WO2013008499A1

WO2013008499A1 - Administration device, administration method, portable terminal, and program

Info

Publication number: WO2013008499A1
Application number: PCT/JP2012/059898
Authority: WO
Inventors: 恭行夏目; 昭二松永; 裕土山口; 史郎五十嵐
Original assignee: 株式会社コナミデジタルエンタテインメント
Priority date: 2011-07-14
Filing date: 2012-04-11
Publication date: 2013-01-17
Also published as: JP2013020561A

Abstract

An administration device which communicates with a plurality of portable terminals comprises: a distance acquisition unit which acquires a movement distance for each of a plurality of portable terminals with a location of each portable terminal at a common start time for the plurality of terminals as a starting point; and an information notification unit which notifies each of the plurality of portable terminals of distance notification information to compare the movement distance which the distance acquisition unit has acquired for each portable terminal (20).

Description

Management device, management method, portable terminal, and program

The present invention relates to a technique for providing information such as ranking to participants when participants who have different places actually run at a common time.

In recent years, competitions such as marathons and bicycle riding have been held frequently as health consciousness has increased. However, in order to actually hold this type of competition, a great deal of labor and cost is required, such as recruitment of participants, permission to the public office for permission to use the road, arrangement of security guards and record staff, etc. I need. Therefore, in order to reduce the labor and cost of holding a competition, a technique has been proposed in which the time and the like that each competitor has competed at different dates and times are counted and the order is determined based on this (see, for example, Patent Document 1). ).

JP 2008-299535 A

However, although this technology can reduce the labor and cost of holding a competition, participants cannot know information such as the competition status of other participants and their rankings in real time. Therefore, there was a problem that it was difficult to obtain the original sense of competition.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and one of its purposes is to reduce the labor and cost of holding a competition and to obtain a sense of competition to compete. To provide technology.

The management device according to the present invention is a management device that communicates with a plurality of mobile terminals, and a movement distance of each mobile terminal starting from a position of each mobile terminal at a start time common to the plurality of mobile terminals Information for each of the plurality of mobile terminals, and distance notification information for comparing the travel distance acquired by the distance acquisition unit for each of the mobile terminals. And a notification unit.

In the present invention, a ranking determination unit that determines a ranking according to a moving distance of each portable terminal, the information notification unit generates the distance notification information including the ranking determined by the ranking determination unit, and It is good also as a structure which notifies to a portable terminal.
In the present invention, the distance acquisition unit includes a position acquisition unit that acquires position information of each mobile terminal, and the movement of the mobile terminal from a plurality of position information that the position acquisition unit acquires for each mobile terminal. It is good also as a structure provided with the distance calculation part which calculates distance.

In the present invention, a participation reception unit that receives participation registration from the mobile terminal may be provided, and the distance acquisition unit may acquire the travel distance for the mobile terminal for which the participation reception unit has received the participation registration. .

In the present invention, the distance acquisition unit acquires the movement distance of each mobile terminal at a predetermined reference period, and the mobile terminals whose movement distances approach each other move at a period shorter than the reference period. It is good also as a structure which acquires distance.

In the present invention, a participant dividing unit that divides the plurality of mobile terminals into a plurality of groups is provided, and the information notification unit belongs to the group for each of the plurality of groups divided by the participant dividing unit. It is good also as a structure which notifies each said portable terminal which belongs to the said group of the said distance notification information regarding each said portable terminal. In this configuration, it is preferable that the participant dividing unit divides the plurality of portable terminals into a plurality of groups according to social graph information that defines a relationship between users of the respective portable terminals.

The present invention can also be conceptualized as a portable terminal that communicates with the management device. That is, the mobile terminal communicates with the management apparatus, and specifies the rank of the movement distance of the own terminal among the plurality of mobile terminals according to the distance notification information notified from the information notification unit of the management apparatus. The user may be notified by voice.
The present invention can also be conceptualized as a program for causing a computer to function as the management apparatus, and a management method in the computer.

It is a block diagram which shows the system containing the management apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a management apparatus. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a portable terminal. It is a figure which shows a virtual competition. It is a figure which shows the sequence until the entry of a virtual competition. It is an example of an entry screen. It is a figure which shows the example of the content of the participant table when participating registration is carried out. It is a figure which shows the sequence until the start of a virtual competition. It is an example of a notice screen. It is a figure which shows the example of an update of a participant table immediately after a start. It is a figure which shows the sequence in a virtual athletic competition. It is a figure which shows the update of the travel distance in a participant table. It is a figure which shows the update of the order | rank in a participant table. It is an example of the progress screen in a virtual competition. It is a figure which shows the example of a content when a complete runner appears in a participant table. It is an example of the result screen in a virtual competition. It is a figure which shows the sequence in the case of classifying a participant. It is an example which shows a social graph.

<Configuration of Embodiment>
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a system 1 including a management apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the system 1 includes a management device 10 according to the embodiment and a plurality of mobile terminals 20. Among these, each of the plurality of mobile terminals 20 is a handheld computer, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a mobile phone, or the like installed with application software for participating in a virtual competition, and includes a base station BS and mobile communication. Each is connected to the management apparatus 10 via a mobile phone network such as the network N.

Here, a virtual competition is a predetermined event in which participants who are separated from each other, for example, participants who are scattered all over the country, start a competition that involves movement such as running at a common start time. This is a hypothetical competition in which players compete for ranks until they complete the set distance. Unlike the actual competition held at the same place, each participant will run independently in some cases, so the competition itself looks “virtual”. For this reason, in a virtual competition, it is normal that no other participants are visible. Therefore, even if it actually moves due to running or the like, it is impossible to grasp its own ranking and other participants' trends, and the atmosphere of the competition is lacking. This embodiment takes this point into consideration.
When participants are scattered over a wide range, there may be a time difference between the participants. For this reason, as a common start time in the virtual competition, a standard time common to the participants, for example, “local standard time” common in the country or region, “world standard time” common in the world, or the like is used.

In terms of a functional block diagram, the management device 10 includes a transmission / reception unit 12, a participation reception unit 13, a distance acquisition unit 14, a rank determination unit 15, and an information notification unit 16. In summary, the transmitting / receiving unit 12 receives position information from the mobile terminal 20 or transmits distance notification information to the mobile terminal 20. The participation reception part 13 registers the portable terminal 20 of the person who participates in a virtual competition. The distance acquisition unit 14 includes a position acquisition unit 14a and a distance calculation unit 14b. Among these, the position acquisition part 14a acquires position information from the portable terminal 20 via the transmission / reception part 12 every predetermined period (for example, 20 seconds) after the virtual competition starts. When the position information is acquired, the distance calculation unit 14b calculates a two-point distance from the position indicated by the position information acquired before that to the position indicated by the position information acquired this time, and the virtual competition Add to the cumulative travel distance from the start of the meeting. The distance information acquisition by the position acquisition unit 14a and the two-point distance calculation / accumulation by the distance calculation unit 14b are performed for each of the mobile terminals 20 registered in the participation reception unit 13.
The rank determination unit 15 determines the rank from the registered mobile terminals 20 having the largest accumulated movement distance. In the present embodiment, the information notification unit 16 transmits distance notification information including the rank and the accumulated travel distance to each of the registered mobile terminals 20 via the transmission / reception unit 12.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the management apparatus 10. As shown in this figure, the management apparatus 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 121 that controls the entire apparatus, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 122 that functions as a work area for the CPU 121, and a ROM that stores a boot program and the like. (Read Only Memory) 123, RTC (Real Time Clock) 124 for outputting time information, a hard disk 125 for storing various programs and data, an input unit 127 including a keyboard and a mouse, and the like via a network A communication interface 130 for communicating with the mobile terminal 20.

The hard disk 125 stores a program for holding a virtual competition, a database 135 for holding the virtual competition, and the like. When the CPU 121 executes the program, the functional blocks of the participation reception unit 13, the distance acquisition unit 14, the order determination unit 15, and the information notification unit 16 described above are constructed.
Note that the management apparatus 10 may be composed of a plurality of servers. For example, you may divide into the server which receives the distance information from the portable terminal 20, and calculates two-point distance, and the server which updates a database according to the calculated two-point distance.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the mobile terminal 20. As shown in this figure, the mobile terminal 20 includes a CPU 221, a memory 222, an RTC 224, a GPS receiver 226, an input unit 227, a display unit 228, an audio output unit 229, a communication interface 230, including. Among these, the memory 222 is a non-volatile semiconductor element such as a flash memory, and stores a basic program, various application programs, and the like, and is used as a work area when executing these programs. The application program includes a program for participating in a virtual competition. The display unit 228 is, for example, a liquid crystal display device or an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display device. In addition to the operation buttons, the input unit 227 includes a touch panel in which the operation surface is superimposed on the display surface of the display unit 228. Also, the audio output unit 229 converts the audio file into an audio signal and outputs the audio signal to the participant via, for example, the earphone 22 or a speaker.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the participants (athletes) of the virtual competition and each part of the system 1. Here, the participant Ra is considered as a reference. As shown in the drawing, the participant Ra wears the earphone 22 on his / her ear and runs with the portable terminal 20 carried by the waist belt. Similarly, the participant Rb also runs with the earphone 22 worn and the portable terminal 20 carried.
In the virtual competition in the present embodiment, the participant Ra runs in, for example, A prefecture, but the participant Rb may run in B prefecture that is completely different from A prefecture. For this reason, the participant Ra is normally in a situation where the participant Rb cannot be visually observed. However, from the viewpoint of the participant Ra, other participants start running at a common start time and know what position they are equivalent to. You can be aware of the existence. That is, from the viewpoint of the participant Ra, the participant Rb can be recognized as being invisible. In that sense, the participant Rb is filled in FIG.
In FIG. 4, only the participants Ra and Rb are shown, but there may be many participants as will be described later.

In the present embodiment, the mobile terminal 20 measures the current location by GPS (Global Positioning System), and transmits the measured position information to the management apparatus 10 via the radio base station BS (and the mobile communication network N). Note that the mobile terminal 20 receives satellite signals (by the GPS receiver 226) transmitted from at least three GPS satellites 40 for positioning.
In addition, the position information is not limited to GPS, and may be acquired by comparing the radio wave strengths, radio wave arrival times, and the like by a plurality of radio base stations BS, or may be acquired in combination. The management device 10 and the mobile terminal 20 may communicate not only via a mobile phone network but also via a wireless LAN such as wireless broadband.

<Operation of Embodiment>
Next, the operation in the system 1 will be described in three stages from entry to the virtual competition, until the start of the virtual competition, and until the end of the virtual competition.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an operation sequence until the user enters the virtual competition.
First, it is assumed that application software for participating in a virtual competition is installed on the user's mobile terminal 20. On the other hand, in order to hold a virtual competition, the management apparatus 10 executes a program for holding a virtual competition, and the contents of the virtual competition to be held (the date and time, the set distance, etc.) It is assumed that the database 135 is scheduled.

When the user instructs to start the application by operating the input unit 227, the application is actually started on the mobile terminal 20 (step S201). In the mobile terminal 20 in which the application is activated, the CPU 221 requests the management device 10 for virtual game holding schedule information (Req1). In the management apparatus 10 that has received the request (Req1), the CPU 121 searches the database 135 for a virtual competition whose scheduled date and time is close to the current time, for example, and requested the virtual competition information (Req2). A reply is made to the terminal 20 (step S101).
On the other hand, in the mobile terminal 20 that has received the information (Res1), the CPU 121 displays an entry screen corresponding to the information (Res1) on the display unit 228 (step S202).

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an entry screen displayed on the display unit 228 of the mobile terminal 20. As shown in this figure, on the entry screen,

software keys

51 and 52 indicating whether or not to participate in the virtual competition are displayed along with information such as the start date and time and the set distance for the virtual competition scheduled to be held. The

In the portable terminal 20, the CPU 221 determines whether an operation for participating in the virtual competition has been performed or an operation for not participating (step S203). When it is determined that the user has performed an operation not to participate, for example, when a portion overlapping the software key 51 indicating “No” in FIG. 6 is touched, the CPU 221 displays an application for participating in the virtual competition. End execution.
On the other hand, when it is determined that the user has performed an operation to participate, for example, when the software key 52 indicating “Yes” in FIG. 6 is touched, the CPU 221 transmits the information (Req2) to participate. The data is transmitted to the management apparatus 10 via the interface 230.

In the management apparatus 10 that has received the information (Req2), the CPU 121 functions as the participation reception unit 13. In detail, CPU121 registers the user information of the portable terminal 20 which transmitted the said information (Req2) into the participant table corresponding to the said virtual competition (step S102). Specifically, the CPU 121 creates a participant table corresponding to the virtual competition scheduled to be held as shown in FIG. 7 in the database 135, and when the intention of participation is indicated, the participant User names are registered in the table as prospective participants. In FIG. In this example, 50 people are registered in order from (1) to “50”.

In this participant table, for each user name, information indicating the current rank, the cumulative moving distance (unit meter) from the start, and the current status is recorded. However, immediately after the participation registration in step S102, it is before the virtual competition is held, so that the user names of the participants are only registered in the participant table. In other words, there is no record in the table for the current rank and the accumulated travel distance. In this embodiment, the status is any of “before start”, “running”, and “complete”, but immediately after step S102, the status of all members is “before start”.

In step S101, the virtual competition information close to the current time is searched, but a plurality of virtual competition schedules are searched and transmitted to the mobile terminal 20, while being displayed on the display unit 228 in step S202. The user may select a virtual competition desired to participate. In this configuration, the management apparatus 10 may add the user name of the prospective participant to the virtual competition table where the intention of participation is among the tables corresponding to the plurality of virtual competitions.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an operation sequence after entry until the virtual competition starts.
First, in the management apparatus 10, the CPU 121 determines whether or not the current time output from the RTC 124 has reached a predetermined time, for example, two minutes before the scheduled date and time of the virtual competition recorded in the database 135 (step S106). ). Specifically, for example, if the date and time is as shown in FIG. 6, it is determined whether or not the current time output from the RTC 124 has reached 15:58:00 two minutes ago. If not 2 minutes ago, the procedure returns to step S106 again. In other words, step S106 loops repeatedly until 2 minutes ago.

When the current time reaches 2 minutes before the opening time, the determination result in step S106 is “Yes”, so the CPU 121 of the management device 10 has the holding time 2 minutes before the scheduled participant of the virtual competition. A notification process to that effect is executed (step S107). Specifically, the CPU 121 transmits information (Scr) including the holding time of the virtual competition to the portable terminal 20 of the prospective participant registered in the participant table of the virtual competition, respectively.

The CPU 221 of the mobile terminal 20 that has received the information (Scr) causes the display unit 228 to display a preview screen based on the information (Scr). Thereby, the prospective participant can confirm the start time of the virtual competition (step S204).
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a preview screen displayed on the display unit 228. Note that this notice screen has an entry No. in the participant table shown in FIG. Is a display example of the mobile terminal 20 of the prospective participant who is “25”, and a message indicating that it will start after 2 minutes is displayed together with the user name. At this time, in the mobile terminal 20, the CPU 221 may convert the text sentence on the notice screen into an audio file, supply the audio file to the audio output unit 229, and output the sound from the earphone 22. Thereby, the prospective participant can confirm by the visual and auditory sense that the start of the virtual competition is near.

Next, in the mobile terminal 20, the CPU 221 determines whether or not the current time output from the RTC 224 has reached, for example, 10 seconds before the start time of the virtual competition (step S205). In the previous example, it is determined whether or not the current time output from the RTC 224 is 15:59:50, 10 seconds before.
If the current time has not reached 10 seconds before the start time, the procedure returns to step S205 again. On the other hand, when the current time has reached 10 seconds, the determination result in step S205 is “Yes”. At this time, the CPU 221 executes a countdown such as “10, 9, 8,..., 1, start” by voice output and screen display in accordance with the time progress of the RTC 224 (step S206).

In the mobile terminal 20, the CPU 221 determines whether or not the current time output from the RTC 224 has reached the start time of the virtual competition (step S207). In the previous example, it is determined whether or not the current time output from the RTC 224 has reached 16:00:00. If the current time has not reached the start time, the processing procedure returns to step S207. On the other hand, if the start time has been reached, the loop of step S207 is exited. Note that the processing of steps S204 to S207 is executed in each of the mobile terminals 20 of the prospective participants registered in the virtual competition participant table.

On the other hand, also in the management apparatus 10, the CPU 121 determines whether or not the current time output from the RTC 124 has reached the start time of the virtual competition (step S108). Therefore, if the RTC 124 in the management device 10 and the RTC 224 in each portable terminal 20 output correct time information, the timing at which the management device 10 exits the loop in step S108 and the loop in step S207 in each portable terminal 20 The exit timing matches each other. As a result, the management device 10 and each portable terminal 20 registered as a prospective participant start from the start time at which the virtual competition was scheduled.

After the start of the virtual competition, each of the CPUs 221 of the portable terminal 20 measures the current location from the satellite signal received by the GPS receiver 226 and transmits the position information (latitude / longitude information) to the management device 10. .
In the management apparatus 10, the CPU 121 uses the position information received from the portable terminal 20 for the first time after the start as a starting point for the participant, that is, the starting point for calculating the accumulated moving distance. In addition, for example, as shown in FIG. In the person table, the statuses of all the prospective participants are updated to “running” (step S109).

In the virtual competition, it is important that the RTC 124 in the management device 10 and the RTC 224 in each portable terminal 20 correctly output time information. For this reason, for example, when the mobile terminal 20 receives the information (Scr), the time information of the RTC 224 may be calibrated using the time information included in the GPS satellite signal.
Further, the mobile terminal 20 can recognize the time information shift of the RTC 224 from the timing of receiving the information (Scr). For example, in the example described above, when the time indicated by the RTC 224 is 15:57:50 at the timing when the information (Scr) is received, the CPU 221 recognizes that the RTC 224 is delayed by 10 seconds. be able to. At this time, if the CPU 221 exits the loop of step S207 by 10 seconds earlier than the time information indicated by the RTC 224, even if the own RTC 224 is not calibrated, the CPU 221 is virtual at the same time as other participants. The competition can be started.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an operation sequence until the virtual competition ends.
When the virtual competition starts, each participant actually starts running. Since the running course and goal destination are not set in the virtual competition, the participants will run in a relatively free style in remote locations. Each of the participant's mobile terminals 20 measures the current location from the satellite signal received by the GPS receiver 226 and transmits the position information to the management device 10.

In the management device 10, the CPU 121 determines whether or not the set time has elapsed since the start of the virtual competition or the execution of the previous process while referring to the time information by the RTC 124 (step S <b> 110). ). Here, the set time is a reference period, for example, 20 seconds. If the set time has not elapsed, the procedure returns to step S110 again. For this reason, step S110 loops repeatedly until the set time elapses.
When the set time has elapsed, the CPU 121 functions as the position acquisition unit 14a. Specifically, the CPU 121 pays attention to the mobile terminal 20 of a participant and requests location information from the focused mobile terminal. On the other hand, the focused mobile terminal that receives the request sends the location information of the own device to the management apparatus 10. Send to. Thereby, the CPU 121 acquires the position information of the mobile terminal of interest (step S111). In the present embodiment, for the mobile terminal 20, for example, among the participants registered in the participant table, the entry No. Pay attention to the order. For this reason, for example, all the participants are “running”, and the portable terminal 20 to which attention is paid when step S111 is executed for the first time after step S110 is the entry No. Is the mobile terminal of the participant whose is “1”.

Next, the CPU 121 functions as the distance calculation unit 14b. Specifically, the CPU 121 calculates a two-point distance from the point specified by the previously acquired position information to the point specified by the currently acquired position information for the mobile terminal of interest (step S112). When step S112 is executed for the first time after the start of the virtual competition, the starting position information acquired in step S109 is used.

The CPU 121 adds the calculated two-point distance to the cumulative movement distance corresponding to the focused mobile terminal in the participant table (step S113). The two-point distance calculated in step S112 is based on the fact that the participant has run for the set time, and the cumulative movement distance is obtained by accumulating this distance from the start. Therefore, the distance traveled from the start by the participant carrying the mobile terminal can be calculated based on the accumulated travel distance calculated based on the position information acquired from the mobile terminal.

Now, the CPU 121 determines whether or not the processing of steps S111 to S113 has been executed for all of the mobile terminals 20 registered in the participant table (step S114). In this embodiment, the mobile terminal 20 has an entry number in the participant table. Therefore, here, the mobile terminal in question is the last entry number. It may be determined whether or not.

If the determination result is “No”, the CPU 121 changes the mobile terminal of interest and returns the procedure to step S111 in order to execute the same process on a different mobile terminal.
On the other hand, if the determination result is “Yes”, the distance (cumulative travel distance) that the participant registered in the participant table has run when the set time has elapsed is obtained for all the participants. .
Therefore, next, the CPU 121 functions as the order determination unit 15. Specifically, the CPU 121 compares the cumulative movement distances of the participants whose status is “running”, ranks them in descending order, and updates the current rank of the participant table (step S115).

Next, the CPU 121 determines whether or not a finisher has appeared (step S116). For example, if the set distance of the virtual competition is “10 km”, the determination can be made based on whether or not there is a participant whose cumulative movement distance in the participant table has reached “10,000”.
If the determination result in step S116 is “No”, or if the determination result in step S119 described later is “No”, the CPU 121 functions as the information notification unit 16. Specifically, the CPU 121 transmits the ranking and cumulative travel distance of the participant as distance notification information to the portable terminal 20 of the participant whose status is “running” in the participant table (step S117). On the other hand, in the portable terminal 20 that has received the distance notification information, the CPU 221 displays a progress screen on the display unit 228 to notify the participants of the ranking in the virtual competition and the earphone as a text file of the progress screen as an audio file. 22 is output as voice (step S208). Thereby, the participant in the running state can know the current ranking and the like.
In the management apparatus 10, after transmitting the distance notification information in step S117, the CPU 121 returns the procedure to step S110 and waits until the next set time elapses.

On the other hand, if there is a complete runner in step S116, the determination result is “Yes”, and the CPU 121 changes the status of the completed runner from “running” to “complete run” in the participant table. The participant's ranking is transmitted as result information to the participant's portable terminal 20 (step S118). If there are a plurality of runners who have been the basis for the determination in step S116, status change and transmission of result information are executed for each of the runners.
On the other hand, in the mobile terminal 20 that has received the result information, the CPU 221 displays a result screen on the display unit 228 to inform the participants of the ranking in the virtual competition and the like. It outputs as a sound (step S209). Thereby, the participant can know that he / she completed the race and the completion rank. Thereafter, the portable terminal 20 of the participant who has completed the run stops the output of the position information and terminates the application software that has been executed to participate in the virtual competition.

In the management apparatus 10, the CPU 121 determines whether or not the status of all the participants is “completed” in the participant table (step S119).
If the determination result is “No”, it means that a complete runner has appeared, but there are still “running” participants. For this reason, the CPU 121 causes S117 to skip the procedure in order to inform the “running” participant of the distance notification information.
On the other hand, if the determination result is “Yes”, it means that all the participants have finished and output of the respective result information has been completed. For this reason, CPU121 complete | finishes the process about this virtual competition and prepares for the virtual competition scheduled after the next time.

Here, after the start of the virtual competition, a specific operation after the status of the participant registered in the participant table is updated to “running” will be described. In this description, the case where the participant table is updated as shown in FIG. 10 in step S109 after the start is taken as an example.

Each of the participant's portable terminals 20 continues to transmit the position information in response to a request from the management device 10.
On the other hand, in the management apparatus 10, the processing of steps S111 to S119 is executed every time the set time elapses after the status of the participant table is updated in step S109 after the start until all participants complete. Among these, by repeating steps S111 to S114, the two-point distance at the set time is calculated for each mobile terminal 20 whose status is “running” among the participants registered in the participant table, and the cumulative travel distance To update the accumulated travel distance in the participant table.
For example, entry no. When paying attention to the mobile terminal 20 having a value of “25”, when the two-point distance calculated in step S112 is “77” and the accumulated travel distance before the update is “1,237”, In S113, it is updated to “1,314” as shown in FIG.

When the accumulated travel distances of all participants whose status is “running” among the participants registered in the participant table are updated, the accumulated travel distances are compared in step S115, Is updated.
For example, by updating the accumulated movement distance, the entry No. Entry No. is greater than the accumulated travel distance of the participant whose number is “1”. Is greater than the cumulative travel distance of the participant whose “25” is “25”, the entry number as shown in FIG. The ranking of the participant whose entry is “1” and the entry No. Is updated so that the ranking of the participant whose is is “25” is replaced.

Thereafter, the normal distance information of the participant is transmitted to each portable terminal 20 of the participant whose status is “running” in the participant table in step S117. For example, when the participant table is updated to the contents shown in FIG. A progress screen as shown in FIG. 14 is displayed on the display unit 228 of the participant's mobile terminal 20 with “25”, and a text sentence of the progress screen is displayed from the earphone 22 by the voice output unit 229. Audio will be output. At this time, the fact that the ranking has been raised from the 10th place to the 9th place may be output by a screen or a voice.
Steps S111 to S119 are executed every time the set time elapses from the start to the end of the run, so the progress screen / sound shown in FIG. 14 is also displayed / output to the participant every time the set time elapses. Is done. For this reason, the participant can know the order by comparison with other participants one by one, along with the travel distance after the start.

When a certain amount of time has elapsed since the start, there will be a finisher whose cumulative travel distance has reached the set distance in the participant table. When a finisher appears, the status of the finisher in the participant table is changed to “completed”, and the result information is transmitted to the finisher's portable terminal 20 in step S118. For example, entry no. When the cumulative travel distance of the participant whose is “25” reaches the set distance as shown in FIG. 15, the status of the participant is changed from “running” to “complete” in the participant table. At the same time, the result information including the ranking at that time is transmitted to the portable terminal 20 of the participant.
As a result, the result screen is displayed on the display unit 228 of the participant's mobile terminal 20 as shown in FIG. 16, and the text sentence on the result screen is output from the earphone 22 by the voice output unit 229. Will be.

Note that since the status of the portable terminal 20 of the finisher is changed to “completed” in the participant table, the attention is not paid to in steps S111 to S114 and is excluded from the transmission target of the distance notification information in step S117. It will be. Then, the rank indicating the current rank of the complete runner whose status has been changed to “complete run” is determined as the goal rank, and in the subsequent processing of step S115, only the participants whose status is “running” are determined. The ranking is updated. In addition, even if other participants complete the race, the participant whose status is “running” is repeatedly transmitted until the distance notification information is completed in step S117.
When all the participants have completed, the management device 10 ends the process for the current virtual competition.
The goal time may be recorded by adding goal time information to the participant table.

Thus, according to the present embodiment, when the participant carrying the mobile terminal 20 moves by running, the distance acquisition unit 14 acquires the movement distance. Therefore, when a plurality of participants move in the same manner, the moving distance of each portable terminal 20 is acquired, and distance notification information for comparing the moving distances of the participants is created. Distance notification information is notified. This allows participants to know the distance notification information that compares the distance traveled by other participants in near real time, so that even if they are running alone, they can share with other participants who share the same time at different locations. It is possible to get the original sense of competition.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the rank determination unit 15 determines the rank according to the cumulative movement distance of the participant, and the distance notification information including the determined rank and the cumulative movement distance is sent to the mobile terminal 20 of each participant. Sent. Therefore, the participant can experience a sense of reality of competing with other participants for the ranking by knowing the distance notification information including the ranking in almost real time.

In addition, according to this embodiment, when the management apparatus 10 receives the information (Req2) to participate in a virtual competition in the participation reception part 13, from the portable terminal 20, user information of the said portable terminal 20 is shown. Register in the participant table corresponding to the virtual competition. And the distance acquisition part 14 acquires a movement distance about the portable terminal of the user who accepted participation. Therefore, according to this configuration, the travel distance is acquired for the mobile terminal 20 for which participation registration has been accepted.

<Application and modification>
In addition, this invention is not limited to each embodiment mentioned above, For example, the various application and deformation | transformation as described below are possible. In addition, one or more arbitrarily selected aspects of application / deformation described below can be appropriately combined.

<Competition other than running>
In the embodiment, the case of running a predetermined distance as a competition is taken as an example. However, the present invention is applicable to a competition involving movement, for example, a bicycle run. In the case of cycling, the mobile terminal 20 may be attached to the bicycle, not to the participant (competitor) himself. For this reason, the portable terminal 20 does not necessarily need to be worn or carried by the participant, and may be configured to move together with the participant.

<Calculation subject of movement distance, calculation mode>
In the embodiment, the management device 10 calculates the two-point distance of the mobile terminal 20 from the position information for each set time. However, this calculation may be executed by the mobile terminal 20 and notified to the management device 10. good. The accumulation of the two-point distance may be executed not by the management device 10 but by the mobile terminal 20 to notify the management device 10 of the accumulated movement distance.
On the other hand, in the embodiment, the distance between the two points indicated by the position information when the set time has elapsed is calculated by linear approximation. However, for example, map information such as roads is stored on the management device 10 side. Alternatively, a curved road may be calculated by matching position information and road information. Alternatively, the mobile terminal 20 may be provided with a sensor such as a geomagnetic sensor or an acceleration sensor, and the azimuth information by the sensor may be used for calculating the road along with the positional information by GPS. Furthermore, altitude information may be reflected in addition to the latitude / longitude, and the distance and distance may be calculated. In addition, when altitude information is reflected, when there is a possibility that an imbalance occurs between participants, a handicap may be given according to up-down.

<Notification mode of distance notification information>
In the embodiment, each participant is notified of his / her rank and mileage until he / she completes the run. However, the rank and mileage of other participants are listed, and his / her rank and mileage are different. It is good also as a structure which notifies in a mode which can be distinguished from a person.
Moreover, it is not necessary to use absolute information such as the overall ranking. For example, relative information such as how many meters to catch up to the previous rider and how many meters behind the rider is approaching is notified instead of absolute information or with absolute information. It is good also as composition to do.
The average speed of the participant, the scheduled completion time, etc. may be notified from the accumulated travel distance of the participant and the calculated time. Furthermore, the scheduled completion times of all the participants may be compared, and guidance may be given as to how far the ranking will be advanced when the current running pitch is advanced.
On the other hand, it is not necessary to synchronize the acquisition of position information / transmission of distance notification information and the output of progress information based on the distance notification information. For example, output of progress information based on the distance notification information may be executed at a rate of once for acquisition of position information and transmission of distance notification information three times.

<Change of setting time>
In the embodiment, the set time in step S110, that is, the position information acquisition cycle is fixed at 20 seconds, for example, but may be changed dynamically according to the competition situation.
For example, when the cumulative travel distance between two people is approaching the threshold or less, that is, when overtaking is likely to occur, the set time is shortened so that the cumulative travel distance and rank are obtained with higher accuracy. Also good. On the contrary, when the cumulative travel distance between the two parties is long, that is, when it is unlikely that overtaking will occur, the set time may be lengthened.
Also, for example, when a run is nearing completion, the participant may increase the running pace. For this reason, as the cumulative moving distance approaches the set distance, the set time may be shortened stepwise, for example, 10 seconds, 5 seconds, etc., and the determination to complete the run may be executed with higher accuracy.

<Individual control of set time>
In the embodiment, by repeating steps S111 to S114, position information is acquired by paying attention to the mobile terminals of the participants whose status is “running” in order. For this reason, in the embodiment, the position information of the portable terminal of the participant who is “running” is acquired at every common set time. Not limited to this, the set time, which is the position information acquisition cycle, is dynamically changed for each mobile terminal according to the competition situation of the participants, and the position information of each mobile terminal is acquired independently, The cumulative movement distance in the participant table may be updated each time.
It should be noted that the order and the like are preferably updated at the same timing across the participants in order to align the comparison conditions. Thus, according to this aspect, since the frequency which acquires the movement distance about the portable terminals which mutually approach is increased, the precision of distance notification information can be improved.
In the above-described embodiment, if the set time is shortened, the position information acquisition cycle is shortened for all the mobile terminals whose status is “running”, so that not only communication traffic increases but also the load on the management apparatus 10 increases. It will increase. On the other hand, according to the above aspect, the mobile terminals whose position information acquisition cycle is shortened are limited to those close to each other.
An increase in communication traffic and an increase in the load on the management apparatus 10 can be avoided.

<Timing for acquiring location information>
In the embodiment, the management device 10 requests position information from the mobile terminal 20 focused on in step S <b> 111, while the mobile terminal 20 that has made the request transmits the position information to the management device 10. That is, in the embodiment, the configuration is such that the acquisition of the position information is executed in response to a request from the management device 10. Not only in this configuration, the mobile terminal 20 voluntarily transmits the position information for each set time without depending on the request of the management apparatus 10, while the management apparatus 10 acquires the transmitted position information, It is good also as a structure which updates the accumulated movement distance etc. of a participant table each time.
Note that the set time may be changed by the management device 10 notifying the portable terminal 20 according to the competition situation while referring to the participant table.

<Participant grouping>
A virtual competition is established if there are two or more participants. On the other hand, it is possible to accept an unlimited number of participants, but if there are a large number of participants, they may be divided into a plurality of groups.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a sequence in a case where a large number of participants are divided into a plurality of groups. In this case, it is assumed that the CPU 121 sequentially registers the user information of the mobile terminal 20 in the participant table corresponding to the virtual competition in step S102 shown in FIG.
In this case, the CPU 121 determines whether or not the number of registered registrants is equal to or greater than a threshold, for example, 3 minutes before the time for outputting the notice information (Scr) (step S103). If the determination result is “No”, that is, if it is not necessary to divide into a plurality of groups, the CPU 121 skips to step S106 in FIG. 8 and performs the operation described in the embodiment. Execute.

On the other hand, if the determination result is “Yes”, the CPU 121 classifies the planned participants who have been registered so far into a plurality of groups according to the number of people (step S104).
When grouping, it is preferable to divide participants according to social graph information created in advance. The social graph information here is, for example, as shown in FIG. 18, information that is graphically represented by a link indicating what kind of relationship a plurality of users (participants) have.
The virtual competition is given a unique identification code (competition ID), and when a user participates in a virtual competition, the competition ID is managed in association with the user information. At this time, the social graph information is configured so that the ties between the participants who participated in the same virtual competition are strengthened. In the illustrated example, the stronger the connection, the thicker the line indicating the link.
When the participants “A” to “I” whose relationships are defined in the social graph as shown in FIG. 18 are divided into two groups, for example, the participants “A” to “I” When the group is divided into the first group consisting of “D” and the second group consisting of participants “E” to “I”, the connection between the participants belonging to the same group will be further strengthened. May be.

When grouping, a method that does not use a social graph may be used. For example, taking into account the pre-registered attributes such as the area where the participant resides, the competition level, gender, age, etc., the participants with similar attributes may be in the same group. .
Also, when registering, register whether to refer to attribute information or whether to refer to the social graph, and when categorizing into groups, refer to these information. Or may be configured to be randomly divided.

When the prospective participants are divided into a plurality of groups, the CPU 121 recreates the original participant table treated as one group so as to correspond to each of the divided groups (step S105). Thereafter, the CPU 121 transmits information on the group to which the participant belongs to each portable terminal 20 as group information. At this time, in the mobile terminal 20, the CPU 221 may display the group information on the display unit 228.

In the virtual competition, the CPU 121 in the management device 10 executes processes for a plurality of groups in parallel, so that the participants' mobile terminals 20 belonging to a certain group belong not to the ranks of all the participants but to themselves. The rank in the group is transmitted as distance notification information.

<Music playback during competition>
By playing music, participants may run while listening to their favorite music. When running while listening to music, it may be configured to mix and output audio such as progress and results to the music being played.
In this configuration, the management device 10 or the like collects music information listened to by the participants who participated in the virtual competition, and after the virtual competition ends, the music information may be disclosed to the participants along with the ranking, or downloaded. It is possible to adopt a configuration that can be purchased by the user.

<Mode of competition>
A plurality of modes may be provided when participating in a virtual competition, and the participant may be configured to select one of the modes.
For example, the participant may select either “race mode” or “fan mode” as the “mode”. At this time, in order to place importance on the race result, the participant who selects the “race mode” may be configured to preferentially notify information such as the ranking. On the other hand, for participants who have selected “Fan Mode”, the names of the runners who are traveling in the front and back to facilitate the formation of an apparent group of participants who were interested in the virtual competition. It may be configured to notify the separation distance.

<Status of participant table>
In the above-described embodiment, the status of the participant table is any one of “Before start”, “Running”, and “Completed”, but other statuses may be added.
For example, “Retire” may be added as the status. Specifically, when the participant gives up the completion after the start and performs a predetermined operation on the input unit 227 of the mobile terminal 20, the mobile terminal 20 transmits information to that effect to the management device 10, The management apparatus 10 that has received the information may change the status of the participant to “retire” in the participant table. The participant's portable terminal 20 whose status is “retired” may be notified of the distance notification information up to that point, and thereafter excluded from the transmission target of the distance notification information in step S116.
Further, for example, “foot cut” may be added as the status. More specifically, a time limit is set for the goal, the status of the participant who has not reached the goal within the time limit is changed to “cut off”, and distance notification information at the time of the cut is given to the participant's mobile terminal 20 May be notified of the cumulative travel distance so far.

<Others>
The audio file conversion may be performed not on the mobile terminal 20 side but on the management device 10 side to transmit the audio file to the mobile terminal 20.
Of course, the user name of the participant table may be a handle name, a nickname, etc. arbitrarily input instead of the real name.
Further, when the two-point distance in the set time is larger than the assumed distance, the two-point distance may be invalidated to prevent fraud.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... System, 10 ... Management apparatus, 12 ... Transmission / reception part, 13 ... Participation reception part, 14 ... Distance acquisition part, 14a ... Position acquisition part, 14b ... Distance calculation part, 15 ... Order determination part, 16 ... Information notification part, 20 ... mobile terminal, 121, 221 ... CPU.

Claims

A management device that communicates with a plurality of portable terminals,
A distance acquisition unit that acquires, for each of the plurality of mobile terminals, a movement distance of each of the mobile terminals starting from a position of each of the mobile terminals at a start time common to the plurality of mobile terminals;
An information notifying unit for notifying each of the plurality of mobile terminals of distance notification information for comparing the travel distance acquired by the distance acquisition unit for each of the mobile terminals.
A rank determining unit that determines a rank according to the moving distance of each mobile terminal;
The management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information notification unit generates the distance notification information including the rank determined by the rank determination unit and notifies the portable terminal of the distance notification information.
The distance acquisition unit
A position acquisition unit for acquiring position information of each mobile terminal;
The management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a distance calculation unit that calculates the movement distance of the mobile terminal from a plurality of position information acquired by the position acquisition unit for each mobile terminal.
A participation reception unit for receiving participation registration from the mobile terminal;
The management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the distance acquisition unit acquires the movement distance for a mobile terminal for which the participation reception unit has received the participation registration.
The distance acquisition unit acquires the movement distance of each mobile terminal at a predetermined reference period, and acquires the movement distance at a period shorter than the reference period for each mobile terminal whose movement distance approaches each other. The management apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the management apparatus is characterized in that:
Comprising a participant dividing section for dividing the plurality of mobile terminals into a plurality of groups;
The information notification unit, for each of the plurality of groups divided by the participant dividing unit, notifies the distance notification information regarding each mobile terminal belonging to the group to each mobile terminal belonging to the group. The management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5.
The management according to claim 6, wherein the participant dividing unit divides the plurality of portable terminals into a plurality of groups according to social graph information that defines a relationship between users of the respective portable terminals. apparatus.
A mobile terminal that communicates with the management device according to claim 1,
The mobile terminal is characterized by identifying the rank of the movement distance of the mobile terminal among the plurality of mobile terminals according to the distance notification information notified from the information notification unit of the management device and notifying the user by voice. Terminal.
To computers that communicate with multiple mobile devices,
A distance acquisition process for acquiring, for each of the plurality of mobile terminals, a movement distance of each of the mobile terminals starting from a position of each of the mobile terminals at a start time common to the plurality of mobile terminals;
An information notification process for notifying each of the plurality of mobile terminals of distance notification information for comparing the movement distances of the mobile terminals.
A management method executed by a management device that communicates with a plurality of portable terminals,
The management device acquires, for each of the plurality of mobile terminals, a movement distance of each of the mobile terminals starting from a position of each of the mobile terminals at a start time common to the plurality of mobile terminals;
The management device notifying each of the plurality of mobile terminals of distance notification information for comparing the travel distance acquired for each mobile terminal;
The management method characterized by including.