KR20020024863A - Location information service system and method for blind - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A system of servicing location information for visually-handicapped people is provided to install a transmission control device for transmitting location information at every main location, and to install a transmission device on a bus to receive geographical information provided from a server by using a terminal for visually-handicapped people, then to retrieve the geographical information according to information provided from the transmission control device and the transmission device, so that visually-handicapped people can obtain exact location information. CONSTITUTION: A transmission control device(106) installed at every main spot delivers an ID corresponding to location information of the spots by loading the ID into a wireless signal. A terminal(100) for visually-handicapped people inputs departure and destination information or downloads geographical information and optimum course information from a web server(132) by the received ID, and retrieves the received ID from the downloaded geographical information, then outputs information on a current location and location information for a next destination with Braille points or voices. The web server(132) stores the geographical information of each area, and is wirelessly connected to the terminal(100) via a communication network to supply the geographical information. If the transmission control device delivers a transmission inducing signal, a transmission device(104) mounted on a moving car(102) transmits predetermined transportation information.

Description

Location information service system and method for blind people {Location information service system and method for blind}

The present invention relates to a location information service method for the visually impaired. More specifically, the location for the visually impaired can provide accurate location information to the visually impaired by using a call control device and a terminal for the visually impaired, which are installed at each main point. An information service system and a service method.

In general, GPS (Global Positioning System), which is used for user location tracking, is a system that receives and manages data about a user's location from a satellite, and has high accuracy but is expensive and difficult to carry. Therefore, in order to track a user's location at a lower cost, a 'location tracking device using a mobile phone' was filed on June 9, 1998 as a patent application 98-21172, and published on January 15, 2000 as a publication number 2000-1119. Has been published. According to the above-described location tracking device using a mobile phone, a location management function for tracking the current location of a user and a base station between a mobile phone and a mobile phone in order to reduce the range of searching for a user when calling a user by a caller's request in a cellular mobile communication service. The location is tracked through time and distance calculation using radio waves.

Such conventional location tracking devices are difficult for the visually impaired to use as normal people, and in reality, there are no location tracking devices for the visually impaired. As a general technique for the blind, painless bleeding braille recognition technology and a portable electronic braille reader technology are known. Painless bleeding braille recognition technology is a technology that enables blind people to recognize braille as quickly as possible without loss or pain of tactile media. The portable braille reader technology is painless bleeding. Based on braille recognition technology, the main technology is 'how to deliver digital information to the visually impaired' stored in CD-ROM or MD. That is, the conventional technology for the visually impaired may be defined as a first generation technology in terms of a delivery method and a second generation technology in terms of advanced delivery contents.

However, these two technologies, although the basic premise to develop a mechanism for the visually impaired, there is a problem that the visually impaired does not provide usability and convenience that can be directly used in the running life. For example, the visually impaired could not obtain the necessary location information or the corresponding geographic information while going out, but could only get help from assistive devices or guide dogs.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a transmission control device for transmitting location information for each main location, and installs a transmission device for public transportation such as a vehicle, and then uses the geographical information provided by the server for the visually impaired. It is an object of the present invention to provide a location information service system and a service method for the visually impaired, which are received using a terminal and searched according to the information provided by the calling control device and the calling device so that the visually impaired can obtain accurate location information.

1 is an exemplary view showing the configuration of a location information service system according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is an exemplary view of the terminal for the visually impaired shown in FIG.

3 is an exemplary view of the transmission control apparatus shown in FIG.

4 is an exemplary view of the transmitting apparatus shown in FIG.

5 is an illustration of a communication protocol stack between a terminal and a remote device according to the present invention.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a location information service procedure according to the present invention;

** Description of symbols for the main parts of the drawing **

100: terminal for the blind 102: bus

104: transmission device 106: transmission control device

108: base station 110: wireless communication network

112: gateway 120: Internet

130: location information service site 132: web server

134: database

In order to achieve the object as described above, the system of the present invention is installed for each major point and the transmission control device for transmitting a unique ID corresponding to the location information of the point on the radio signal; Enter the starting point and destination, or download the geographic information and the optimal course information of the predetermined range from the web server by the unique ID received from the originating control device, and retrieve the ID received from the originating control device from the geographic information downloaded to the current location. A terminal for the visually impaired to output information and location information to a next destination in braille or voice; Geographic information for each region is stored, characterized in that it comprises a web server for providing location information by wirelessly connected via a communication network and a terminal for the visually impaired.

In addition, in order to achieve the above object, the service method of the present invention comprises the steps of: receiving geographic information from a server according to the input location information; Determining a unique ID by searching for geographic information downloaded from a web server when a unique ID is received from a call control device; If the unique ID is road information, outputting the corresponding location information in Braille or voice, determining whether the destination is a destination, and requesting new geographic information or waiting for the next unique ID; And if the unique ID is a stop, outputting the corresponding location information in braille or voice, requesting vehicle arrival information from the calling device, and determining whether the bus number is received when the vehicle information is received, and outputting it in braille or voice if the bus number is received. It is characterized by.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a configuration diagram showing a location information service system for the visually impaired according to the present invention, which is installed at a main point and attached to a mobile vehicle such as a bus control device 106 and a transmission device 106 for transmitting location information. It is composed of a calling device 104, a terminal 100 carried by the visually impaired, a base station 108, a wireless communication network 110, a gateway 112, the Internet 120, a location information service site 130.

The terminal 100 carried by the visually impaired is a wireless Internet terminal such as a PDA, a hand PC, a mobile phone, etc. As shown in FIG. 2, the wireless transmitter / receiver 202, the data processor 204, the voice processor 212, Including the speaker 214, the braille information converter 208, the braille output unit 210, the braille input unit 216, the memory 206, and the like to communicate with the web server 132 to receive geographical information data It stores in the database of the current location or destination information and the like according to the ID or information received from the source control device 106 and the source device 104. The terminal 100 is equipped with a browser (WAP: Wiress Application Protocol) for a wireless Internet service, and can communicate wirelessly with the base station 108. The base station 108 is connected to the wireless communication network 110 and is connected to the Internet 120 through the gateway 112, the location information service site 130 for providing a service according to the present invention is connected to the Internet 120 It is. In particular, the PDA has a built-in WAP browser, so that the visually impaired can receive text-oriented contents through CDMA in the PDA for the visually impaired, as the general public browses the text-oriented Internet using his mobile phone. 100: hereinafter referred to as PDA) can be provided with Internet service by converting it to Braille. The information at this time can be stored and can be used again later.

In FIG. 1, the base station 108, the wireless communication network 110, the gateway 112, the Internet 120, and the like are conventional devices that are widely used at present, and the location information service site 130 for providing a service according to the present invention is The web server 132 and the database server 134 are provided to provide the location information service to the terminal 100 via the wireless Internet through the wireless communication network 110. The location information service site 130 may communicate with the terminal 100 using various communication methods such as PCS, IMT-2000, wireless cellular, wireless LAN, and TRS, and various forms according to the development of a communication network. It can be implemented as.

The originating control device 106 includes a radio transmitter 302 as shown in FIG. 3 and transmits a unique ID indicating the location information of the point where it is installed and an originating call inducing signal for starting the operation of the originating device. . In addition, since the range of influence of the transmission control device is about 15 m in radius, it continuously transmits a transmission start guidance signal so that the communication device can communicate with each other when the transmission device 104 or the terminal 100 for visually impaired persons fall within this range. have.

As shown in FIG. 4, the transmitting device 104 includes a wireless transmitting / receiving unit 402, a control unit 404, and a memory 406 to receive a predetermined signal when a transmission start induction signal is received from the transmitting control device 106. Send the. At this time, the originating device 104, unlike the originating control device 106, stores specific information about the medium instead of a unique ID, and is attached to the moving means instead of a fixed point. The means of transportation in particular are centered around the city seat buses or general buses, and the specific information on the mobile medium is based on the unique route number of each bus. If no origination start signal sent by the originating control device is not received, no origination is made, and the built-in information on the specific moving medium is sent from the moment of receipt of the originating signal of the originating control device to the time when the induction signal is cut off. Send by signal. At this time, the reception target is a terminal for the visually impaired, and it is possible to transmit and receive bidirectionally with the call control device or the PDA 100 for the visually impaired.

Therefore, when the transmission control device 106 is installed at each bus stop and the transmission devices 104 are attached to all the buses 102 and the bus is operated, the transmission device mounted on the bus is installed whenever the bus is adjacent to the stop. The blind person who is waiting at the stop because the unique route number, etc. is transmitted to the bus, can receive this information through the terminal 100 to know which line the bus arrives. In addition, the terminal 100 of the visually impaired aboard the bus receives a unique ID from the originating control device of the stop and informs the location information currently reached by braille or voice to know where it has arrived.

The web server 132 stores detailed information on the originating control device ID and transmits the ID information within 300m of the radius to the visually-impaired PDA 100 based on the location tracking start point when the location query comes in. And calculates the optimal travel course for the final arrival point is also transmitted to the PDA 100 for the visually impaired. In addition, when the risk factors such as crossings, construction sites, frequent traffic accidents, and the like exist in the optimal course calculated by the server 132, the risk factors such as the PDA for the visually impaired are transmitted to the user in advance. Let them know The web server 132 uses the ID to start the subsequent information download starting point so that the user can download new information to be used by the visually impaired PDA 100 a few minutes before the user is out of the range stored by the visually impaired PDA 100. Inform in advance. When the PDA 100 for the visually-impaired person who has reached the start point of downloading the provided follow-up information transmits the specific ID information currently received, the web server 132 receives the user's location based on the ID, the optimal course and the user's location tracking start point. Identify the direction and deliver the following categories of geographic information to the PDA for the visually impaired.

5 is an example of a communication protocol stack between a terminal (local device) and a remote device according to the present invention. The local device 500 is a client requesting information, and the remote device 510 is a server providing information. Local device is composed of application, link manager for communication with client such as BT_module_Cnt and L2CA layer, and wireless layer, and remote device is composed of server, link manager and wireless layer such as DB.

When an application for a location information service (client) requests an outgoing medium information from a terminal for a visually impaired user, a BT_module_Cnt primitive is generated and delivered to the L2CA (Logical Link Control and adaptation protocol) layer, and a baseband stream is transmitted. After generating the signal, it modulates the radio signal into a radio frequency (RF) signal and transmits it. The remote device demodulates the radio signal, reproduces the baseband, and requests transmission information from the server through the link layer (L2CA layer) through error correction. The server transmits the calling information stored in the database to the terminal for the visually impaired through the reverse process. In FIG. 5, the ACL represents an Async Connectless link.

Next, a procedure of performing location information service using the system configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

The user inputs the first point (starting point) where the location tracking is needed and the final destination to be reached immediately before reaching the point where the location tracking is needed to obtain the information needed through the PDA input unit for the visually impaired, and through the machine operation. By switching the visual aid PDA to the location information receiving mode or simply changing the mode selection key to the location tracking status, the PDA for the visually impaired decodes the first calling control device receiving number collected by the user and converts it into unique ID information. For example, a visual lover is currently boarding the subway line 2 and wants to get off at Bangbae Station and go to Kaya Hospital. In this case, the user inputs through the Braille input unit 216 for the visually impaired the PDA who provides the 'bangbae station' and the final destination 'Gaya Hospital' when the subway passes through Nakseongdae or Sadang branch. After that, set the position information receiving mode (position tracking mode).

The PDA for the visually impaired, which has been changed to the location information receiving mode (location tracking mode), initiates a telephone transmission operation using CDMA and attempts to connect to the web server 132 that stores geographic information. When the connection is established, the PDA for the visually impaired is delivered to the web server if there is a final destination value input by the user, and the receiver waits for a time within 1 second until the web server completes the calculation of the optimal course. From the moment the web server sends the optimal course to its final destination, the PDA for the visually impaired begins to download it and disconnects from the web server when the download is complete.

If there is no final destination in the mode starting point, the starting point is delivered to the web server, and the web server searches for the unique ID of the originating control device that can represent the starting point, and then makes geographic information based on it. PDA for the visually impaired The PDA for the visually impaired starts to download it and disconnects from the web server at the end of the download.

In the case of switching to the location tracking mode in the situation where there is no starting point as well as the final destination, the unique ID information collected by the PDA for the starting disability is transmitted to the web server, and the web server identifies the location of the originating control device. It collects geographic information from this point and sends it to PDA for the visually impaired. As in the above-described process, the PDA for the visually impaired downloads the geographic information sent by the web server and disconnects when this operation is completed.

The contents of the information downloaded from the web server are based on the unique ID value of the originating control device installed within a radius of about 300m from the starting point of the location tracking, the optimal course to the final destination, warning and danger information existing in the optimal course, and visually impaired persons. It is composed of unique ID values to be downloaded to the web server through CDMA to web server again.

The PDA for the visually impaired who finished downloading the data from the web server performs the internal work to receive the unique ID sent from the surroundings for the data retrieval for location tracking. If no information is received, radio wave tracking is continuously performed until there is information received through the movement of the user or the vehicle in which the user is riding.

The PDA for the visually impaired obtains the unique ID of the calling control device continuously, and grasps the current position by searching the existing information downloaded from the web server and storing the unique ID value.

The PDA for the visually impaired uses the unique ID of the incoming call control device to determine the current location and compares it with the optimal course notified by the web server. If the received unique ID value is one of the values within the optimal course, the contents indicated by the optimal course are output to the user step by step based on the point. Otherwise, the PDA itself is the current position and the position value of the optimal course. The shortest distance course among them is calculated and output to the user step by step in Braille. The user may make a mistake in the movement of the position, and such a mistake may occur and move away from the optimal course. In this case, the PDA for the visually impaired is queried to the web server from the current point located outside the optimal course, and the web server recalculates the optimal course to the destination based on the received ID value.

Assume that the optimal course ID transmitted by the web server and the actual location information for each ID are shown in Table 1 below.

Unique ID Actual location 20392051 ... Bangbae Station Exit 4 ** Bank .............

The step-by-step output for the visually impaired PDA for the above-described optimal course is as follows.

First, the position of ID2039 is determined, and a braille or a voice is outputted, "Here is exit station No. 4". Then, the position of ID2051 is detected, and the first arrival point is guided from the current position. In other words, "Go straight ahead and go to the bank" braille or voice output. The user continues to move to the point where information about the ID 2051 is received, and the moment the visually impaired PDA receives the 2051 ID (approximately 15 m with the 2051 calling device attached), the new information "This is in front of the ** bank. Go straight ahead and turn right at the end of the building. " In this way, the direction of movement and the moving point from the point are output step by step based on the time of arrival at the point. When the user reaches point 2063, "This is xx. Turn left and continue straight until you reach point 00. In this section, the construction is in progress, please pay special attention to the movement." Pass it to the user.

At this time, the optimal course information means not only a combination of straight lines connected from a single point to a single point but also a secondary path such as a spider network including the shortest course through such a combination. That is, in the case of a single shortest course, if there are many routes, there is a possibility to deviate from the optimal course, and it is difficult to reenter.However, if a complex optimal course is selected, the PDA can easily reach the final destination by its own calculation even if it is slightly separated from the optimal course. have.

경우 When it reaches the start point of download of subsequent geographic information transmitted from server, it automatically connects to web server through CDMA and delivers the last received ID value, and downloads new follow-up information about 300m in the future. After downloading, repeat the above process to reach the desired destination.

Referring back to Figure 6, if the location tracking mode performs the function of the present invention, otherwise performs another function (601). If it is determined whether or not the input of the starting point or the destination is input, the current location and the destination information are edited, and then, the server accesses the server through the communication network and transmits a geographic information request (602, 603, 604). When the corresponding geographic information is received from the server 132, the database 630 of the terminal 100 is updated with the new geographic information (606).

Subsequently, when a timer event occurs at a set time interval, the transmission medium information is requested to the transmission control device (607, 608), and the transmission control device 106 transmits a unique ID. Upon receiving the unique ID, the terminal 100 searches for the ID in the database 630 and determines the ID (609, 610, 611).

If the ID is 'street information', the location information is output in braille or voice, and if it is the destination, the reset is repeated after the destination. If the destination is not the destination, the new geographic information request is edited. After that, it accesses the web server and the communication network again, requests the geographical information, and updates the database (612 to 616).

If the ID information is 'stop', it outputs the location information in Braille or voice and requests vehicle arrival information search.If the vehicle information is received from the originating device, it checks the information in the database. Otherwise, the vehicle arrives again to request vehicle arrival information inquiry (617 ~ 622).

As described above, according to the present invention, a transmission control device for transmitting the above information is installed at every major point, and a mobile terminal is attached to a transmission device, and then a terminal for the handicapped from the web server via the wireless communication network is used to identify the ID of the transmission control device. After receiving the geographic information centered on the location information to the visually impaired at any time can be easily visited to the desired destination. In particular, since the transmission device informs the bus route information of the vehicle, it is easy to use public transportation, and it also alerts people to dangerous areas in the middle of reaching the destination, thus protecting the blind from accidents. There is this.

Claims (3)

A transmission control device installed at each main point and transmitting a unique ID corresponding to the location information of the point in a radio signal; Enter the starting point and destination, or download the geographic information and the optimal course information of the predetermined range from the web server by the unique ID received from the originating control device, and retrieve the ID received from the originating control device from the geographic information downloaded from the current location. A terminal for the visually impaired to output information about the location and information on the next destination by Braille or voice; And Location information service system for the visually impaired, comprising: a web server storing geographic information for each region, and wirelessly connected to the visually impaired terminal through a communication network to provide location information. According to claim 1, The system further comprises a transmitting device for transmitting the transmission guidance signal, the transmission control device is mounted on a mobile vehicle and transmits predetermined transport information when receiving the transmission guidance signal. Location information service system for the visually impaired. Receiving geographic information from a server according to the input location information; Determining a unique ID by searching for geographic information downloaded from a web server when a unique ID is received from a call control device; If the unique ID is road information, outputting the corresponding location information in Braille or voice, determining whether the destination is a destination, and requesting new geographic information or waiting for the next unique ID; And Outputting the corresponding location information in braille or voice when the unique ID is a stop, and requesting vehicle arrival information from the calling device, determining whether the bus number is received when the vehicle information is received, and outputting it in braille or voice when the bus number is received. Location information service method for the visually impaired.