JP4737645B2 - Information distribution system, information distribution method, information distribution server, and terminal device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication-type POI information distribution system including a terminal device and an information distribution server, and in particular, an operation procedure for a user to search for and specify the name of a place of interest (hereinafter simply referred to as POI). Information distribution system, information distribution method, information distribution server, and terminal configured to distribute POI information visited in the past to the terminal device that cannot be specifically remembered by the user based on the movement history of the user himself / herself It relates to the device.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, mobile terminals such as mobile phones are equipped with browsers and can access the Internet to receive desired information. In such a system, the user operates a mobile terminal, finds a desired site using a search engine provided in the server, downloads the content of the site, and browses the content with a browser. ing. The content includes information belonging to various categories, and includes information on stores and events, provision of railway timetables, and train transfer guidance.

  In providing information on stores and events, when a user operates a mobile terminal to input a store or event category and a search area and requests a search, the category falls under the category specified on the server and Stores and events existing in the area are searched, and the information is distributed to the mobile terminal. In providing the timetable, when the user operates the mobile terminal to designate a route, the timetable of the route is presented on the screen of the display device of the mobile terminal. Further, in the transfer guidance, the recommended route is presented by the user specifying the departure place and the destination.

  Information distribution server is also rich in functions, not just providing timetables and transfer guidance for railway lines and bus lines as described above, but also providing information distribution functions that provide the functions of conventional in-vehicle navigation systems to mobile terminals such as mobile phones A server is also realized. According to such a system, it is possible to provide a navigation service not only for the driver of the automobile but also for the pedestrian.

  A user of a mobile phone can obtain various desired information by using the service as described above. For example, it is possible to obtain information such as a map regarding POI that the user is interested in, business contents, price, business hours, and the like. The POI may be any store or facility such as a hotel, restaurant, department store, theme park, convenience store, gas station, exercise facility, or park. For this reason, POI has an enormous number of types (categories), and there are countless stores and places belonging to the category. The wider the range covered by the information distribution server, the larger the number.

  Therefore, in order to provide the user with information related to these countless POIs, the information distribution server includes a POI information database. In this POI information database, POIs are classified into categories, and this POI category is hierarchized into a large classification, a medium classification, a small classification, and the like because of the large number of POI categories. The user selects a desired POI category from the menu screen displayed on the mobile terminal and requests data from the information distribution server. In order to select a specific desired POI category, a large classification, a medium classification, The POI category for which information distribution is desired is selected by following the sub-category and category hierarchy.

  In addition, when the user desires to distribute information related to a specific POI, it is usually intended to use the POI. Therefore, it is possible to obtain information related to the POI in the area desired by the user or around the current location. It is generally an objective. Accordingly, an operation for selecting the POI category and designating the area where the POI exists and the current position information of the POI are accompanied.

  When a mobile terminal used by a user is a mobile phone, a recent mobile phone has a GPS receiver and has a positioning function for receiving a signal from a GPS satellite and calculating its current position. The current position can be transmitted to the information distribution server using the function. If the mobile terminal is capable of receiving a navigation service, after obtaining desired specific POI information, a route search to the specific POI is started from a desired location such as the current position, home, or office. You can also receive it.

  While various such POI information providing systems have been proposed, services that can search for information based on various information as search conditions are also provided.

  For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-21262 discloses an “information search device” that can perform an ambiguous search for a target character string using information stored as a key input. In this Patent Document 1, an ambiguous address search is applied to a search for map information. For example, if “Omika” is pronounced as a pronunciation, a map near “Omika Town” is displayed. It is disclosed that it can be used for the destination input by using it for the operation and the like.

  A technique for searching for registered location information as a keyword is disclosed as, for example, “Information management device using location information” in Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-192367). In this patent document 2, by specifying position information from the operation / display unit and performing a search, it is possible to easily search for image data indicating a landscape and document data for explaining the image data without link information. In addition, a navigation system that searches and displays image data, document data, and the like related to this position information using map information as a guide for specifying the current position is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-21262 (FIG. 39, paragraph [0085]) JP 2004-192367 A (FIG. 6, paragraphs [0023] to [0025])

  By the way, when setting a destination, there is a case where a destination that has been once is not clearly remembered. For example, if you want to go to the restaurant by the sea last summer and want to set the destination in the navigation device, the prior art disclosed in Patent Document 1 remembers the name of the restaurant. If not, there was a problem that fuzzy search could not be done because there was no keyword to remember.

  In addition, the conventional technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 has a problem that it is difficult to narrow down the number of restaurants having an attribute of being near the sea.

  Further, even if the search history of the navigation device can be searched retroactively to the summer of last year, the search range is too wide under the conditions of the summer of last year, which increases the search burden. Furthermore, if “the restaurant by the sea last summer” is not the destination at that time, but it is a restaurant that happened to stop before arriving at the destination, it cannot be searched because it is not in the search history. There was also a problem.

  As a result of various studies to solve the above problems, the inventor of the present application has previously stored a location information history (log) of the terminal device possessed by the user in the server, and based on this location information log This book is based on the idea that the above problem can be solved by efficiently finding a place where the user has visited in the past and knowing information on the more convenient route search and POI. The invention has been completed.

  That is, the present invention aims to solve the above problems, and distributes information on POIs visited in the past to the terminal device that the user cannot specifically remember based on the movement history of the user himself / herself. An object of the present invention is to provide an information distribution system, an information distribution method, an information distribution server, and a terminal device.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is
An information distribution system comprising: an information distribution server for distributing POI information desired by a user; and a terminal device connected to the information distribution server via a network,
The information distribution system includes:
A POI information database storing POI information including POI position information;
Current position acquisition means for acquiring the current position of the terminal device;
A movement log database that accumulates a position information log including the position information acquired by the current position acquisition means and the current time of acquisition of the position information;
Input means for inputting POI search conditions;
A keyword extracting means for extracting a keyword including a temporal element and a keyword including a geographical element from a search condition character string included in the input search condition;
And narrowing down continuously narrowing means position information log of the travel log database to the stored the terminal apparatus by the extracted keywords in the keyword extraction means,
A tally means for tallying the number of the narrowed location information logs existing in the peripheral area of the POI ;
Characterized in that and a POI information sorting means for sorting in descending order of the number of the positional information logs aggregated in the aggregate unit.

The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is the information distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the information distribution system further includes POI extraction means for extracting POI existing around the position information log narrowed down by the narrowing-down means, The counting means is characterized by counting the number of position information logs for the extracted POI .

The invention according to claim 3 of the present application is the information distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the information distribution system uses the keyword extraction unit to specify a POI from a search condition character string included in an input search condition. And a POI search means for searching for a POI by the extracted keyword, wherein the counting means counts the number of the location information logs for the searched POI .

  The invention according to claim 4 of the present application is the information distribution system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the information distribution system has a time-keeping function that is always activated, and the current position acquisition means periodically receives position information by the time-keeping function. It is characterized by acquiring.

The invention according to claim 5 of the present application is
An information distribution method in an information distribution system comprising: an information distribution server that distributes POI information desired by a user; and a terminal device connected to the information distribution server via a network.
The information distribution system includes a POI information database storing POI information including POI position information, a movement log database storing position information logs including position information of the terminal device and a current time when the position information is acquired, With
A first step of acquiring a current position of the terminal device;
A second step of accumulating in the movement log database a location information log including the location information acquired in the first step and the current time at which the location information was acquired;
A third step of inputting POI search conditions;
A fourth step of extracting a keyword including a temporal element and a keyword including a geographical element from the search condition character string included in the search condition input in the third step;
A fifth step of narrowing down the location information log of the terminal device stored in the movement log database by the keyword extracted in the fourth step;
A sixth step of counting the number of the narrowed position information logs existing in the peripheral area of the POI when the position information logs are narrowed down in the fifth step;
And a seventh step of sorting POI information in descending order of the number of the position information logs counted in the sixth step .

The invention according to claim 6 of the present application is the information distribution method according to claim 5, wherein the information distribution method includes a POI extraction step of extracting POI existing around the location information log narrowed down in the fifth step. Further, the sixth step includes a process of counting the number of position information logs for the POI extracted in the POI extraction step .

The invention according to claim 7 of the present application is the information distribution method according to claim 5, wherein the information distribution method includes a search condition character string included in the input search condition by the keyword extracted in the fourth step. A POI search step of extracting a POI specifying keyword from the extracted keyword and searching for the POI by the extracted keyword, wherein the sixth step includes the location information log for the POI searched in the POI search step. It is characterized by counting numbers .

  The invention according to claim 8 of the present application is the information distribution method according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the information distribution system has a time counting function that is always activated, and the first step includes the time counting function. According to the present invention, the position information is periodically acquired.

Furthermore, the invention according to claim 9 of the present application is
In an information distribution server connected to a terminal device via a network and distributing POI information desired by a user,
The information distribution server is
A POI information database storing POI information including POI position information;
A movement log database that accumulates position information logs including the position information of the terminal apparatus acquired by the terminal apparatus and the current time at which the position information is acquired;
Keyword extracting means for extracting a keyword including a temporal element and a keyword including a geographical element from a search condition character string included in a POI search condition input by the terminal device;
And narrowing down continuously narrowing means position information log of the travel log database to the stored the terminal apparatus by the extracted keywords in the keyword extraction means,
A tally means for tallying the number of the narrowed location information logs existing in the peripheral area of the POI ;
Characterized in that and a POI information sorting means for sorting in descending order of the number of the positional information logs aggregated in the aggregate unit.

The invention according to claim 10 of the present application is the information distribution server according to claim 9, wherein the information distribution server further comprises POI extraction means for extracting POI existing around the position information log narrowed down by the narrowing-down means, The counting means is characterized by counting the number of position information logs for the extracted POI .

The invention according to claim 11 of the present application is the information distribution server according to claim 9, wherein the information distribution system uses the keyword extraction unit to specify a POI from a search condition character string included in an input search condition. And a POI search means for searching for a POI by the extracted keyword, wherein the counting means counts the number of the location information logs for the searched POI .

The invention according to claim 12 of the present application is
A terminal device connected via a network to an information distribution server for distributing POI information desired by a user,
The information distribution server includes a POI information database storing POI information including POI position information, a position information log including position information of the terminal device acquired by the terminal device and a current time of acquiring the position information. And a keyword extraction means for extracting a keyword including a temporal element and a keyword including a geographical element from a search condition character string included in a POI search condition input by the terminal device; The narrowing-down means for narrowing down the position information log of the terminal device stored in the movement log database by the keyword extracted by the keyword extraction means, and the number of the narrowed-down position information logs existing in the peripheral area of the POI Aggregation means for aggregation and a large number of the location information logs aggregated by the aggregation means Comprising the POI information sorting means for sorting, into,
The terminal device
Current position acquisition means for acquiring the current position of the terminal device;
An input means for inputting the POI search condition;
Display means for displaying POI information distributed from the information distribution server,
When a POI search condition including a search condition character string is input by the input means, the location information log search means uses a keyword included in the search condition character string to store the terminal device stored in the movement log database. When the position information log is narrowed down and the position information log is narrowed down, the corresponding POI information stored in the POI information database is searched based on the narrowed down position information log, and distributed to the terminal device. The display means displays the sorted POI information .

The invention according to claim 13 of the present application is the terminal device according to claim 12 , comprising a timekeeping function that is always activated, wherein the current position acquisition means periodically acquires position information by the timekeeping function. It is a characteristic.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, in the terminal device according to the twelfth or thirteenth aspect, a position information log including the position information acquired by the current position acquisition unit and the current time at which the position information is acquired is temporarily stored. Position information log data storage means for storing the information, and position information log transfer means for transferring the position information log stored in the position information log data storage means to the information distribution server, the position information log transfer means Transfers the position information log stored in the position information log data storage means to the information distribution server at a predetermined timing.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the POI information database storing POI information including the POI position information, the current position acquisition means for acquiring the current position of the terminal device, and the current position acquisition means The movement log database that stores the position information log including the position information and the current time when the position information is acquired, the input means for inputting the POI search condition, and the time from the search condition character string included in the input search condition Keyword extracting means for extracting a keyword including a target element and a keyword including a geographical element, and the position information log of the terminal device stored in the movement log database is narrowed down by the keyword extracted by the keyword extracting means. and no narrowing means, present in the peripheral region of the POI, the number of the narrowed-down location information log aggregation That the collecting unit, configured to include a POI information sorting means for sorting in order of the most number summary number of the position information log aggregated with the aggregate unit.

  According to such a configuration, the location information history (log) of the terminal device possessed by the user is stored in the information distribution server in advance, and the location where the user has visited in the past based on this location information log Can be found efficiently, so that it can be set as a destination for route search again, and can be used for the purpose of searching for POI. Therefore, the user can obtain more convenient route search and information on POI.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the information distribution system according to the first aspect, the information distribution system further comprises POI extraction means for extracting POI existing around the position information log narrowed down by the narrowing-down means, The counting means is configured to count the number of position information logs for the extracted POI .

  According to such a configuration, the location information history (log) of the terminal device possessed by the user is stored in advance in the information distribution server, and based on this location information log, from the place where there is a high possibility of having visited in the past Since the information is output to the user in order, it is possible to efficiently find a place that the user has visited in the past, so that it can be set as a destination for route search again, and used for the purpose of searching for POI. Will be able to. Therefore, the user can obtain more convenient route search and information on POI.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the information distribution system according to the first aspect, the information distribution system uses the keyword extraction means to select a keyword that specifies a POI from the search condition character string included in the input search condition. The system further comprises POI search means for extracting and searching for POIs using the extracted keywords, and the counting means is configured to count the number of the location information logs for the searched POI .

According to such a configuration, it is possible to efficiently find a place where the user has visited in the past based on the position information log, so that it can be set as a destination for route search again. It can be used for the purpose of searching. Therefore, the user can obtain more convenient route search and information on POI.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the information distribution system according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the information distribution system is provided with a timekeeping function that is always activated, and the current position acquisition means periodically obtains position information by the timekeeping function. Configured to get.

  According to such a configuration, the position information history (log) of the terminal device possessed by the user can be passively acquired at a predetermined timing by the timekeeping function that is always activated, and is reflected in the movement log database in advance. Will be able to. Therefore, since the location where the user has visited in the past can be found efficiently based on this location information log, it can be set as the destination for route search again, and for the purpose of POI search. Can be used. Therefore, the user can obtain more convenient route search and information on POI.

In the inventions according to claims 5 to 8, it is possible to provide information distribution methods for realizing the information distribution systems according to claims 1 to 4, respectively. Moreover, in the invention concerning Claim 9 or Claim 11 , the information delivery server which comprises the information delivery system concerning Claim 1 thru | or 3 , respectively can be provided, It applies to Claim 12 or Claim 13 In the invention, it is possible to provide a terminal device constituting the information distribution system according to claims 1 and 4.

Furthermore, in the invention according to claim 14, in the terminal device according to claim 12 or claim 13, a position information log including the position information acquired by the current position acquisition unit and the current time at which the position information is acquired is stored. Position information log data storage means for temporarily storing; and position information log transfer means for transferring the position information log stored in the position information log data storage means to the information distribution server, the position information log transfer The means is configured to transfer the position information log stored in the position information log data storage means to the information distribution server at a predetermined timing.

  According to such a configuration, the position information history (log) acquired in the terminal device possessed by the user can be transferred to the information distribution server at a predetermined timing, and can be reflected in the movement log database in advance. become. Therefore, since the location where the user has visited in the past can be found efficiently based on this location information log, it can be set as the destination for route search again, and for the purpose of POI search. Can be used. Therefore, the user can obtain more convenient route search and information on POI.

  Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples and drawings. However, in the following embodiment, in order to embody the technical idea of the present invention, an information distribution system having a POI information providing function in a navigation system that performs route search and route guidance using a mobile phone as a terminal device is illustrated. However, the present invention is not intended to be specified in this information distribution system. For example, it may be a system having a function of providing POI information independently, and the terminal device may be a portable terminal device such as a PDA, or may be a computer device such as a personal computer. The present invention is equally applicable to information distribution systems of other embodiments included in the scope of the above.

  FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a configuration of an information distribution system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the information distribution system 10 includes a terminal device 20 and an information distribution server 30 connected via a network 12.

  The information distribution system 10 includes a POI information providing server 50 that provides detailed information such as the location of POIs (locations of interest) belonging to various categories, service contents, and advertisements, map data, traffic route data, operation timetable data, music And various information providing servers 51 that provide contents such as various images and other information.

  The information distribution server 30 can acquire necessary data from the POI information providing server 50 or other information providing server 51 via the network 12 and add it to its own database. Similarly, a search request can be transmitted to the POI information providing server 50 or another information providing server 51 to obtain a desired search result.

  The information distribution system 10 according to the present invention is not limited to the above configuration, and the information distribution server 30 may have a function of a map distribution server that distributes a map of a POI location together with a navigation service function. In addition to the mobile phone, the terminal device 20 may be a mobile device such as a PDA, a music player, a mobile game machine, or a personal computer (PC).

  The information distribution server 30 shown in FIG. 1 includes a map database 308 and a route search network database 309. When there is a route search request from the terminal device 20, the information distribution server 30 searches for a route with reference to the route search network database 309. And it has the general navigation function which transmits the guidance route (recommended route) obtained as a result of route search to the terminal device 20. The information distribution server 30 also includes a POI information database 310 that stores POI information such as the POI location, telephone number, address, and business hours.

  When there is a request for acquiring map data by designating a desired point or POI from the terminal device 20, the information distribution server 30 reads out the corresponding map data with reference to the map database 308 and distributes it to the terminal device 20. When the terminal device 20 requests a route search from the information distribution server 30 and receives a route guidance service, the terminal device 20 sets a desired departure place and destination and transmits a route search request to the information distribution server 30. To do. If there is a stopover point between the departure point and the destination point, the stopover point is also set.

  To set these points, display the route search condition input screen, enter the name, address (location), and phone number of the point, display the map on the display screen, and select the desired point on the map. A method such as selecting the cursor and setting it is used. Generally, the location of a specific facility or the location of interest (POI) is set as the starting point, waypoint, or destination, but the route search is performed for the location of the link or node on the road closest to the facility or POI. It may be used as the above facility or POI location.

  Furthermore, the information distribution server 30 acquires the location information history (movement log) of the terminal device acquired by each terminal device 20 and transferred from each terminal device at a predetermined timing, as the identification ID (user) of each terminal device 20. ID) is provided with a movement log database 311 accumulated as a position information log.

  Hereinafter, the information distribution system 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described based on specific examples, but before that, the detailed configuration of the information distribution system 10 according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the information distribution system 10 of FIG. The terminal device 20 is a terminal capable of receiving a POI information distribution service, and includes a control unit 201, a communication unit 21, a GPS reception unit 22, a distribution request editing unit 23, a reception data storage unit 24, and a position information log data storage unit 25. The position information log transfer means 26, the display means 27, and the operation input means 28 are provided.

  In the terminal device 20, the control means 201 is a microprocessor having a RAM, a ROM, and a processor (not shown), and controls the operation of each unit by a control program stored in the ROM. The communication means 21 is a communication interface for transmitting and receiving communication data with the information distribution server 30 and the like via the network 12.

  The GPS receiving means 22 receives a signal from a GPS satellite and calculates the current position by latitude and longitude. The calculated position information (latitude, longitude) is stored in the position information log data storage means 25 together with the time when the signal is received from the GPS satellite (current position information acquisition time). Further, the calculated position information is transmitted to the information distribution server 30 and can be used when a departure place or destination is specified as a route search condition, or when a guidance route is displayed and a current position is specified. it can. The GPS receiving means 22 corresponds to the current position acquisition means described in the claims.

  The distribution request editing means 23 creates a POI search (for example, navigation log search described later) request based on the POI search conditions set by the operation input means 28 or the display means 27, and routes such as a departure point and a destination. Various requests to the information distribution server 30 such as creating a route search request based on the search conditions are edited and transmitted to the information distribution server 30.

  The received data storage unit 24 temporarily stores POI information distributed from the information distribution server 30, guide route data as a route search result, and the like, and a guide route transmitted from the information distribution server 30 to the terminal device 20. Guide route data such as recommended routes is stored in the received data storage means 24 together with map data, and POI information and guide data such as guide routes and map data stored in the received data storage means 24 are read as necessary. And displayed on the display means 27.

  When a map is displayed on the display unit 27, generally, a guide route and a current state of the terminal device 20 are displayed on a map of a certain scale and a certain range including the current position of the terminal device 20 measured by the GPS receiving unit 22. A mark indicating the position is superimposed and displayed so that the current position mark is at the center of the display screen. Since the measured position information includes an error, route matching processing is performed to correct the current position on the guide route when the current position is deviated from the guide route. In addition, when voice guide data is added to the guidance route data distributed from the information distribution server 30, for example, when the terminal device 20 approaches an intersection or a branch point (guidance point), Play a voice message such as “Turn left at the intersection. Please turn left” and guide the user.

  In the terminal device 20, the position information log data storage means 25 in this embodiment uses the position information (latitude and longitude) calculated by the GPS receiving means 22 and the time when the GPS receiving means 22 receives a signal from a GPS satellite ( This is for temporary storage as a position information history (log) together with the current position information acquisition time.

  The terminal device 20 stores the position information acquired by the GPS receiving means 22 during route guidance in the position information log data storage means 25 together with the acquisition time when the navigation application (navigation application) is operating as a navigation function. In the non-operating state of the navigation application, a resident application (resident application) such as a standby application periodically stores the position information acquired by the GPS receiving unit 22 in the position information log data storage unit 25 together with the acquisition time.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the data structure of the position information history accumulated in the position information log data storage means 25. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, in the position information log data storage means 25, the date and time when the position information is acquired, and the GPS position information (latitude / longitude) are stored in time series in association with each other.

  In this embodiment, the position information log transfer means 26 is for transferring the position information history (log) stored in the position information log data storage means 25 to the information distribution server.

  The position information log (log) stored in the position information log data storage means 25 is transferred to the information distribution server 30 by the position information log transfer means 26 when the navigation application is activated or by predetermined typing of the resident application. The information distribution server 30 stores the location information history (log) transferred from each terminal device 20 for each identification ID (user ID) of each terminal device.

  The display means 27 is composed of a liquid crystal display panel or the like, and is used for displaying a guide route, POI search result or map distributed (transmitted) from the information distribution server 30. The display means 27 also functions as an input means for displaying the menu screen and operating the terminal device 20.

  The operation input means 28 includes numbers, alphabet keys, other function keys, selection keys, scroll keys (up / down / left / right arrow keys), and is also used as an input function for performing input for operating the terminal device 20.

  Further, the operation input means 28 is used as an input function of a search condition character string at the time of POI search request in this embodiment, in addition to being used as an input function of route search conditions such as a departure place and a destination. .

  The terminal device 20 stores the location information of the terminal device acquired by the GPS receiving unit 22 and the acquisition time in the location information log data storage unit 25 at a predetermined timing as a location information history (log), and the location information log The transfer unit 26 transmits the position information history stored in the position information log data storage unit 25 to the information distribution server 30 at a predetermined timing. Further, when the user of the terminal device 20 requests the POI search from the information distribution server 30 in the terminal device 20, the user operates the operation input means 28 to display a menu screen or a predetermined input screen on the display means 27. Enter the search condition string.

  Next, an operation procedure for storing and transferring the location information log in the terminal device 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the terminal device 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The operation procedure shown in FIG. 4 is realized by the control means 201 of the terminal device 20 executing a control program stored in the ROM.

  First, it is determined whether or not the navigation application is activated in the process of step S401. If it is determined in step S401 that the navigation application is activated, the process proceeds to step S402. If it is determined that the navigation application is not activated, the process proceeds to step S405.

  In the process of step S402, it is determined whether route guidance is being performed by the navigation application. If it is determined in step S402 that route guidance is being performed, the process proceeds to step S403. If it is determined that route guidance is not being performed, the process proceeds to step S404.

  In the process of step S403, the positional information and acquisition time of the terminal device 20 acquired by the GPS receiving unit 22 are stored in the positional information log data storage unit 25 as a positional information history (log), and the process proceeds to step S404.

  In the process of step S404, it is determined whether or not the navigation application is stopped by an instruction from the user. If it is determined in step S404 that the navigation application is stopped, the process proceeds to step S405. If it is determined that the navigation application is not stopped, the process returns to step S402.

  Next, in the process of step S405, it is determined whether or not it is time to acquire the position information of the terminal device itself. If it is determined in the determination process of step S405 that it is the acquisition timing of position information, the process proceeds to step S406, and if it is determined that it is not the acquisition timing of position information, the process proceeds to step S407.

  In the process of step S406, the positional information and acquisition time of the terminal device 20 acquired by the GPS receiving unit 22 are stored in the positional information log data storage unit 25 as a positional information history (log), and the process proceeds to step S407.

  In the process of step S407, it is determined whether or not the navigation application is activated in accordance with a user instruction. If it is determined in step S407 that the navigation application is activated, the process proceeds to step S409. If it is determined that the navigation application is not activated, the process proceeds to step S408.

  In the process of step S408, it is determined whether or not it is time to transmit the position information history stored in the position information log data storage unit 25 to the information distribution server 30. If it is determined in step S408 that it is the transmission timing of the position information history, the process proceeds to step S409, and if it is determined that it is not the transmission timing of the position information history, the process ends.

  In the process of step S409, the position information history stored in the position information log data storage unit 25 is transmitted to the information distribution server 30, and the process ends.

  In the present embodiment, the position information log stored in the position information log data storage means 25 is transferred to the information distribution server 30 as it is. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a route by a navigation application Position information logs acquired at 5 second intervals during guidance may be thinned out to 1 minute intervals and transferred to the information distribution server 30 for storage.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an appearance of a mobile phone as a terminal device according to the embodiment of the present invention. When the terminal device 20 is a mobile phone, as shown in FIG. 5, the terminal device 20 has a display means 27 such as a liquid crystal display panel, a numeric keypad and a scroll key SK (launcher key), a clear key, a display on a specific numeric key, etc. Operation input means 28 to which a mode switching key is assigned is provided.

  In this embodiment, when the user wants to request the information distribution server 30 to search for the POI, the operation input unit 28 is operated to display the initial menu screen on the display screen 271 of the display unit 27, and the operation input unit 28. Select the desired service.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing screen transition of the display means in the search condition input process when performing POI search, and FIG. 6A is a diagram showing an example of the initial menu screen 601 displayed on the display screen 271. is there.

  As shown in FIG. 6A, the initial menu screen 601 includes “departure / destination search”, “map search”, “surround search”, “navigation log search”, and the like as search category selection items. If the user who has the terminal device 20 wants to search for POIs based on position information related to places visited in the past, “navilog search” is selected. In the present invention, the navigation log search means a service for searching for a POI desired by the user based on the location information history (movement log) of the terminal device 20 stored in advance in the information distribution server 30.

  When “navi log search” is designated on the initial menu screen 601, the display screen 271 transitions to a condition input screen in the search condition input process. FIG. 6B is a diagram showing an example of the search condition input screen 602 displayed on the display screen 271.

  As shown in FIG. 6B, this condition input screen 602 has a search condition input field 602-1 for inputting text for POI search conditions from the operation input means 28, and for executing a navigation log search. A search button 602-2 and a cancel button 602-3 for canceling the navigation log search are provided.

  In the search condition input field 602-1, the search condition “Restaurant by the sea last summer,” input by the user using the operation input means 28 of the terminal device 20 is displayed.

  Here, when a POI search is requested to the information distribution server 30, when the search button 602-2 is operated and the search button 602-2 is operated, the terminal device 20 distributes the input search condition to the information distribution. Send to the server 30 to request a navigation log search. When canceling the navigation log search, the cancel button 602-3 is operated.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the information distribution server 30 includes a control unit 301, a communication unit 302, a route search unit 303, a distribution data editing unit 304, a POI search unit 305, a keyword extraction unit 306, and a location information log search unit 307. , A map database 308, a route search network database 309, a POI information database 310, and a movement log database 311.

  In the information distribution server 30, the control unit 301 is a microprocessor having a RAM, a ROM, and a processor (not shown), and controls the operation of each unit by a control program stored in the ROM. The communication unit 302 is an interface for communicating with the terminal device 20, the POI information providing server 50, and other information providing servers 51 via the network 12.

  The map database 308 stores vector map data. The map data stored in the map database 308 is composed of mesh unit map data divided by a predetermined latitude / longitude range.

  When the terminal device 20 moves and the map data is insufficient, the moving direction of the terminal device 20 is determined, and the information distribution server 30 distributes the insufficient unit map data. The same applies when the terminal device 20 makes a distribution request for map data by designating a specific point or POI (Point of Interest) position. The guide route data is distributed to the terminal device 20 together with the vector map data. The terminal device 20 thus receives the map data and the guidance route data from the information distribution server 30 and displays the map and the guidance route on the display means 27.

  The route search network database 309 stores road network data for searching for a travel route by foot or car and traffic network data for searching for a travel route using public transportation. Specifically, the road (route) is the node and the position of the inflection point is the node, the route connecting each node is the link, node data, link data, and cost information (distance and required time) of all links It consists of some link cost data and is made into a database. The network data for transportation is also stored as link cost data, with stations as nodes, links between stations, and timetable data (departure time, arrival time, required time) of each vehicle such as trains. is there.

  Using such network data, the information distribution server 30 searches for a plurality of candidate routes from the departure point to the destination in accordance with the route search conditions, and transmits the results to the terminal device 20 as guide route data.

  The POI information database 310 stores POI information for searching for POI information. The POI is various places of interest that the user desires to search, for example, hotels, theme parks, restaurants, convenience stores, department stores, stores, etc. Each POI information includes the location (location), telephone number, Includes address, guidance map, business hours, business details.

  The POI information stored in the POI information database 310 is based on a mesh obtained by dividing an area by a predetermined latitude / longitude, and information on each POI is stored in the corresponding mesh based on the location where each POI exists. Yes. One mesh may be the same size as the unit map obtained by dividing the map by latitude and longitude. Of course it can be of different sizes.

  In addition, the information distribution server 30 can collect POI information from various POI information providing servers 50 via the network 12 and register it in the POI information database 310 to enrich the POI information that can be provided to the user. .

  The movement log database 311 stores the positional information history transferred from each terminal device 20 at a predetermined timing in association with the identification ID (user ID) of each terminal device.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a data structure of the position information history accumulated in the movement log database 311. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the movement log database 311 includes an identification ID (UID) of a terminal device, location information history (date, time, and GPS location information) transferred from each terminal device, facility location information, and POI. Categories are associated and stored in chronological order.

  The location information history data with UID 1 shown in FIG. 7 is obtained from the terminal device 20 (UID = 1) provided with the location information log data storage means 25 storing the location information history data shown in FIG. It has been transferred. The facility location information and the POI category stored in the movement log database 311 are information searched with reference to the POI information database 310 based on the GPS location information.

  The route search means 303 refers to the route search network database 309 based on the route search conditions such as the departure point and the destination transmitted from the terminal device 20 and information on the current position, and from the departure point to the destination. Route search is performed. As such a route search method, a method called label determination method or Dijkstra method is used. Such a configuration is the same as that of a general navigation system.

  Further, in the route search unit 303, the map data including the departure point, the destination, and the current position read from the map database 308 with respect to the data of the optimum route or the plurality of recommended guide routes searched by the route search unit 303. Editing such as embedding is performed to create guide route data. The created guide route data is distributed to the terminal device 20.

  In the guide route data, guide points such as a starting point on the guide route searched by the route search means 303, a bending point of the route, an intersection, and a destination are set, and the position coordinates (latitude and latitude) of those guide points are set. Longitude) and guidance information related to each guidance point (straight ahead and left / right guidance information). The terminal device 20 receives the distributed map data and the guide route data, displays the map and the guide route, and outputs or outputs a predetermined guide by voice when it arrives at the guidance point.

  The distribution data editing means 304 is for editing the result of route search, the result of POI search and navigation log search into data for distribution to the terminal device 20. For example, a plurality of candidate POIs are sorted according to a specified sort condition among the search conditions. The distribution data editing unit 304 corresponds to the POI information sorting unit described in the claims.

  The POI search means 305 refers to the POI information database 310 based on the POI search conditions such as the POI category and region transmitted from the terminal device 20 and the current position information, and searches for POI category information and POI information. Do. The retrieved POI category information is transmitted to the terminal device 20.

  In this embodiment, the keyword extraction unit 306 extracts a keyword including a temporal element and a keyword including a geographical element from a search condition character string transmitted as a navigation log search request from the terminal device 20.

  Here, the time element is a specific date such as date, day of the week, “last year / last year / this year”, “last month / last month / this month”, “last day / yesterday / today”, “spring / summer” / Autumn / winter ”,“ morning / day / night ”, or“ morning / afternoon ”or other words with temporal attributes. Since these time elements have specific time ranges, elements that determine the search conditions (date and time) for searching the location information history (movement log) stored in the movement log database 311. It becomes.

  For example, in the case where the search condition character string transmitted as the POI search request from the terminal device 20 is “Restaurant by the sea last summer” as shown in FIG. Since “summer” is a keyword that includes a temporal element, and “no”, a particle that connects these two keywords, means an AND condition, the range of temporal search conditions is “June to August last year” " Note that since human memory is ambiguous and inaccurate, the summer definition may be set to May-September so that the search condition range is widened and the search is performed loosely.

  In addition, the geographical element is an attribute included in the map data, such as “mountain / river / sea” for a large range attribute, and “intersection / bridge / school” for a small range attribute. This applies to words with geographical attributes. Since these geographical elements have specific geographical positions (ranges), search conditions (GPS position information) for searching the position information history (movement log) stored in the movement log database 311. It becomes an element that decides.

  For example, when the search condition character string transmitted as a POI search request from the terminal device 20 is “Restaurant by the sea last summer” as shown in FIG. Keywords that include geographic elements. Here, if the geographical position is strictly determined in the area on the map, the search condition becomes severe. Therefore, the area up to about 50 km for a large range attribute and about 50 m for a small range attribute. Is set as the search target range.

  In this embodiment, the location information log search unit 307 is based on the keyword including the temporal element and the keyword including the geographic element extracted by the keyword extraction unit 306, and the location information history stored in the movement log database 311. (Movement log) is narrowed down, and the full text search is performed on the POI around the position information log remaining after the narrowing down using the search condition character string.

  For example, the search condition character string transmitted as a POI search request from the terminal device 20 with the terminal device identification ID 1 (UID = 1) is “the last summer, In the case of “Restaurant along the road”, first, the location information history (movement log) data with the UID of 1 shown in FIG. 7 is data for “June to August of last year (2006)” which is a temporal element. Refine to.

  Further, the location information history (movement log) data with UID 1 shown in FIG. 7 is narrowed down to data of “50 km from the sea” which is a geographical element.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the distribution of the position information log narrowed down by the search condition. Specifically, it shows the distribution of location information logs around “Restaurant by the sea last summer”. In FIG. 8, the narrowed position information log is indicated by black dots. Further, in FIG. 7, a part of the narrowed down position information log is indicated by a shaded data area.

  Then, the location information log search means 307 refers to the POI information database 310 and searches for “restaurant” included in the search condition character string for the POI within the location information log remaining after narrowing down, for example, within 2 km. Full-text search using keywords such as

  The distribution data editing unit 304 counts the number of hits of individual POIs searched for the position information log remaining after narrowing down, and sorts the count results, so that the number of hits increases for POIs that have stopped for a long time. The restaurants that stop by the restaurants that have just passed nearby are sorted to the top and output. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, there are a lot of position information logs in the vicinity of the restaurant 801 where the user actually stops (the area 802-1 surrounded by the alternate long and short dash line) because the movement of the terminal device 20 is slow. On the other hand, along the road that passes before and after heading for this restaurant 801 (area 802-2 surrounded by a broken line), the speed of the terminal device 20 is relatively fast and constant, so the location information logs are scattered at almost equal intervals. is doing.

  When there is a navigation log search request from the terminal device 20, the information distribution server 30 extracts a keyword including a temporal element and a keyword including a geographical element from the search condition character string by the keyword extraction unit 306, and a position information log search unit 307. A plurality of POI candidates are searched with reference to the movement log database 311 according to the keywords extracted by the above. Then, the POI candidates are sorted and distributed to the terminal device 20.

  Next, an operation procedure for navigation log search in the information distribution server 30 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the information distribution server according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The operation procedure shown in FIG. 9 is realized by the control means 301 of the information distribution server 30 executing a control program stored in the ROM.

  First, in the process of step S901, when receiving the search condition character string transmitted as the navigation log search request, the keyword extracting unit 306 extracts a keyword including a temporal element from the search condition character string in the process of step S902. . Further, in the process of step S903, a keyword including a geographical element is extracted from this search condition character string.

  In the process of step S904, it is determined whether or not a keyword has been extracted in the process of step S903 or step S904. If it is determined in the determination process in step S904 that a keyword has been extracted, the process proceeds to step S905. If it is determined that no keyword is extracted, the process proceeds to step S911.

  In the process of step S905, the position information log search unit 307 narrows down the position information history (movement log) stored in the movement log database 311 based on the keyword including the temporal element extracted in the process of step S902. . Further, in the process of step S906, the position information log search unit 307, based on the keyword including the geographical element extracted in the process of step S903, stores the position information history (movement log) stored in the movement log database 311. Narrow down.

  Next, in the process of step S907, it is determined whether or not there is a position information log as a result of narrowing down by the processes of step S905 and step S906. If it is determined in step S907 that there is a position information log, the process proceeds to step S908. If it is determined that there is no position information log, the process proceeds to step S911.

  In the process of step S908, the position information log search unit 307 searches the POI around the position information log remaining after narrowing down by referring to the POI information database 310 and performs a full text search using a search condition character string, and the process proceeds to step S909. .

  In the processing of step S909, the distribution data editing unit 304 totals the number of hits of individual POIs searched for the position information log remaining after narrowing down, sorts the aggregation results, and edits the distribution data. In step S910, the edited POI information is transmitted to the terminal device 20, and the process is terminated.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that the keyword is not extracted in the determination process of step S904, and when it is determined that there is no position information log in the determination process of step S907, the navigation log search cannot be performed. In the process, an error display is transmitted to the terminal device 20, and the process is terminated.

  If the user obtains information on a specific POI by the above procedure and wants to know the route to the POI, an operation is performed so that “departure / destination search” is selected from the initial menu screen of FIG. The route search can be requested to the information distribution server 30 by operating the input means 28. In this case, the destination of the route search condition is location information acquired from the POI information, and the departure location can be any location such as the current location, home, or workplace. When there is a route search request from the terminal device 20, the route search means 303 searches the route from the designated departure point to the destination in the information distribution server 30 with reference to the route search network database 309.

  In the present embodiment, the position information log search unit 307 searches the POI around the position information log remaining after narrowing down by referring to the POI information database 310 and performs a full text search using a search condition character string. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, when the facility location information and the POI category are already accumulated in the movement log database 311, the facilities accumulated in the movement log database 311 A full text search using a search condition character string may be performed with reference to the position information and the POI category.

  As described above in detail, according to the information distribution system of the present invention, the position information history (log) of the terminal device possessed by the user is stored in advance in the information distribution server, and based on the position information log. Since the user can efficiently find a place that the user has visited in the past, it can be set again as the destination of the route search and can be used for the purpose of searching for the POI. . Therefore, it is possible to provide a navigation system that allows the user to obtain a more convenient route search and POI information.

  In the present embodiment, the terminal device is described as a mobile phone. However, the information distribution system according to the present invention is not limited to the above configuration, and the terminal device is not only a mobile phone but also a music player such as a headphone stereo. It may be a portable small game machine, a portable terminal such as a PDA. In addition, since the location information log is stored on the server side, various terminal devices such as a desktop or laptop personal computer (PC) can be used as a terminal device that can display the search result by specifying the identification ID of the terminal device. If it is configured as a POI information providing service system that uses and displays a POI search screen on a browser of a PC, the opportunity to use this service increases.

  Also, if the user uses this service for a long time, the location information log will also be accumulated, so when looking back on the past, it will hit the effective data, and the user-friendly route search and POI You will be able to get information.

1 is a system configuration diagram illustrating a configuration of an information distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the detailed structure of the information delivery system in the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the positional infomation log | history accumulate | stored in the positional infomation log data storage means concerning the Example of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of the terminal device concerning the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the external appearance of the mobile telephone as a terminal device concerning the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the transition of the display screen in the search condition input process concerning the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the data structure of the positional information history accumulate | stored in the movement log database concerning the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows distribution of the positional infomation log narrowed down by the search condition concerning the Example of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of the information delivery server concerning the Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10. Information distribution system 12 ... Network 20 ... Terminal device 201 ... Control means 21 ... Communication means 22 ... GPS reception means 23 ... Edit distribution request Means 24... Received data storage means 25... Position information log data storage means 26... Position information log transfer means 27... Display means 28. Information distribution server 301 ... control means 302 ... communication means 303 ... route search means 304 ... distribution data editing means 305 ... POI search means 306 ... keyword extraction means 307 ... position Information log search means 308... Map database 309... Route search network database 310... POI information database 311.

Claims (14)

An information distribution system comprising: an information distribution server for distributing POI information desired by a user; and a terminal device connected to the information distribution server via a network,
The information distribution system includes:
A POI information database storing POI information including POI position information;
Current position acquisition means for acquiring the current position of the terminal device;
A movement log database that accumulates a position information log including the position information acquired by the current position acquisition means and the current time of acquisition of the position information;
Input means for inputting POI search conditions;
A keyword extracting means for extracting a keyword including a temporal element and a keyword including a geographical element from a search condition character string included in the input search condition;
And narrowing down continuously narrowing means position information log of the travel log database to the stored the terminal apparatus by the extracted keywords in the keyword extraction means,
A tally means for tallying the number of the narrowed location information logs existing in the peripheral area of the POI ;
Information distribution system, characterized in that it and a POI information sorting means for sorting in descending order of the number of the positional information logs aggregated in the aggregate unit. The information distribution system further includes POI extraction means for extracting POI existing around the position information log narrowed down by the narrowing means, and the counting means totals the number of position information logs for the extracted POI. The information distribution system according to claim 1. The information distribution system further includes POI search means for extracting a keyword specifying a POI from a search condition character string included in an input search condition by the keyword extraction means, and searching for the POI using the extracted keyword. The information distribution system according to claim 1 , wherein the totaling unit totalizes the number of the location information logs for the searched POI .   3. The information distribution system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the information distribution system has a time-keeping function that is always activated, and the current position acquisition unit periodically acquires position information by the time-keeping function. Information distribution system. An information distribution method in an information distribution system comprising: an information distribution server that distributes POI information desired by a user; and a terminal device connected to the information distribution server via a network.
The information distribution system includes a POI information database storing POI information including POI position information, a movement log database storing position information logs including position information of the terminal device and a current time when the position information is acquired, With
A first step of acquiring a current position of the terminal device;
A second step of accumulating in the movement log database a location information log including the location information acquired in the first step and the current time at which the location information was acquired;
A third step of inputting POI search conditions;
A fourth step of extracting a keyword including a temporal element and a keyword including a geographical element from the search condition character string included in the search condition input in the third step;
A fifth step of narrowing down the location information log of the terminal device stored in the movement log database by the keyword extracted in the fourth step;
A sixth step of counting the number of the narrowed position information logs existing in the peripheral area of the POI when the position information logs are narrowed down in the fifth step;
And a seventh step of sorting POI information in descending order of the number of the location information logs counted in the sixth step . The information distribution method further includes a POI extraction step for extracting a POI existing around the location information log narrowed down in the fifth step, and the sixth step includes the POI extracted in the POI extraction step. 6. The information distribution method according to claim 5, further comprising a process of counting the number of location information logs . In the information distribution method , a keyword specifying a POI is extracted from a search condition character string included in an input search condition by using the keyword extracted in the fourth step , and the POI is searched by using the extracted keyword. 6. The information distribution method according to claim 5, further comprising a POI search step, wherein the sixth step counts the number of the location information logs for the POI searched in the POI search step .   7. The information distribution system according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the information distribution system has a time-keeping function that is always activated, and the first step periodically acquires position information by the time-keeping function. Information distribution method. In an information distribution server connected to a terminal device via a network and distributing POI information desired by a user,
The information distribution server is
A POI information database storing POI information including POI position information;
A movement log database that accumulates position information logs including the position information of the terminal apparatus acquired by the terminal apparatus and the current time at which the position information is acquired;
Keyword extracting means for extracting a keyword including a temporal element and a keyword including a geographical element from a search condition character string included in a POI search condition input by the terminal device;
And narrowing down continuously narrowing means position information log of the travel log database to the stored the terminal apparatus by the extracted keywords in the keyword extraction means,
A tally means for tallying the number of the narrowed location information logs existing in the peripheral area of the POI ;
Information distribution server, characterized in that it and a POI information sorting means for sorting in descending order of the number of the positional information logs aggregated in the aggregate unit. The information distribution server further includes POI extraction means for extracting POI existing around the position information log narrowed down by the narrowing means, and the counting means totals the number of position information logs for the extracted POI. The information distribution server according to claim 9. The information distribution system further includes POI search means for extracting a keyword specifying a POI from a search condition character string included in an input search condition by the keyword extraction means, and searching for the POI using the extracted keyword. The information distribution server according to claim 9, wherein the counting unit totals the number of the position information logs for the searched POI. A terminal device connected via a network to an information distribution server for distributing POI information desired by a user,
  The information distribution server includes a POI information database storing POI information including POI position information, a position information log including position information of the terminal device acquired by the terminal device and a current time of acquiring the position information. And a keyword extraction means for extracting a keyword including a temporal element and a keyword including a geographical element from a search condition character string included in a POI search condition input by the terminal device; The narrowing-down means for narrowing down the position information log of the terminal device stored in the movement log database by the keyword extracted by the keyword extraction means, and the number of the narrowed-down position information logs existing in the peripheral area of the POI Aggregation means for aggregation and a large number of the location information logs aggregated by the aggregation means Comprising the POI information sorting means for sorting, into,
  The terminal device
  Current position acquisition means for acquiring the current position of the terminal device;
  An input means for inputting the POI search condition;
  Display means for displaying POI information distributed from the information distribution server,
  When a POI search condition including a search condition character string is input by the input means, the location information log search means uses a keyword included in the search condition character string to store the terminal device stored in the movement log database. When the position information log is narrowed down and the position information log is narrowed down, the corresponding POI information stored in the POI information database is searched based on the narrowed down position information log, and distributed to the terminal device. The terminal device displays the sorted POI information. The terminal device according to claim 12 , wherein the terminal device has a time counting function that is always activated, and the current position acquisition unit periodically acquires position information using the time counting function. The terminal device
Position information log data storage means for temporarily storing a position information log including the position information acquired by the current position acquisition means and the current time when the position information is acquired;
Position information log transfer means for transferring the position information log accumulated in the position information log data storage means to the information distribution server, and the position information log transfer means stores the position information log data at a predetermined timing. 14. The terminal device according to claim 12 , wherein the location information log stored in the means is transferred to the information distribution server.

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