JP5666879B2 - POSITION INFORMATION PROVIDING DEVICE AND POSITION INFORMATION PROVIDING METHOD - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a position information providing apparatus and a position information providing method for providing position information of a communication terminal to an external device in response to a request from the communication terminal.

  As a positioning method for a communication terminal such as a mobile phone to grasp the position of its own device, so-called GPS positioning is known in which positioning is performed by receiving radio waves from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite. And the content using the positional information on the communication terminal obtained by GPS positioning with a communication terminal is known. Specifically, by providing the location information obtained as a result of positioning by the communication terminal from the communication terminal to the content provider, the content using the location information is provided from the content provider. In this regard, for example, Patent Document 1 shows a configuration in which content using a GPS positioning result of a communication terminal is provided from a content provider.

  In addition, recently, although positioning accuracy is low compared with GPS positioning, content using a result of network positioning, for example, the position of a communication terminal, which is short in positioning time and significantly higher in positioning success rate than GPS positioning. A so-called position information game or the like reflected in the score or progress has attracted attention. Network positioning is a positioning method that uses, for example, the position of the communication area where the communication terminal is located as the position of the communication terminal. Specifically, the communication terminal makes an inquiry to the communication carrier that manages the communication area. Thus, information related to the position of the communication area is acquired in the communication terminal, and this is used as a positioning result.

JP 2006-155508 A

  Here, when the content provider acquires the position information of the communication terminal derived as a result of positioning by the communication terminal in this way, the positioning result may be falsified. If the positioning result is falsified in the communication terminal and the position information after the falsification is transmitted to the content provider, the content based on the falsified position information is provided to the communication terminal.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and a position information providing apparatus and position information that can provide position information of the communication terminal to an external device without falsifying the position information of the communication terminal. An object is to provide a providing method.

  In order to achieve the above object, a position information providing apparatus according to the present invention is a position information providing apparatus that transmits information related to the position of a communication terminal to an external device based on a position information transmission request from the communication terminal. In association with terminal specifying information for specifying the communication terminal, position information holding means for holding position information for specifying the position of the communication terminal, the terminal specifying information transmitted from the communication terminal, and the position information A transmission request receiving means for receiving a position information transmission request including process specifying information for specifying a series of processes related to the provision of a request, and a request terminal for specifying a communication terminal transmitted from the external device and requesting the provision of position information Providing request receiving means for receiving a position information providing request including specific information and request processing specifying information for specifying a series of processes related to provision of position information by the communication terminal; A determination unit configured to determine whether or not to provide position information to the external device based on information included in the information transmission request and information included in the position information provision request; and the external device by the determination unit When the position information is determined to be provided to the external device, the position information holding unit associates the position information held in association with the terminal identification information with respect to the request terminal identification information. And a positional information transmitting means for transmitting.

  According to the position information providing apparatus, the determination unit transmits the position information of the communication terminal to the external device based on the information included in the position information transmission request and the information included in the position information provision request. Based on the result of the determination, information on the communication terminal held in the position information holding means is transmitted to the external device. As described above, based on the position information transmission request from the communication terminal, the position information of the communication terminal is transmitted from the position information providing device to the external device without passing through the communication terminal. It is possible to reduce the possibility that the position information is falsified such as falsified. In addition, since the determination unit of the position information providing device also determines whether or not the position information can be transmitted, it is possible to avoid inappropriate transmission of the position information of the communication terminal to the external device.

  Here, as a configuration that effectively exhibits the above-described operation, specifically, the determination unit includes the terminal identification information included in the location information transmission request and the request terminal included in the location information provision request. When the specific information matches and the processing specific information included in the position information transmission request matches the request processing specific information included in the position information provision request, the external device A mode in which it is determined that position information is provided to the user is included. By having such an aspect, whether the request from the external device to the position information providing device is based on the request from the communication terminal is compared and processed between the terminal specifying information and the requested terminal specifying information. Since the determination is made by comparing the specific information with the request processing specific information, inappropriate transmission of the position information can be avoided more reliably.

  Further, the information processing apparatus further comprises holding means for temporarily holding the position information transmission request and the position information provision request, wherein the determination means includes information included in the position information transmission request held in the holding means and the position information. Based on the information included in the provision request, it is determined whether or not position information is to be provided to the external device, and the holding unit deletes the corresponding information when a predetermined period has elapsed after the start of holding. It can also be set as the aspect to do.

  As described above, the position information providing apparatus includes a holding unit, and the corresponding information is deleted when a predetermined period elapses after the start of holding, thereby preventing the position information providing apparatus from prolonging the information holding period. And inappropriate transmission of position information to the external device can be further suppressed.

  The present invention can be described as an invention of a position information providing apparatus as described below, as well as as an invention of a position information providing method as described below. This is substantially the same invention only in different categories, and has the same operations and effects.

  That is, the location information providing method according to the present invention comprises location information holding means for holding location information for specifying the location of the communication terminal in association with terminal specification information for specifying the communication terminal, from the communication terminal. A position information providing method by a position information providing apparatus that transmits position information to an external device based on a position information transmission request, the position information providing method transmitted from the communication terminal, and a series related to provision of the terminal specifying information and position information A transmission request receiving step for receiving a position information transmission request including process specifying information for specifying the process of the request, request terminal specifying information for specifying a communication terminal transmitted from the external device and requesting provision of position information, and A provision request receiving step for receiving a position information provision request including request processing identification information for identifying a series of processes related to provision of position information by a communication terminal; A determination step of determining whether or not to provide position information to the external device based on information included in the information transmission request and information included in the position information provision request; and the external device in the determination step When the position information is determined to be provided to the external device, the position information holding unit associates the position information held in association with the terminal identification information with respect to the request terminal identification information. A positional information transmission step for transmission.

  According to the present invention, there is provided a position information providing apparatus and a position information providing method capable of providing position information of a communication terminal to an external device without falsifying the position information of the communication terminal.

It is a block diagram explaining the structure of the communication system which concerns on suitable embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of a core network apparatus, a service control apparatus, a positional information management apparatus, and a content provider. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of a communication terminal. It is a sequence diagram explaining the process which concerns on the content provision by a communication system. It is a sequence diagram explaining the process (when an error generate | occur | produces by user collation) which concerns on the content provision by a communication system.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

<Configuration of communication system including position information providing apparatus>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The communication system shown in FIG. 1 includes a core network device 20, a service control device (SCP) 30 and a location information management device (location platform: location PF) that constitute a location information provision system 10 (location information provision device). 40, a communication terminal 50, and a content provider 60 (external device). Among these, the core network device 20, the service control device 30, and the location information management device 40 configuring the location information providing system 10 are systems that provide the content provider 60 with location information that specifies the location of the communication terminal 50. Function. Each device constituting the position information providing system 10 is a device included in the same mobile communication network, and the communication terminal 50 has a function of connecting to the mobile communication network.

  The content provider 60 is a device that provides content to the communication terminal 50 based on a request from the communication terminal 50. Examples of content provided by the content provider 60 to the communication terminal 50 include WEB content and the like, and further, from the communication terminal 50 transmitted from the location information providing system 10 in response to a request from the communication terminal 50. Content (for example, content that gives points or coupons according to the position of the communication terminal 50) using the position information of the communication terminal 50 is transmitted and transmitted to the communication terminal 50.

  In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which information obtained as a result of network positioning is used as position information for specifying the position of the communication terminal 50. The network positioning in the present embodiment refers to information (for example, information indicating the position of the base station in the communication area E1) specifying the position of the communication area (the communication area E1 in FIG. 1) in which the communication terminal 50 is located. 50 position information is used. Therefore, when the position of the communication area is known in advance, the position information of the communication terminal 50 can be derived as long as the communication area where the communication terminal 50 is located is known.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the core network device 20, the service control device 30, the location information management device 40, and the content provider 60 included in the communication system 1 are respectively a CPU 101 and a RAM (Random Access) that is a main storage device. The computer includes a memory (memory) 102 and a read only memory (ROM) 103, a communication module 104 for communication, and an auxiliary storage device 105 such as a hard disk. And the function of each apparatus is exhibited when these components operate. As shown in FIG. 3, the communication terminal 50 includes hardware such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 601, a RAM 602, a ROM 603, an operation unit 604, a wireless communication unit 605, a display 606, and an antenna 607. And the function of the communication terminal 50 is exhibited by these components operating.

  Note that, between the core network device 20 and the service control device 30, between the service control device 30 and the location information management device 40, and between the location information management device 40 and the content provider 60, respectively, via a wired network. Connected. Information is exchanged between the communication terminal 50 and the core network device 20 and between the communication terminal 50 and the content provider 60 by wireless communication.

  Next, each device constituting the communication system 1 will be described. First, the communication terminal 50 has a function of performing communication by connecting to a mobile communication network, and receives a WEB content transmitted from the content provider 60 by transmitting an HTTP request to the content provider 60. Further, it has a function of notifying the user of the communication terminal 50 by displaying on the screen or the like. When the user of the communication terminal 50 wishes to view the content using the position information, the user operates the communication terminal 50 to send a position information transmission request from the communication terminal 50 to the position information management device 40. Send to. As a result, the location information management device 40 described later is requested to provide location information to the content provider 60. Further, a signal (HTTP request) for requesting provision of content including position information is also transmitted to the content provider 60.

  At this time, a predetermined ID (processing ID) indicating a series of processing is issued in the communication terminal 50, and the communication terminal 50 is specified in both the position information transmission request and the HTTP request transmitted from the communication terminal 50. This processing ID is attached together with information to be performed (for example, a telephone number). Thereby, it is possible to determine whether or not the information transmitted and received in the communication system 1 is included in a series of processes. This process will be described later.

  The content provider 60 has a function of transmitting WEB content to the communication terminal 50 in response to an HTTP request from the communication terminal 50. Further, when an HTTP request for requesting provision of WEB content created based on the location information is transmitted from the communication terminal 50, the location information is provided to the location information providing device 40 for the purpose of creating the WEB content. By transmitting the information provision request, the position information of the communication terminal 50 is acquired from the position information providing apparatus 40. And it has the function to create a WEB content based on this position information and transmit it to the communication terminal 50. Processing performed in the content provider 60 will be described later.

  Next, the position information providing system 10 will be described. The core network device 20 constituting the position information providing system 10 included in the communication system 1 is a device that controls the connection of the communication terminal 50 to the mobile communication network. Specifically, the base station that controls the communication area is managed and controlled, and in which communication area the communication terminal 50 is located via the base station (in FIG. 1, the communication terminal 50 is the communication area). E1 is a device that holds the location information of the communication terminal 50. That is, the core network device 20 has a part of a function as a position information holding unit that holds the position information of the communication terminal 50 in association with information for specifying the communication terminal 50 (for example, the telephone number of the communication terminal 50). . The location information of the communication terminal 50 is updated as necessary, for example, when the communication terminal 50 connects to the mobile communication network to perform communication or the like, and is held in the core network device 20.

  The service control device 30 is a device that provides a service to a communication terminal 50 that communicates by connecting to a mobile communication network. In the present embodiment, for example, in response to a request from the communication terminal 50, there is a function of performing authentication processing of the user of the communication terminal 50 when transmitting location information of the communication terminal 50 to the content provider 60. When the user authentication of the communication terminal 50 is appropriately performed, the position information of the communication terminal 50 is acquired from the core network device 20 and transmitted to the position information management device 40 described later.

  The position information management device 40 is a device that is the center of a series of processes for providing the position information of the communication terminal 50 to the content provider 60 in the position information providing system 10, and includes a receiving unit 41 (transmission request receiving means). , Provision request receiving means), a determination section 42 (determination means), a transmission section 43 (position information transmission means), and a holding section 44 (holding means).

  The receiving unit 41 has a function of receiving a position information transmission request transmitted from the communication terminal 50. The position information transmission request includes information for identifying the communication terminal 50 (telephone number of the communication terminal 50) and a process ID for identifying a series of processes. Further, it has a function of receiving a position information provision request transmitted from the content provider 60. The position information provision request also includes information for specifying the communication terminal 50 and a process ID for specifying a series of processes. These pieces of information received by the receiving unit 41 are stored in the holding unit 44, and the determination unit 42 is notified that these pieces of information are stored in the holding unit.

  Whether the determination unit 42 provides the location information of the communication terminal 50 to the content provider 60 based on the information included in the location information transmission request stored in the holding unit 44 and the information included in the location information provision request. It has a function to determine whether or not. Here, the conditions for determining that the location information of the communication terminal 50 may be provided to the content provider 60 are: (1) Information specifying the communication terminal 50 included in the location information transmission request transmitted from the communication terminal 50; (Terminal specifying information) and information (requesting terminal specifying information) specifying the communication terminal 50 included in the position information provision request transmitted from the content provider 60 match, and (2) transmitted from the communication terminal 50 Information for identifying a series of processes included in the received position information transmission request (process identification information) and information for identifying the communication terminal 50 included in the position information provision request transmitted from the content provider 60 (request process identification information) Is a match. Of these, (1) is intended to confirm that the transmission of position information related to a specific communication terminal 50, and (2) is related to a series of processes for transmission of position information of the communication terminal 50. More specifically, for example, it is intended to confirm that the processing is not based on a request for transmission of past position information. The determination unit 42 determines that the location information of the communication terminal 50 may be provided to the content provider 60 only when the conditions (1) and (2) are satisfied, and the result is transmitted to the transmission unit 43. Notice. Even if the determination unit 42 determines that the location information of the communication terminal 50 cannot be transmitted to the content provider 60, the result is notified to the transmission unit 43.

  The transmission unit 43 has a function of transmitting the location information of the communication terminal 50 to the content provider 60 based on the determination result of the determination unit 42. Specifically, when the determination unit 42 determines that the location information of the communication terminal 50 can be transmitted to the content provider 60, the transmission unit 43 sends the information to the core network device 20 via the service control device 30. The location information of the communication terminal 50 is acquired from the core network device 20 by inquiring the location information using information (for example, a telephone number) specifying the communication terminal 50, and the location information is communicated to the content provider 60. This is notified as position information of the terminal 50. At this time, when transmitting the information specifying the communication terminal 50 and the position information of the communication terminal 50 to the content provider 60, the transmission unit 43 adds the processing ID transmitted from the content provider 60 and transmits the information. . Thereby, the position information of the communication terminal 50 is transmitted to the content provider 60 in a state where the position information corresponding to which process ID is specified.

  When the determination unit 42 determines that the location information of the communication terminal 50 cannot be transmitted to the content provider 60, the transmission unit 43 provides the location information to the content provider 60. The communication terminal 50 is notified that it is impossible.

  The holding unit 44 has a function of holding the information received by the receiving unit 41, that is, the position information transmission request transmitted from the communication terminal 50 and the position information provision request transmitted from the content provider 60. Further, the holding unit 44 has a function of deleting information held in the holding unit 44 after a predetermined period. This period is determined by, for example, a telecommunications carrier. In this way, by deleting the information held in the holding unit 44 after a predetermined period of time, for example, the content provider 60 can be based on the location information transmission request received and accumulated in the location information management device 40 in the past. On the other hand, it is possible to prevent the determination unit 42 from determining whether position information can be transmitted, and inappropriate transmission of position information to the content provider 60 can be avoided.

<Position information providing method by communication system including position information providing apparatus>
Next, a position information providing method by the communication system 1 including the position information providing system 10 will be described with reference to sequence diagrams shown in FIGS. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating processing related to content provision. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram for explaining processing when it is determined by the determination unit 42 of the position information management device 40 that provision of position information is impossible (when an error occurs in user verification).

  First, the case where content using position information is distributed from the content provider 60 to the communication terminal 50 will be described with reference to FIG.

  When the user of the communication terminal 50 desires to browse the content using the position information, the user first operates the communication terminal 50 to perform an operation for starting the position information providing process (S01). This corresponds to an operation such as activation of application software related to the position information providing process. Next, a privacy check is performed (S02). This means that the user approves the provision of the position information of the communication terminal 50. The process for providing the position information of the communication terminal 50 and the communication with other devices are not performed until the user's approval process is performed. Is started.

  Next, in the communication terminal 50, a process ID is generated (S03), and an ID used for a series of processes is determined. Subsequently, using this process ID, a location information transmission request (positioning preparation information) is transmitted from the communication terminal 50 to the location information management device 40 and received by the reception unit 41 of the location information management device 40 ( S04, position information transmission request receiving step). As described above, the location information transmission request includes the telephone number of the communication terminal 50 and the process ID that identifies the series of processes. When this position information transmission request is received by the receiving unit 41 of the position information management device 40, it is sent to the holding unit 44, and the holding unit 44 holds the position information transmission request (S05). Further, the reception unit 41 notifies the determination unit 42 that the position information transmission request has been received. For the purpose of verifying whether the telephone number included in the location information transmission request is the telephone number of the communication terminal 50 (whether the telephone number is not spoofed), the source IP address of the communication terminal 50 is also the same as the telephone number. Similarly, the transmission may be performed by attaching to the position information transmission request, and the holding unit 44 may hold these in association with each other.

  Further, the communication terminal 50 transmits an HTTP request for requesting the provision of content using the location information of the communication terminal 50 to the content provider 60 (S06). This HTTP request includes the telephone number of the communication terminal 50 and the processing ID. Thereby, the telephone number and processing ID of the communication terminal 50 are notified to the content provider 60. As described above, the processing related to the provision of the position information in the communication terminal 50 is completed. Therefore, the position information providing process is terminated by terminating the application software or the like (S07).

  On the other hand, the location information provision request including the telephone number and the processing ID of the communication terminal 50 is transmitted from the content provider 60 that has received the HTTP request from the communication terminal 50 to the location information management device 40, and the location information management device 40 receives the request. This is received by the unit 41. (S08, position information provision request receiving step). The position information provision request received here is also held in the holding unit 44 (S09), and the determination unit 42 is notified that the position information provision request has been received. Accordingly, the determination unit 42 of the location information management device 40 may perform user verification based on the location information transmission request and the location information provision request, and transmit the location information of the communication terminal 50 to the content provider 60. Is determined (S10, determination step).

  Here, if the telephone number and the processing ID of the location information transmission request and the location information provision request match in the determination unit 42, the request (MKP_SLIR) for providing the location information of the communication terminal 50 is sent to the location information management device 40. To the service control device 30 (S11). After the authentication process for the communication terminal 50 is performed in the service control device 30 (S12), the service control device 30 provides location information to the core network device 20. The request (SSMP_ServiceRequest) is transmitted (S13).

  On the other hand, the core network device 20 acquires the position information of the communication terminal 50. At this time, the core network device 20 also confirms whether the communication terminal 50 is currently located (connected). The location information of the communication terminal 50 obtained as a result is transmitted from the core network device 20 to the service control device 30 as a location response (SSMP_ServiceResponse) (S14). Then, this information is transmitted from the service control device 30 to the location information management device 40 as a location response (MLP_SRLIA) (S15).

  When the transmitter 43 of the location information management device 40 acquires the location information (positioning result) of the communication terminal 50 from the core network device 20 by the above processing, the processing transmitted from the content provider 60 to the location information of the communication terminal 50 The ID is attached and transmitted to the content provider 60 (S16, transmission step). Then, when the content provider 60 acquires the location information of the communication terminal 50, the content provider 60 generates content to be transmitted to the communication terminal 50 using this (S17), and the Web content is sent as an HTTP response to the communication terminal 50. Is distributed (S18). The location information transmission request and the location information provision request held in the holding unit 44 of the location information management device 40 are deleted after a predetermined time has elapsed (S19).

  With the above processing, the provision of the position information of the communication terminal 50 to the content provider 60 by the position information providing system 10 is completed.

  Next, a case where the telephone number and the processing ID of the location information transmission request and the location information provision request do not match in the user verification (S10) in the determination unit 42 will be described using FIG.

  The processing up to the user verification (S10) is performed in the same manner as the processing shown in FIG. However, in the user verification (S10) by the determination unit 42, if the telephone number and the processing ID of the position information transmission request and the position information provision request do not match, the determination unit 42 determines the position of the communication terminal 50 with respect to the content provider 60. Judge that information cannot be sent. This result is notified from the determination unit 42 to the transmission unit 43, and an error response is transmitted from the transmission unit 43 to the content provider 60 (S21). If the content provider 60 cannot acquire the position information of the communication terminal 50, the content provider 60 cannot generate content based on the HTTP request from the communication terminal 50, and therefore positioning (acquisition of position information) is NG for the communication terminal 50. Is transmitted as an HTTP response (S22). The location information transmission requirement and the location information provision request held in the holding unit 44 of the location information management device 40 are deleted after a predetermined time has elapsed (S23).

<Effects of this embodiment>
As described above, according to the location information providing system 10 according to the present embodiment, the determination unit 42 of the location information management device 40 is based on the information included in the location information transmission request and the information included in the location information provision request. Thus, it is determined whether or not the position information of the communication terminal 50 can be transmitted to the content provider 60. Then, based on the determination result of the determination unit 42, information on the communication terminal 50 grasped by the core network device 20 is transmitted to the content provider 60. As described above, based on the position information transmission request from the communication terminal 50, the position information of the communication terminal is transmitted from the position information management device 40 constituting the position information providing system 10 to the external device without passing through the communication terminal. Therefore, for example, the possibility that the position information of the communication terminal 50 is falsified such as falsification of the position information at the communication terminal 50 can be reduced. In addition, since the determination unit 42 of the position information providing device 40 also determines whether or not position information can be transmitted, it is possible to avoid inappropriate transmission of the position information of the communication terminal 50 to the content provider 60. it can.

  In addition, since the position information management device 40 includes the holding unit 44 and has a configuration in which the corresponding information is deleted when a predetermined period has elapsed after the start of holding, the position information management device 40 has an information holding period. Prolonging can be prevented, and inappropriate transmission of location information to the content provider 60 can be further suppressed.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, the position information provision apparatus (position information provision system 10) which concerns on this invention can perform a various change.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the location information providing system 10 includes the core network device 20, the service control device 30, and the location information management device 40 has been described. However, the functions of these devices are combined into one device. All the configurations may be included.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the result of so-called network positioning is used as the position information of the communication terminal 50 has been described. However, as the position information of the communication terminal 50, for example, the positioning result of GPS positioning is used. However, the configuration of the above embodiment can be applied. In the case of network positioning, the base station information may be used instead of the base station information as in the above embodiment as the communication area to which the communication terminal 50 is connected.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the content provider 60 that creates and distributes Web content is an external device, but the external device is not limited to a device for content distribution. In other words, even when a device that uses the position information of the communication terminal 50 for other purposes is an external device, the same configuration as in the above embodiment can be applied.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the criterion for determining whether or not to provide location information in the determination unit 42 of the location information management device 40 is “whether or not the telephone number and the processing ID of the location information transmission request and the location information provision request match”. Explained the case. However, with respect to the process ID, the position information transmission request and the position information provision request may not be completely matched. In this case, there is a method in which an ID different from the process ID shown in the embodiment is provided separately, and whether or not the IDs match is used as a criterion for determining whether or not to provide position information. For example, two types of process IDs having a common header (a completely matched header or a header assigned with a specific ID) for specifying a series of processes in the communication terminal 50 are issued, and these are used as a position information transmission request and position information. When one of the provision requests is attached and transmitted, requests including different processing IDs are transmitted to the location information management device 40. In this case, for example, by assigning a common header to the two types of process IDs, and determining whether or not there is a common header as a determination criterion in the determination unit 42, whether or not the position information can be transmitted is determined. Determination can be made by the determination unit 42. As described above, the determination criteria in the determination unit 42 can be changed as appropriate.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Communication system, 10 ... Location information provision system, 20 ... Core network apparatus (CN), 30 ... Service control apparatus (SCP), 40 ... Location information management apparatus (position PF), 50 ... Communication terminal, 60 ... Content provider .

Claims (4)

A position information providing apparatus that transmits information related to the position of the communication terminal to an external apparatus based on a position information transmission request from the communication terminal,
Position information holding means for holding position information for specifying the position of the communication terminal in association with terminal specifying information for specifying the communication terminal;
A transmission request receiving means for receiving a position information transmission request transmitted from the communication terminal and including the terminal identification information and process identification information for identifying a series of processes relating to provision of position information;
A location that includes request terminal identification information that identifies a communication terminal that requests the provision of location information and is transmitted from the external device, and request processing identification information that identifies a series of processes related to the provision of location information by the communication terminal Providing request receiving means for receiving an information providing request;
Said terminal identification information and the processing identification information included in the position information transmission request, and the request terminal identification information and the request processing specification information contained in the position information providing request, on the basis, to the external device A determination means for determining whether or not to provide location information;
When it is determined by the determining means to provide position information to the external device, the position information held in the position information holding means in association with the terminal specifying information is associated with the request terminal specifying information. Position information transmitting means for transmitting to the external device;
A position information providing apparatus comprising: The determination means includes
The processing specification information included in the location information transmission request, wherein the terminal specification information included in the location information transmission request matches the requested terminal specification information included in the location information provision request. 2. The location information provision according to claim 1, wherein the location information provision request is determined to be provided to the external device when the request processing identification information included in the location information provision request matches. apparatus. A holding means for temporarily holding the position information transmission request and the position information provision request;
The determination means determines whether or not to provide position information to the external device based on information included in the position information transmission request held in the holding means and information included in the position information provision request. Judgment
The position information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the holding unit deletes the corresponding information when a predetermined period has elapsed after the holding. Corresponding to terminal specifying information for specifying a communication terminal, a position information holding unit for holding position information for specifying the position of the communication terminal is provided, and the position information is transmitted to an external device based on a position information transmission request from the communication terminal. A position information providing method by a position information providing apparatus that transmits to
A transmission request receiving step for receiving a position information transmission request transmitted from the communication terminal and including the terminal identification information and process identification information for identifying a series of processes relating to provision of position information;
A location that includes request terminal identification information that identifies a communication terminal that requests the provision of location information and is transmitted from the external device, and request processing identification information that identifies a series of processes related to the provision of location information by the communication terminal A provision request receiving step for receiving an information provision request;
Said terminal identification information and the processing identification information included in the position information transmission request, and the request terminal identification information and the request processing specification information contained in the position information providing request, on the basis, to the external device A determination step of determining whether to provide location information;
When it is determined in the determination step that the position information is provided to the external device, the position information held in the position information holding unit in association with the terminal identification information is associated with the request terminal identification information. A positional information transmission step for transmitting to the external device;
A position information providing method comprising:

Images