TW201423682A - Group management method and system thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A group management method and a system thereto are disclosed. Each of plural portable communication devices registers identification informations of the individual portable communication device and of a corresponding positioning device at a positioning server, and each of the positioning devices sends its position information to the positioning server. Any of the communication devices is able to generate and send a group setting message to the positioning server in order to launch a new group, and then the positioning server creates a group space and a group code for the space in response sending to the group launcher. The launcher distributes the code to those invited to the space allowing for their joining. Any of members of the group space is authorized to access position information of other members.

Description

Group management method and system

The invention relates to a group management system and method, and more particularly to a group management system and method applicable to a team such as a team communication and a positioning device.

Due to the continuous advancement of technology, vehicles are currently equipped with a vehicle device for remotely communicating messages, such as externally transmitting alarm trigger signals and/or transmitting geolocation information.

On the other hand, portable communication devices, such as mobile phones, have been widely used and used at present, especially in terms of the functionality provided and scalable.

Traditionally, a car owner wants to communicate with a rider and can only use the mobile phone to dial the number for voice communication. Obviously, this kind of communication method is quite inconvenient. For example, when a car mainly initiates an activity, it is necessary to call the mobile phone number one by one to notify different riders, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. In addition, when the activity is determined and a common destination is set, different vehicles operate independently and are in isolation from each other, that is, they cannot know the progress of other vehicles at any time.

In summary, there is currently a need in the market to develop a solution that provides the user with the convenience of creating a group for communication and/or location control without adding too much cost.

One of the objectives of the present invention is to improve the familiar team to initiate a communication group. difficult.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a group management method and system with the advantages of low construction cost.

In order to achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides a group management method, including the steps of: providing a positioning server and a plurality of portable communication devices, wherein the plurality of portable communication devices individually include communication device identification information and associated a positioning device of the positioning device identifies the information; each of the plurality of portable communication devices individually registers the communication device identification information of the portable communication device with the positioning device identification information of the positioning device; The positioning device continuously transmits a positioning information to the positioning server at a fixed interval; one of the plurality of portable communication devices acts as an initiator, and the initiator generates and sends a group setting message to the positioning server, the group The group setting message includes a group name and a selected list, the selected list includes at least one of the plurality of portable communication devices except the initiator; the positioning server generates a group code according to the group setting message And a group space corresponding to the group code, and sending the group code to the initiator, the The bit server allows the portable communication device on the selected list to join the group space and allows participants of the group space to access the location information with each other; the initiator sends the group code to the selected list At least one of the portable communication devices; The portable communication device on the selected list is added to the group space according to the group code.

Another aspect of the present invention provides a group management system based on the foregoing method, including a plurality of portable communication devices, a positioning server, and a picture server. Each portable communication device is associated with at least one positioning device, and the positioning server stores one identification information of each portable communication device and one identification information of each positioning device, and according to the plurality of portable communication devices A request generates a group space for other portable communication devices to join, wherein each positioning device continuously generates and provides a positioning information to the positioning server at a fixed interval. The image server receives from the portable communication device and searches for a related map according to the positioning information, and combines the positioning information with the associated map to form a map information.

With the method and system of the present invention, the portable communication device holder can easily initiate a group as long as the registration server performs the registration process, so that the group members can immediately know each other's positioning information, whether applied or not. Vehicle group travel or fleet management is very helpful.

The foregoing method may further comprise the step of: the initiator culling at least one of the portable communication devices on the selected list.

In the foregoing method, the group setting message may further include a destination name, and the group management method may further include a step: one of the participants of the group space requests the positioning server to access the positioning information of the other participants. Further, after the step of requesting access, the method further includes the following steps: the participant who sends the request to the group space obtains the positioning information of the other participants from the positioning server; The participant who sends the request to the group space sends the positioning information of the other participants to a picture server; the picture server searches for a related picture according to the positioning information of other participants, and participates in combination with other participants The positioning information and the associated map are used to form a map information; and the map server transmits the map information to the participant of the group space in which the request is made.

The communication device identification information of the portable communication device may refer to a mobile phone number or an International Mobile Equipment Identity Number (IMEI) code, or an email account number. The identification information of the positioning device includes at least one of the following items: an international mobile device identification code and a user identity module card number of the vehicle device. The identification information of the positioning device may also include a vehicle nickname.

The portable communication device can include a smart phone with a touch display panel. The communication specifications of the above smart phones can be 3G, 4G, and WiFi transmission specifications.

The present invention provides a group management system and method, which can facilitate group management matters, such as a fleet location and dispatch command, by using a highly portable communication device such as a mobile phone.

A more detailed description of the present invention will be set forth in the <RTIgt; The following description of the invention is merely illustrative of its general principles and should not be taken in a limiting sense. Describe the different embodiments. Therefore, the particular modifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. It is apparent that those skilled in the art can devise various equivalents, variations and modifications without departing from the scope of the invention, and it is understood that such equivalent embodiments are included herein. The terms used in the following description of the invention are intended to be interpreted in the broadest Certain terms may be specifically emphasized, but any terms that are to be interpreted in a limited manner are specifically and openly defined in the Detailed Description section. As used herein, the terms used in the terms "single" or "plural" may also include plural or single instances. In addition, the use of the word "or" in the text shall be construed as including (a) a list of single items in the list (b) unless it is clearly stated that it excludes other matters in the list containing two or more items on behalf of a single item. All items in the matter or (c) any combination of items in the list.

Referring to Figure 1, a schematic diagram of a group management system in accordance with a preferred embodiment. First, in a basic system for implementing the group management method of the present invention, there are a plurality of positioning devices 10, 30, 32, 33, a positioning server 11, and a plurality of portable communication devices 13, 31, 34. Each portable communication device is equipped with an application provided by a positioning device manufacturer, and the execution and input of the group management related functions on the communication device are completed through the application. The portable communication devices 13, 31, 34 and the positioning devices 10, 30, 32, 33 are to communicate with various servers on the Internet, such as the positioning server 11 (established by the positioning device manufacturer), through the mobile communication system operator 15.

In the figure, the different portable communication devices are clearly divided into corresponding positioning devices by a dotted circle, for example, the portable communication device 13 corresponds to a certain The bit device 10, the portable communication device 31 corresponds to a positioning device 30, and the portable communication device 34 corresponds to two positioning devices 32, 33.

Although the positioning device is integrated into the vehicle device in the example, those skilled in the art will be aware of other variations after reading the text, such as other portable functional devices in which the positioning device is integrated into the non-vehicle device; Moreover, the attachment object of the positioning device in the present invention is not limited to an automobile, and may be applied to other vehicles such as an airplane, a ship or a locomotive.

First, the owner needs to have a portable communication device such as a smart phone, and then use one of the aforementioned application related registration functions (such as the function control image 141 of FIG. 2, the function control image 142~145 is also the application). The other function options provided by the program are connected to the location server 11 via the mobile communication system for a registration step, that is, the identification information of the portable communication device and the identification information of the positioning device are input on the positioning server. The positioning server stores the above input. Thus, a single portable communication device can be registered for one or more positioning devices (i.e., the vehicle device of the present example, which also recognizes a vehicle). The smart phone is already a well-known device, so other components and components, such as touch technology, voice recognition, digital chip or RF, will not be repeated.

The identification information of the portable communication device is typically a mobile phone number or an International Mobile Equipment Identity Number (IMEI) code, or an email account or other; the identification information of the positioning device may include international mobile device identification (International Mobile Equipment) Identity number; IMEI) code, vehicle nickname, vehicle ID number (representing the model of the vehicle equipment), user identity module of the vehicle equipment (Subscriber Identity Module; SIM) card number or other.

The smart phone has a touch display panel 131, which not only serves as an input but also allows the user to view the presentation of the information. Of course, smart phones also have transmission modules that can connect to the Internet's wireless transmission modules such as 3G, 4G, and WIFI formats. According to the definition of the ITU, the static transmission rate reaches 1 Gbps, and the user can reach 100 Mbps in the high-speed mobile state, which is called 4G. Take advantage of Smart Radio technology and achieve higher spectrum utilization and transmission power.

On the other hand, when the vehicle is started, the positioning device generates positioning information through the satellite positioning principle, that is, the geographical coordinates are continuously transmitted to the positioning server 11 through the mobile communication system operator 15, and the positioning server 11 also stores the information. Once the vehicle is turned off, all of the above actions are stopped.

An innovative group management system and method will be described in more detail below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 1 and 6. First, each portable communication device separately registers one of the identification information of the portable communication device itself and one of the identification devices of the positioning device on the positioning server 11, so that the positioning server 11 can carry each portable type. The communication device is associated with the transmission by the positioning device. The positioning device transmits its own positioning information to the positioning server 11.

Since the team is to initiate a group, usually the car owners have established a relationship with each other, it is assumed that one of these portable communication devices (referred to as an initiator in the text) establishes a mechanism for communicating with other portable communication devices. For example, in this example, the mobile phone number of other portable communication devices is stored. The above or below execution can be performed by the application provided by the service provider. This is accomplished and a user interface can be created to facilitate the creation of the interfaces described in the various embodiments of the present invention and illustrated herein for the purposes of the present invention.

When an initiator, such as the portable communication device 13, wants to initiate a group, it first generates a group setting message and then sends it to the positioning server 11, and displays it through the smartphone screen through the user interface. interface. The user interface includes a group setting message generated by the input including a group name 401 and a selected list. In addition, if the purpose of forming a group includes notifying all participants of a commute destination, it is also possible to additionally input a destination name 403; or the purpose includes performing a specific activity or additionally inputting an activity name 402.

The above selected list is created by man-machine interface operation on the mobile phone display screen to check all the items listed in the mobile phone contact list. As shown in FIG. 3, the portable communication device stores a plurality of contacts (in one embodiment, the mobile phone number can be used as a representative), and each contact name 404 has an invitation check box 405 and a code notification check mark. Block 406, wherein the check box of the invitation check box 405 indicates that the contact person is invited to join the group, and the check of the code notification check box 406 indicates that the group code is automatically sent by the initiator when the group code is subsequently acquired. Contact person.

The portable communication device is connected to the location server 11 by the application and provides the group setting message to request to open a group space. The positioning server 11 generates a group code and a group space corresponding to the group code according to the group setting message, and sends the group code to the initiator. In fact, the positioning server 11 takes the selected list into consideration when generating the group space as Allowing to join the screening list for this particular group space will also allow participants in this particular group space to access the location information from each other.

Once the initiator receives the group code, the code is selectively sent to the invitees based on the original tick. When an invitee is immediately around the initiator and can immediately know the group code, there is no need to tick to transfer the code. Therefore, all invitees can join the group space based on the group code.

The group space can generate an interface by the above application to facilitate display on the display; the participant name is displayed on the display screen of the portable communication device as shown in FIG. Once the field of any participant is clicked, it is equivalent to requesting the positioning server 11 to access the positioning information of the participant, and the positioning server 11 of course provides the required positioning information accordingly. In order to achieve the graphical communication of the positioning information, once the requesting participant obtains the specific participant positioning information from the positioning server 11, the obtained positioning information is additionally transmitted to the image server 16. Based on the positioning information, the image server 16 searches for an associated map and combines the positioning information with the associated map to form a map information for the requesting participant. The information information is included in the associated map, and the marked points representing the positioning information are marked, as shown in FIG.

Of course, the initiator can be provided with a function option to eliminate any invitee, for example, clicking the function button 501 of FIG. 4; and if the invitee registers with more than one positioning device, he or she can choose to join with one or more of them. This feature can be designed with a simple application. Participants in any group space can of course opt out of the group space.

In an embodiment, the application also provides a planning path button. Once clicked to activate this button, the app automatically performs a navigation calculation and outputs a map of the route between the portable communication device and the destination. All of the above embodiments can be used alone or in combination.

The present invention has been described above by way of a preferred embodiment, and is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention. The scope of patent protection is subject to the scope of the patent application and its equivalent fields. Any modification or refinement made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention is equivalent to the equivalent change or design made in the spirit of the present disclosure, and should be included in the following patent application scope. Inside.

10,30,32,33‧‧‧ Positioning device

11‧‧‧Location server

13,31,34‧‧‧Portable communication equipment

131‧‧‧Touch display panel

141‧‧‧ function control image

15‧‧‧Mobile communication system operators

16‧‧‧Figure server

401‧‧‧Group name

402‧‧‧Event name

403‧‧‧ destination name

404‧‧‧Contact Name

405, 406‧‧‧ check box

501‧‧‧ function button

502‧‧‧ marked points

1 is a schematic diagram of a group management system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of registration using a portable communication device.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of generating a group setting message by using a portable communication device.

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a list of members in a group space.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a participant accessing other participant positioning information.

6 is a flow chart of a group management method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

10,30,32,33‧‧‧ Positioning device

11‧‧‧Location server

13,31,34‧‧‧Portable communication equipment

15‧‧‧Mobile communication system operators

16‧‧‧Figure server

Claims (9)

A group management method includes: providing a positioning server and a plurality of portable communication devices, wherein the plurality of portable communication devices individually comprise communication device identification information and positioning device identification information associated with one of the positioning devices; Each of the portable communication devices individually registers the communication device identification information of the portable communication device and the positioning device identification information of the positioning device on the positioning server; each positioning device transmits a positioning information to the positioning device. a server; one of the plurality of portable communication devices as an initiator, the initiator generates and sends a group setting message to the positioning server, the group setting message includes a group name and a selected list, The selected list includes at least one of the plurality of portable communication devices other than the initiator; the positioning server generates a group code and a group space corresponding to the group code according to the group setting message, and Sending the group code to the initiator, the location server allows the portable communication device on the selected list to join the group And allowing participants of the group space to access the location information with each other; the initiator sends the group code to at least one of the portable communication devices on the selected list; and the portable on the selected list The communication device joins the group space according to the group code. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of: the initiator culling at least one of the portable communication devices on the selected list. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device identification information of the portable communication device refers to a mobile phone number. The method of claim 1, wherein the group setting message further includes a destination name, and the group management method further comprises a step of: one of the participants of the group space to the positioning server Request access to the location information of other participants. The method of claim 4, after the step of requesting access, further comprising the steps of: the participant who sends the request to the group space obtains the positioning information of the other participants from the positioning server; The participant of the requested group space sends the positioning information of the other participants to a picture server; the picture server searches for a related picture according to the positioning information of other participants, and combines with other participants The positioning information and the associated map are used to form a map information; and the map server transmits the map information to the participant who requests the group space. A group management system includes: a plurality of portable communication devices, each portable communication device is associated with at least one positioning device; a positioning server stores one communication device identification information of each portable communication device and each One of the positioning devices locates the device identification information and generates a group space for the other portable communication device to join according to one of the plurality of portable communication devices, wherein each positioning device generates and provides a Locating information to the positioning server; and a picture server receiving and searching for an associated picture from the plurality of portable communication devices, and combining the positioning information with the associated information Form a picture information. The system of claim 6, wherein the identification information of the positioning device comprises at least one of the following items: an international mobile device identification code and a user identity module card number of the vehicle device. The system of claim 6, wherein the plurality of portable communication devices comprises at least one smart phone having a touch display panel. The system of claim 8, wherein the communication specification of the smart phone is a 3G or 4G transmission specification.