JP6700078B2 - Position information providing system and method for providing position information - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a system for providing position information of a person to be measured in a facility, and particularly to a system that holds a mobile transmitter indoors by using a stationary transmitter and a mobile terminal located near the person to be measured. The present invention relates to a system that provides position information of a positioner.

  In recent years, services that utilize position information are provided indoors and outdoors (for example, large indoor facilities and underground malls) with the improvement of position information measurement technology and the spread of smartphones.

  Various position information measurement techniques have been proposed, such as using transmitters such as beacons and mobile terminals such as smartphones in areas where position information is unknown by GPS (Global Positioning System) indoors or underground.

  For example, in Patent Document 1, a plurality of beacons in the area transmit unique identification information different from each other, the mobile terminal receives the unique identification information of nearby beacons, and inquires of the server, and the server receives the inquired unique information. Send beacon position information corresponding to the identification information to the mobile terminal, the mobile terminal acquires the current location information, accepts the user's purpose information, acquires the destination information based on the attribute information of each place in the area, the current location A route guidance system that searches for a recommended route from a current location to a destination based on information, the destination information, and the route network information and presents the recommended route is described.

  Most of the indoor position measurement techniques currently proposed measure position information of the user himself/herself who operates the mobile terminal and provide useful information such as route guidance to the user, as described in Patent Document 1. Alternatively, from the viewpoint of the facility, the flow line of the user or the like is acquired as statistical information.

  Further, in Patent Document 2, a beacon transmitter emits a beacon with ID information to the surroundings, and a plurality of beacon receivers are distributed and arranged in a positioning space at a substantially uniform density. The base station receives the beacon information from each beacon receiver, refers to the beacon reception position information table to determine the position of the beacon receiver of the beacon information source, and determines the same as the position of the beacon receiver. A positioning system is described which calculates the current position of a beacon transmitter based on the ratio of the electric field strength at each beacon receiver for the beacon of ID.

JP, 2015-200609, A JP, 2011-17685, A

  However, for example, when visiting a facility (amusement park, shopping center) with a family and acting differently in the facility, the target person (positionee) of position information acquisition cannot operate a mobile terminal such as a smartphone by himself, or In the case of a child who is enthusiastic about amusement or the like in the facility, the technique of Patent Document 1 cannot know the current position of the person to be positioned.

  In addition, a service mode of lending a mobile terminal capable of transmitting and receiving data to a child who does not own his/her own mobile terminal when entering the facility is not realistic because the facility side bears a large cost burden.

  On the other hand, in the technique of Patent Document 2, the beacon transmitter is lent to a child or the like who does not have his/her own mobile terminal, so that the cost burden can be reduced. However, in the technique of Patent Document 2, it is necessary to install a large number of beacon receivers in the facility in order to receive the radio waves from the beacon transmitter. In general, a beacon receiver is more expensive and consumes more power than a transmission-only device, so that the technology of Patent Document 2 also increases the installation cost and operation cost of the beacon receiver.

  Here, the techniques of Patent Documents 1 and 2 and other indoor position information measurement techniques that are currently proposed are also intended to measure the position information of the target person with high accuracy, but depending on the application. In some cases, it is sufficient if the position can be grasped with an error of about 10 meters. For example, when visiting the facility with a family and acting separately in the facility as described above, it is sufficient for the parent to roughly understand the current position of the child. Also, in facilities with multiple floors, it may be sufficient to know exactly which floor the child is on. In many cases, the child can find it by going to places where the parent is presumed to have a child and searching around if necessary.

  Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide position information at low installation and operation costs.

A typical example of the invention disclosed in the present application is as follows. That is, a position information providing system including a stationary transmitter, a mobile transmitter, a terminal, and a server, wherein the stationary transmitter has a transmitter for transmitting a signal, and a signal from the mobile transmitter is provided. The mobile transmitter has a plurality of transmitters for transmitting signals and has a reception function for receiving signals from the stationary transmitters. When the target person who has no function and moves in the facility holds the terminal and the terminal receives a signal from at least one of the stationary transmitter and the mobile transmitter, the identification information and reception of the transmitter are received. The reception information including the date and time is transmitted to the server, and the server receives the reception information of the mobile transmitter having the latest reception time, the reception information of the stationary transmitter corresponding in time, and the reception date and time of the mobile transmitter. And the detection date and time are stored, and using the stored combination, the position of the stationary transmitter at the detection date and time is estimated to be the position of the mobile transmitter related to the combination, and the mobile transmitter The position of the estimated mobile transmitter at the detection date and time is notified to the user who is associated with the position-measuring person who holds the position, and when the information of one mobile transmitter is received from the plurality of terminals, the same time is received. Of the information of the mobile transmitter of the band, the latest date and time data is determined to be a valid value and stored.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide the position information of the target person to the user at low installation cost and operation cost. Problems, configurations and effects other than those described above will be clarified by the following description of the embodiments.

It is the schematic which shows the whole structure of the position information provision system of 1st Example. It is a figure which shows the initial registration of in-facility map information and stationary transmitter installation information performed before the start of this system operation. It is a figure which shows the initial registration of the employee terminal and mobile transmitter performed before the start of this system operation. It is a figure which shows the mobile transmitter rental registration performed when the user (user) of this system receives a facility visit. It is a figure which shows the condition which the employee terminal 18 receives a radio wave from the stationary transmitter 16 and the mobile transmitter 17 at the time of operation|use of this system. It is a figure which shows the condition which the user terminal 15 requests|requires the search of the position information of a to-be-positioned person from the management server 11 at the time of this system operation|use. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen which displays the search result of the position information of a positionee. It is a figure which shows the condition which the employee terminal 18 received the electromagnetic wave from several stationary transmitters. It is a figure which shows the condition which the several employee terminal 18 received the electric wave of the mobile transmitter 17. It is a figure which shows the format of the data accumulate|stored as accumulation data 102 at the time of a position information provision system operation|use. It is the schematic which shows the whole structure of the position information provision system of 2nd Example. It is a flowchart which shows the process by the employee terminal 18 of 2nd Example.

  1 to 12 are views illustrating one embodiment of the present invention. In these drawings, parts denoted by the same reference numerals represent the same things, and the basic configuration and operation are the same. To do. An embodiment of the position information providing system of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Example 1>
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of a position information providing system (hereinafter referred to as the present system) of the first embodiment.

  This system includes a management server 11, initial registration data 101, accumulated data 102, a web server 12, a management terminal 13, a public line/wireless LAN 14, a user terminal 15, a stationary transmitter 16, and mobile transmission. It has a container 17 and an employee terminal 18, and mainly provides position information indoors in a facility where this system is operated.

  The management server 11 obtains position information within the facility and performs various processes and calculations such as organizing statistical information. The management server 11 registers initial registration data 101 (map information in the facility, transmitter information, etc.) registered before the operation of this system, and accumulated data 102 (employee terminals, stationary transmitters, etc.) that are sequentially accumulated during operation. Mobile transmitter combination information, etc.). The initial registration data 101 and the accumulated data 102 may be stored in the auxiliary storage device in the management server 11 or in the external storage device connected to the management server 11.

  The management server 11 is composed of a computer having a processor, a memory, an auxiliary storage device, and a communication interface.

  Specifically, the processor executes the program stored in the memory. The memory includes a ROM which is a non-volatile storage device and a RAM which is a volatile storage device. The ROM stores an immutable program (for example, BIOS) and the like. The RAM is a high-speed and volatile storage device such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), and temporarily stores a program executed by the processor and data used when the program is executed.

  The auxiliary storage device is, for example, a large-capacity and non-volatile storage device such as a magnetic storage device (HDD) or a flash memory (SSD), and stores a program executed by the processor and data used when the program is executed. That is, the program is read from the auxiliary storage device, loaded into the memory, and executed by the processor.

  The communication interface is a network interface device that controls communication with other devices according to a predetermined protocol (for example, TCP/IP). The management server 11 may be connected to the management terminal 13 via a communication interface.

  The program executed by the processor is provided to the drawing creation system via a removable medium (CD-ROM, flash memory, etc.) or a network, and is stored in an auxiliary storage device which is a non-temporary storage medium. Therefore, the management server 11 preferably has an interface for reading data from the removable medium.

  The management server is a computer system that is physically configured on one computer or on multiple logically or physically configured computers, even if it operates on the same computer in separate threads. Well, it may operate on a virtual computer constructed on a plurality of physical computer resources.

  The web server 12 is connected to the management server 11 and provides the management terminal 13 and the user terminal 15 with a screen for displaying the position of the positionee. The web server 12 is composed of a computer having a processor, a memory, an auxiliary storage device and a communication interface.

  Further, although the management server 11 and the web server 12 are described separately in the drawing, both servers may be mounted on one computer.

  The management terminal 13 has an input means such as a keyboard and a touch panel, and an output means such as a display device, and is mainly used in the following three situations. First, it is used by the system administrator to register the initial registration data 101 before the operation of this system is started. Further, when a user (user) of the present system receives a facility visit, the person in charge of attending the visit (mobile transmitter lending manager) uses it to register the accumulated data 102 such as mobile transmitter information. Furthermore, it is used by the operation manager (monitor) to monitor the system operation status during operation of this system. The management terminal 13 is composed of a computer having a processor, a memory, an auxiliary storage device, an input/output interface and a communication interface.

  As described above, the management terminal 13 in the present embodiment has various roles and will be described as one terminal for convenience, but a plurality of management terminals 13 may be provided depending on the roles.

  There are a user terminal 15, a stationary transmitter 16, a mobile transmitter 17, and an employee terminal 18 in the facility. The user terminal 15 and the employee terminal 18 are communicably connected to the management server 11 and the like via a public line/wireless LAN 14. The public line/wireless LAN 14 is a network that connects the respective devices of the present system, and is composed of a wired network (wired LAN) and a wireless network (wireless LAN, mobile phone network).

  The user terminal 15 is held by a user (user) of the present system and displays the position information of the person to be positioned, such as family members, on the display device. The user terminal 15 is composed of a computer having a processor, a memory, an auxiliary storage device, an input/output interface and a communication interface.

  The stationary transmitter 16 is a radio wave transmitting device that intermittently transmits radio waves by short-range wireless communication (for example, Bluetooth (registered trademark), ZigBee, WiFi, etc.), and a plurality of them are installed in the facility. Since the stationary transmitter 16 does not have a radio wave reception function, it is inexpensive and consumes little power because it transmits radio waves intermittently (for example, battery replacement is unnecessary for about one year). Therefore, the introduction cost and operation cost are low. A WiFi access point installed in the facility may be used as the stationary transmitter 16. The stationary transmitter 16 may be an indoor GPS pseudo satellite device.

  The mobile transmitter 17 is lent to the person to be positioned (family of the user, etc.) of the present system when visiting the facility, and similar to the stationary transmitter 16, short-range wireless communication (for example, Bluetooth (registered trademark), ZigBee, Since it is a radio wave transmission device that intermittently transmits radio waves by WiFi, etc., and does not have a radio wave reception function, the installation cost and operation cost are low. Since the mobile transmitter 17 may be lent to a person to be positioned such as a child who has a lot of movement, it is preferable that the mobile transmitter 17 be in a shape such as a badge so that it can be attached to clothes or the like of the person to be positioned so as not to be lost.

  Both or one of the stationary transmitter 16 and the mobile transmitter 17 may emit an acoustic signal (for example, a sound wave in a frequency band higher than the audible frequency band) instead of a radio wave. In this case, the microphone of the employee terminal 18 may receive the sound waves transmitted from the stationary transmitter 16 and the mobile transmitter 17.

  As described above, the stationary transmitter 16 and the mobile transmitter 17 intermittently transmit a signal including self-identification information. The intensity and frequency (time interval) of the radio waves transmitted by the stationary transmitters 16 may be determined by the arrangement density of the stationary transmitters 16 in the facility and the moving speed of the target person. The intensity and frequency (time interval) of the radio wave transmitted by the mobile transmitter 17 may be the same as the intensity and frequency (time interval) of the radio wave transmitted by the stationary transmitter 16, but are determined by the moving speed of the target person. Good.

  The employee terminal 18 is a mobile communication terminal (smartphone, tablet, mobile phone, or the like) held by an employee or the like arranged in each place in the facility, and is, for example, a smartphone used as an extension telephone. The employee terminal 18 receives radio waves transmitted from the stationary transmitter 16 and the mobile transmitter 17 by short-range wireless communication (for example, Bluetooth (registered trademark), ZigBee, WiFi, etc.). A predetermined application program is installed in the employee terminal 18, and the information of the stationary transmitter 16 and the mobile transmitter 17 which has received the signal is transmitted to the management server 11 without operating the employee terminal 18 at all. .

  Specifically, the employee terminal 18 is composed of a computer having a processor, a memory, a storage device, an input/output interface and a communication interface.

  The processor executes the program stored in the memory. The memory includes a ROM which is a non-volatile storage device and a RAM which is a volatile storage device. The ROM stores an immutable program (for example, BIOS) and the like. The RAM is a high-speed and volatile storage device such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory), and temporarily stores a program executed by the processor and data used when the program is executed. The storage device is, for example, a large-capacity and non-volatile storage device such as a flash memory (SSD), and stores a program executed by the processor and data used when the program is executed. That is, the program is provided to the employee terminal 18 via the network, stored in a storage device which is a non-transitory storage medium, read from the storage device, loaded into the memory, and executed by the processor.

  The input/output interface is an interface that is configured by a liquid crystal display device or a touch panel, outputs the execution result of the program in a format that can be visually recognized by the employee, and inputs the instruction by the employee. The communication interface is a network interface device that controls communication with other devices according to a predetermined protocol, and performs wireless communication according to, for example, WiFi or LTE standard.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing initial registration of in-facility map information and stationary transmitter installation information performed before the start of operation of this system.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, the system administrator or the like of this system uses the management terminal 13 to register the initial registration data 101 of the management server 11 by GUI operation or the like. The initial registration data 101 includes a map information table 21 (FIG. 2B), a stationary transmitter installation table 22 (FIG. 2C), an employee terminal table 31 (FIG. 3B), and a mobile transmitter status table. 41 (FIG. 4(B)).

  As shown in FIG. 2B, the map information table 21 is a table in which the map information of the facility is registered, and is composed of a map ID 211, map substance data 212 and the like. In the map substance data 212, an image of a map of the facility (or an address of a place where the image is stored) is registered. When the facility is composed of a plurality of floors, areas, etc., the image data of the floor map and area map, etc. are registered uniquely and identifiable by the map ID 211 for each floor, area.

  As shown in FIG. 2C, the stationary transmitter installation table 22 is a table in which the result of mapping the stationary transmitter 16 arranged in the facility to the map information (each floor map etc.) is registered, It is composed of a stationary transmitter ID 221, a map ID 222, coordinates 223, and the like. The stationary transmitter ID may be acquired from the stationary transmitter 16 before installation by a short-range wireless transceiver included in the management terminal 13. Further, the administrator may manually input the identification information displayed on the stationary transmitter 16. The map ID 222 corresponds to the map ID 211 registered in the map information table 21, and indicates the map information (floor, area, etc.) in which the stationary transmitter is installed. Coordinates 223 are relative plane coordinates of the installation position of the stationary transmitter on the map. The numerical value of the relative coordinates can be defined by a numerical value in meters when the lower left corner of the floor map image or the like is set as the origin.

  In the stationary transmitter mapping screen 23, as shown in FIG. 2(D), the GUI operation of the management terminal 13, that is, by designating a point on the map displayed on the screen with the mouse, the stationary transmitter mapping screen 23 is installed on the floor map or the like. The transmitter 16 is mapped. The rectangles in the figure are the divisions of each store, and are the stationary transmitters 16 to which the stars are mapped.

  If it is sufficient to grasp the position of the person being measured in a complex shopping mall or the like composed of a large number of stores on a store-by-store basis, it is sufficient to place a stationary transmitter in the center of each store as shown in this figure.

  It should be noted that the stationary transmitters 16 may be comprehensively installed at a density that allows reception of radio waves from any of the stationary transmitters 16 at any place in the facility.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing initial registration of an employee terminal and a mobile transmitter performed before the start of operation of this system.

  As shown in FIG. 3(A), the employee terminal 18 has a short-distance receiving unit 181, which receives radio waves from a transmitter (stationary transmitter 16, mobile transmitter 17) by short-distance wireless communication, public line/wireless. It has a remote communication unit 182 that performs wireless remote communication with the management server 11 and the like via the LAN 14, a position information processing unit 183 that is an application program for this system, and the like.

  The management terminal 13 pre-registers a list of employees who have the employee terminals 18 in the employee terminal table 31 in the initial registration data 101. As shown in FIG. 3B, the employee terminal table 31 includes a detection terminal ID 311, a user name 312, a telephone number, and the like.

  When the employee terminal 18 activates the application program pre-installed for this system, the location information processing unit 183 is resident, and the mobile transmitter table 32 and the stationary transmitter table 33 currently registered from the management server 11 are stored. To get. The mobile transmitter table 32 includes the identification information of the mobile transmitter 17, and is a part of the mobile transmitter state table 41 extracted. The stationary oscillator table 33 includes identification information of the stationary oscillator 16 and is a part of the stationary oscillator installation table 22 extracted. The mobile oscillator table 32 and the stationary oscillator table 33 are used to determine whether the signal received by the employee terminal 18 is from the oscillator of the present system.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing mobile transmitter lending registration performed when a user (user) of the present system receives a facility visit.

  This system assumes that a plurality of people will come to the facility as a group, and in one group, a target person (positioned person) 43 of position information acquisition and a user 44 who is a beneficiary of the position information service. Is included. For example, the target person 43 is a child or the like, and the user 44 is a parent or the like. The user 44 has the user terminal 15 having a screen for displaying position information.

  At the time of reception of facility visit, the person 43 to be positioned is lent the mobile transmitter 17 by the lending manager (visit reception staff) 42. As described above, the mobile transmitter 17 may be worn on the clothes of the person 43 to be positioned.

  As shown in FIG. 4A, when lending the mobile transmitter 17, the lending manager 42 uses the management terminal 13 to set the mobile transmitter 17 to “on loan”, which is included in the accumulated data 102. The lending flag 412 of the mobile transmitter status table 41 is set to “Yes”.

  In addition, the lending manager 42 sets additional information (sex 413, age 414, etc.) of the person 43 to be positioned in order to record the statistical information. The additional information does not have to be accurate information of the target person 43, but may be input by the lending manager 42's subjective judgment, and can reduce psychological hurdles regarding personal information reporting and personal information leakage risk.

  The user (accompanying person) 44 can acquire the position information of the person to be positioned (the owner of the mobile transmitter 17) 43 by the mobile transmitter ID 411 described in the mobile transmitter 17. The user terminal 15 uses the mobile transmitter ID 411 to manually input the number displayed on the mobile transmitter 17 into the user terminal 15 or to read the barcode displayed on the mobile transmitter 17 by the user terminal 15. The mobile transmitter ID 411 may be acquired by bringing the mobile transmitter 17 and 15 into close proximity to each other by wireless or infrared communication. For example, when the user terminal 15 and the mobile transmitter 17 have an NFC communication function, the user terminal 15 and the mobile transmitter 17 are brought close to each other to allow the user terminal 15 to access a predetermined web site and register the mobile transmitter ID. can do. Further, when lending the mobile transmitter 17, the paper on which the mobile transmitter ID is written may be given to the user 44.

  Since the mobile transmitter 17 needs to be collected when leaving the facility, it is advisable to deposit the deposit at the time of lending. In addition, a receiver that receives radio waves from the mobile transmitter 17 and issues a warning when passing the mobile transmitter 17 is provided at the exit of the facility, and it is checked whether the mobile transmitter 17 is brought home when leaving the facility. You may. In addition, the mobile transmitter 17 may be used as an entrance ticket to the facility, and in this case, an exit gate for opening the mobile transmitter 17 may be provided to collect the mobile transmitter 17.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, the mobile transmitter status table 41 includes a mobile transmitter ID 411, a lending flag 412, a gender 413, and an age 414, and manages the mobile transmitter 17 that can be lent to the target person 43. To do. That is, the lending manager 42 updates the mobile transmitter status table 41 when the mobile transmitter 17 is rented and returned.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a situation in which the employee terminal 18 receives radio waves from the stationary transmitter 16 and the mobile transmitter 17 during operation of this system.

  As described above, the stationary transmitter 16 is installed so as to be able to receive the radio wave from any of the stationary transmitters 16 at any place in the facility. Therefore, one employee terminal 18 must be installed in the facility. Radio waves are received from the stationary transmitter 16 described above. Further, when the person 43 to be positioned who has the mobile transmitter 17 approaches the employee 51, the employee terminal 18 receives the radio wave from the mobile transmitter 17. When the employee terminal 18 receives a radio wave from the stationary transmitter 16 or the mobile transmitter 17, the employee terminal 18 acquires the identification information of each transmitter included in the received signal, and the identification information, the intensity of the received radio wave, and the reception The date and time is transmitted to the management server 11. The transmission timing of the received identification information to the management server 11 may be determined according to the network load and the real-time property, and the radio waves may be received from each transmitter or may be collectively transmitted at a predetermined time interval. The management server 11 records the identification information and the radio field intensity received from the employee terminal 18 in the accumulated data 102.

  Upon receiving the radio wave from the stationary transmitter 16, the employee terminal 18 generates data to be transmitted to the management server 11 without receiving the radio wave from the mobile transmitter 17.

  When the employee terminal 18 receives the radio wave from the mobile transmitter 17, the employee terminal 18 sets the position of the employee terminal 18 (that is, the mobile transmitter 17) in combination with the information of the stationary transmitter 16 that received the radio wave immediately before. Is estimated and data to be transmitted to the management server 11 is generated. The data of the mobile transmitter 17 transmitted from the employee terminal 18 to the management server 11 is at least information related to the received data of the stationary transmitter 16 estimated to be the position of the mobile transmitter 17 (for example, to other data). 10), the identification information of the mobile transmitter 17 and the identification information of the stationary transmitter 16 are included in association with each other in one line of data (one entry), as shown in FIG. You don't have to.

  When the employee terminal 18 receives the radio wave from the mobile transmitter 17, the employee terminal 18 may generate data to be transmitted to the management server 11 using only the received information of the mobile transmitter 17. In this case, the management server 11 forms a pair with the information of the stationary transmitter 16 received at the latest time before the time when the employee terminal 18 received the radio wave from the mobile transmitter 17 and forms a pair. (Ie, the position of the mobile transmitter 17) is estimated. Then, the management server 11 may store the information of the mobile transmitter 17 and the information of the stationary transmitter 16 that received the radio wave immediately before in the accumulated data 102. The management server 11 stores the information of the mobile transmitter 17 and the information of the stationary transmitter 16 separately in the accumulated data 102, and when the management server 11 receives the search request for the position information of the mobile transmitter 17, the management server 11 moves. The position of the mobile transmitter 17 may be estimated by combining the information of the transmitter 17 and the information of the stationary transmitter 16 that received the radio wave immediately before.

  The stationary transmitter 16 and the mobile transmitter 17 are associated with each other by making a pair with the information of the stationary transmitter 16 received at the latest time before the time when the radio wave from the mobile transmitter 17 is received. The information of the stationary oscillator 16 received at the closest time before and after the time when the radio wave from the device 17 is received may be combined. Further, when the stationary transmitter 16 and the mobile transmitter 17 are combined, a maximum allowable time difference is provided, and the stationary transmitter 16 and the mobile transmitter 17 are combined within a range not exceeding the maximum allowable time. May be.

  When the management server 11 receives the position information from each employee terminal 18, the management server 11 stores the position information data in the stored data 102 in the data format shown in FIG. This data format will be described later.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a situation in which the user terminal 15 requests the management server 11 to search the position information of the positionee during the operation of this system.

  When the operation manager (supervisor) accesses the management server 11 from the management terminal 13, he/she sees a screen displaying the position information of the employee terminal 18 and the mobile transmitter 17 specified based on the position information of the stationary transmitter 16. be able to.

  This process will be described in detail. When the management terminal 13 accesses the web server 12 and inputs the search target range (place, time, etc.), the web server 12 inquires of the management server 11 about the search target data, and the target data from the accumulated data 102. To get. Then, the plane coordinates of the stationary transmitter 16 associated with the mobile transmitter 17 to be searched are retrieved from the stationary transmitter installation table 22.

  Then, a map including the position of the stationary transmitter 16 is taken out from the map information table 21 of the initial registration data 101, and the plane coordinates of the stationary transmitter 16 are mapped on the map. That is, the position of the stationary transmitter 16 is estimated to be the position of the mobile transmitter 17, and a map in which the position of the stationary transmitter 16 is mapped is created.

  Then, the screen data for displaying the created map is transmitted to the management terminal 13. It should be noted that the number of mobile transmitters 17 present in each area is displayed by changing the display mode (for example, size and color) of a circle, so that the congestion status of each area and the location of employees can be displayed in a bird's-eye view. can do.

  Further, the management terminal 13 may trace and display the position of the specific mobile transmitter 17 by inputting the time zone to be searched. The web server 12 may query the management server 11 for the data of the mobile transmitter 17 to be searched, acquire the target time-series data from the accumulated data 102, and generate the screen data to be displayed on the management terminal 13.

  Further, the user terminal 15 can know the position information of the specific mobile transmitter 17 by accessing the management server 11 and inputting the specific mobile transmitter ID 411 obtained when the facility enters the facility. Further, the user terminal 15 may trace and display the position of the mobile transmitter 17 to be searched. In the process of generating the screen displayed by the user terminal 15 by the web server 12, the range of the search target is limited to the mobile transmitter 17 associated with itself, and the screen displayed on the management terminal 13 is generated. The process is the same.

  The relationship between the user terminal 15 and the mobile transmitter 17 may be registered in the management server 11 and the position information of the mobile transmitter 17 may be pushed to the registered user terminal 15.

  FIG. 7: is a figure which shows an example of the screen which displays the search result of the position information of a to-be-measured person.

  As shown in FIG. 7A, the management terminal 13 displays the position of the employee terminal 18 (star) and the position of the mobile transmitter 17 on the map. It should be noted that the number of mobile transmitters 17 present in each area is displayed by changing the display mode (for example, size and color) of a circle, so that the congestion status of each area and the location of employees can be displayed in a bird's-eye view. it can.

  As shown in FIG. 7B, the user terminal 15 displays the position information of the mobile transmitter 17 having the specific mobile transmitter ID 411 on the map. It is advisable to display the time when the signal from the mobile transmitter 17 is received so that the freshness of the information can be recognized.

  Since the mobile transmitter 17 and the employee terminal 18 do not manage the position information by themselves, they need to be associated with the stationary transmitter 16 whose position is specified, which will be described later.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a situation where the employee terminal 18 receives radio waves from a plurality of stationary transmitters.

  The employee terminal 18 may receive radio waves from the plurality of stationary transmitters 16. In this case, the position information processing unit 183 of the employee terminal 18 compares the intensities of the radio waves from the plurality of stationary oscillators 16 that have received the radio waves, and estimates that the position is close to the stationary oscillator 16 having the highest intensity. ..

For example, in the example shown in FIG. 8, when the intensity of the signal from the stationary oscillator 16a is -40 dB and the intensity of the signal from the stationary oscillator 16b is -60 dB, the employee terminal 18 is close to the stationary oscillator 16a . It can be estimated to be located at.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a situation where the plurality of employee terminals 18 receive the radio waves of the mobile transmitter 17.

  A plurality of employee terminals 18 may receive the radio wave of one mobile transmitter 17. In this case, all the employee terminals 18 transmit the information of the mobile transmitter 17 to the management server 11.

  Therefore, the management server 11 collects a plurality of pieces of position information of one mobile transmitter 17 in the same time zone, but in this case, since the employee terminals are located at almost the same place, the management server 11 is It is preferable to determine the date and time data as a valid value. In this way, the management server 11 accumulates the position information data in the accumulated data 102 shown in FIG.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a format of data accumulated as the accumulated data 102 during operation of the position information providing system.

  The position information received by the management server 11 from the employee terminal 18 holds data of a pair of the stationary transmitter ID 106 and the mobile transmitter ID 108. Specifically, the position information stored in the accumulated data 102 includes a detection date/time 104, an employee terminal ID 105, a stationary transmitter ID 106, a stationary transmitter radio wave intensity 107, a mobile transmitter ID 108, and a mobile transmitter radio wave intensity 109. .. The detection date and time 104 is the date and time when the employee terminal 18 receives the radio wave from the mobile transmitter 17. The employee terminal ID 105 is identification information of the employee terminal 18 that has received the radio wave from the mobile transmitter 17. The stationary transmitter ID 106 is identification information of the stationary transmitter 16 that receives the radio wave when the employee terminal 18 receives the radio wave from the mobile transmitter 17. The stationary transmitter radio wave intensity 107 is the strength of the radio wave from the stationary transmitter 16 received by the employee terminal 18. The mobile transmitter ID 108 is identification information of the mobile transmitter 17 that transmitted the radio wave received by the employee terminal 18. The mobile transmitter radio wave intensity 109 is the intensity of the radio wave from the mobile transmitter 17 received by the employee terminal 18.

  The mobile transmitter 17 and the employee terminal 18 do not manage the position information by themselves, and since the position information cannot be acquired by GPS in the indoor facility like the present embodiment, the mobile transmitter 17 and the employee terminal 18 are not compatible with the stationary transmitter 16. By holding the position information of the mobile transmitter 17 as a set, it can be estimated that the current positions of the mobile transmitter 17 and the employee terminal 18 are the positions of the stationary transmitter 16. Therefore, in this embodiment, the positions of the stationary transmitters 16 in the same group are displayed as the positions of the mobile transmitter 17 and the employee terminal 18 on a map such as a floor map.

  Looking at the accumulated data 102 in time series, the employee terminal 18 having the ID “T-ID001” has the IDs “P-ID1001”, “P-ID1002”, and “P-” at the time “10:00:00”. Although the radio waves from the three mobile transmitters 17 of "ID1003" are received, the employee terminal 18 cannot receive the radio waves from the mobile transmitters 17 in sequence, and at time "10:03:00", Radio waves from all mobile transmitters 17 can no longer be received. From this data, it can be seen that each mobile transmitter 17 moved in a direction away from the employee terminal 18 and went out of the reception area of the employee terminal 18.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 9, when a plurality of employee terminals 18 receive the radio wave of one mobile transmitter 17, for example, the radio wave from the mobile transmitter 17 with the ID “P-ID1003” indicates the time “ The employee terminal 18 with the ID "T-ID001" was received at 10:00:00, but at the time "10:03:00", the employee terminal with the ID "T-ID002" was received. 18 is receiving. Therefore, when the position of the mobile transmitter 17 is displayed after the time “10:03:00”, the “S-ID0002” associated with the employee terminal 18 with the “T-ID002” received later is displayed. It is estimated that the mobile transmitter 17 is at the position of the stationary transmitter 16, and the estimated position is displayed on the map.

  As described above, in the first embodiment, the low-cost introduction is achieved by the stationary transmitter 16 for transmission, the mobile transmitter 17 for transmission, and the employee terminal 18 that receives the radio waves of both devices. The position information of the target person 43 can be provided to the user 44 at the cost and the operating cost, and the position information of the target person 43 can be provided to the user 44 with sufficient accuracy.

  In addition, the user does not need to install a specific application in his/her mobile terminal when receiving the position information providing service of the present embodiment, and does not need to register as a member. Since it is not necessary to convey information to the service provider, the service can be used easily without worrying about leakage of personal information.

  Further, the web server 12 generates screen data for displaying the estimated position of the mobile transmitter on the map, and the screen data includes the mobile transmitter 17 located in a predetermined area on the map. Since the display is performed in a manner according to the number, it is possible to comprehensively display the congestion status of each area, the arrangement of employees, and the like.

  When the employee terminal 18 receives the signal from the mobile transmitter 17, the employee terminal 18 associates the reception information including the identification information of the mobile transmitter 17 and the reception date and time with the identification information of the stationary transmitter 16 corresponding in time. In addition, since it is transmitted to the management server 11, the position information of the target person 43 can be grasped at low installation cost and operation cost.

<Example 2>
In the first embodiment, the system in which the management server 11 manages the initial registration data 101 and the accumulated data 102 has been described, but in the second embodiment, the management server 11 is not provided and each employee terminal 18 uses the initial registration data 101. Have. The second embodiment focuses on the viewpoint of notifying the user terminal 15 of the position information of the target person 43, and omits the position tracing function of each mobile transmitter 17 and the position statistical processing function. There is.

  FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of the position information providing system of the second embodiment. In the second embodiment, the same components and functions as those in the first embodiment described above are designated by the same reference numerals, and their description is omitted.

  In the position information providing system of the second embodiment, the initial registration data 101 includes the map information table 21, the stationary transmitter installation table 22 and the mobile transmitter table 32, but the employee terminal table 31 and the mobile transmitter status table 41. Does not include. That is, in the second embodiment, one employee terminal 18 does not know the information of the other employee terminals 18 and operates independently. The mobile transmitter status table 41 need only be managed by the management terminal 13, and need not be distributed to the employee terminal 18. Further, the trace of the position of the mobile transmitter 17 and the accumulated data 102 used for the statistical processing are unnecessary.

  In the second embodiment, the management terminal 13 transmits the registered contents before the start of operation to each employee terminal 18 via the public line/wireless LAN 14. The employee terminal 18 stores the data distributed from the management terminal 13 as initial registration data 101.

  Further, when the user (user) visits the facility, the management terminal 13 records the loan registration content of the mobile transmitter 17 in the mobile transmitter status table 41, and updates the mobile transmitter table 32 to each employee terminal. Send to 18.

  When the employee terminal 18 receives radio waves from both the stationary transmitter 16 and the mobile transmitter 17 during operation of the position information providing system of the second embodiment, the position information processing unit 183 moves the position of the stationary transmitter 16. It is estimated that the position of the transmitter 17 (that is, the person 43 to be positioned) is present, and screen data to be displayed on the user terminal 15 in FIG. 7 is created and transmitted to the web server 12 via the public line/wireless LAN 14. .. The web server 12 has a storage area of screen data for displaying the position information of each mobile transmitter 17. When the screen data is received from the employee terminal 18, the web server 12 stores the screen data in the storage area of the mobile transmitter 17. Write. That is, in the first embodiment, the management server 11 creates the screen to be presented to the user, but in the second embodiment, the location information processing unit 183 of the employee terminal 18 creates the screen to be presented to the user. It is an example of.

  Upon receiving access from the user terminal 15, the web server 12 transmits the screen data stored in the storage area of the mobile transmitter 17 to be searched.

  When a plurality of employee terminals 18 receive the radio wave from the same mobile transmitter 17, each employee terminal 18 updates the screen data in the same storage area of the web server 12, so that the user terminal 15 of the web server 12 is updated. When the page is accessed, the latest position of the person 43 to be positioned is displayed.

  In addition, in the second embodiment, the employee terminal 18 transmits the information of the stationary transmitter 16 and the mobile transmitter 17 that have received the radio waves to the web server 12, and the web server 12 creates a screen provided to the user terminal 15. You may. That is, the screen provided to the user terminal 15 may be created by the employee terminal 18 or the web server 12.

  Further, the employee terminal 18 may hold the screen data without holding the screen data provided by the web server 12 to the user terminal 15. In this case, the web server 12 manages a locator (for example, the URL of the screen data) indicating the storage location of the screen data for displaying the position of each mobile transmitter 17, and receives access from the user terminal 15. Then, the access from the user terminal 15 is redirected using the locator. Thereby, the user terminal 15 can acquire the screen data for displaying the position of the mobile transmitter 17 from the employee terminal 18.

  Further, when the web server 12 does not hold the screen data provided to the user terminal 15 and the employee terminal 18 holds the screen data, the web server 12 receives the access from the user terminal 15, and the user terminal 15 The employee terminal 18 that manages the position information of the mobile transmitter 17 that desires the position information is searched for, and the access from the user terminal 15 is redirected to the employee terminal 18. Thereby, the user terminal 15 can acquire the screen data for displaying the position of the mobile transmitter 17 from the employee terminal 18.

  In the second embodiment, when the employee terminal 18 receives only the radio wave from the stationary transmitter 16, the position information display screen data is not updated, so that the employee terminal 18 does not transmit the data to the web server 12 and the stationary transmitter 18 does not transmit the data. When radio waves are received from both 16 and the mobile transmitter 17, the position information display screen data to be updated is transmitted to the web server 12.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the processing by the employee terminal 18 of the second embodiment.

  First, the position information processing unit 183 of the employee terminal 18 determines whether any of the mobile transmitters 17 has received a radio wave (S101). As described above, the mobile transmitter 17 transmits electric waves intermittently (at predetermined time intervals), so that the processing from step S102 is executed at the timing when the electric wave from the mobile transmitter 17 is received.

  Then, the number of stationary oscillators 16 that have received the radio wave within the latest predetermined time (for example, one minute before) is determined (S102). If there is only one stationary oscillator 16 that has received the radio wave, the plane coordinates of the stationary transmitter 16 are retrieved from the stationary transmitter installation table 22 of the initial registration data 101 (S103). On the other hand, when the radio waves from the plurality of stationary transmitters 16 are received, the plane coordinates of the stationary transmitter 16 having the maximum radio wave intensity are taken out from the stationary transmitter installation table 22 (S104).

  Then, a map including the position of the stationary transmitter 16 is taken out from the map information table 21 of the initial registration data 101 (S105), and the plane coordinates of the stationary transmitter 16 are mapped on the map (S106). That is, the position of the stationary transmitter 16 is estimated to be the position of the mobile transmitter 17, and a map in which the position of the stationary transmitter 16 is mapped is created.

  Then, the created map is transmitted to the web server 12, and the storage area of the web server 12 corresponding to the mobile transmitter 17 is updated (S107).

  In the first and second embodiments, the application program is installed in the employee terminal 18 held by the employee of the facility and the location information processing unit 183 is resident, but the location information processing is performed in the user terminal 15 when the facility visits. The application program of the unit 183 may be installed to provide the position information of the mobile transmitter 17. As a result, the capture rate of the target person 43 can be increased. In this case, in order to ensure security, it is preferable that the user terminal 15 not be able to browse the position information regarding other users. Further, the facility side may give some privilege to the user who installed the application. By providing the user terminal 15 with the function of the position information processing unit 183, the mobile transmitter 17 (positioned person 43) can be reliably captured even in a facility where the number of employees is small and the employee terminals 18 are sparsely arranged.

  Further, if there is no person who can operate a terminal such as a smartphone among the facility visitors in the group, a piece of paper or the like with the mobile transmitter ID 411 is given to the user 44 at the time of entry, and the user 44 is When the user wants to know the location, he/she shows the mobile transmitter ID 411 to a nearby employee, and the employee uses his/her own employee terminal 18 as the user terminal 15 to use the mobile transmitter ID 411. You may provide the service which searches the position of 17 and shows the screen which displayed the position of the mobile transmitter holder (positionee) 43 to the user 44. This makes it possible to provide location information services to many users.

  In other words, the user terminal 15 and the employee terminal 18 may play the other roles depending on the embodiment.

  Further, the function of receiving the signal from the stationary transmitter 16 and the signal from the mobile transmitter 17 may be shared by the fixedly installed receiving devices. For example, the near field communication receiver and the position information processing unit 183 may be mounted on a WiFi access point installed in the facility.

  As described above, in the second embodiment of the present invention, when the employee terminal 18 receives a signal from the mobile transmitter 17, the position of the stationary transmitter 16 corresponding in time is determined by the mobile transmitter 17. The screen data for displaying the estimated position of the mobile transmitter 17 on the map is generated, and the generated screen data is transmitted to the web server 12. Therefore, with a simpler configuration, The position information of the positioner 43 can be provided to the user.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, but includes various modifications and equivalent configurations within the spirit of the appended claims. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easy-to-understand manner, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to those having all the configurations described. Further, part of the configuration of one embodiment may be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment. Further, the configuration of another embodiment may be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Further, a part of the configuration of each embodiment may be added/deleted/replaced with another configuration.

  Further, each of the above-mentioned configurations, functions, processing units, processing means, etc. may be realized by hardware, for example, by designing a part or all of them with an integrated circuit, and a processor realizes each function. It may be realized by software by interpreting and executing the program.

  Information such as a program, a table, and a file for realizing each function can be stored in a memory, a hard disk, a storage device such as an SSD (Solid State Drive), or a recording medium such as an IC card, an SD card, and a DVD.

  Further, the control lines and information lines are shown to be necessary for explanation, and not all the control lines and information lines necessary for mounting are shown. In reality, it can be considered that almost all configurations are connected to each other.

11 management server 12 web server 13 management terminal 14 public line/wireless LAN
15 user terminal 16 stationary transmitter 17 mobile transmitter 18 employee terminal 101 initial registration data 102 accumulated data

Claims (3)

A position information providing system including a stationary transmitter, a mobile transmitter, a terminal, and a server,
The stationary transmitter has a transmitter for transmitting a signal, does not have a receiving function for receiving a signal from the mobile transmitter, and is installed at a predetermined position in the facility,
The mobile transmitter has a transmitter for transmitting a signal, does not have a receiving function for receiving a signal from the stationary transmitter, and is held by a positioning target moving in the facility,
When the terminal receives a signal from at least one of the stationary transmitter and the mobile transmitter, the terminal transmits reception information including identification information and reception date and time of the transmitter to the server,
The server is
The reception information of the latest mobile transmitter, the reception information of the stationary transmitter corresponding in time, and the combination of the detection date and time which is the reception date and time of the mobile transmitter are stored,
Using the stored combination, the position of the stationary transmitter at the detection date and time is estimated to be the position of the mobile transmitter according to the combination,
Notifying the position of the estimated mobile transmitter at the detection date and time to a user who is associated with the target person who holds the mobile transmitter,
When the information of one mobile transmitter is received from a plurality of the terminals, among the information of the mobile transmitters in the same time zone, the latest date and time data is determined to be a valid value and stored. Location information providing system. The position information providing system according to claim 1,
The server generates screen data for displaying the estimated position of the mobile transmitter on a map,
The position information providing system, wherein the screen data is for displaying mobile transmitters located in a predetermined area on a map in a mode according to the number. A method for providing position information of the mobile transmitter in a position information providing system comprising a stationary transmitter, a mobile transmitter, a terminal, and a server,
The stationary transmitter has a transmitter for transmitting a signal, does not have a receiving function for receiving a signal from the mobile transmitter, and is installed at a predetermined position in the facility,
The mobile transmitter has a transmitter for transmitting a signal, does not have a receiving function for receiving a signal from the stationary transmitter, and is held by a positioning target moving in the facility,
The method is
When the terminal receives a signal from at least one of the stationary transmitter and the mobile transmitter, a procedure of transmitting reception information including identification information and reception date and time of the transmitter to the server,
A procedure in which the server stores a combination of the reception information of the mobile transmitter having the latest reception time, the reception information of the stationary transmitter corresponding in time, and the detection date and time which is the reception date and time of the mobile transmitter ; ,
The server uses the stored combination to estimate that the position of the stationary transmitter at the detection date and time is the position of the mobile transmitter related to the combination,
The server includes a procedure of notifying a user associated with a positionee holding the mobile transmitter of the estimated position of the mobile transmitter at the detection date and time,
In the procedure of storing the combination, when the server receives information of one mobile transmitter from a plurality of the terminals, the latest date and time data among the information of the mobile transmitter in the same time zone is valid. A method characterized by storing as a value.

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