WO2012169252A1

WO2012169252A1 - Position measuring apparatus, position measuring method, and computer readable recording medium

Info

Publication number: WO2012169252A1
Application number: PCT/JP2012/056626
Authority: WO
Inventors: 小西勇介
Original assignee: 日本電気株式会社
Priority date: 2011-06-10
Filing date: 2012-03-15
Publication date: 2012-12-13

Abstract

In order to detect the position of a terminal (100), a position measuring device (10) is provided with: a mobility detecting unit (13), which detects mobility that indicates a moving state of the terminal (100); an observation quantity generating unit (11), which sets a time window, corresponding to the detected mobility, acquires, with the set time window, information for specifying the position of the terminal (100), and generates, using the acquired information, an observation quantity to be used for the purpose of detecting the position of the terminal (100); and a position measuring unit (12), which detects the position of the terminal (100) on the basis of the observation quantity thus generated. With such configuration, accuracy of detecting the position of the terminal is improved, even in the cases where it is determined that the terminal is in a stationary state.

Description

POSITIONING DEVICE, POSITIONING METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM

The present invention relates to a positioning device for detecting the position of a terminal, a positioning method, and a computer-readable recording medium on which a program for realizing the positioning is recorded.

Conventionally, positioning systems using GPS, wireless LAN, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), infrared rays, ultrasonic waves, etc. have been proposed as systems for detecting the position of a terminal attached to or held by a moving body such as a person or an object. ing. For example, Non-Patent Document 1 discloses a positioning system that uses various media such as radio waves, ultrasonic waves, sound waves, and infrared rays from a terminal attached to a moving body. The positioning system disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 uses a medium to measure signal reception strength and signal transmission time for a terminal, generates an observation amount from the measurement value, and based on the generated observation amount Detect the position of the moving object.

However, in a positioning system using such a medium, depending on the terminal holding method or the observation characteristics, the observation may be biased, missing, or both, and the positioning performance may deteriorate. Therefore, in order to reduce the bias and lack of observation, generally, processing using the following statistics is executed. First, a time window is set, and a statistic is calculated from a plurality of measured values obtained during the set time window. Next, based on the calculated statistics, an observation amount used for positioning is generated.

Here, examples of the “statistic” include an average value, a median value, a mode value, a maximum value, and a minimum value among a plurality of measurement values. Further, in the above-described method, as the time length of the time window (hereinafter referred to as “time window length”) is increased, the observation bias and the omission are reduced.

In addition, in order to improve the position detection by such a positioning system, a technique that uses the movement state of a terminal determined using an acceleration sensor or the like has also been proposed (for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2). reference).

Specifically, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for preventing degradation of position detection performance due to the stationary state of the terminal by determining the stationary state of the terminal in two stages. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for preventing a positioning result from being disturbed by referring to a past positioning result when the terminal is stationary.

JP 2008-249396 A JP 2008-116370 A

Here, the case where the process using the above-described statistical amount is combined with the techniques disclosed in

Patent Documents

1 and 2 will be examined. In this case, since the bias and lack of observation are reduced, it is expected that higher accuracy in position detection will be achieved.

By the way, since the above-described processing using the statistic is based on the premise that the terminal is moving, the larger the time window, the smaller the observation bias and the omission. However, in the techniques disclosed in

Patent Documents

1 and 2, since it is necessary to strictly determine the stop state, the position detection accuracy deteriorates as the time window increases.

An example of an object of the present invention is a positioning device, a positioning method, and a computer-readable device that can improve the accuracy of terminal position detection even when the above-described problem is solved and the terminal stationary state is determined. Is to provide a simple recording medium.

In order to achieve the above object, a positioning device according to one aspect of the present invention is a positioning device for detecting the position of a terminal,
A mobility detector for detecting a mobility representing a movement state of the terminal;
A time window is set according to the detected mobility, information for specifying the position of the terminal is acquired in the set time window, and the position of the terminal is detected using the acquired information An observable generator for generating an observable used for
A positioning unit that detects a position of the terminal based on the generated observation amount;
It is characterized by having.

In order to achieve the above object, a positioning method in one aspect of the present invention is a positioning method for detecting the position of a terminal,
(A) detecting a mobility indicating a movement state of the terminal;
(B) A time window is set according to the mobility detected in the step (a), information for specifying the position of the terminal is acquired in the set time window, and the acquired information is Generating an observable for use in detecting the location of the terminal; and
(C) detecting the position of the terminal based on the observation amount generated in the step (b);
It is characterized by having.

Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, a computer-readable recording medium according to one aspect of the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium recording a program for detecting the position of a terminal by a computer,
In the computer,
(A) detecting a mobility indicating a movement state of the terminal;
(B) A time window is set according to the mobility detected in the step (a), information for specifying the position of the terminal is acquired in the set time window, and the acquired information is Generating an observable for use in detecting the location of the terminal; and
(C) detecting the position of the terminal based on the observation amount generated in the step (b);
A program including an instruction for executing is recorded.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the accuracy of terminal position detection even when determining the stationary state of a terminal.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a positioning device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the relationship between mobility and time window length. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a relationship between mobility and reliability. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the positioning device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of a computer that can implement the positioning device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the positioning device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the positioning device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computer capable of realizing the positioning device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the positioning apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the positioning device according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a network system used in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of the position specifying information measured in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of an observation amount created in the embodiment of the present invention.

(Embodiment 1)
Hereinafter, a positioning device, a positioning method, and a program according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[Device configuration]
Initially, the structure of the positioning apparatus 10 in this Embodiment 1 is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a positioning device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the positioning device 10 is a device for detecting the position of the terminal 100. In the first embodiment, the positioning device 10 is built inside the terminal device 100. Further, the terminal device 100 has a function of communicating with a base station 120 installed in advance, and constitutes a network system 110 together with each base station 120.

As shown in FIG. 1, the positioning device 10 includes an observation amount generation unit 11, a positioning unit 12, and a mobility detection unit 13. Among these, the mobility detection unit 13 detects the movement state of the terminal 100, that is, the mobility indicating the degree of movement. In the first embodiment, as will be described later, the mobility is obtained from the acceleration of terminal 100.

The observation amount generation unit 11 sets a time window according to the detected mobility, and information for specifying the position of the terminal 100 using the set time window (hereinafter referred to as “position specifying information”). To get. Moreover, the observation amount generation unit 11 generates an observation amount used for detecting the position of the terminal 100 using the acquired position specifying information.

In the first embodiment, the position specifying information is information for specifying the positional relationship between the terminal 100 and the base station 120 when communication is performed between the terminal 100 and each base station 120, for example, a signal Examples include reception intensity and signal transmission time. In addition, as the observation amount, a plurality of position specifying information, that is, statistical values (average value, median value, mode value, maximum value, minimum value) such as signal reception intensity and signal transmission time measured for each base station 120 Etc.). The positioning unit 12 detects the position of the terminal 100 based on the generated observation amount.

As described above, the positioning device 10 acquires the mobility of the terminal, and acquires the position specifying information under the time window set according to the acquired mobility. That is, the positioning device 10 determines whether the terminal is moving or stationary, and if the terminal is moving, the time window is reduced and the terminal is stationary. The position specifying information is acquired by increasing the time window. Therefore, according to the positioning device 10, even when the stationary state of the terminal is determined, the accuracy of the terminal position detection can be improved.

Here, the configuration of the positioning device 10 according to the first embodiment will be described more specifically with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 in addition to FIG. First, as illustrated in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, the positioning device 10 includes a reliability detection unit 14, a position information acquisition, in addition to the observation amount generation unit 11, the positioning unit 12, and the mobility detection unit 13. Unit 15, mobility detection sensor 16, and output unit 17.

Moreover, in this Embodiment 1, among the structures of the positioning apparatus 10, the observation amount production | generation part 11, the positioning part 12, the mobility detection part 13, and the reliability detection part 14 are programmed on arithmetic units 18, such as a microcomputer. Is built by running This point will be described later.

The position information acquisition unit 15 acquires the position specification information according to the time window set by the observation amount generation unit 11 and outputs the acquired position specification information to the observation amount generation unit 11. In the first embodiment, the position information acquisition unit 15 measures the signal reception intensity or the signal transmission time when the terminal 100 transmits and receives a signal to and from the base station 120 installed in the environment, and measures the measurement. The result is acquired as position specifying information. A specific example of the position information acquisition unit 15 is a communication module provided in the terminal 100.

In Embodiment 1, the medium used for communication between terminal 100 and base station 120 is not particularly limited, and examples thereof include radio waves, ultrasonic waves, sound waves, and infrared rays. Furthermore, specific examples of the base station 120 include a base station for a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), a base station for a mobile phone, and a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite.

The mobility detection sensor 16 is a sensor for detecting mobility, and for example, an acceleration sensor is used as the mobility detection sensor 16. In the following description, a case where an acceleration sensor is used as the mobility detection sensor 16 will be described. In this case, the mobility detection sensor 16 outputs a signal for specifying the acceleration of the terminal 100 to the mobility detection 13.

In the first embodiment, the mobility detector 13 detects the acceleration of the terminal 100 based on the signal from the mobility detection sensor 16. Then, the mobility detector 13 obtains the detected acceleration change (change amount per unit time), and based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases, and the value decreases as the change decreases. Detect the mobility of the terminal.

The mobility detected in this way is 0 when there is no movement of the terminal 100, and 1 when there is the most movement (when the change in acceleration is the largest). Further, the mobility value increases as the degree of movement of the terminal 100 increases, that is, as the acceleration change of the terminal 100 increases.

In the first embodiment, the observation amount generation unit 11 determines the terminal 100 from the measurement result (position specifying information) output from the position information acquisition unit 1 and the mobility of the terminal detected by the mobility detection unit 13. An observation amount used for detecting the position of is generated.

Specifically, the observed amount generation unit 11 firstly relates the detected mobility of the terminal to a preset mobility and a time window length (hereinafter referred to as “time window length”). To determine the time window length. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the relationship between mobility and time window length. As shown in FIG. 2, the relationship between the mobility and the time window length is set so that the time window length is the largest when the mobility is 0, and the time window length is the smallest when the mobility is 1. ing. Furthermore, the relationship between the mobility and the time window length is set so that the time window length decreases as the mobility increases between 0 and 1.

Next, the observation amount generation unit 11 acquires the measurement result (position specifying information) obtained by the position information acquisition unit 15 while tracing back the time by the determined time window length with the current time as a reference. Further, the observation amount generation unit 11 may cause the position information acquisition unit 15 to perform measurement with the determined time window length and output the measurement result acquired at this time.

Subsequently, the observation amount generation unit 11 calculates a statistic using the acquired measurement result (position specifying information). The observation amount generation unit 11 can output the calculated statistic as an observation amount to the positioning unit 12. Examples of the statistic include an average value, a median value, a mode value, a maximum value, and a minimum value for a plurality of acquired measurement results.

The positioning unit 12 detects the position of the terminal based on the observation amount output from the observation amount generation unit 11. Specifically, the positioning unit 12 estimates the distance between the terminal 100 and each base station 120 based on the observation amount obtained from the measurement result between the terminal 100 and each base station 120, And the position of the terminal 100 is detected by applying the estimated distance for each base station to the principle of three-point surveying.

In addition, the positioning unit 12 obtains a feature amount for each base station from the observation amount obtained from the measurement result between the terminal 100 and each base station 120, and the position of the acquired feature amount is known in advance. The position of the terminal 100 can also be detected by comparing with the feature amount acquired at the place.

The reliability detection unit 14 detects the reliability indicating the reliability of the position of the terminal 100 detected by the positioning unit 12 based on the mobility. In addition, the reliability is set such that the value is higher as the mobility of the terminal 100 is smaller, and the value is lower as the mobility of the terminal 100 is larger.

Specifically, the reliability detection unit 14 determines the reliability by applying the mobility of the terminal 100 detected by the mobility detection unit 13 to a preset relationship between the mobility and the reliability. The reliability obtained in this manner increases as the reliability of the position detection result (positioning result) increases, and decreases as the reliability of the positioning result decreases.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the relationship between mobility and reliability. As shown in FIG. 3, the relationship between the mobility and the reliability is set so that the reliability is the highest when the mobility is 0, and the reliability is the lowest when the mobility is 1. Furthermore, the relationship between the mobility and the reliability is set so that the reliability decreases as the mobility increases between 0 and 1.

The output unit 17 outputs the terminal position (positioning result) detected by the positioning unit 12 and the reliability detected by the reliability detection unit 14 to the outside of the positioning device 10. In the present embodiment, the output unit 17 outputs the positioning result and the reliability to the display device 19 provided in the terminal device 10 and displays it on the display screen. The output unit 17 can also output the positioning result and the reliability to an external device other than the terminal 100.

[System operation]
Next, operation | movement of the positioning apparatus 10 in Embodiment 1 of this invention is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of the positioning device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In the following description, FIGS. 1 to 3 are referred to as appropriate. In the first embodiment, the positioning method is implemented by operating the positioning device 10. Therefore, the description of the positioning method in the first embodiment is replaced with the following description of the operation of the positioning device 10.

First, as shown in FIG. 4, the mobility detector 13 detects acceleration based on a signal from the mobility detection sensor 16, and further detects the mobility of the terminal 100 using the detected acceleration. (Step A1). The mobility detector 13 outputs the detected mobility to the observation amount generator 11 and the reliability detector 14.

Next, the observation amount generation unit 11 determines the time window length by applying the mobility detected in Step A1 to the relationship between the mobility set in advance and the time window length (see FIG. 2) (Step S1). A2). Next, the observation amount generation unit 11 causes the position information acquisition unit 15 to acquire the position specifying information in the determined time window length, specifically, measure the signal reception intensity or the signal transmission time. Then, the position specifying information (measurement result) is acquired from the position information acquiring unit 15 (step A3).

Next, the observation amount generation unit 11 generates an observation amount used for detecting the position of the terminal 100 using the acquired position specifying information (step A4). Specifically, the observed amount generation unit 11 calculates a statistic using the acquired position specifying information, and outputs the calculated statistic to the positioning unit 12 as an observed amount.

Next, the positioning unit 12 detects the position of the terminal 100 based on the observation amount output from the observation amount generation unit 11 (step A5). Specifically, the positioning unit 12 estimates the distance between the terminal 100 and each base station 120 based on the observation amount, and applies the estimated distance for each base station to the principle of three-point surveying. Then, the position of the terminal 100 is detected. In addition, the positioning unit 12 outputs the detected position (positioning result) of the terminal 100 to the output unit 17.

Next, the reliability detection unit 14 detects the reliability of the position of the terminal 100 detected in step A5 based on the mobility output by the mobility detection unit 13 in step A1 (step A6). Specifically, the reliability detection unit 14 applies the mobility output in step A1 to a preset relationship between the mobility and the positioning reliability (see FIG. 3) to obtain the reliability. Further, the reliability detection unit 14 outputs the obtained reliability to the output unit 17.

Next, the output unit 17 combines the positioning result detected by the positioning unit 12 in step A5 and the reliability detected by the reliability detection unit 14 in step A6, and displays these on the display provided in the terminal device 100. It outputs to the apparatus 19 (step A7).

As a result, the user of the terminal 100 can know his position and its reliability. In step A <b> 7, the output unit 17 can also output the positioning result and the reliability to an external device other than the terminal 100.

[program]
The program in the first embodiment may be a program that causes a terminal equipped with a computer to execute steps A1 to A7 shown in FIG. The positioning device 10 and the positioning method in the first embodiment can be realized by installing and executing this program on a terminal computer. In this case, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) of the computer functions as the arithmetic unit 18 shown in FIG. 1 and performs processing.

Here, the configuration of a computer capable of executing the program in the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example of a computer that can implement the positioning device according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 5, the terminal 100 includes a computer (microcomputer) 130 that functions as the arithmetic unit 18 shown in FIG. Further, the terminal 100 includes a communication module 137 that functions as the position information acquisition unit 15 (see FIG. 1) and an acceleration sensor 138 that functions as the mobility detection sensor 16 (see FIG. 1).

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the computer 130 includes a CPU 131, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 132, an input interface 133, a display controller 134, and a storage device 135. These units are connected to each other via a bus 136 so that data communication is possible. As the storage device 135, a nonvolatile semiconductor storage device such as a flash memory is used.

The CPU 131 performs various operations by expanding the program stored in the storage device 135 in the RAM 132 and executing them in a predetermined order. The communication module 137 and the acceleration sensor 138 described above are connected to the input interface 133, and the CPU 131 acquires signals from these via the input interface 133. The display controller 134 is connected to the display device 19 and controls display on the display device 19. The display controller 134 functions as the output unit 17 illustrated in FIG.

With such a configuration, if the program in the first embodiment is stored in the storage device 135, the CPU 131 causes the observation amount generation unit 11, the positioning unit 12, the mobility detection unit 13, and the reliability detection unit 14 to operate. Functions as a process. As a result, the positioning device 10 is realized.

[effect]
As described above, in the first embodiment, the movement state of the terminal 100 is determined using an acceleration sensor or the like, and when the movement is small, a long-time measurement result (position specifying information) is acquired and the movement is large. In some cases, a short-time measurement result is obtained. Then, an observation amount is generated from the measurement result thus obtained, and the position of the terminal 100 is detected based on the observation amount.

That is, in the first embodiment, when the movement of the terminal is small, the measurement results obtained at short intervals are used, so that the position detection is highly accurate. On the other hand, when there are many movements of the terminal, measurement results obtained at long intervals are used, so that it is possible to reduce observation bias and omission, and in this case as well, high accuracy of position detection can be achieved.

Further, in the first embodiment, the reliability is output such that the value is high when the movement of the terminal is small and the value is low when the movement of the terminal is large. Therefore, the user of the terminal can determine whether or not the result of the position detection has a reliability suitable for the purpose when using the result of the position detection of the terminal.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a positioning device, a positioning method, and a program according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

[Device configuration]
Initially, the structure of the positioning apparatus 20 in this Embodiment 2 is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the positioning device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the positioning device 20 according to the second embodiment includes an observation amount generation unit 21, a positioning unit 22, a mobility detection unit 23, a reliability detection unit 24, and a position information acquisition unit 25. And an output unit 26.

Among these, the observation amount generation unit 21, the positioning unit 22, the reliability detection unit 24, the position information acquisition unit 25, and the output unit 26, respectively, are the observation amount generation unit 11, shown in FIG. The same processing as that of the positioning unit 12, the reliability detection unit 14, the position information acquisition unit 15, and the output unit 17 is executed. In addition, the positioning device 20 according to the second embodiment is also built inside the terminal device 100.

On the other hand, the positioning device 20 does not include the mobility detection sensor 16 shown in FIG. 1 in the first embodiment, and is different from the positioning device 10 in the first embodiment in this respect. For this reason, in the positioning device 20, the mobility detector 23 executes a process different from that of the mobility detector 13 shown in FIG. 1 in the first embodiment. Hereinafter, the difference from the first embodiment will be mainly described.

In the second embodiment, the mobility detection unit 23 obtains a change per unit time of the position specifying information (measurement result) acquired by the position information acquisition unit 25, and the change is large based on the obtained change. The mobility of the terminal 100 is detected such that the value increases and the value decreases as the change decreases.

Specifically, also in the present second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, as the position specifying information, the terminal 100 and the base station when communicating between the terminal 100 and each base station 120 are used. Information specifying the positional relationship with 120, for example, signal reception intensity, signal transmission time, and the like.

Therefore, it is assumed that the position information acquisition unit 1 measures the signal reception strength or signal transmission time during communication between the terminal 100 and each base station. In this case, when the terminal 100 moves greatly, the measured signal reception intensity or signal transmission time varies greatly accordingly. For this reason, the movement detection unit 23 can detect the mobility of the terminal 100 based on the change per unit time of the measurement result obtained by the position information acquisition unit 1.

[System operation]
Next, operation | movement of the positioning apparatus 20 in Embodiment 2 of this invention is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the positioning device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In the following description, FIG. 6 is taken into consideration as appropriate. In the second embodiment, the positioning method is implemented by operating the positioning device 20. Therefore, the description of the positioning method in the second embodiment is replaced with the following description of the operation of the positioning device 20.

First, as shown in FIG. 6, the mobility detector 23 acquires position specifying information at a predetermined interval with respect to the position information acquisition unit 25, specifically, signal reception intensity or signal transmission time, etc. The mobility is detected from the change per unit time of the obtained position specifying information (measurement result) (step A11). The mobility detector 23 outputs the detected mobility to the observation amount generator 21 and the reliability detector 24.

Next, the observation amount generation unit 21 determines the time window length by applying the mobility detected in Step A11 to the relationship between the mobility set in advance and the time window length (see FIG. 2) (Step S11). A12). Next, the observation amount generation unit 21 causes the position information acquisition unit 25 to acquire the position specifying information in the determined time window length, specifically, measure the signal reception intensity or the signal transmission time. The position specifying information (measurement result) is acquired from the position information acquisition unit 25 (step A13).

Next, the observation amount generation unit 21 generates an observation amount used for detecting the position of the terminal 100 using the acquired position specifying information (step A14). Next, the positioning unit 22 detects the position of the terminal 100 based on the observation amount output from the observation amount generation unit 21 (step A15).

Next, the reliability detection unit 24 detects the reliability of the position of the terminal 100 detected in step A15 based on the mobility output by the mobility detection unit 23 in step A11 (step A16).

Next, the output unit 26 combines the positioning result detected by the positioning unit 22 in step A15 and the reliability detected by the reliability detection unit 24 in step A16, and displays these in the display provided in the terminal device 100. It outputs to the apparatus 19 (step A17).

As a result, the user of the terminal 100 can know his position and its reliability. Steps A12 to A17 described above are the same steps as steps A2 to A7 shown in FIG.

[program]
The program in the second embodiment may be a program that causes a terminal equipped with a computer to execute steps A11 to A17 shown in FIG. By installing and executing this program on a terminal computer, the positioning device 20 and the positioning method in the second embodiment can be realized. In this case, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) of the computer functions as the arithmetic device 27 shown in FIG. 6 and performs processing.

Here, the configuration of a computer capable of executing the program in the second embodiment will be described. FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computer capable of realizing the positioning device according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 8, the terminal 100 includes a computer (microcomputer) 130 that functions as the arithmetic unit 27 shown in FIG. However, in the second embodiment, unlike the example of FIG. 5, the terminal 100 includes only the communication module 137 that functions as the position information acquisition unit 15 (see FIG. 1).

As shown in FIG. 8, the computer 130 is the same as the computer shown in FIG. The computer 130 includes a CPU 131, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 132, an input interface 133, a display controller 134, and a storage device 135.

Also in the second embodiment, if the program in the second embodiment is stored in the storage device 135, the CPU 131 causes the observation amount generation unit 21, the positioning unit 22, the mobility detection unit 23, and the reliability detection. It functions as the unit 24 and performs processing. As a result, the positioning device 20 is realized.

[effect]
As described above, in the second embodiment, the positioning device 20 is realized even if the terminal 100 is not equipped with a sensor such as an acceleration sensor. According to the second embodiment, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained without using a mobility detection sensor such as an acceleration sensor. Moreover, according to this Embodiment 2, the kind of terminal 100 which can construct | assemble the positioning apparatus 20 can be increased.

(Embodiment 3)
Next, a positioning device, a positioning method, and a program according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 9 and FIG.

[Device configuration]
Initially, the structure of the positioning apparatus 30 in this Embodiment 3 is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the positioning apparatus according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 9, the positioning device 30 according to the third embodiment includes an observation amount generation unit 31, a positioning unit 32, a mobility detection unit 33, a reliability detection unit 34, and a position information acquisition unit 35. And an output unit 36.

Among them, the positioning unit 32, the reliability detection unit 34, the position information acquisition unit 35, and the output unit 36 are respectively the positioning unit 12, the reliability detection unit 14, and the position information shown in FIG. The same processing as that of the acquisition unit 15 and the output unit 17 is executed. The positioning device 30 according to the second embodiment is also built inside the terminal device 100.

On the other hand, the positioning device 30 does not include the mobility detection sensor 16 shown in FIG. 1 in the first embodiment, and is different from the positioning device 10 in the first embodiment in this respect. For this reason, in the positioning device 30, the observation amount generation unit 31 and the mobility detection unit 33 execute processing different from the observation amount generation unit 11 and the mobility detection unit 13 shown in FIG. 1 in the first embodiment. To do. The positioning device 30 further includes a storage unit 38. Hereinafter, the difference from the first embodiment will be mainly described.

In the third embodiment, the mobility detection unit 33 obtains a change in the position of the terminal 100 detected by the positioning unit 32, and based on the obtained change, the larger the change, the larger the value, and the smaller the change. The mobility of the terminal 100 whose value becomes smaller is detected. In addition, the mobility detection unit 33 stores the detected mobility in the storage unit 38.

In the third embodiment, the mobility of the terminal 100 is obtained from a change in the position of the terminal 100, and the observation amount generation unit 31 uses the mobility detected by the mobility detection unit 33 in the past, Determine the time window. Specifically, the observation amount generation unit 31 acquires the latest mobility stored in the storage unit 38, that is, the mobility detected last time, and uses this to determine a time window.

[System operation]
Next, the operation of the positioning device 30 according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of the positioning device according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. In the following description, FIG. 10 is taken into consideration as appropriate. In the third embodiment, the positioning method is implemented by operating the positioning device 30. Therefore, the description of the positioning method in the third embodiment is replaced with the following description of the operation of the positioning device 30.

First, as shown in FIG. 10, the observation amount generation unit 31 accesses the storage unit 38 and acquires the latest mobility stored therein (step A21). Next, the observation amount generation unit 31 determines the time window length by applying the mobility acquired in Step A21 to the relationship between the mobility set in advance and the time window length (see FIG. 2) (Step A22). ).

Next, the observation amount generation unit 31 causes the position information acquisition unit 35 to acquire position specifying information in the determined time window length, specifically, measure signal reception intensity or signal transmission time. Then, the position specifying information (measurement result) is acquired from the position information acquiring unit 35 (step A23).

Next, the observation amount generation unit 31 generates an observation amount used for detecting the position of the terminal 100 using the acquired position specifying information (step A24). Next, the positioning unit 32 detects the position of the terminal 100 based on the observation amount output by the observation amount generation unit 21 (step A25). In addition, the positioning unit 32 outputs the detected position (positioning result) of the terminal 100 to the output unit 17 and the mobility detection unit 33.

Next, the mobility detection unit 33 detects the mobility from the position detection result output by the positioning unit 32 in step A25 and the position detection result output by the positioning unit 32 in the previous step A25. Also, the mobility detector 33 outputs the detected mobility to the storage unit 38, and updates the latest mobility in the storage unit 38 (step A26). The mobility updated in step A26 is used later when step A21 is executed. In step A26, the mobility detector 33 also outputs the detected mobility to the reliability detector 34.

Next, the reliability detection unit 34 detects the reliability of the position of the terminal 100 detected in step A25 based on the mobility output by the mobility detection unit 33 in step A26 (step A27).

Next, the output unit 26 combines the positioning result detected by the positioning unit 32 in step A25 and the reliability detected by the reliability detection unit 24 in step A27, and displays these in the display provided in the terminal device 100. It outputs to the apparatus 19 (step A28).

As a result, the user of the terminal 100 can know his position and its reliability. Steps A23 to A25 described above are the same steps as steps A3 to A5 shown in FIG. Further, steps A27 and A28 described above are the same steps as steps A6 and A7 shown in FIG.

[program]
The program in the third embodiment may be a program that causes a terminal equipped with a computer to execute steps A21 to A28 shown in FIG. The positioning device 30 and the positioning method according to the third embodiment can be realized by installing and executing this program on a terminal computer. In this case, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) of the computer functions as the arithmetic device 37 shown in FIG. 9 and performs processing.

In the third embodiment, the computer (microcomputer) functioning as the arithmetic device 37 shown in FIG. 9 includes the computer 130 shown in FIG. 8 as in the second embodiment. In this case, if the program in the third embodiment is stored in the storage device 135, the CPU 131 functions as the observation amount generation unit 31, the positioning unit 32, the mobility detection unit 33, and the reliability detection unit 34. , Process. The RAM 132 functions as the storage unit 38. As a result, the positioning device 30 is realized.

[effect]
As described above, also in the third embodiment, as in the second embodiment, the positioning device 30 is realized even if the terminal 100 is not provided with a sensor such as an acceleration sensor. According to the third embodiment, the same effect as in the first embodiment can be obtained without using a mobility detection sensor such as an acceleration sensor. Moreover, according to this Embodiment 3, the kind of terminal 100 which can construct | assemble the positioning apparatus 20 can be increased.

Next, embodiments of the positioning device, positioning method, and program according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a network system used in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of the position specifying information measured in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of an observation amount created in the embodiment of the present invention. Further, the present example described below corresponds to the first embodiment. Therefore, in the following description, FIGS. 1 to 5 are referred to as appropriate.

As shown in FIG. 11, in this embodiment, an IEEE 802.11 wireless local area network (hereinafter referred to as wireless LAN) system 110 is constructed by a terminal 100 and a base station 120. The base station 120 is an access point (AP) used in the wireless LAN system.

The terminal 100 is a mobile phone, a smart phone or the like having a wireless LAN function. The terminal device 100 includes a wireless LAN module that functions as the position information acquisition unit 15 and an acceleration sensor that functions as the mobility detection sensor 16. The terminal 100 includes a microcomputer inside, and the microcomputer functions as the positioning device 10 by program control.

In the wireless LAN system 110, the terminal 100 performs an operation called “scanning” to search for the base stations 120 existing in the vicinity in order to connect to the base station (access point) 120. In this embodiment, this scan corresponds to an operation for the position information acquisition unit 15 to acquire position specifying information.

Specifically, in terminal 100, position information acquisition unit 15 acquires an identifier (hereinafter referred to as “BSSID”) of each base station 120 existing in the vicinity by scanning, and further, from each base station. The radio field intensity (hereinafter referred to as “RSSI”) of the received signal is measured. In addition, a single scanning operation may take a time from several hundred milliseconds to several seconds in some cases.

The measurement amount obtained by one scan of the terminal 100 is, for example, as shown in FIG. 12, (APSI RSSI, AP2 RSSI, AP3 RSSI, AP4 RSSI,...) = (− 35, −80, -65, -60,...). In the present embodiment, the feature vector obtained by this scan corresponds to the position specifying information. Hereinafter, the operation of the terminal 100 in this embodiment will be described along the steps shown in FIG.

[Step A1]
In the present embodiment, the microcomputer provided in the terminal 100 first detects the amount of change of the acceleration measured by the acceleration sensor during the past certain time (for example, 5 seconds) as the mobility.

[Step A2]
Next, the microcomputer determines whether the terminal 100 is moving or not based on the detected mobility. For example, when the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value of the amount of change in the past certain time of acceleration is equal to or less than a preset threshold value (for example, 0.1 G), the microcomputer determines that the object has not moved. On the other hand, if the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value is greater than a preset threshold value, the microcomputer determines that it is moving.

Next, the microcomputer determines the number of scans per unit time to be executed using the wireless LAN function according to the determination result based on the mobility (presence / absence of movement). For example, if the microcomputer determines that the terminal 100 is moving, the microcomputer determines the number of scans to be a small number (for example, once). On the other hand, if the microcomputer determines that it has not moved, it determines the number of scans to be a large number (for example, 3 times). In this embodiment, a value obtained by dividing the unit time by the number of scans corresponds to the time window length.

[Step A3]
Next, the microcomputer operates the wireless LAN module as many times as the number of scans determined in this way, executes the scan, and acquires a measurement result (feature vector) for each scan. The acquired measurement result corresponds to the position specifying information.

[Step A4]
Next, the microcomputer calculates an RSSI statistic for the number of scans for each base station based on the acquired feature vectors for the number of scans, and generates an observation amount used for positioning. In this embodiment, an average value, median value, mode value, maximum value, minimum value, or the like can be used as a statistic.

Here, it is assumed that there are four base stations 120 in the vicinity. In addition, the radio wave intensity (signal reception intensity) measured from each base station is “τ _n ”. n indicates a number assigned to the base station. Furthermore, it is assumed that the number of scans when it is determined that the terminal 100 is moving is set to 1 and the number of scans when it is determined that the terminal 100 is not moved is set to 3 times. The maximum value is used as the statistic. In such a case, the observation amount is as shown in FIG. 13, for example.

[Step A5]
Next, the microcomputer compares the observation amount generated in step A4 with the RSSI measured between the base station 120 and the terminal 100 whose positions are specified in advance, and the terminal 100 and each base station 120 Estimate the distance. Then, the microcomputer detects the position of the terminal 100 based on the principle of three-point surveying using the estimated distance. Further, the microcomputer obtains the closeness between the observation amount generated in step A4 and the feature vector obtained at a plurality of positions in advance, and detects the position of the terminal 100 based on the obtained proximity. You can also.

[Step A6]
Next, the microcomputer detects the reliability indicating the reliability of the position of the terminal 100 detected by the positioning unit 12 based on the mobility. In the present embodiment, the microcomputer acquires the number of scans determined in step A2 as the reliability. The greater the number of scans, the higher the reliability of the positioning result.

[Step A7]
Next, the microcomputer displays the position of the terminal 100 detected in step A5 and the reliability acquired in step A6 on a display device provided in the terminal 100. As a result, the user of the terminal 100 can know his position and its reliability.

Thus, in this embodiment, when the terminal 100 is not moving, the observation amount is generated from the scan results of a large number of times, so that the position detection accuracy is improved. Further, when the terminal 100 is moving, if a large number of scans are performed, the position detection accuracy deteriorates due to the movement of the terminal during the multiple scans. Is set to be small, so that deterioration in position detection accuracy is suppressed.

Further, in this embodiment, when the movement of the terminal is small, it means that the reliability of the position detection result is high, and when the movement of the terminal is large, the value means that the reliability of the position detection result is low. Is output as the reliability of the position detection result. Therefore, when using the position detection result, the user can determine whether the position detection result has a reliability suitable for the purpose.

Some or all of the above-described embodiments can be expressed by the following (Appendix 1) to (Appendix 19), but is not limited to the following description.

(Appendix 1)
A positioning device for detecting the position of a terminal,
A mobility detector for detecting a mobility representing a movement state of the terminal;
A time window is set according to the detected mobility, information for specifying the position of the terminal is acquired in the set time window, and the position of the terminal is detected using the acquired information An observable generator for generating an observable used for
A positioning unit that detects a position of the terminal based on the generated observation amount;
A positioning device characterized by comprising:

(Appendix 2)
The terminal has a function of communicating with a base station;
The positioning apparatus according to supplementary note 1, wherein the observation amount generation unit acquires information specifying a positional relationship of the terminal with the base station as the information.

(Appendix 3)
The information for specifying the positional relationship of the terminal with the base station is acquired according to the time window set by the observation amount generation unit, and the acquired information is output to the observation amount generation unit. The positioning apparatus according to appendix 2, further comprising a position information acquisition unit.

(Appendix 4)
Based on the mobility, the reliability of the position of the terminal detected by the positioning unit is shown. The smaller the mobility of the terminal, the higher the value, and the higher the mobility of the terminal, the lower the value. A reliability detection unit for detecting the reliability;
An output unit for outputting the position of the terminal detected by the positioning unit and the reliability detected by the reliability detection unit;
The positioning device according to any one of supplementary notes 1 to 3.

(Appendix 5)
The mobility detector obtains a change in acceleration obtained from an acceleration sensor provided in the terminal, and based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases, and the value decreases as the change decreases. Detecting the mobility;
The positioning device according to any one of supplementary notes 1 to 4.

(Appendix 6)
The mobility detector obtains a change in the information acquired by the position information acquisition unit, and based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases, and the value decreases as the change decreases. Detecting the mobility;
The positioning device according to any one of supplementary notes 1 to 4.

(Appendix 7)
The mobility detection unit obtains a change in the position of the terminal detected by the positioning unit, and based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases, and the value decreases as the change decreases. Detect the degree,
The positioning device according to any one of supplementary notes 1 to 4.

(Appendix 8)
A positioning method for detecting the position of a terminal,
(A) detecting a mobility indicating a movement state of the terminal;
(B) A time window is set according to the mobility detected in the step (a), information for specifying the position of the terminal is acquired in the set time window, and the acquired information is Generating an observable for use in detecting the location of the terminal; and
(C) detecting the position of the terminal based on the observation amount generated in the step (b);
A positioning method characterized by comprising:

(Appendix 9)
The terminal has a function of communicating with a base station;
The positioning method according to appendix 8, wherein in the step (b), information specifying a positional relationship of the terminal with the base station is acquired as the information.

(Appendix 10)
(D) Based on the mobility detected in the step (a), the reliability of the position of the terminal detected in the step (c) is shown, and the value is smaller as the mobility of the terminal is smaller. Detecting a reliability that is higher and has a lower value as the mobility of the terminal increases; and
(E) further comprising the step of outputting the position of the terminal detected in the step (c) and the reliability detected in the step (d).
The positioning method according to appendix 8 or 9.

(Appendix 11)
In the step (a), a change in acceleration obtained from an acceleration sensor provided in the terminal is obtained. Based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases, and the value decreases as the change decreases. Detecting the mobility,
The positioning method according to any one of appendices 8 to 10.

(Appendix 12)
In the step (a), information for specifying the position of the terminal is acquired, a change in the acquired information is obtained, and based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases. The smaller the value, the smaller the value, detecting the mobility,
The positioning method according to any one of appendices 8 to 10.

(Appendix 13)
In the step (a), a change in the position of the terminal is obtained, and based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases, and the value decreases as the change decreases.
The positioning method according to any one of appendices 8 to 10.

(Appendix 14)
A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for detecting the position of a terminal by a computer,
In the computer,
(A) detecting a mobility indicating a movement state of the terminal;
(B) A time window is set according to the mobility detected in the step (a), information for specifying the position of the terminal is acquired in the set time window, and the acquired information is Generating an observable for use in detecting the location of the terminal; and
(C) detecting the position of the terminal based on the observation amount generated in the step (b);
The computer-readable recording medium which has recorded the program containing the instruction | command which performs.

(Appendix 15)
The terminal has a function of communicating with a base station;
15. The computer-readable recording medium according to appendix 14, wherein in the step (b), information specifying a positional relationship of the terminal with the base station is acquired as the information.

(Appendix 16)
(D) Based on the mobility detected in the step (a), the reliability of the position of the terminal detected in the step (c) is shown, and the value is smaller as the mobility of the terminal is smaller. Detecting a reliability that is higher and has a lower value as the mobility of the terminal increases; and
(E) causing the computer to further execute a step of outputting the position of the terminal detected in the step (c) and the reliability detected in the step (d).
The computer-readable recording medium according to appendix 14 or 15.

(Appendix 17)
In the step (a), a change in acceleration obtained from an acceleration sensor provided in the terminal is obtained. Based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases, and the value decreases as the change decreases. Detecting the mobility,
The computer-readable recording medium according to any one of appendices 14 to 16.

(Appendix 18)
In the step (a), information for specifying the position of the terminal is acquired, a change in the acquired information is obtained, and based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases. The smaller the value, the smaller the value, detecting the mobility,
The computer-readable recording medium according to any one of appendices 14 to 16.

(Appendix 19)
In the step (a), a change in the position of the terminal is obtained, and based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases, and the value decreases as the change decreases.
The computer-readable recording medium according to any one of appendices 14 to 16.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention.

This application claims priority based on Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-130096 filed on June 10, 2011, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the accuracy of terminal position detection even when determining the stationary state of a terminal. Therefore, the present invention can improve the accuracy of position detection of humans and objects using a positioning system, and is useful in various fields where positioning of terminals is required.

10. Positioning device (Embodiment 1)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Observed quantity production | generation part 12 Positioning part 13 Mobility detection part 14 Reliability detection part 15 Position information acquisition part 16 Sensor for mobility detection 17 Output part 18 Arithmetic unit 19 Display apparatus 20 Positioning apparatus (Embodiment 2)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 21 Observation amount production | generation part 22 Positioning part 23 Mobility detection part 24 Reliability detection part 25 Position information acquisition part 26 Output part 27 Arithmetic apparatus 30 Positioning apparatus (Embodiment 3)
Reference Signs List 31 observation amount generation unit 32 positioning unit 33 mobility detection unit 34 reliability detection unit 35 position information acquisition unit 36 output unit 37 arithmetic unit 38 storage unit 100 terminal 110 network system 120 base station 130 computer 131 CPU
132 RAM
133 Input interface 134 Display controller 135 Storage device 136 Bus 137 Communication module 138 Acceleration sensor

Claims

A positioning device for detecting the position of a terminal,
A mobility detector for detecting a mobility representing a movement state of the terminal;
A time window is set according to the detected mobility, information for specifying the position of the terminal is acquired in the set time window, and the position of the terminal is detected using the acquired information An observable generator for generating an observable used for
A positioning unit that detects a position of the terminal based on the generated observation amount;
A positioning device characterized by comprising:
The terminal has a function of communicating with a base station;
The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the observation amount generation unit acquires information specifying a positional relationship of the terminal with the base station as the information.
The information for specifying the positional relationship of the terminal with the base station is acquired according to the time window set by the observation amount generation unit, and the acquired information is output to the observation amount generation unit. The positioning device according to claim 2, further comprising a position information acquisition unit.
Based on the mobility, the reliability of the position of the terminal detected by the positioning unit is shown. The smaller the mobility of the terminal, the higher the value, and the higher the mobility of the terminal, the lower the value. A reliability detection unit for detecting the reliability;
An output unit for outputting the position of the terminal detected by the positioning unit and the reliability detected by the reliability detection unit;
The positioning device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
The mobility detector obtains a change in acceleration obtained from an acceleration sensor provided in the terminal, and based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases, and the value decreases as the change decreases. Detecting the mobility;
The positioning device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
The mobility detector obtains a change in the information acquired by the position information acquisition unit, and based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases, and the value decreases as the change decreases. Detecting the mobility;
The positioning device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
The mobility detection unit obtains a change in the position of the terminal detected by the positioning unit, and based on the obtained change, the value increases as the change increases, and the value decreases as the change decreases. Detect the degree,
The positioning device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
A positioning method for detecting the position of a terminal,
(A) detecting a mobility indicating a movement state of the terminal;
(B) A time window is set according to the mobility detected in the step (a), information for specifying the position of the terminal is acquired in the set time window, and the acquired information is Generating an observable for use in detecting the location of the terminal; and
(C) detecting the position of the terminal based on the observation amount generated in the step (b);
A positioning method characterized by comprising:
A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for detecting the position of a terminal by a computer,
In the computer,
(A) detecting a mobility indicating a movement state of the terminal;
(B) A time window is set according to the mobility detected in the step (a), information for specifying the position of the terminal is acquired in the set time window, and the acquired information is Generating an observable for use in detecting the location of the terminal; and
(C) detecting the position of the terminal based on the observation amount generated in the step (b);
The computer-readable recording medium which has recorded the program containing the instruction | command which performs.