JP2009088995A - Presence system, presence server, and presence management method - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to suppress variations in positioning results.
A presence system includes an area information storage unit that stores area information indicating a range of areas in which a user's position can be measured, a position information storage unit that stores position information indicating a user's position, By determining the area where the target user exists based on the area information and the position information, the movement status of the target user is determined, and the target user determined to exist in the reminder area has moved to another area. Until the determination, a mail transmission determination unit 33 that determines that the target user exists in the reminder area regardless of the position information stored in the position information storage unit 21 is provided.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a presence system, a presence server, and a presence management method for managing the position of a user.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a presence system that identifies a user's position and performs processing such as provision of user information and mail transmission based on the identified position is known. For example, Patent Document 1 below describes a communication service system that can present presence information of a user to other users and establish communication between the users. This communication service system acquires and stores location information of a plurality of terminals as needed, and when a request for presence information of a user is received from the first terminal, the presence information is provided to the first terminal in response to the request. To do. The communication service system establishes a communication session between the first terminal and the second terminal that is the presence information provider in response to a request from the first terminal that has received the presence information.
JP 2004-328309 A

  In such a presence system, it is important to accurately grasp the position of the user, but the positioning results may vary due to the influence of the positioning device or the positioning system from the external environment. If the positioning results vary, phenomena such as a decrease in the accuracy of presence information and inaccurate processing based on presence information may occur. For example, in a presence system that transmits a reminder email that informs other users that one user has arrived at his / her seat, the reminder email has been received many times even though the one user has been at his / her seat for a certain period of time. It can happen to be sent. As a result, the convenience of the presence system may be impaired.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a presence system, a presence server, and a presence management method capable of suppressing variations in positioning results.

  The presence system of the present invention includes area information storage means for storing area information indicating the range of areas where the position of the user can be measured, position information storage means for storing position information indicating the position of the user, and area information storage means. By determining the area where the user exists based on the area information stored in the position information and the position information stored in the position information storage means, the user's movement status is determined, and it is determined that the user exists in one area. Until it is determined that the user has moved to another area, determination means for determining that the user exists in the one area regardless of the position information stored in the position information storage means is provided.

  In addition, the presence server of the present invention includes an area information storage unit that stores area information indicating a range of an area where the position of the user can be measured, a position information storage unit that stores position information indicating the position of the user, and area information. By determining the area where the user exists based on the area information stored in the storage means and the position information stored in the position information storage means, the movement status of the user is determined, and it is determined that the user exists in one area. Determination means for determining that the user exists in the one area regardless of the position information stored in the position information storage means until it is determined that the user has moved to another area.

  The presence management method of the present invention also includes an area information storage step in which the presence system stores area information indicating the range of areas in which the user's position can be measured, and the presence system stores position information indicating the user's position. And the presence system determines the area where the user exists based on the area information stored in the area information storage step and the position information stored in the position information storage step. Until the user who is determined to be in the one area is determined to have moved to another area, the user is in the one area regardless of the position information stored in the position information storing step. And a determination step for determining that it exists.

  According to such a presence system, presence server, and presence management method, the movement status of the user is determined based on the position and area information of the user. At this time, it is determined that the user continues to exist in the one area regardless of the position information until it is determined that the user determined to exist in the one area has moved to another area. As described above, it is possible to suppress variations in positioning results by capturing the movement status of the user in units of areas rather than the position information itself.

  In the presence system of the present invention, when the determination unit determines that the user has moved from one area to another area, one or more presence notifications indicating that the user exists in the one area are sent. It is preferable to further include transmission means for transmitting to the communication terminal.

  In the presence server of the present invention, when the determination unit determines that the user has moved from one area to another area, the presence server indicates that the user exists in the one area. It is preferable to further include transmission means for transmitting to a plurality of communication terminals.

  In this case, when a user moves to a specific area, a presence notification about the user is transmitted to one or more communication terminals, so it is possible to notify other users of the user's presence status (movement status). become. At this time, since the variation in the positioning result is suppressed by capturing the movement status of the user in the area unit instead of the position information itself, unnecessary transmission of the presence notification can be prevented.

  In the presence system of the present invention, the area information storage means includes the specific area information indicating the specific area, the different area information indicating a different area different from the specific area, and the specific area and the different area. High-level area information indicating the high-order area is stored, and until the determination unit determines that the user determined to exist in the specific area does not exist in the high-order area or exists in another area, the user It is preferable to determine that it exists.

  In the presence server of the present invention, the area information storage means includes specific area information indicating a specific area, different area information indicating a different area different from the specific area, and the specific area and the different area. High-order area information indicating the high-order area to which the user belongs is stored, and until the determination means determines that the user determined to exist in the specific area does not exist in the high-order area or exists in another area, the user It is preferable to determine that it exists in a specific area.

  In this case, it is possible to more accurately grasp the user's presence status (movement status) by representing the area hierarchically, such as a specific area, another area, and an upper area to which these two areas belong. Become.

  According to such a presence system, presence server, and presence management method, unless it is determined that the user has moved from one area to another area based on the position information and area information, the user moves to the one area. Since it is determined that it exists, variations in positioning results can be suppressed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same or equivalent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  First, the configuration of the presence system 1 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of the presence system 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the presence server 20. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of position information. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of area information. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of presence information. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of transmission rule information. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a change in position information (user movement status). FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating the result of determining the presence status of the user corresponding to FIG.

  The presence system 1 is a computer system that manages presence information indicating the presence status of a user. The presence system 1 includes a positioning system 10, a presence server 20, a reminder management server 30, and a communication terminal 40. In FIG. 1, only one communication terminal 40 is illustrated for simplicity of explanation, but a plurality of communication terminals 40 may be provided.

  The positioning system 10 is a computer system that captures the position of each user by measuring the position of the mobile phone held by the user. Specifically, the positioning system 10 measures the position of the mobile phone by two methods using a wireless LAN including a plurality of access points. Then, the positioning system 10 transmits the measured position of the mobile phone to the presence server 20 as position information. In addition, the positioning system 10 may measure the position of the mobile phone using other methods such as GPS (Global Positioning System).

  Two positioning methods of the positioning system 10 will be described. One is a method of setting the position of the access point with which the mobile phone is communicating as the position of the mobile phone (hereinafter referred to as “access point positioning”), so that, for example, the user is on the north side of the 16th floor, The approximate position of the user (cell phone) can be measured. The other is a method of acquiring the position of the mobile phone with higher accuracy (hereinafter referred to as “pinpoint positioning”), and thus the details of the user (mobile phone), for example, the user is in the general manager seat. Position can be measured. A specific method for pinpoint positioning is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-210929.

  The presence server 20 is a computer system that manages presence information indicating the presence status of each user. As functional components, a location information storage unit (position information storage unit) 21 and an area information storage unit (area information storage unit). 22, a presence generation unit 23 and a presence information storage unit 24 are provided.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the presence server 20 includes a CPU 201 that executes an operating system, application programs, and the like, a main storage unit 202 that includes ROM and RAM, an auxiliary storage unit 203 that includes a hard disk, a network card, and the like. The communication control unit 204 includes an input unit 205 such as a keyboard and a mouse, and an output unit 206 such as a monitor and a printer. Each function shown in FIG. 1 reads predetermined software on the CPU 201 and the main storage unit 202 shown in FIG. 2 and operates the communication control unit 204 under the control of the CPU 201, This is realized by reading and writing data in the storage unit 203.

  The position information storage unit 21 is means for storing position information transmitted from the positioning system 10. As shown in FIG. 3, the position information includes a user ID for identifying the user, a time when the position information was acquired, and a positioning method used by the positioning system at the time of positioning (access point positioning or pinpoint positioning). And a position represented by two-dimensional coordinates. The position information storage unit 21 accumulates position information transmitted from the positioning system 10 at predetermined time intervals. In FIG. 3, only the position information of the user A is stored, but the position information storage unit 21 can store the position information of a plurality of users.

  The area information storage unit 22 is a means for storing area information indicating a range of an area where the position of the user can be measured. The area information includes an area name for identifying the area, an area layer indicating the hierarchy of the area, an area name of the upper layer, an area range represented using two-dimensional coordinates, and a positioning level. This area information is registered in advance by a system administrator or the like.

  An example of area information is shown in FIG. In the area layer, the highest layer is layer 1 and the lower layer is layer 2. For example, since the area “16th floor north side floor” belongs to layer 1, there is no upper layer area. The range of each area is defined as a quadrangle defined by four coordinate points. The positioning level indicates which method is used for positioning when the user (mobile phone) exists in the area. For example, since the area “16th floor north side floor” is somewhat large, when a mobile phone is present in the area, it is sufficient to capture the position using access point positioning. On the other hand, since the area “general manager seat” is a narrow space, it is necessary to capture the position using high-precision pinpoint positioning.

  In FIG. 4, the area layers are only layers 1 and 2, but each area may be expressed by a layer structure of three or more layers, or all areas may be expressed in the same row without introducing the concept of layers. Also good. The method of expressing the area shape and area range is not limited. For example, a circular or hexagonal area may be set, or the area range may be expressed in three-dimensional coordinates. The same applies to the method of expressing the position in the position information.

  The presence generation unit 23 generates presence information indicating a user's presence status (current position) based on the position information stored in the position information storage unit 21 and the area information stored in the area information storage unit 22. Means. The presence generation unit 23 outputs the generated presence information to the presence information storage unit 24. The presence information includes a user ID, an area name, an area layer, and an upper layer area name.

  The generation of presence information will be described by taking an example in which position information and area information are shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, respectively. When it is measured that the user A exists at the position (0, 0) at the time 12:00, this measurement is based on pinpoint positioning, so the presence generator 23 includes the position in the area range. In addition, it is determined that the user A exists in the area “manager seat” where the positioning levels match. Then, the presence generation unit 23 generates presence information including a user ID “A”, an area name “director seat”, an area layer “layer 2”, and an upper layer area name “16th floor north side floor”.

  Thereafter, when it is measured by the access point positioning that the user A exists at the position (10, 10) at the time 12:10, the presence generation unit 23 determines that the user A exists in the area “16th floor north side floor”. To do. Then, the presence generator 23 generates presence information including the user ID “A”, the area name “16th floor north floor”, the area layer “layer 1”, and the upper layer area name “-(none)”. .

  The presence information storage unit 24 is means for storing presence information input from the presence generation unit 23. For example, the presence information storage unit 24 stores presence information as shown in FIG. Although only the presence information of one user is shown in FIG. 5 for the sake of simplicity, the presence information storage unit 24 can store presence information of a plurality of users.

  The reminder management server 30 is a computer system that transmits a reminder mail for notifying other users that a specific user exists at a specific location, and includes a rule storage unit 31 and a presence acquisition unit 32 as functional components. A mail transmission determination unit (determination unit) 33 and a mail transmission unit (transmission unit) 34 are provided. Since the hardware configuration of the reminder management server 30 is the same as that of the presence server 20, description of the hardware configuration is omitted.

  The rule storage unit 31 is means for storing transmission rule information that defines to which user a reminder mail is to be transmitted based on the presence information of which user. The transmission rule information includes a target user ID indicating the target user who is the subject of the presence information, an area name indicating the location of the target user, and a destination address of the reminder mail. This transmission rule information is registered in advance by a system administrator or a user.

  An example of the transmission rule information is shown in FIG. The transmission rule information shown in FIG. 6 represents that, when the user A moves to the manager's seat, a reminder email indicating that the user A is in the manager's seat is sent to the address “abc@xxx.co.jp”. Is. In FIG. 6, only one transmission rule information is shown for simplicity of explanation, but the rule storage unit 31 can store a plurality of transmission rule information. Moreover, in order to transmit a reminder mail to a plurality of users at a time, a plurality of transmission destination addresses may be included in one transmission rule information.

  The presence acquisition unit 32 is means for acquiring presence information of a specific user from the presence information storage unit 24 based on an acquisition instruction from a mail transmission determination unit 33 described later. The presence acquisition unit 32 outputs the acquired presence information to the mail transmission determination unit 33.

  The mail transmission determination unit 33 determines the presence status of the user who is the subject of the presence information based on the presence information stored in the presence information storage unit 24, and determines whether to send a reminder mail based on the determination result. It is a means to determine.

  The mail transmission determination unit 33 first reads the transmission rule information stored in the rule storage unit 31, generates an acquisition instruction for acquiring presence information including the target user ID of the transmission rule information, and generates a presence acquisition unit. 32. Thereafter, the mail transmission determination unit 33 accepts input of presence information acquired by the presence acquisition unit 32 in response to the acquisition instruction.

  Subsequently, the mail transmission determination unit 33 compares the read transmission rule information with the input presence information to determine whether or not mail transmission is necessary. Specifically, the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines whether or not the target user exists in an upper layer area (hereinafter referred to as “upper area”) of the area registered in the transmission rule information (hereinafter referred to as “reminder area”). Determine. The mail transmission determination unit 33 can acquire area information corresponding to the upper area by referring to the area information storage unit 22. At this time, if the target user exists in the upper area, the mail transmission determination unit 33 further determines whether or not the target user exists in the reminder area. When the target user exists in the reminder area, the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines that the reminder mail needs to be transmitted, generates a transmission instruction including the read transmission rule information, and sends it to the mail transmission unit 34. Output.

  Thereafter, the mail transmission determination unit 33 acquires the presence information of the target user again. Note that the time interval at which the mail transmission determination unit 33 acquires presence information can be arbitrarily set. The mail transmission determination unit 33 determines an area where the target user exists based on the newly acquired presence information and the read transmission rule information. In other words, the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines the movement status of the target user.

  In this determination, the mail transmission determination unit 33 first determines whether or not the target user exists in the upper area described above. Here, when the target user does not exist in the upper area, the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines that the target user has moved from the reminder area to another area. On the other hand, when the target user exists in the upper area, the mail transmission determination unit 33 further determines whether or not the target user exists in the reminder area.

  Here, if the target user exists in the reminder area, the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines that the target user remains in the reminder area even after the reminder mail is transmitted, and it is not necessary to transmit a new reminder mail. On the other hand, when the target user does not exist in the reminder area, the mail transmission determining unit 33 determines that the target user is in another area where the upper layer area is the same as that of the reminder area, in other words, in another area belonging to the upper area. Determine if it exists.

  Here, when the target user exists in the different area, the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines that the target user has moved from the reminder area to another area. On the other hand, when the target user does not exist in another area, the mail transmission determining unit 33 determines that the target user has stopped in the reminder area and that a new reminder mail need not be transmitted.

A specific example of the determination by the mail transmission determination unit 33 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 shows a state in which the position information of the target user U has changed in the order of P0 to P1, P2,... P10. FIG. 8 shows the transition of the positioning result, the area determination result, and the necessity determination result of mail transmission accompanying the change in the position information. The 16th floor north floor, the 16th floor south floor, the conference room and the general manager seat are AR ₁ , AR ₂ , AR _1a , AR _1b respectively, the general manager seat AR _1b is the reminder area, and the 16th floor north floor AR ₁ is the upper area. Suppose that In addition, it is assumed that the target user U is actually staying at the manager seat AR _1b when the position information is P1 to P5, P8, and P10.

First, when the position information changes from P0 to P1, the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines that the target user U exists in the director's seat AR _1b , and determines that mail transmission is necessary. Thereafter, while the position information changes from P1 to P2, P3... P6, the mail transmission determining unit 33 does not change the positioning result (position information), and the target user U remains in the director seat AR _1b. It is determined that transmission is unnecessary.

Thereafter, when the position information changes to P7, the mail transmission determining unit 33 determines that the target user U exists in the conference room AR _1a which is another area (moved from the general manager seat AR _1b to the conference room AR _1a ). Thereafter, the mail transmission determination unit 33 changes the position information to P8 (when it is determined that the conference room AR _1a has moved to the general manager AR _1b ) and when the position information has moved from P9 to P10 (the 16th floor south area). When it is determined that the user has moved from the AR ₂ to the general manager seat AR _1b ), it is determined that the mail transmission is necessary. That is, the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines to transmit the reminder mail only when it is determined that the target user U has moved from another area to the reminder area.

  The mail transmission unit 34 extracts transmission rule information from the transmission instruction input from the mail transmission determination unit 33, and based on the transmission rule information, a reminder indicating that the target user exists in a predetermined area (reminder area) It is means for transmitting mail to one or a plurality of communication terminals 40. For example, the mail transmission determination unit 33 generates a reminder mail including a message “User A has returned to the director's seat” based on the transmission rule information shown in FIG. 6, via a network (not shown). The reminder mail is transmitted to the transmission destination address “abc@xxx.co.jp”.

  The communication terminal 40 receives the reminder mail transmitted from the mail transmission unit 34. Examples of the communication terminal 40 include a mobile phone and a personal computer, but the type of communication terminal is not limited. When the communication terminal 40 receives the reminder mail, the user of the communication terminal 40 can know that another user has come to a specific place.

  Next, processing of the presence system 1 shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 9, and a presence management method according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing, among the processes of the presence system 1, in particular, the process of determining the area where the target user exists and the necessity of mail transmission.

  In the presence system 1, the area information storage unit 22 stores area information in advance (area information storage step). The position information storage unit 21 receives and stores position information from the positioning system 10 (position information storage step). Then, the presence generator 23 generates presence information of the target user based on the area information and the position information, and the presence information storage unit 24 stores the presence information.

  Thereafter, the reminder management server 30 transmits a reminder mail using the presence information. Specifically, the mail transmission determination unit 33 acquires the presence information of the target user via the presence acquisition unit 32 (step S11). Subsequently, the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines the movement status of the target user based on the acquired presence information and the transmission rule information stored in advance in the rule storage unit 31 (determination step).

  Specifically, the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines whether or not the target user exists in an upper layer area of the reminder area, that is, the upper area (step S12). If the target user exists in the upper area (step S12; YES), the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines whether the target user exists in the reminder area (step S13). Here, when the target user exists in the reminder area (step S13; YES), the mail transmission unit 34 determines that the transmission of the reminder mail is necessary. Then, in response to this determination result, the mail transmission unit 34 transmits a reminder mail to the communication terminal 40 (step S14).

  If the target user does not exist in the upper area (step S12; NO) or exists in the upper area but does not exist in the reminder area (step S13; NO), the mail transmission determination unit 33 transmits the reminder mail. It is determined that it is unnecessary, and acquisition of presence information is continued at predetermined time intervals.

  The mail transmission determination unit 33 acquires presence information even after the reminder mail is transmitted (step S15). Subsequently, the mail transmission determining unit 33 determines whether or not the target user exists in the upper area (step S16). Here, when the target user exists in the upper area, the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines whether or not the target user exists in the reminder area (step S17). At this time, if the target user exists in the reminder area (step S17; YES), the mail transmission determining unit 33 determines that the target user continues to exist in the reminder area (step S19), and at predetermined time intervals. Continue to acquire presence information. In this case, the reminder mail is not transmitted.

  On the other hand, when the target user does not exist in the reminder area (step S17; NO), the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines whether the target user exists in another area where the upper layer area is the same as that of the reminder area. It is determined whether or not (step S18). If the target user does not exist in the other area (step S18; NO), the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines that the target user continues to exist in the reminder area (step S19), and acquires presence information. to continue. Also in this case, the reminder mail is not transmitted.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the target user does not exist in the upper area after sending the reminder mail (step S16; NO), or when it is determined that the upper layer area exists in another area that is the same as that of the reminder area (Step S18; YES), the mail transmission determination unit 33 determines that the target user has moved from the reminder area to another area. In this case, depending on the result of the processing in steps S11 to S13, the reminder mail is transmitted again.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, until the target user determined to exist in the reminder area is determined to have moved to another area, the target user is moved to the reminder area regardless of the position information. It is determined that it continues to exist. In this way, by capturing the movement status of the target user in units of areas rather than the position information itself, it is possible to suppress variations in positioning results.

  On the other hand, if an attempt is made to determine the presence status of the target user based only on the position information, a determination result different from the actual presence status of the target user may be obtained due to variations in positioning results. For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 7, it is determined that the target user U has moved from another area to the general manager seat even when the position information of the target user U has changed from P2 to P3 and from P4 to P5. Will be. For this reason, even when the transmission of the mail is not necessary, the mail is transmitted, so that network resources are wasted and the convenience of the presence system is impaired. In the present invention, it is possible to suppress variations in positioning results by capturing the presence status (movement status) of the target user in units of areas, not the location information itself.

  According to the present embodiment, when the target user moves to the reminder area, a reminder email indicating that the target user has moved to the reminder area is transmitted to one or more communication terminals 40. It is possible to inform the other users of the presence status (movement status). At this time, as described above, variations in positioning results are suppressed, so unnecessary transmission of a reminder mail can be prevented.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, the presence status (movement status) of the target user can be more accurately represented by hierarchically representing the area such as the reminder area, another area, and the upper area to which these two areas belong. It becomes possible to grasp.

  The present invention has been described in detail based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The present invention can be modified in various ways as described below without departing from the scope of the invention.

  In the above embodiment, the necessity of sending the reminder mail is determined based on the presence status (movement status) of the target user, but what kind of processing is performed based on the presence status of the user is arbitrary. For example, the present invention can be applied to schedule management such as conference room reservation.

  In the above embodiment, the presence server 20 and the reminder management server 30 are separated. However, one server may have the functions of both the presence server 20 and the reminder management server 30.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the presence system which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the presence server shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of position information. It is a figure which shows the example of area information. It is a figure which shows the example of presence information. It is a figure which shows the example of transmission rule information. It is a figure which shows the example of the change of a positional information. It is a figure which shows the user presence condition determination result corresponding to FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the process of the presence system shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Presence system, 10 ... Positioning system, 20 ... Presence server, 21 ... Position information storage part (position information storage means), 22 ... Area information storage part (area information storage means), 23 ... Presence generation part, 24 ... Presence Information storage unit, 30 ... reminder management server, 31 ... rule storage unit, 32 ... presence acquisition unit, 33 ... mail transmission determination unit (determination unit), 34 ... mail transmission unit (transmission unit), 40 ... communication terminal

Claims (7)

Area information storage means for storing area information indicating a range of areas where the position of the user can be measured;
Position information storage means for storing position information indicating the position of the user;
By determining the area where the user exists based on the area information stored in the area information storage means and the position information stored in the position information storage means, the movement status of the user is determined, Until it is determined that the user determined to exist in the area has moved to another area, it is determined that the user exists in the one area regardless of the position information stored in the position information storage unit. Means,
Presence system with When the determination means determines that the user has moved from another area to the one area, a presence notification indicating that the user exists in the one area is transmitted to one or a plurality of communication terminals. Further comprising transmission means for
The presence system according to claim 1. The area information storage means includes specific area information indicating a specific area, different area information indicating a different area different from the specific area, and a higher area indicating the specific area and a higher area to which the different area belongs. Remember information,
Until the determination means determines that the user determined to exist in the specific area does not exist in the upper area or exists in the different area, the user is determined to exist in the specific area;
The presence system according to claim 1 or 2. An area information storage step for storing area information indicating a range of areas in which the presence system can measure the position of the user;
A location information storage step in which the presence system stores location information indicating the location of the user;
The presence system determines the area where the user exists based on the area information stored in the area information storage step and the position information stored in the position information storage step, thereby determining the movement status of the user. Until the user who has been determined to exist in one area has moved to another area is determined to be in the one area regardless of the position information stored in the position information storing step. A determination step for determining that it exists;
Presence management method including. Area information storage means for storing area information indicating a range of areas where the position of the user can be measured;
Position information storage means for storing position information indicating the position of the user;
By determining the area where the user exists based on the area information stored in the area information storage means and the position information stored in the position information storage means, the movement status of the user is determined, Until it is determined that the user determined to exist in the area has moved to another area, it is determined that the user exists in the one area regardless of the position information stored in the position information storage unit. Means,
A presence server comprising: When the determination means determines that the user has moved from another area to the one area, a presence notification indicating that the user exists in the one area is transmitted to one or a plurality of communication terminals. Further comprising transmission means for
The presence server according to claim 5. The area information storage means includes specific area information indicating a specific area, different area information indicating a different area different from the specific area, and a higher area indicating the specific area and a higher area to which the different area belongs. Remember information,
Until the determination means determines that the user determined to exist in the specific area does not exist in the upper area or exists in the different area, the user is determined to exist in the specific area;
The presence server according to claim 5 or 6.

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