preference DB 103 between clients via the Internet. As described above, the DB shown in the seventh embodiment is configured to be substantially included on the server side, or connected via the Internet or the like, and configured to exist substantially independently. It is also possible to do.

  <Eighth Embodiment> Next, an eighth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The eighth embodiment is expanded so that more detailed document distribution conditions can be specified compared to the sixth embodiment. As shown in FIG. 19, the eighth embodiment further refines the map / user search unit 404 of FIG. 15, and the area condition rule DB 201, the place condition analysis unit 202, the linear distance range compared to the sixth embodiment. The difference is that it includes an area calculation unit 203, a route area calculation unit 204, a reachable area calculation unit 205, and an in-area user search unit 501.

  Next, the operation of the eighth embodiment will be described. First, the process of registering the distribution condition in the document distribution condition DB 403 and the process of registering the location in the document registration location index 402 using the document registration unit 401 by the document information provider is an area for registering the document distribution condition. Except with reference to what is registered in the condition rule DB 201, this is the same as that described in the sixth embodiment. Further, the document distribution condition and the registered place are also associated with the area condition and the place preference information in the third embodiment, respectively, and each expression format is the same as in the second embodiment. Furthermore, the process until the user's place preference information is registered in the user place preference DB 103 is the same as that described in the operation explanation part of the third embodiment.

  Next, a list of users matching the distribution conditions is acquired by each module (each unit) constituting the map / user search unit 404. The operations of the place condition analysis means 202, the straight distance range area calculation means 203, the route area calculation means 204, and the reachable area calculation means 205 are the document distribution conditions corresponding to the area conditions in the third embodiment and the place preference as input information. Except for receiving the document distribution registration location and document ID corresponding to the information, this is the same as that described in the third embodiment. In other words, an area that matches the conditions is calculated using the registration location and distribution conditions of the given document ID, and the calculated information is transferred to the in-area user search means together with the document ID.

  The in-region user search means 501 is a map on the map that satisfies the document distribution condition from any one or more of the straight distance range area calculation means 203, the route area calculation means 204, and the reachable area calculation means 205. Receive region information. The in-region user search means 501 performs a geographical search using the user location-oriented DB 103 and the map DB 104 as a condition, and registers the location preference information at points included in the region. A list of IDs is acquired and passed to the document DB search means 107 together with the document ID. A search using a map area as a condition can be realized by using the function of the geographic information system, as described in the sixth embodiment. The subsequent operations in the document DB search unit 107 and the document notification unit 108 are the same as those described in the sixth embodiment.

  That is, as shown in FIG. 22, the information provider (second client) registers necessary distribution documents via the document registration unit 401 in the same manner as in the fourth embodiment. That is, the document information having the distribution registration location and the distribution condition to the user is registered in the document DB 106 (step S504 (step S407: 401 → 106)). When registered, the document registration unit 401 issues a document ID (step S505 (step S408)). The issued document ID and document distribution registration location are registered in the document registration location index 402, and the document ID and document distribution conditions are registered in the document distribution condition DB 403 (step S506: 401 → 403 (step S409). ) And step S507: 401 → 402 (step S410)). As a result, the current location of the user is updated and utilized in step S503.

  Independent of the above steps, the place condition input means 101 reads a list of area condition types and expression formats from the area condition rule DB 201 and presents the area conditions to the user (step S501: 201 → 101 (step S201). )). The user who has received this presentation registers the place preference information / area condition by the place condition input means 101 (step S502: 101 → (102 →) 103 (step S202)). This registration method is the same as described above. As input information, the location condition analysis unit 202 acquires a document distribution condition, a document distribution registration location, and a document ID (step S503: 202 in 403 → 404, 202 in 402 → 404 (step S203)). Next, processing is performed in the same manner as in steps S204 to S208 as in the sixth embodiment (corresponding to steps S508 to S512, respectively: step 509: 202 → 203, step S510: 202 → 204, step S511: 202 → 205). And step 512: at least one of 203 → 501, 204 → 501 and 205 → 501), and the subsequent processing corresponds to steps S403 to S406 of the sixth embodiment and step S106 (step S517 of the first embodiment). ) (See, for example, step S515: 106 → 107, step S516: 107 → 108, step S517: 108 → 109). In this embodiment as well, as in the other embodiments, the registered document, location preference information, etc. to the user are preferably notified in combination, but may be notified separately in some cases. it can.

  By doing so, it becomes possible for the information provider side to specify the document distribution conditions in more detail and to provide geographically related information to the user. Thus, in the flow of the present embodiment, the description of step S100 of the first embodiment is omitted. This user recognition / confirmation is generally performed before and after condition input / registration (step S502) after condition presentation (step S501), but is not limited thereto and can be performed at any time. In the present embodiment, the flow of the eighth embodiment includes the user recognition / confirmation, the condition presentation, the condition input / registration, the distribution document stop (steps S520 to S540), and the area condition extraction calculation (step S508). S512), information provision input by the second client (steps S504 to S507), map information search / related document extraction (steps S513 to S516), and user notification (step S517).

  Also in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 23, the configuration of the client and the server as described in the section of the fourth embodiment can be adopted.

  <Ninth Embodiment> In the ninth embodiment, as shown in FIG. 21, the configuration shown in the eighth embodiment is divided into a first client, a server, and a second client. It is in. The first client includes a place condition input unit 101, a user preference DB 103, a receiving unit 109, and a display unit 110. The server includes a user management unit 102, a map DB 104, a document DB 106, a document DB search unit 107, a document notification unit 108, a document registration location index 402, a document distribution condition 403, a map / user search unit 404. And have. The second client has a document registration unit 401. This 401 can have user input means 409 and display means 410 as in the seventh embodiment. The operation of this embodiment is the same as that of the eighth embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, a configuration of a client (user) and a server can be employed. In this case, the configuration of the second client is included in the server. Furthermore, as shown in the section of the fourth embodiment, a configuration in which at least one of each database can be connected to a server and a client (at least one of a first client and a second client) via the Internet is adopted. You can also When such a configuration in the present embodiment is configured as shown in FIG. 21, the basic flow does not change as described in the operation of the eighth embodiment, but in the present embodiment, FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, since the first client, the server, and the second client are configured, step S501 is output from 106 in the second client to 101 in the first client, and step S503 is performed. Includes output from 403 in the server to 202 in the server. Similarly, step S504 is output from 401 in the second client to 106 in the server, and step S506 is output from 401 in the second client to the server in the server. Step S508 includes output from 201 in the server to 202 in the server, and step S508 includes 13 is an output from the 103 in the first client to the 404 through 102 in the server, also step S517 is output to the 109 in the first client from the 108 in the server. For access at different times such as between the server and the client via a communication line such as the Internet, basically exchange for access permission is performed. Further, in the case of passing through the above-described 102, as in the case of output from the output source 103 to the output destination 404, the conditions of the destination 102 through which the output source information does not change at all. Moreover, as a matter of course, regarding a configuration requirement that does not relate to the information, a configuration that is naturally interposed may be adopted. Then, as in the difference between the previous embodiment and the present embodiment, 103 and 102 can be interchanged, and thus such interchange is possible as long as the above-described conditions are preserved between other configuration requirements. It is. Such a condition is similarly applied to other embodiments.

  <Tenth Embodiment> FIG. 22 shows the configuration of the tenth embodiment. The process from the place acquisition unit 301 to the output of the user position holding unit 302 is the same as in the fourth embodiment. That is, the location acquisition unit 301 is a unit that acquires a location designated by the user in real time. For example, a map is displayed on a terminal (same as the section of the fourth embodiment), and the user moves using a pointer indicating his / her position displayed on the map, or confirms the current location of the user. Thus, the position of the user that changes from moment to moment can be acquired. Moreover, it is possible to acquire a user's position in real time by means of the pointer or the like that the user moves within a three-dimensional display that reproduces an actual landscape instead of a two-dimensional plane map. Further, the user does not explicitly specify the position by using an input means such as a pointer, but uses the GPS (Global Positioning System: including D-GPS) device, for example, to determine the current position of the user in real time. It is possible to obtain.

  The user management unit 102 adds an ID for each user to the user location information from the location acquisition unit 301 and passes it to the user location holding unit 302. The user position holding unit 302 holds the current positions of a plurality of users together with user IDs, and unlike the third embodiment, the user position holding unit 302 does not sequentially transmit the user position information to the map / user search unit 404, and When there is a request from the user search means 404, position information is transmitted for the first time. On the other hand, an information provider (second client) registers document information such as an advertisement via the document registration unit 401 together with the document distribution registration location and distribution conditions through the same process as in the sixth to ninth embodiments. . For example, when registering information that limits the number of users by providing coupon tickets (medium for providing services by electronic information, etc.), the upper limit number of users receiving the information to be provided is set. The document ID is transferred to the notification user management unit 601 through the document registration unit 401 together with the document ID. The input means for registering such a document is not particularly limited, and can be appropriately selected on the server side or can be appropriately selected by the second client.

  Next, the map / user search unit 404 reads the document registration location and distribution condition for each registered document ID from the document distribution condition DB 403 and the document registration location index 402, and lists user IDs that match the target area condition. To get. This process is the same as in the fourth and fifth embodiments, but in this embodiment, the location information of the user to be searched is not registered in advance, and the information providing apparatus system according to the present invention is used. The difference is that the current location of the user is changing in real time. Also in this embodiment, the user can virtually change the user position from moment to moment by sequentially inputting data in which his / her position is virtually changed. In this case, as described in the section of the fourth embodiment, the place acquisition means 301 and the user position holding means 302 used in this embodiment are replaced with the place condition input means 101 and the user place preference DB 103, respectively. Can be achieved.

  Next, the document DB search unit 107 receives a list of user IDs and document IDs from the map / user search unit 404, searches the document DB 106 for a corresponding document, and sends a document content, a list of user IDs, and a document ID to the document notification unit 108. To pass. The document notification unit 108 first passes a list of document IDs and a user ID as a notification destination to the notification user management unit 601, and notifies the user of the corresponding document as in the fifth embodiment.

  The notification user management unit 601 records a list of document IDs and user IDs from the document notification unit 108 for each document ID. In addition, when the upper limit of the number of information provisions or the distribution period (seasonally limited, limited period: including short-term and long-term limited periods such as bargain sales) is set in advance, the upper limit number is notified and user management means 601 is notified. Is received from the document registration unit 401 and managed for each document ID. Then, the notification management unit 601 from the document registration unit 401 compares the distribution numerical value of the document ID managed for each received document ID, and if the distribution numerical value matches the upper limit number, the notification management unit 601 sends a document deletion unit. You will be notified.

  The document deletion unit 602 receives the notification of the document ID from the notification user management unit 601 and deletes the distribution condition and distribution registration location information of the corresponding document ID from the document distribution condition DB 403 and the document registration location index 402, respectively. As described above, information related to the position of the user can be provided to the user who moves in real time in the virtual space or the real space by designating the condition on the information provider side. In addition, it is possible not only to have a user at the place but also to provide information with a limited number of information provisions. For example, coupons with limited quantities can be provided as document information.

  Such a case will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The information provider (second client) registers the document information with the document distribution registration location and distribution conditions added (step S605). It is determined whether or not there is a condition for the upper limit number of distribution for this registered document (step S606). If there is, the notification user management means 102 is notified of the document ID and the upper limit number for distribution (step S606). In this case, the process proceeds to step S604.

  Further, the location acquisition unit 301 acquires the current location of the user (step S601). The user management unit 102 adds the user ID to the current location of the user and passes it to the user position holding unit 302 (step S602: 102 → 103). The user position holding means 302 holds the user position received from the user management means 102 and notifies the map / user search means 404 of the user position from the location acquisition means 301 every time the user position is updated (step S603). : 302 → 404). The map / user search unit 404 acquires the document distribution registration location and distribution condition for each registered document ID from the document distribution condition DB 403 and the document registration location index, and a list of user IDs that match the region condition (user ID) List) is acquired (step S604: 403 → 404 and 402 → 404). The document DB search unit 107 receives the user ID list and the document ID from the map / user search unit 404 (404 → 107), searches the document DB 106 to acquire the document, the document content, the user ID list, The document ID is transferred to the document notification means 108 (107 → 108) (step S608). The document ID and user ID list are passed to the notification user management unit 601 (step S609: 108 → 601).

  The notification user management unit records the document ID and the user ID list from the document notification unit 108 for each document ID (step S610). At this time, it is determined whether or not there is an upper limit on the number of information provision (step S611). If it exceeds (Yes in step S611), the document deletion unit 602 is notified, and if not exceeded (step S611). In step S611, No), the document notification unit 108 notifies the user. If the number of user IDs exceeds the upper limit (601 → 602), the document deletion unit deletes the document distribution condition and registration location information from the document distribution condition DB 403 and the document registration location index 402 (step S612: respectively). 602 → 403 and 602 → 402).

  If not, the user is notified (step S613: 108 → 109). In the flow of this embodiment, description of user recognition / confirmation (step S100) is omitted as in the above-described embodiment. In this embodiment, the user recognition / confirmation, user position detection (steps S601 to S603), distribution document suspension (notification of the upper limit number of distribution from step S605 to S604), and notification user management means from step S610 to S612 And a document by the document deletion means), an information provision input by the second client (step S605), a map map information search / related document extraction (steps S604 and S608), and a user notification (step S613). .

  In the above description of the tenth embodiment, it has been described by way of example that all the components are on the server. However, as shown in the following eleventh embodiment, the location acquisition unit 301, user management, Only the means 102, the document DB search means 107, and the document notification means 108 can be configured as a client, and the remaining components can be operated on the server.

  <Eleventh Embodiment> In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 24, the configuration of the tenth embodiment is divided into a first client, a server, and a second client, as described above. . Note that the second client may be provided on the server side, and the provision of information from the information provider (second client) to the user may be accepted via the information recording medium. The method of accepting information from such an information provider is not particularly limited, and can be similarly adopted in other embodiments, and can be accepted via a line.

  In this embodiment, the location acquisition unit 301, the reception unit 109, and the display unit 110 are included as the first client. As shown in FIG. 24, the server includes user management means 102, map DB 104, document DB 106, document DB search means 107, document notification means 108, document registration location index 402, and document distribution condition DB 403. , A map / user search unit 404, a notification user management unit 601, and a document deletion unit 602. The second client has a document registration unit 401.

  The operation of the eleventh embodiment is the same as that of the tenth embodiment, and the basic operation is the same as that of the eleventh embodiment. However, in this embodiment, the first client and the server And the second client and the configuration separated into three main parts, the operation of step S603 from 302 to 102 is the output from the first client to the server, and step S604 is changed from 403 in the server to the server. Step S604 includes the output of 403 in the second client to the output of 404 in the server. Similarly, step S607 changes from 401 in the second client to the output of 601 in the server. S612 includes the output from 602 in the server to 403 in the second client. In addition, it follows the description of the above embodiment.

  <Twelfth Embodiment> The twelfth embodiment corresponds to the case where there is no document deleting means as compared with the configuration of the tenth embodiment as shown in FIG. The other configuration is the same as that of the tenth embodiment.

  The operation of the twelfth embodiment is the same up to step S607 of the tenth embodiment, as shown in FIG. Thereafter, the notification user management unit 601 receives the upper limit number from the document registration unit 401 (step S620: 401 → 601). Next, the notification user management unit 601 obtains the document ID and user ID list from the document DB search unit, counts the number of users who have notified the document for each document ID (: 107 → 601), Compare the upper limit. When the count value exceeds the upper limit number, the notification user management means 601 distributes a medium that provides useful information or profits to the user such as a document, ticket, coupon ticket, etc. with the upper limit number. The notification is not instructed to the document notifying unit, and the document notifying unit does not notify the receiving unit of the document information for this reason (step S622).

  Other information is notified to the user in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and the process is terminated (step S623 (step S106)). In the flow of this embodiment, description of user recognition / confirmation (step S100) is omitted as in the above-described sixth embodiment. In the present embodiment, the user recognition / confirmation, user position detection (steps S601 to S603), distribution document suspension (notification of the distribution upper limit number from step S605 to S604), and notification user management means from step S620 to S622 And a document by the document deletion means), an information provision input by the second client (step S605), a map map information search / related document extraction (steps S604 and S608), and a user notification (step S613). .

  In this embodiment, all the device configurations described in the section of the tenth embodiment are possible as the device configuration.

  <Thirteenth Embodiment> This embodiment has the same configuration as the eleventh embodiment, and is different in that these are organically coupled via a line. That is, in this embodiment, the first client includes a server, a second client, and the first client includes a location acquisition unit 301, a reception unit 109, and a display unit 110. . The server also includes a user management unit 102, a map DB 104, a document DB 106, a document DB search unit 107, a document notification unit 108, an area condition rule DB 201, a document registration location index 402, and a document distribution condition DB 403. , A map / user search unit 404 and a notification user management unit 601.

  The second client is similar to the above, and has a document registration unit 401. The operation of the thirteenth embodiment is the same as that of the twelfth embodiment. Of the above steps, step S620 is performed except that exchange is performed between 401 in the second client and 601 in the server. Is the same as that of the previous embodiment, and is the same as the other embodiments.

  <Fourteenth Embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the first embodiment. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 28, the information providing apparatus includes a data processing device and a storage device, respectively, and a recording medium on which a program for realizing processing executed by the information providing device is recorded. Examples of such a recording medium include a magnetic disk, a semiconductor memory, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, and the like, and any other recordable medium is also included in the category of the recording medium. The recording medium described above may be one that can be stored permanently once stored, or it can be rewritable after storage, and can be stored temporarily. It may be a thing. There is at least one such recording medium.

  In the present embodiment, the data processing device of the information providing device according to the present invention is read from the recording medium as described above, and the data processing device generates at least map information search means and document DB search means. An input unit and a user management unit are generated. The data processing apparatus executes the same processing as the map information search means and the document DB search means in the first embodiment by the program for controlling this terminal. The map DB and the document DB may be generated in the storage device or provided as an external DB (database) that can be connected via a line as in the first embodiment. Also good. The concept of the “line” includes a bus such as USB or IEEE1394. Also, the location condition input means can be displayed on the terminal unit used from the device when the user accesses the information providing device according to the present invention. Alternatively, it may be provided on the information providing apparatus, and may be provided outside that can be connected by a line (wired or wireless), and is not limited. The flow of these processes is the same as that described in the first embodiment.

  <Fifteenth Embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the second embodiment. Also in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 28, the client and the server each include a data processing device and a storage device, and further a recording medium on which a program for realizing processing executed by each server or client terminal is recorded Is provided. Examples of such a recording medium include the same ones as described in the above embodiment.

  The program for controlling the client (user) is read from the recording medium as described above into the data processing device of the information providing device, and generates a location condition input means. When the user location preference DB is provided in the client, the DB is provided in the storage device of the client. Further, as the receiving means and the display means, those that are normally used may be used. Similarly to the client, a program for controlling the server is read from a recording medium into a data processing device of the information providing device, and generates at least map information search means and document DB search means in the device. Others are the same as those in the fourteenth embodiment.

  <Sixteenth Embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the third embodiment. Similarly to the fourteenth embodiment, this embodiment also has a configuration as shown in FIG. Furthermore, a recording medium on which a program for realizing processing executed by the information providing apparatus is recorded is provided. Such a recording medium is the same as that in the fourteenth embodiment.

  Also in the present embodiment, as in the fourteenth embodiment, the data is read from the recording medium as described above into the data processing apparatus of the information providing apparatus according to the present invention, and the data processing apparatus includes at least map information search means and document DB search means. And the location condition input means and the user management means are generated in the same manner as described above. Similarly to the above, the data processing apparatus also executes the same processing as the map information search means and document DB search means in the third embodiment by the program for controlling this terminal. The place condition input means is the same as that in the fourteenth embodiment, and the form used when the area condition input by such place condition input means is entered using a form is the area condition rule DB. It can be obtained by. This area condition rule DB is also provided in the same manner as the map DB and the like. The flow of these processes is the same as that described in the third embodiment.

  <Seventeenth Embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the fourth embodiment. As in the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 28, in this embodiment as well, the information providing apparatus includes a data processing device and a storage device as described above, and records a program for realizing the information providing process as described above. The same recording medium as described above is provided. The program for controlling the information providing apparatus is read from the recording medium into the data processing apparatus of the information providing apparatus in the same manner as described above, and the location acquisition means, user management means, user position holding means, area condition designation means, map information Retrieval means Each means such as a document DB retrieval means and a document notification means is generated in the same manner as described above, or is formed or updated by a data processing apparatus mutually accessing these means with a storage device. This substantially ensures the means. In some cases, the document notification means may be provided in association with a so-called communication unit having a function of communicating with the outside and a storage device. Others are the same as those in the fourteenth embodiment, and the processing flow is the same as in the fourth embodiment.

  <Eighteenth Embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the fifth embodiment. Also in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 28, the client and the server each include a data processing device and a storage device, and further a recording medium on which a program for realizing processing executed by each server or client terminal is recorded Is provided. This recording medium is the same as described above. As described above, the program for controlling the client (user) is read from the recording medium to the client of the information providing apparatus, and the areas of the location acquisition means 301 and the area condition specifying means 303 are generated in the client data processing apparatus. In some cases, the user position holding unit 302 and the user management unit 102 may be generated in the server. The recording medium used when the program is read into the client or the program recorded in the recording medium is obtained from a server-side recording medium, which will be described later, or the program client from the recording medium in the storage device of the server It is also possible to obtain a program related to the above operation by downloading it by accessing it.

  Similarly to the client, a program for controlling the server is read from the server recording medium into the server data processing device, and the user management unit 102, the user position holding unit, the map information as shown in FIG. A search unit 105 and a document DB search unit 107 are secured. Note that the map DB 104 and the document DB 106 may be provided in the storage device of the server as described above, or may be provided outside the server. The user position holding means may be generated or secured in either the server or the client. The receiving means and the display means are normally used as clients. The client is configured as shown in FIGS. 13 (1) and (2), or the area condition specifying means 303 and the user position holding means 302 are arranged on the server side as shown in FIGS. 14 (1) and (2). It can also be provided, and it can also be provided so that other configurations excluding the receiving means and the display means are on the server side. In addition, the said means is the same as that of the said 14th Embodiment, or can also be suitably provided in a client or a server similarly to the said 14th Embodiment.

  <Nineteenth Embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the sixth embodiment. As shown in FIG. 28, the information providing apparatus includes a data processing device and a storage device, respectively, and includes a recording medium that records a program for realizing processing executed by the information providing device. Such a recording medium is the same as described above.

  Also in the present embodiment, similarly to the above, the map / user search means 404 and the document DB search means 107 as shown in FIG. 15 are read from the recording medium into the storage device of the information providing apparatus according to the present invention and stored in the data processing apparatus. And the operation is controlled to generate the location condition input means 101 and the user management means 102 in the storage device. The data processing apparatus executes the same processing as the map / user search means and document DB search means in the sixth embodiment by the program for controlling this terminal. Furthermore, a document registration unit 401 for providing information from an information provider (including an advertiser) to the user is secured in the storage device. The map DB and the document DB may be generated in the storage device or provided as an external DB (database) that can be connected via a line as in the first embodiment. Also good. The concept of the “line” includes a bus line such as USB or IEEE 1394 as described above. Also, the location condition input means can be displayed on the terminal unit used from the device when the user accesses the information providing device according to the present invention. Alternatively, it may be provided on the information providing apparatus, and may be provided outside that can be connected by a line (wired or wireless), and is not limited. The document distribution condition DB and the document registration location index may be provided independently of the document registration unit, or may be provided in association with the document registration unit. The flow of these processes is the same as that described in the sixth embodiment.

  <20th Embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the seventh embodiment. Also in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 28, the client and the server each include a data processing device and a storage device, and further a recording medium on which a program for realizing processing executed by each server or client terminal is recorded Is provided. This recording medium is the same as described above. Similarly to the above, the program for controlling the client (user) is read from the recording medium to the client of the information providing device, and the location data input device 101 and the user location preference DB 103 are added to the client data processing device as shown in FIG. Generate. The recording medium used when the program is read into the client or the program recorded in the recording medium is obtained from a server-side recording medium, which will be described later, or the program client from the recording medium in the storage device of the server It is also possible to obtain a program related to the above operation by downloading it by accessing it.

  Similarly to the client, the server control program is read from the server recording medium into the server data processing device, and the user management unit 102, the map / user search unit 404, the document DB search unit 107, and the document document notification. Means 108 are generated. Note that the map DB 104 and the document DB 106 may be provided in the storage device of the server as described above, or may be provided outside the server. Further, the document registration unit 401, the document distribution condition DB, the document registration location index, and the like are the same as in the nineteenth embodiment, and the map DB and the document DB are also the same as in the nineteenth embodiment. The place condition input means is the same as described above.

  Further, when the present embodiment is configured as a first client, a server, and a second client as shown in FIG. 18, the second client is configured in the server of the present embodiment. When the configuration shown in FIG. 28 is adopted, the document registration means is configured, and when the configuration shown in FIG. 28 is adopted, the second client configuration is similar to that described in the section of the client of this embodiment. Means are configured. The flow of these processes is the same as that described in the seventh embodiment.

  <Twenty-first Embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the eighth embodiment. This embodiment also employs the configuration shown in FIG. Similarly to the above, the information providing apparatus of the present embodiment also includes a data processing apparatus and a storage device, and includes a recording medium that records a program for realizing processing executed by the information providing apparatus. The recording medium used is the same as described above.

  Also in this embodiment, the configuration is read from the recording medium as described above to the data processing apparatus of the information providing apparatus according to the present invention, and the configuration excluding the receiving means 109 and the display means 110 as shown in FIG. 19 is secured. At this time, for example, the data processing apparatus generates the location condition input means 101 and the user management means 102 under the same control as described above. Further, other configurations other than the receiving means 109 and the display means 110 shown in FIG. 19 are stored in the storage device or the data processing device so that each means executes the processing in the storage device. A program including the processing contents of each area calculation means is secured in the storage device, and the means is generated or secured so that the processing of the secured program is read and the data processing apparatus executes the processing. The method of generating or securing such means is the same in other embodiments. Others are the same as in the nineteenth embodiment. The flow of these processes is the same as that described in the eighth embodiment.

  <Twenty-second embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the tenth embodiment. Also in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 28, the client and the server each include a data processing device and a storage device, and further a recording medium on which a program for realizing processing executed by each server or client terminal is recorded Is provided. This recording medium is the same as described above.

  As described above, the program for controlling the client (user) is read from the recording medium to the client of the information providing device, and generates the location condition input means 101 and the user location preference DB 103 in the data processing device of the client. In some cases, the user management means 102 can be generated in the client. In addition, the client is the same as described above, and when the program is read into the client, it can be obtained in the same manner as described above, such as by using a server-side recording medium described later. The rest of the configuration is the same as the configuration shown in the first client in FIG.

  Similarly to the client, the program for controlling the server is read from the server recording medium into the server data processing device, and has a configuration as shown in the server of FIG. (For details, refer to the map / user search means in FIG. 19 as in the ninth embodiment), the document DB search means 107 and the like are generated or secured. Note that the map DB 104 and the document DB 106 may be provided in the storage device of the server as described above, or may be provided outside the server. The document distribution condition DB and the document registration location index can be configured in the same manner as in the twentieth embodiment. The receiving means and the display means are normally used as the first client. The second client can be configured as shown in FIG. 21 in the same manner as the first client, as in the twentieth embodiment. In addition, the configuration of the second client is the same as that of the twentieth embodiment, and the document registration unit 401 of the second embodiment can be generated or provided in the server.

  <23rd Embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the 10th embodiment. As shown in FIG. 28 in this embodiment, the information providing apparatus includes a data processing device and a storage device, and includes a recording medium on which a program for realizing processing executed by the information providing device is recorded. Such a recording medium is the same as described above.

  Also in this embodiment, it is read from the recording medium as described above into the data processing device of the information providing device according to the present invention, and the data processing device generates at least the map / user search means 404 and the document DB search means 107, Similarly, a location acquisition unit and a user management unit are generated or secured. The data processing apparatus executes the same processing as the map / user search unit 404 and the document DB search unit 107 in the tenth embodiment by a program for controlling this terminal. The map DB and document DB are provided in the same manner as in the fourteenth embodiment. Further, the place acquisition means can be generated or provided in the same manner as the place condition input means of the fourteenth embodiment. The flow of these processes is the same as that described in the tenth embodiment.

  <24th Embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the 11th embodiment. Also in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 28, the first and second clients and the server are each provided with a data processing device and a storage device, and further for realizing processing executed by each server or client terminal. A recording medium on which the program is recorded is provided. This recording medium is the same as described above. As described above, the program for controlling the client (user) is read from the recording medium to the client of the information providing apparatus, and at least the location acquisition unit 301 and the area of the area condition specifying unit 303 are generated or secured in the client data processing apparatus. To do. In some cases, the user position holding unit 302 and the user management unit 102 can be generated or secured in the server. Others are the same as described in the client of the fourteenth embodiment.

  Similarly to the client, the program for controlling the server is read from the server recording medium into the server data processing device, and the user management means 102, the map / user search means 404, etc. as shown in FIG. In the configuration shown in the server, other means for generating or securing are the same as those in the 20th to 22nd embodiments, or the same as those in the 20th to 22nd embodiments. Or it can provide suitably in a server.

  <25th Embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the 12th embodiment. Similarly to the above, this embodiment can adopt the configuration shown in FIG. In this manner, the configuration as shown in FIG. 25 can be secured in the apparatus having the configuration shown in FIG. 28 as in the fourteenth to twenty-fourth embodiments. The flow of these processes is the same as that described in the twelfth embodiment.

  <Twenty-sixth Embodiment> This embodiment is another method for realizing the information providing apparatus described in the thirteenth embodiment. The configuration of the apparatus shown in FIG. 28 is also adopted in this embodiment, and the configuration of the client, server or the first and second clients and server as shown in FIG. 24 is the same as that in the fourteenth to twenty-fifth embodiments. Generated or secured. The flow of these processes is the same as that described in the thirteenth embodiment.

  As described above, the information providing apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus for providing neighboring information adjacent to a place preferred by the user, and by providing such an apparatus, the user can satisfy his / her preference. In response, land information that you do not know can be obtained freely. In addition, such an apparatus according to the present invention has each configuration as described above, and when information search by such an information providing apparatus is performed, an operation is executed according to each flowchart described above. However, the program for executing such operations is configured to include geographic information retrieval and related document extraction as the main program, and this main program is created as another program as a subprogram or application software. May be.

  Further, in the present invention, the apparatus configuration may have each element as a whole system, and the client and server or the first client, the server, and the second client have necessary configurations, respectively. When the above is regarded as one system, it is only necessary that each element described above is included. For this reason, if the server and the client (at least one of the first client and the second client) are connected via lines (including wired and wireless), they are included in the present invention.

  Such a program that defines the operation of the entire system is, so to speak, acting on the entire system, and such a program is not limited to being stored in a specific medium, and may be any storage device or It can be transferred to a recording medium or downloaded. In addition, the program executed to use these devices is configured to include geographic information retrieval and related document extraction as a main program, but other programs may be added or the main program may be used as a subprogram. It can also be configured to be added to the program. As these subprograms (application programs), as described above, user position detection, information provision input by the second client, user recognition / confirmation, area condition presentation and area condition extraction calculation, user notification, and document distribution stop are the main programs. It can also be included. These main programs and individual subprograms can be obtained by downloading them via a line, either singly or in combination.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input device 3 Storage device 4 Output device 6 Recording medium 7 Data processing device 101 Location condition input means 102 User management means 103 User location preference DB
104 Map DB
105 Map information search means 106 Document DB
107 Document DB Search Unit 108 Document Notification Unit 109 Receiving Unit 110 Display Unit 201 Area Condition Rule DB
202 Location condition analysis means 203 Linear distance range area calculation means 204 Route area calculation means 205 Reachable area calculation means 206 Map area search means 301 Location acquisition means 302 User position holding means 303 Area condition specification means 401 Document registration means 402 Document registration place Index 403 Document distribution condition DB
404 Map / User Search Unit 409 (Document) Input Unit 410 Display Unit 501 In-Region User Search Unit 601 Notification User Management Unit 602 Document Delete Unit

Claims (18)

By computer
A location condition input step for inputting a location condition including information on a location in which the user is interested, and an area condition including at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a fee from the location indicated by the location condition;
The location condition and the region condition input in the location condition input step are input to a map DB that holds the facility name on the map together with coordinate information, and the facility location information that is information on the facility name and its location is extracted. A map information search step,
A document DB search step for searching for a document related to the keyword from a document DB holding the keyword and a document related to the keyword, using the facility location information extracted in the map information search step as a keyword;
A document notification step of presenting the document searched in the document DB search step to the user;
Information provision method to execute. By computer
A location condition input step for inputting a location condition including information on a location in which the user is interested, and an area condition including at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a fee from the location indicated by the location condition;
A user management step for managing a user ID for distinguishing a user who is using the user ID and associating the user ID with the place condition and the area condition;
A user place preference storage step for storing the place condition and the area condition associated in the user management step together with the user ID;
The location condition and the area condition stored in the user location preference storage step are input to a map DB that holds the facility name on the map together with the coordinate information, and the facility location information that is information on the facility name and the location is input. A map information search step to be extracted;
A document DB search step for searching for a document related to the keyword from a document DB that holds the keyword and a document related to the keyword, using the facility location information extracted in the map information search step as a keyword;
A document notification step of presenting the document searched in the document DB search step to the user corresponding to the user ID;
Information provision method to execute. By computer
When receiving a location condition including information on a location the user is interested in from the terminal and an area condition including at least one of the distance, route, time, and fee from the location indicated by the location condition, use A user management step of confirming the user by means of personal identification means to distinguish the user who is
The map which extracts the facility location information which is the information of the facility name and the location from the map DB which inputs the location condition and the area condition received in the user management step and holds the facility name on the map together with the coordinate information An information retrieval step;
A document DB search step for searching for a document related to the keyword from a document DB holding the keyword and a document related to the keyword, using the facility location information extracted in the map information search step as a keyword;
A document notification step of presenting the document searched in the document DB search step to the confirmed user;
Information provision method to execute. The map information search step includes a place condition analysis step, one or more region calculation steps, and a map region search step,
The location condition analysis step classifies the input area conditions by referring to the area condition rule DB that holds the types of area conditions and the expression format corresponding to the rule format.
The one or more area calculation steps calculate the area by inputting the area conditions classified in the place condition analysis step,
The information providing method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the map region search step searches the map DB using a calculation result output from at least one of the one or more region calculation steps. The region calculating step includes:
When a linear distance is specified as the area condition, a linear distance range area calculating step for calculating an area having a distance radius specified around a place specified by the place condition;
A route area calculating step for calculating an area along the specified route when a route is specified as the area condition;
When reachability conditions are specified as the area conditions, reachable area calculating step for calculating reachable areas according to the reachability conditions;
The information providing method according to claim 4, comprising at least one selected from: By computer
Acquiring a virtual or real user position in real time, causing the terminal to present a region condition including at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a charge from a location including the position acquired in real time; The area condition specified from the terminal is received, the area on the map is identified from the area condition, and the facility name and its location matching the area condition are stored from the map DB that holds the facility name on the map together with the coordinate information. A map information search step for searching facility location information, which is information;
A document DB search step for searching for a document related to the keyword from a document DB holding the keyword and a document related to the keyword, using the facility location information searched in the map information search step as a keyword;
A document notification step of presenting the document searched in the document DB search step to the user;
Information provision method to execute. On the computer,
A place condition input process for inputting a place condition including information on a place the user is interested in, and an area condition including at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a fee from the place indicated by the place condition;
The location condition and the region condition input by the location condition input process are input to a map DB that holds the facility name on the map together with the coordinate information, and the facility location information that is information on the facility name and its location is extracted. Map information search processing to
Document DB search processing for searching for a document related to the keyword from a document DB that holds the keyword and the document related to the keyword, using the facility location information extracted by the map information search processing as a keyword;
A document notification process for presenting the document searched in the document DB search process to the user;
The computer-readable recording medium which recorded the program for performing this. On the computer,
A place condition input process for inputting a place condition including information on a place the user is interested in, and an area condition including at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a fee from the place indicated by the place condition;
A user management process for managing a user ID for distinguishing a user who is using the user ID and associating the user ID with the location condition and the area condition;
A user location preference storage process for storing the location condition and the area condition associated by the user management process together with the user ID;
The location condition and the area condition stored by the user location preference storage process are input to a map DB that holds the facility name on the map together with the coordinate information, and the facility location information that is information on the facility name and the location is input. Map information search processing to be extracted,
Document DB search processing for searching for a document related to the keyword from a document DB that holds the keyword and the document related to the keyword, using the facility location information extracted by the map information search processing as a keyword;
A document notification process for presenting the document searched by the document DB search process to the user corresponding to the user ID;
The computer-readable recording medium which recorded the program for performing this. On the computer,
When receiving a location condition including information on a location the user is interested in from the terminal and an area condition including at least one of the distance, route, time, and fee from the location indicated by the location condition, use A user management process for confirming the user by means of personal identification means to distinguish the user
A map that inputs the location condition and the area condition received in the user management process, and extracts facility location information that is information on the facility name and its location from a map DB that holds the facility name on the map together with coordinate information Information retrieval processing,
Document DB search processing for searching for a document related to the keyword from a document DB holding the keyword and the document related to the keyword, using the facility location information extracted by the map information search processing as a keyword;
A document notification process for presenting the document searched by the document DB search process to the confirmed user;
The computer-readable recording medium which recorded the program for performing this. The map information search process includes a place condition analysis process, one or more area calculation processes, and a map area search process,
The location condition analysis process classifies the input area conditions by referring to the area condition rule DB that holds the type of area conditions and the expression format corresponding to the rule format.
The one or more area calculation processes calculate an area by inputting the area conditions classified by the place condition analysis process,
The computer-readable computer program product according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the map area search process searches the map DB using a calculation result output by at least one of the one or more area calculation processes. recoding media. The area calculation process includes:
When a linear distance is specified as the area condition, a linear distance range area calculation process for calculating an area of a distance radius specified around the place specified by the place condition;
When a route is designated as the region condition, a route region calculation process for calculating a region along the designated route;
When reachability conditions are specified as the area conditions, reachable area calculation processing for calculating reachable areas according to the reachability conditions;
The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 10, comprising at least one selected from: On the computer,
Acquiring a virtual or real user position in real time, causing the terminal to present a region condition including at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a charge from a location including the position acquired in real time; The area condition specified from the terminal is received, the area on the map is identified from the area condition, and the facility name and its location matching the area condition are stored from the map DB that holds the facility name on the map together with the coordinate information. Map information search processing for searching facility location information as information,
Document DB search processing for searching for a document related to the keyword from a document DB that holds the keyword and the document related to the keyword, using the facility location information searched by the map information search processing as a keyword;
A document notification process for presenting the document searched by the document DB search process to the user;
The computer-readable recording medium which recorded the program for performing this. A place condition input means for inputting a place condition including information on a place the user is interested in, and an area condition including at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a fee from the place indicated by the place condition;
In the information providing server,
The location condition and the region condition input by the location condition input means are input to a map DB that holds the facility name on the map together with the coordinate information, and the facility location information that is information on the facility name and its location is extracted. Let
Using the extracted facility location information as a keyword, the document related to the keyword is searched from a document DB that holds the keyword and the document related to the keyword,
Receiving means for receiving the document transmitted from the information providing server by transmitting the retrieved document;
Having clients. A place condition input means for inputting a place condition including information on a place the user is interested in, and an area condition including at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a fee from the place indicated by the place condition;
In the information providing server,
Managing a user ID for distinguishing the user who is using, and associating the user ID with the place condition and the area condition input by the place condition input means,
Storing the associated location condition and the region condition together with the user ID;
The stored location condition and the area condition are input to a map DB that holds the facility name on the map together with the coordinate information, and the facility location information that is information on the facility name and the location is extracted.
Using the extracted facility location information as a keyword, the document DB holding the keyword and the document related to the keyword is searched for a document related to the keyword,
Receiving means for receiving the document transmitted from the information providing server by transmitting the retrieved document;
Having clients. A place condition input means for inputting a place condition including information on a place the user is interested in, and an area condition including at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a fee from the place indicated by the place condition;
In the information providing server,
When the location condition and the area condition including at least one of the distance, route, time, and fee from the location indicated by the location condition are received from the location condition input means, in order to distinguish the user who is using To confirm the user by means of personal identification,
The location condition and the area condition input by the location condition input means are input to a map DB that holds the facility name on the map together with the coordinate information, and the facility location information that is information on the facility name and its location is extracted. Let
Using the extracted facility location information as a keyword, the document DB holding the keyword and the document related to the keyword is searched for a document related to the keyword,
Receiving means for receiving the document transmitted from the information providing server by transmitting the retrieved document;
Having clients. The receiving means includes
When extracting the facility location information, the information providing server executes a location condition analysis process, one or more area calculation processes, and a map area search process,
In the location condition analysis process, the area condition input by the input means is classified by referring to the area condition rule DB held in a rule format that associates the type of area condition with its expression format,
In the one or more area calculation processes, the area conditions classified by the place condition analysis process are input to calculate an area,
The client according to any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein in the map area search process, the map DB is searched using a calculation result output by at least one of the one or more area calculation processes. In the area calculation process,
When a linear distance is specified as the area condition, a linear distance range area calculation process for calculating an area of a distance radius specified around the place specified by the place condition;
When a route is designated as the region condition, a route region calculation process for calculating a region along the designated route;
When reachability conditions are specified as the area conditions, reachable area calculation processing for calculating reachable areas according to the reachability conditions;
The client according to claim 16, wherein the information providing server executes at least one selected from the following. A location condition input means for acquiring a location of a virtual or real user in real time and inputting an area condition including at least one of a distance, a route, a time, and a fee from the location including the location acquired in real time;
In the information providing server,
A facility that receives the region condition input by the location condition input means, identifies a region on the map from the region condition, and stores the facility name on the map together with coordinate information, and matches the region condition Search the facility location information that is the name and information of the location,
Using the retrieved facility location information as a keyword, the document related to the keyword is searched from a document DB that holds the keyword and the document related to the keyword,
Receiving means for receiving the document transmitted from the information providing server by transmitting the retrieved document;
Having clients.

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