Patent Application
20160212593
The present invention relates to an information processing system, a relay apparatus, an information processing apparatus, a program, and an information processing method.
Development of techniques of transmitting appropriate information to a portable communication terminal of a user at an appropriate timing has recently progressed. As one of the techniques, there is a technique of providing information in accordance with a destination when a user has moved by vehicle.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a system in which advertisement information has been transmitted to an on-vehicle navigation device, and the on-vehicle navigation device transmits the advertisement information to a portable navigation device of a user when detecting that the user gets out of the vehicle. In the system disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is determined that the user gets out of the vehicle in a case where a door of the vehicle is locked, the door is closed, an engine is stopped, or an ignition key is at an off position.
In addition, Patent Document 2 discloses a system in which position information calculated by a navigation device installed in a vehicle is transmitted to a portable terminal of a user, and the position information is transmitted from the portable terminal to a server as position information of the portable terminal. The server provides a service on the basis of the position information received from the portable terminal.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-133141
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2013-122694
The present inventor has made investigation on providing appropriate information at appropriate timing to people who move by using a moving object which many unspecified people ride, such as a bus or an electric train. In order to achieve this, it is considered that people who get on/off a moving object are required to be specified.
An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system, a relay apparatus, an information processing apparatus, a program, and an information processing method, capable of specifying a person who gets on/off a moving object.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system including a relay apparatus that is installed in a moving object gotten on/off by a person and that performs communication with portable communication terminals; and an information processing apparatus that performs communication with the relay apparatus, in which the relay apparatus includes a first communication unit that repeatedly attempts communication with the portable communication terminals located in a communication range of the relay apparatus, and receives, from each of the portable communication terminals with which communication is established, terminal identification information for identifying each of the portable communication terminal; and a second communication unit that transmits moving object identification information for identifying the relay apparatus or the moving object, and the terminal identification information received by the first communication unit, to the information processing apparatus as in-range information whenever the first communication unit attempts communication, and in which the information processing apparatus includes an in-range information storage unit that stores the in-range information received from the second communication unit; and an update unit that updates the terminal identification information stored in the in-range information storage unit whenever new in-range information is received from the second communication unit.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a relay apparatus which is installed in a moving object gotten on/off by a person and which performs communication with portable communication terminals, the apparatus including a first communication unit that repeatedly attempts communication with the portable communication terminals located in a communication range of the relay apparatus, and receives, from each of the portable communication terminals with which communication is established, terminal identification information for identifying each of the portable communication terminals; and a second communication unit that transmits moving object identification information for identifying the relay apparatus or the moving object, and the terminal identification information received by the first communication unit, to the information processing apparatus as in-range information whenever the first communication unit attempts communication.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing apparatus communicating with a relay apparatus which is installed in a moving object gotten on/off by a person and which performs communication with portable communication terminals, the information processing apparatus including an in-range information storage unit that stores moving object identification information for identifying the relay apparatus or the moving object, and terminal identification information received by the relay apparatus from the portable communication terminal, as in-range information; and an update unit that receives new in-range information from the relay apparatus, and updates the terminal identification information stored in the in-range information storage unit whenever the in-range information is received.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program used for a relay apparatus which is installed in a moving object gotten on/off by a person and which performs communication with portable communication terminals, the program causing the relay apparatus to have a first communication function of repeatedly attempting communication with the portable communication terminals located in a communication range of the relay apparatus, and receiving, from each of the portable communication terminals with which communication is established, terminal identification information for identifying each of the portable communication terminals; and a second communication function of transmitting moving object identification information for identifying the relay apparatus or the moving object, and the terminal identification information received by using the first communication function, to the information processing apparatus as in-range information, whenever the relay apparatus attempts communication by using the first communication function.
According to the present invention, there is provided a program used for an information processing apparatus communicating with a relay apparatus which is installed in a moving object gotten on/off by a person and which performs communication with portable communication terminals, the program causing the information processing apparatus to have an in-range information storage function of storing moving object identification information for identifying the relay apparatus or the moving object, and terminal identification information received by the relay apparatus from the portable communication terminal, as in-range information; and an update function of receiving new in-range information from the relay apparatus, and updating the terminal identification information stored by using the in-range information storage function whenever the in-range information is received.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing method using a relay apparatus that is installed in a moving object gotten on/off by a person and that performs communication with portable communication terminals; and an information processing apparatus that performs communication with the relay apparatus, in which the relay apparatus repeatedly attempts communication with the portable communication terminals located in a communication range of the relay apparatus, and receives, from each of the portable communication terminals with which communication is established, terminal identification information for identifying each of the portable communication terminals, and transmits the received terminal identification information to the information processing apparatus as in-range information along with moving object identification information for identifying the relay apparatus or the moving object, and in which the information processing apparatus stores the in-range information received from the relay apparatus, and updates the stored terminal identification information whenever new in-range information is received from the relay apparatus.
According to the present invention, it is possible to specify a person who gets on/off a moving object.
The above-described object, and other objects, features and advantages will become more apparent from preferred exemplary embodiments described below and the following drawings accompanying the exemplary embodiments.
Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, the same constituent elements are given the same reference numerals throughout all the drawings, and description thereof will not be repeated.
In addition, in the following description, each constituent element of each apparatus indicates not a configuration in the hardware unit but a configuration in the function unit. Each constituent element of each apparatus is realized by combinations of hardware and software including a CPU, a memory, a program loaded to the memory, a storage medium such as a hard disk storing the program, and an interface for connection to a network of any computer. Further, there are various modification examples in methods and apparatuses for realizing each constituent element.
The moving object 20 is a vehicle such as a bus or a train gotten on/off by many unspecified people. In addition, the relay apparatus 100 installed in the moving object 20 repeatedly attempts communication with the portable communication terminal 30 carried by a person riding the moving object 20, and transmits information (hereinafter, referred to as terminal identification information) for identifying the portable communication terminal 30 with which the communication can be performed, to the information processing apparatus 200 through the communication network 10.
The information processing apparatus 200 stores the terminal identification information received from the relay apparatus 100. The stored terminal identification information indicates which portable communication terminal 30 is located in a communication range of the relay apparatus 100. On the other hand, in a case where the portable communication terminal 30 is located in a communication range of the relay apparatus 100, an owner of the portable communication terminal 30 can be estimated to be riding the moving object 20. Therefore, the terminal identification information stored in the information processing apparatus 200 is information for specifying a person riding the moving object 20.
In addition, the information processing apparatus 200 repeatedly receives information from the relay apparatus 100 so as to update the stored terminal identification information. Further, the terminal identification information which is deleted during the update is information for specifying a person having left the moving object 20.
As mentioned above, the information processing apparatus 200 manages terminal identification information of a portable communication terminal located in the communication range of the relay apparatus 100, and thus a person who gets on/off the moving object 20 can be specified. In addition, places (for example, stops) where the terminal identification information is added to or deleted from the information processing apparatus 200 are managed, and thus the information processing apparatus 200 can specify positions of a person who has gotten on/off the moving object 20 in real time.
The first communication unit 110 repeatedly attempts communication with the portable communication terminals 30 located in the communication range of the relay apparatus 100, and receives, from each of the portable communication terminals 30 with which communication is established, terminal identification information of each of the portable communication terminals 30. The communication between the relay apparatus 100 and the portable communication terminal 30 is performed by using, for example, a wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11) or Bluetooth (registered trademark) (IEEE 802.15.1). In addition, if a communication standard of the wireless LAN is used, the relay apparatus 100 can acquire a media access control (MAC) address of the portable communication terminal 30. In this case, the relay apparatus 100 uses the MAC address as terminal identification information. Further, terminal identification information may be information other than the MAC address. Still further, timing at which the first communication unit 110 attempts communication with the portable communication terminals 30 is right after the moving object departs from a stop or a station, but may be periodic (for example, intervals of one minute).
The moving object identification information storage unit 122 stores information (hereinafter, referred to as a moving object identification information) for identifying the relay apparatus 100 or the moving object 20.
The second communication unit 120 transmits the moving object identification information stored in the moving object identification information storage unit 122 to the information processing apparatus 200 as in-range information along with the terminal identification information received by the first communication unit 110 whenever the first communication unit 110 attempts communication.
The update unit 220 of the information processing apparatus 200 updates the terminal identification information stored in the in-range information storage unit 210 whenever new in-range information is received from the second communication unit 120 of the relay apparatus 100 (step S210).
As described above, according to the present exemplary embodiment, the in-range information storage unit 210 of the information processing apparatus 200 stores terminal identification information for each piece of moving object identification information. The terminal identification information indicates the portable communication terminal 30 located in the communication range of the relay apparatus 100 installed in the moving object 20 indicated by the moving object identification information, that is, a person who is riding the moving object 20. Therefore, the information processing apparatus 200 can specify a person who is riding the moving object 20.
In addition, the information processing apparatus 200 repeatedly receives information from the relay apparatus 100 so as to update the stored terminal identification information. Further, the information processing apparatus 200 can specify a person who has gotten off the moving object 20 by recognizing terminal identification information which is deleted during the update.
First, the information processing apparatus 200 transmits information (hereinafter, referred to as provision information) to a portable communication terminal 30 (hereinafter, referred to as a portable communication terminal 30a) which is not located in the communication range of the relay apparatus 100. In addition, it is estimated that a person who owns the portable communication terminal 30a has gotten off the moving object 20. Further, the provision information is, for example, advertisement information of a store located in the vicinity of the position of the moving object where the person gets off. Still further, the provision information may be other information such as a program for providing a service to the user of the portable communication terminal 30a.
In addition, a position information generation unit 400 is installed in the moving object 20. The position information generation unit 400 generates position information of the moving object 20 so as to transmit the position information to the information processing apparatus 200 through the communication network 10. The information processing apparatus 200 uses the position information of the moving object 20 when selecting provision information to be sent to the portable communication terminal 30.
The GPS processing unit 410 receives GPS information from a plurality of global positioning system (GPS) satellites, and generates position information of the moving object 20 by processing the received GPS information. The position information is, for example, information regarding latitude and longitude. The moving object identification information storage unit 422 stores moving object identification information of the moving object 20. In addition, if the GPS processing unit 410 generates the position information, the position information transmission unit 420 reads out moving object identification information from the moving object identification information storage unit 422 and transmits the read out moving object identification information to the information processing apparatus 200 along with the position information generated by the GPS processing unit 410.
In addition, the GPS processing unit 410 generates the position information in a periodic manner (for example, at intervals of one minute). However, the GPS processing unit 410 may generate position information right after the moving object 20 departs from a stop or a station.
The address storage unit 230 stores an address (for example, an e-mail address) for data communication of the portable communication terminal 30 in correlation with terminal identification information. The position information storage unit 240 stores position information indicating the present position of the moving object 20 in correlation with moving object identification information of the moving object 20. The provision information storage unit 250 stores at least one piece of provision information to be provided to the portable communication terminal 30 in correlation with the position information.
The address readout unit 260 reads out an address corresponding to terminal identification information deleted from the in-range information storage unit 210, from the address storage unit 230 whenever the update unit 220 updates the in-range information storage unit 210. The position readout unit 270 reads out position information corresponding to moving object identification information which corresponds to terminal identification information deleted from the in-range information storage unit 210, from the position information storage unit 240 whenever the update unit 220 updates the in-range information storage unit 210. The provision information readout unit 280 reads out provision information corresponding to the position information read out by the position readout unit 270, from the provision information storage unit 250. In addition, the information transmission unit 290 transmits the provision information read out by the provision information readout unit 280 to the portable communication terminal 30a by using the address read out by the address readout unit 260.
In addition, the address storage unit 230, the position information storage unit 240, and the provision information storage unit 250 may be provided outside the information processing apparatus 200.
In addition, the information processing apparatus 200 also includes a position information update unit 245. The position information update unit 245 repeatedly receives position information and moving object identification information from the position information generation unit 400 installed in the moving object 20. Further, the position information update unit 245 updates the position information stored in the position information update unit 245 by using the received information.
If in-range information is updated, the update unit 220 of the information processing apparatus 200 outputs terminal identification information deleted from the in-range information storage unit 210 to the address readout unit 260, and also outputs moving object identification information to the position readout unit 270. In addition, the address readout unit 260 reads out an address corresponding to the terminal identification information received from the update unit 220, from the address storage unit 230 (step S212). Further, the position readout unit 270 reads out position information corresponding to the moving object identification information received from the update unit 220, from the position information storage unit 240 (step S214).
Still further, the provision information readout unit 280 reads out provision information corresponding to the position information read out by the position readout unit 270, from the provision information storage unit 250 (step S216). Moreover, the information transmission unit 290 transmits the provision information read out by the provision information readout unit 280 to the portable communication terminal 30a by using the address read out by the address readout unit 260 (step S218).
As described above, also in the present exemplary embodiment, it is possible to achieve the same effect as in the first exemplary embodiment. In addition, the information transmission unit 290 of the information processing apparatus 200 can transmit provision information based on the position where a person who is estimated to have gotten off the moving object 20 to the portable communication terminal 30a owned by the person.
Further, the position information update unit 245 of the information processing apparatus 200 repeatedly receives position information and moving object identification information from the position information generation unit 400, and updates the position information storage unit 240 by using the received position information and moving object identification information. Therefore, the information transmission unit 290 can provide more accurate information to the portable communication terminal 30a as provision information.
First, the position information generation unit 400 and the relay apparatus 100 perform communication with each other through a communication line (which may be of either a wired type or a wireless type) provided in the moving object 20. In addition, the position information generation unit 400 transmits generated position information and moving object identification information to the information processing apparatus 200 through the second communication unit 120 of the relay apparatus 100 and the communication network 10.
Further, in the present exemplary embodiment, the position information generation unit 400 may not include the moving object identification information storage unit 422. In this case, the second communication unit 120 of the relay apparatus 100 also reads out moving object identification information from the moving object identification information storage unit 122 and transmits the moving object identification information to the information processing apparatus 200 in a case where position information is transmitted.
Also in the present exemplary embodiment, it is possible to achieve the same effect as in the second exemplary embodiment. In addition, the position information generation unit 400 transmits position information to the information processing apparatus 200 through the relay apparatus 100 and thus may not have a wireless communication function.
First, the position information generation unit 400 transmits position information and moving object identification information to the information processing apparatus 200 through the communication network 10. On the other hand, the relay apparatus 100 transmits terminal identification information and moving object identification information to the information processing apparatus 200 through the position information generation unit 400 and the communication network 10.
In addition, in the present exemplary embodiment, the relay apparatus 100 may not include the moving object identification information storage unit 122. In this case, the position information transmission unit 420 of the position information generation unit 400 also reads out moving object identification information from the moving object identification information storage unit 422 and transmits the moving object identification information to the information processing apparatus 200 in a case where terminal identification information is transmitted.
Also in the present exemplary embodiment, it is possible to achieve the same effect as in the second exemplary embodiment. In addition, the relay apparatus 100 transmits terminal identification information to the information processing apparatus 200 through the position information generation unit 400 and thus may not have a wireless communication function.
An information processing system according to the present exemplary embodiment has the same configuration as the configuration of any one of the second to fourth exemplary embodiments except for configurations of the position information generation unit 400 and the information processing apparatus 200.
Also in the present exemplary embodiment, it is possible to achieve the same effect as in the second to fourth exemplary embodiments.
As mentioned above, the exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described, but the exemplary embodiments are only examples of the present invention, and various configurations other than the exemplary embodiments may be employed.
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-176959, filed Aug. 28, 2013; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-176959 | Aug 2013 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2014/070096 | 7/30/2014 | WO | 00 |
