Patent Application
20170124592
The present invention relates to an information transmission apparatus, a control method thereof, a system, and a storage medium.
In recent years, various services using a user's real-time location have been rolled out. For example, there is a service for displaying the current location of an information terminal held by a user on a map for walking navigation. Also exists a service that registers information in advance in association with a place and notifies a user of the registered information when he/she actually comes close to the place. In these services, the location of the information terminal held by the user is measured using a positioning technology such as GPS (Global Positioning System). In GPS, however, it is difficult for a device in a building to receive a radio wave from a satellite. To solve this problem, there is proposed, for example, a method of determining the location of an information terminal held by a user based on the principle of triangulation using the radio field intensity of a wireless access point whose location is registered in advance (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-190629).
There is also proposed a technique of placing, at an arbitrary point indoors or outdoors, a compact battery-driven beacon (information transmission apparatus) that broadcasts radio waves and delivers useful information to a customer who comes close to the beacon (Estimote Inc., Estimote Beacon, [online]. Estimote Inc., [searched Nov. 26, 2013, Internet <http://estimote.com/>).
According to the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-190629, the location of the terminal held by the user can be determined by the radio field intensities of a plurality of wireless access points. However, this technique needs to register the locations of the plurality of placed wireless access points in advance. If the locations of the wireless access points change, it is impossible to correctly determine the location of the terminal held by the user.
According to the technique of Estimote Beacon of Estimote Inc., the compact battery-driven beacon can deliver the information of an article of commerce to an information terminal near the beacon. However, if the beacon is unintentionally moved together with, for example, a shelf, the article of commerce that is actually present in the place differs from that of the delivered information.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described problems, and causes an information transmission apparatus to detect the movement of itself, thereby properly maintaining the location of the apparatus.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system including an information transmission apparatus and a mobile terminal, the information transmission apparatus comprising: transmission means for periodically transmitting identification information used to cause the mobile terminal to display predetermined information; detection means for detecting that the information transmission apparatus has moved; and stopping means for, when the detection means detects that the information transmission apparatus has moved, stopping transmission of the identification information by the transmission means, and the mobile terminal comprising: reception means for receiving the identification information; and display means for displaying information corresponding to the identification information when the reception means receives the identification information.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system including an information transmission apparatus and a mobile terminal, the information transmission apparatus comprising: transmission means for periodically transmitting identification information used to cause the mobile terminal to display predetermined information; detection means for detecting that the information transmission apparatus has moved; and change means for, when the detection means detects that the information transmission apparatus has moved, changing the information to be periodically transmitted by the transmission means, and the mobile terminal comprising: reception means for receiving the identification information; and display means for displaying information corresponding to the identification information when the reception means receives the identification information.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information transmission apparatus comprising: transmission means for periodically transmitting identification information used to cause a mobile terminal to display predetermined information; detection means for detecting that the information transmission apparatus has moved; and stopping means for, when the detection means detects that the information transmission apparatus has moved, stopping transmission of the identification information by the transmission means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information transmission apparatus comprising: transmission means for periodically transmitting identification information used to cause a mobile terminal to display predetermined information; detection means for detecting that the information transmission apparatus has moved; and change means for, when the detection means detects that the information transmission apparatus has moved, changing the information to be periodically transmitted by the transmission means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control method of an information transmission apparatus, comprising: a transmission step of periodically transmitting identification information used to cause a mobile terminal to display predetermined information; a detection step of detecting that the information transmission apparatus has moved; and a stopping step of, when it is detected in the detection step that the information transmission apparatus has moved, stopping transmission of the identification information in the transmission step.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to function as: transmission means for periodically transmitting identification information used to cause a mobile terminal to display predetermined information; detection means for detecting that the computer has moved; and stopping means for, when the detection means detects that the computer has moved, stopping transmission of the identification information by the transmission means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control method of an information transmission apparatus, comprising: a transmission step of periodically transmitting identification information used to cause a mobile terminal to display predetermined information; a detection step of detecting that the information transmission apparatus has moved; and a change step of, when it is detected in the detection step that the information transmission apparatus has moved, changing the information to be periodically transmitted in the transmission step.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium storing a program that causes a computer to function as: transmission means for periodically transmitting identification information used to cause a mobile terminal to display predetermined information; detection means for detecting that the computer has moved; and change means for, when the detection means detects that the computer has moved, changing the information to be periodically transmitted by the transmission means.
According to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately maintain location information even if a location information transmission apparatus itself is moved.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments (with reference to the attached drawings).
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the following embodiments are merely examples, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited by the following embodiments.
The first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[Overall Conceptual View of System]
An example of the information transmission apparatus 100 is a palm-size radio signal transmission beacon that can be placed as a user puts it on a shelf and driven by a battery. The information transmission apparatus 100 is assumed to always maintain an ON state unless the user directly turns the power off or the battery goes dead. At least one information transmission apparatus 100 is arranged in a location 10000. When the user comes close to the information transmission apparatus 100, the mobile terminal 200 held by the user can receive unique information according to the arranged information transmission apparatus 100. In terms of structure, the information transmission apparatus 100 may include, for example, an adhesive surface so that it can be not only put on a shelf or the like but also bonded to a wall surface, ceiling, undersurface of a desk, or the like. The information transmission apparatus 100 is assumed to incorporate, for example, a small battery such as an AA battery or a coin cell and continue to transmit a radio wave periodically (for example, once a second). Even if continuing to transmit a radio wave, power consumption is so low that the information transmission apparatus 100 can be driven for a predetermined period (for example, two years).
In this embodiment, Bluetooth® Low Energy will be exemplified as the radio wave transmitted by the information transmission apparatus 100. However, another wireless medium capable of operating with low power consumption, such as ZigBee®, may be used. In this embodiment, the coverage of the radio wave transmitted by the information transmission apparatus 100 is assumed to be about 15 m. When the radio field intensity (that is, the received signal level of the radio wave) is measured, how far the mobile terminal 200 is away from the information transmission apparatus 100 can be known. Generally, the longer the distance from the radio wave transmission source is, the lower the radio field intensity is, as is known. More specifically, close (1 m or less from the beacon), medium range (1 to 10 m from the beacon), long range (10 m or more from the beacon), and reception disable can be determined based on the measured radio field intensity. In this embodiment, the information transmission apparatus 100 will also be referred to as a beacon hereinafter. Note that the coverage is merely an example and is not limited to this.
An example of the mobile terminal 200 is a smartphone or tablet terminal held by the user. The mobile terminal 200 incorporates a wireless module 210 configured to receives the radio wave transmitted by the information transmission apparatus 100, and a wireless network module 212 configured to exchange data with the wireless access point 400. The wireless module 210 and the wireless network module 212 will be described later in detail with reference to
An example of the management server 300 is a computer controlled by an OS (Operating System) such as Linux® or Windows®. The management server 300 includes a storage device 304 such as an HDD or SSD, and constructs a beacon location database 354 used to manage the location information of the information transmission apparatus 100. In response to a request from the mobile terminal 200, the management server 300 returns a processing result to the mobile terminal 200 via the wireless access point 400.
An example of the wireless access point 400 is a radio relay apparatus that exchanges data with the mobile terminal 200 by Wi-Fi® or the like. The wireless access point 400 is connected to a network 9000 via, for example, a wired LAN and can therefore exchange data with the management server 300 as well. Hence, the mobile terminal 200 and the management server 300 can perform data communication via the wireless access point 400. The network 9000 corresponds to, for example, the Internet.
An example of the location 10000 is a store or an office. The location 10000 can be any location if it is a space where the information transmission apparatus 100 and the wireless access point 400 can be placed, and the user can freely move. In this embodiment, an explanation will be made assuming that the user is present in a store where a plurality of information transmission apparatuses 100 are arranged. In the following description, the user is assumed to hold the mobile terminal 200, and the location of the user is regarded as the location of the mobile terminal 200.
[Hardware Arrangement]
The information transmission apparatus 100 includes a CPU 101, a ROM 102, a RAM 103, an accelerator sensor 104, a wireless module 105, an input module 106, and a storage unit 108. These elements are connected by a system bus 109. The information transmission apparatus 100 broadcasts, by an antenna 110, a wireless packet signal generated by the wireless module 105 all around. A battery 107 supplies power to the units of the information transmission apparatus 100.
The CPU 101 is a unit configured to execute a control program 150. The ROM 102 is a nonvolatile memory and stores a boot loader program (not shown) and the control program 150. The RAM 103 is a volatile memory and stores, for example, information stored in the ROM 102 or information to be temporarily used because high-speed access is possible. When the information transmission apparatus 100 is powered on, the CPU 101 reads out and executes the boot loader program (not shown), extracts the control program 150 stored in the ROM 102, and stores it in the RAM 103. The CPU 101 executes the control program 150 stored in the RAM 103, thereby executing the functions of the information transmission apparatus 100.
The accelerator sensor 104 can output accelerations along three axes, that is, the upward/downward axis (Y-axis), leftward/rightward axis (X-axis), and forward/backward axis (Z-axis) of the information transmission apparatus 100. Movement of the information transmission apparatus 100 can be detected based on the values of the output accelerations. The movement detection method of the information transmission apparatus 100 will be described later with reference to
The storage unit 108 is a storage medium such as an SRAM and is used as a place to store various kinds of setting data and processing data. In this embodiment, the antenna 110 can transmit/receive a 2.4-GHz RF (Radio Frequency) signal of Bluetooth® or Wi-Fi®. A display module 111 is formed from a display component such as an LED. The user can confirm the state of the information transmission apparatus 100 by light-emitting indication of the LED.
The mobile terminal 200 includes a CPU 201, a ROM 202, a RAM 203, a storage device 204, an input module 205, a display module 206, an accelerator sensor 207, a gyro sensor 208, an azimuth sensor 209, the wireless module 210, and the wireless network module 212. The elements included in the mobile terminal 200 are connected by a system bus 213. The mobile terminal 200 can receive, by an antenna 214, a wireless packet signal of Bluetooth® or the like broadcast from the information transmission apparatus 100. The mobile terminal 200 can also transmit/receive data to/from the management server 300 via the wireless access point 400 and the network 9000 by an antenna 215. A battery 211 supplies power to the units of the mobile terminal 200.
The CPU 201 is a unit configured to execute a control program 250 of various kinds of processing according to this embodiment. The ROM 202 is a nonvolatile memory and stores a boot loader program (not shown) and the control program 250. The RAM 203 is a volatile memory and stores, for example, information stored in the ROM 202 or information to be temporarily used because high-speed access is possible. When the mobile terminal 200 is powered on, the CPU 201 reads out and executes the boot loader program (not shown), extracts the control program 250 stored in the ROM 202, and stores it in the RAM 203. The CPU 201 executes the control program 250 stored in the RAM 203, thereby executing the functions of the mobile terminal 200.
The storage device 204 is a storage medium such as an SD card and is used as a place to store various kinds of setting data and received data. The storage device 204 is also used as a place to store data of results of processing executed by various kinds of programs. The input module 205 is used by the user to operate the mobile terminal 200. The input module 205 is formed from known UI components, for example, push switches and a touch panel. The user can power on/off the mobile terminal 200 or perform various setting operations and character input using the input module 205. A display module 206 is formed from known display components such as an LED and a liquid crystal panel, and can confirm the state of the mobile terminal 200 or notify the user of it by light emission of the LED or display of characters. Note that the input module 205 and the display module 206 need not be different parts and may be one part, for example, a touch-panel display.
The accelerator sensor 207 can output accelerations along three axes, that is, the X-, Y-, and Z-axes of the mobile terminal 200. The vertical direction of the mobile terminal 200 can be known based on the values of the output accelerations. The gyro sensor 208 can output the angular velocity of the mobile terminal 200. The gyro sensor 208 can calculate the relative angle from the reference direction by integrating the output angular velocities. An angle is generally expressed as a pitch, yaw, and roll. The tilt of the mobile terminal 200 can be represented as a rotation angle by the pitch/yaw/roll expression. Note that the gyro sensor 208 uses, for example, a semiconductor element using the Coriolis force, as is known. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and any method is usable.
The azimuth sensor 209 can measure the north, south, east, and west directions based on the earth magnetism, and converts the measured information into digital information. With the azimuth sensor 209, one of the north, south, east, and west directions in which the mobile terminal 200 faces on a physical space can be grasped. A user's walking action can be detected by processing the values output from the gyro sensor 208 and the accelerator sensor 207. More specifically, a walking action is detected using the periodicity and amplitude of the output value of each of the gyro sensor 208 and the accelerator sensor 207 at the time of user's waking. When the azimuth sensor 209 is combined with them, a relative location of the mobile terminal 200 from a given location can be calculated. The processing of detecting the user's walking action and relative location can be done using a conventional method, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted here.
The wireless module 210 converts a Bluetooth® wireless packet signal received by the antenna 214 into digital information and sends it to the control program 250. The wireless network module 212 is connected to the wireless access point 400 by Wi-Fi®, and thus transmits/receives data to/from devices such as various kinds of servers and personal computers connected via the network 9000. In this embodiment, the antennas 214 and 215 can transmit/receive a 2.4-GHz RF signal of Bluetooth® or Wi-Fi®.
The management server 300 includes a CPU 301, a ROM 302, a RAM 303, the storage device 304, and a wired network module 305. The elements are connected by a system bus 306. The management server 300 is connected to a commercial power supply, which supplies power to the units.
The CPU 301 is a unit configured to execute a control program 350 of various kinds of processing according to this embodiment. The ROM 302 is a nonvolatile memory and stores a boot loader program (not shown) and the control program 350. The RAM 303 is a volatile memory and stores, for example, information stored in the ROM 302 or information to be temporarily used because high-speed access is possible. When the management server 300 is powered on, the CPU 301 reads out and executes the boot loader program (not shown), extracts the control program 350 stored in the ROM 302, and stores it in the RAM 303. The CPU 301 executes the control program 350 stored in the RAM 303, thereby executing the functions of the management server 300.
The storage device 304 is a known mass storage medium such as an HDD or SSD and is used as a place to store various kinds of setting data, received data, and databases. The storage device 304 is also used as a place to store data of results of processing executed by the program. The wired network module 305 transmits/receives data to/from devices such as various kinds of servers and personal computers connected via the network 9000 and the mobile terminal 200 connected to the wireless access point 400.
[Software Configuration]
The control program 150 included in the information transmission apparatus 100 is stored in the ROM 102 or the RAM 103 and executed by the CPU 101 to implement the present invention. A main control unit 151 mainly performs transmission control of a beacon signal based on determination of a movement detection unit 153 of the information transmission apparatus 100. A detailed control method will be described later.
An input determination unit 152 determines a user's input operation from the input module 106. The input determination unit 152 can determine, for example, one push (single push), long press for 3 sec or more, and the like of the push button of the input module 106. In this embodiment, more specifically, power on/off of the information transmission apparatus 100 can be switched by long press. In addition, a setting can be reset by single push. The movement detection unit 153 determines, based on the accelerator sensor value from the accelerator sensor 104, whether the information transmission apparatus 100 has moved. The movement detection is done by determining that the information transmission apparatus 100 has moved when each of the minimum and maximum values of the acceleration has exceeded a predetermined threshold within a predetermined time (for example, 10 sec). In addition, as a feature value of the accelerator sensor value, the frequency energy of each of the X-, Y-, and Z-axes within a predetermined time (for example, samples at 256 points of the acceleration) may be calculated. When a frequency energy other than DC components (stop) has exceeded a predetermined threshold, it may be determined that the information transmission apparatus 100 has moved. The root mean square value of the accelerator sensor values of each axis may be calculated, and a strength may be calculated as an acceleration. The movement may be determined by calculating the average of the acceleration values within a predetermined time. The movement detection by the accelerator sensor 104 is not limited to this, and any other method is usable if it can determine movement.
Based on an instruction from the main control unit 151, a packet generation unit 154 generates a signal packet to be transmitted from the information transmission apparatus 100. In this embodiment, a packet includes an “ID” that is identification information unique to the information transmission apparatus 100 and “additional information”. Here, the additional information corresponds to a movement detection flag representing movement of the information transmission apparatus 100. For example, if the information transmission apparatus 100 is not detecting movement, the signal packet to be transmitted has “ID: 01, movement detection flag: 0” as the contents. If the information transmission apparatus 100 is detecting movement, the signal packet to be transmitted has “ID: 01, movement detection flag: 1” as the contents. Details of additional information will be described later.
A beacon signal transmission unit 155 externally transmits, by the antenna 110, packet data generated by the packet generation unit 154 as an RF signal. In this embodiment, the RF signal is sent out to a range of about 15 m from the information transmission apparatus 100. However, the signal range is not limited to this because it changes depending on the external environment and the antenna shape.
An ID/additional information storage unit 156 stores the ID unique to the information transmission apparatus 100 and additional information such as the movement detection flag in the storage unit 108. An ID is assigned to each information transmission apparatus 100. By matching the ID included in the beacon signal, the reception side can identify the information transmission apparatus 100 as the transmission source of the beacon signal.
A display output unit 157 performs display output to the display module 111. By display output of the display output unit 157, the user can determine the power on/off state of the information transmission apparatus 100 and whether a setting is reset. More specifically, upon powering on, the LED of the display module 111 lights up for 10 sec and then lights out. Upon powering off, the LED blinks for 10 sec and then lights out. When a setting is reset, the LED blinks for 3 sec and then lights out.
The control program 250 included in the mobile terminal 200 is stored in the ROM 202 or the RAM 203 and executed by the CPU 201 to implement the present invention. A main control unit 251 mainly performs communication with the management server 300 based on a signal packet from a beacon and processing according to received location information. A detailed control method will be described later.
A beacon signal reception unit 252 receives an RF signal transmitted by the information transmission apparatus 100, converts it into a digital packet signal, and outputs the packet signal. A packet acquisition unit 253 acquires the packet of the beacon signal output from the beacon signal reception unit 252. More specifically, the packet acquisition unit 253 acquires an ID and additional information included in the packet and outputs them to the main control unit 251 as packet information. A packet storage unit 254 stores the packet information acquired by the packet acquisition unit 253.
A radio field intensity measuring unit 255 measures the received radio field intensity (or received signal intensity) of the RF signal received by the beacon signal reception unit 252 and outputs it to the main control unit 251. The received radio field intensity is generally represented by RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) and expressed as a relative numerical value from 0 dBm that is the received radio field intensity at 1 mW. In this embodiment, the distance between the information transmission apparatus 100 and the mobile terminal 200 is measured by the numerical value of dBm. More specifically, a threshold is set in advance. If the radio field intensity of a received radio wave is −50 dBm or more, it is determined that the mobile terminal 200 is present within 1 m from the information transmission apparatus 100. The threshold can arbitrarily be set and changed in accordance with the antenna characteristic and the like.
A location information storage unit 256 stores the location of itself calculated by a self location calculation unit 257. The stored location information is used by the main control unit 251. The self location calculation unit 257 calculates the location of itself based on the outputs of the azimuth sensor 209, the gyro sensor 208, and the accelerator sensor 207 and the location information (absolute location) of the information transmission apparatus 100. The calculated location is stored in the location information storage unit 256 as needed. More specifically, the self location calculation unit 257 calculates the self location using the relative location by the sensors and the information (that is, absolute location) of the information transmission apparatus 100. The relative location is estimated as the user's relative location from a given point based on the direction and walking action of the user calculated from the sensor values. The absolute location is received from the management server 300 based on an ID transmitted by the information transmission apparatus 100 when the user has come close to the information transmission apparatus 100. If it is determined that the information transmission apparatus 100 is present within 1 m, the location of the device itself is obtained as the absolute location, and the relative location is reset to “0”.
A relative location estimation method using the sensors will be described. A user direction for the relative location estimation is measured by the azimuth sensor 209 from the earth magnetism. However, the reliability of the earth magnetism may be low indoors because of reinforcing bars of a building or the like. For this reason, if the reliability of the azimuth sensor 209 is determined to be low, vertical components and horizontal components are extracted from the output values of the accelerator sensor 207 and the gyro sensor 208, and a relative horizontal angle to the reference direction is calculated.
A user's walking action is detected by the gyro sensor 208 and the accelerator sensor 207. Whether the user is walking can be obtained from the magnitudes of the amplitudes of vertical components extracted from the accelerator sensor 207 and the gyro sensor 208. As is known, concerning a human walking action, periodical features appear in the vertical component and the horizontal component of each sensor. The number of steps can be measured by pattern matching between these features and the sensor output values.
An input determination unit 258 determines a user's input operation from the input module 205. The input determination unit 258 can determine, for example, one push (single push) or long press of the push button of the input module 205 or a character input operation to the touch panel. A display output unit 259 performs display output to the display module 206. A wireless network transmission/reception unit 260 transmits/receives data to/from a server or personal computer connected to the network 9000 via the wireless access point 400.
The control program 350 included in the management server 300 is stored in the ROM 302 or the RAM 303 and executed by the CPU 301 to implement the present invention. A main control unit 351 mainly performs processing according to a request from the mobile terminal 200 and management of the beacon location database. A detailed control method will be described later. A packet information processing unit 352 performs processing according to packet information transmitted from the information transmission apparatus 100. A location acquisition unit 353 acquires location information from the beacon location database 354 in response to a request of the packet information processing unit 352. The beacon location database 354 holds the ID of each information transmission apparatus 100 (that is, beacon) and corresponding location information as a database. A detailed example of the database will be described later with reference to
A wired network transmission/reception unit 355 transmits/receives data to/from the mobile terminal 200 via the network 9000. A database updating unit 356 updates the information of the beacon location database 354 in response to a request of the packet information processing unit 352. More specifically, the database updating unit 356 changes the location information of a beacon or other parameters on the database.
A location setting unit 357 sets the location information parameter of a beacon. More specifically, the location setting unit 357 sets location information parameter in the beacon location database 354 in accordance with an instruction from a personal computer (not shown) operated by a user connected to the network 9000. The parameters of the database in which the ID of each information transmission apparatus 100 is linked to location information, as shown in
The procedure of setting location information of the information transmission apparatus 100 by the location setting unit 357 will be described. Location setting of the information transmission apparatus 100 can be performed before it is placed for the first time or after the placement via the mobile terminal 200. If setting the location before the placement, the ID and location information are set in the beacon location database 354, and after that, the user places the information transmission apparatus 100 at the location of the corresponding ID. If performing location setting via the mobile terminal 200, a beacon is designated based on the radio field intensity, and the location of the beacon may be set at a designated location on a map. Beacon location setting based on the radio field intensity is performed using a conventional method, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted here.
[Data Structure]
The structure of the beacon location database 354 of the management server 300 handled in this embodiment will be described below with reference to
[Processing Procedure]
In step S501, the information transmission apparatus 100 determines whether it is powered on. Power on/off can be switched by long press of the push button of the input module 106. If the information transmission apparatus is powered on (YES in step S501), the process advances to step S502. Otherwise (NO in step S501), the processing waits until power on.
In step S502, the information transmission apparatus 100 determines whether the movement detection flag is set. More specifically, if the movement detection flag stored in the ID/additional information storage unit 156 is “1” that represents that the information transmission apparatus 100 has moved (YES in step S502), the process advances to step S508. If the movement detection flag is “0” that represents that the information transmission apparatus 100 has not moved (NO in step S502), the process advances to step S503.
In step S503, the information transmission apparatus 100 acquires the value of the accelerator sensor 104. In step S504, the information transmission apparatus 100 performs movement detection processing based on the acquired value of the accelerator sensor 104. In step S505, the information transmission apparatus 100 determines based on the result of step S504 whether the information transmission apparatus 100 has moved. Upon determining that the information transmission apparatus 100 has moved (YES in step S505), the process advances to step S507. Otherwise (NO in step S505), the process advances to step S506.
In step S506, if a predetermined time has elapsed from preceding signal transmission, the information transmission apparatus 100 transmits a packet signal. More specifically, if a time of 1 sec or more has elapsed from preceding signal transmission in a case where the ID of the information transmission apparatus 100 is “01”, the information transmission apparatus 100 transmits a packet “ID: 01” as an RF signal. However, the predetermined time “1 sec” is merely an example here, and the time can be set to any other arbitrary value.
In step S507, the information transmission apparatus 100 sets the movement detection flag in the ID/additional information storage unit 156. More specifically, the ID/additional information storage unit 156 stores the movement detection flag as “1” that represents that the information transmission apparatus 100 has moved.
In step S508, the information transmission apparatus 100 determines whether a movement detection reset is input by the user. More specifically, single push by the input determination unit 152 is determined as a movement detection reset. If a movement detection reset is input (YES in step S508), the process advances to step S510. Otherwise (NO in step S508), the process advances to step S509. In step S509, the information transmission apparatus 100 steps transmitting the packet signal. That is, the information transmission apparatus 100 does not transmit a packet signal while the movement detection flag is set. In step S510, the information transmission apparatus 100 resets the movement detection flag in the ID/additional information storage unit 156. More specifically, the information transmission apparatus 100 stores the movement detection flag in the ID/additional information storage unit 156 as “0” that represents that the information transmission apparatus 100 has not moved.
In step S511, the information transmission apparatus 100 determines whether it is powered off. When the push button of the input module 106 is pressed long in the power-on state, the information transmission apparatus 100 transits to the power-off state. If the information transmission apparatus 100 is powered off (YES in step S511), the processing ends. Otherwise (NO in step S511), the process returns to step S502.
(Processing of Mobile Terminal and Management Server)
Processing of location information based on a beacon signal will be described with reference to
In step S601, the mobile terminal 200 determines whether a beacon signal transmitted from the information transmission apparatus 100 is received. More specifically, when the user who holds the mobile terminal 200 enters the transmission range (15 m in this embodiment) of the information transmission apparatus 100 that is transmitting a beacon signal and receives the beacon signal, it is determined that a beacon signal is received. Upon receiving a beacon signal (YES in step S601), the process advances to step S602. Otherwise (NO in step S601), the processing waits until reception.
In step S602, the mobile terminal 200 performs beacon signal reception processing. More specifically, the beacon signal reception unit 252 converts an RF signal into a digital signal and outputs it, as described above.
In step S603, the mobile terminal 200 performs packet acquisition and radio field intensity measurement processing. More specifically, those processes are performed by the packet acquisition unit 253 and the radio field intensity measuring unit 255, as described above.
In step S604, the mobile terminal 200 transmits packet information to the management server 300 via the wireless network transmission/reception unit.
In step S605, the mobile terminal 200 receives return information from the management server 300 via the wireless network transmission/reception unit 260 as a response to the packet information transmitted in step S604. In step S606, the mobile terminal 200 determines whether the return information includes the location information of the information transmission apparatus 100. For example, if the return information includes a value as location information such as “ID: 01, location information: (X1, Y1, 2)”, it is determined as location information. If the return information includes location information (YES in step S606), the process advances to step S607. Otherwise (NO in step S606), the process advances to step S608.
In step S607, if the information transmission apparatus 100 is present within a predetermined range, the mobile terminal 200 acquires advertising information corresponding to the location information in step S606 from an advertising server (not shown) and displays the advertising information on the display module 206. More specifically, upon determining, based on the received radio field intensity measured in step S603, that the beacon is present within 1 m, advertising information is displayed on the display module 206. The advertising information corresponds to a PDF, text information, image data such as JPEG image data, or a URL that is the address of an advertising page to be displayed. However, the advertising information is not limited to a format of information if it is information useful for a customer, such as the PR information of an article or a coupon of a store. Note that the advertising server manages advertising information corresponding to location information in an advertising database (not shown).
In step S608, the mobile terminal 200 determines whether it is powered off. When the push button of the input module 205 is pressed long in the power-on state, the mobile terminal 200 transits to the power-off state. If the mobile terminal 200 is powered off (YES in step S608), the processing ends. Otherwise (NO in step S608), the process returns to step S601.
In step S609, the management server 300 receives the packet information from the mobile terminal 200 via the wired network transmission/reception unit 355. The main control unit 351 sends the received packet information to the packet information processing unit 352. In step S610, the management server 300 acquires location information corresponding to the ID of the packet information from the beacon location database 354, and holds the location information as an information processing result to be received by the mobile terminal 200. Note that the location information in the beacon location database 354 is held as shown in
In the first embodiment, the flowchart of the information transmission apparatus 100 and the flowchart of the mobile terminal 200 and the management server 300 are illustrated, and the system operation when the information transmission apparatus 100 has been moved from its original location has been described. When moved, the information transmission apparatus 100 stops transmitting the packet signal. This prevents the mobile terminal 200 from receiving wrong information.
The second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In the first embodiment, an example has been described in which when the information transmission apparatus 100 detects movement, transmission of packet information is stopped. In the second embodiment, an example will be described in which when an information transmission apparatus 100 detects movement, a movement detection packet including it is transmitted, thereby updating the database of a management server 300. The difference from the first embodiment will mainly be described.
[Processing Procedure]
In step S809, if a predetermined time has elapsed from preceding signal transmission, the information transmission apparatus 100 transmits a movement detection packet signal. More specifically, if a time of 1 sec or more has elapsed from preceding signal transmission in a case where the ID of the information transmission apparatus 100 is “01, the information transmission apparatus 100 transmits, as an RF signal, a movement detection packet “ID: 01, movement detection flag: 1” representing that movement is detected. That is, the movement detection flag representing movement is added to the ID serving as identification information and transmitted. Note that the predetermined time “1 sec” is merely an example here, and the time can be set to an arbitrary value.
(Processing of Mobile Terminal and Management Server)
Processing of location information based on a beacon signal will be described with reference to
Steps S901 to S908 of
In step S910, the management server 300 performs packet information processing. Details of the processing of this step will be described with reference to
In step S1001, the management server 300 acquires location information corresponding to the ID included in the packet information from a beacon location database 354. For example, if the beacon location database 354 has the state shown in
In step S1002, the management server 300 determines whether the acquired location information is “Unknown”. For example, if the beacon location database 354 has the state shown in
In step S1003, the management server 300 obtains the location information “Unknown” as the packet information processing result and returns it to the mobile terminal 200 together with preceding location information. For example, if the acquired location information is that of the first row of
In step S1004, the management server 300 determines whether the movement detection flag of the packet information is set. For example, if the packet information is “ID: 01, movement detection flag: 1”, it is detected that the movement detection flag is set. Upon determining that the movement detection flag is set (YES in step S1004), the process advances to step S1006. Otherwise (NO in step S1004), the process advances to step S1005.
In step S1005, the management server 300 returns the location information to the mobile terminal 200 as the packet information processing result. For example, if the location information acquired from the beacon location database 354 is that of the first row of
In step S1006, the management server 300 updates the location information and the preceding location information in the beacon location database 354. More specifically, if the location information before updating is that of the first row of
In the second embodiment, the flowchart of the information transmission apparatus 100 and the flowchart of the mobile terminal 200 and the management server 300 are illustrated, and the system operation when the information transmission apparatus 100 has been moved from its original location has been described. The information transmission apparatus 100 itself thus transmits information representing that it has been moved, and rewrites the beacon location database 354 to appropriate information via the mobile terminal 200. This can prevent the mobile terminal 200 from receiving wrong information.
The third embodiment of the present invention will be described below. In the third embodiment, an example will be described in which when the user is prompted to update the “Unknown” location information of an information transmission apparatus 100 to correct information. Note that in a store or the like, both customers and clerks can hold mobile terminals 200 and receive location information. However, only the clerks may be prompted to update the location information. For example, a distinction between customers and clerks is made by login information of an application on the mobile terminals 200, and only the clerks may be prompted to do updating. Alternatively, only the clerks may separately install an application used to update a location. The difference from the second embodiment will mainly be described below.
[Processing Procedure]
Processing of updating location information to correct location information according to this embodiment will be described with reference to
Steps S1101 to S1114 in the flowcharts of
In step S1108, the mobile terminal 200 displays a location reset notification on a display module 206. More specifically, a display 1201 that makes a notification to cause the user to reset the location of the information transmission apparatus pops up, as shown in
In step S1109, the mobile terminal 200 displays a screen of a reset request of the movement detection flag of the information transmission apparatus 100. More specifically, a display 1202 that prompts the user to do reset of a corresponding information transmission apparatus is output, as shown in
In step S1110, the mobile terminal 200 determines whether the normal packet signal is received from the information transmission apparatus 100 of the ID that has transmitted the movement detection packet signal till then. If the normal packet signal is received (YES in step S1110), the process advances to step S1111. Otherwise (NO in step S1110), the processing waits until reception.
In step S1111, the mobile terminal 200 displays a location input screen used to set a correct location for the information transmission apparatus 100. More specifically, the screen shown in
In step S1112, the mobile terminal 200 determines whether the input of the location information is decided by the user. More specifically, when the decision icon 1204 shown in
In step S1118, the management server 300 receives the location information updating request transmitted from the mobile terminal 200 in step S1113. In step S1119, based on the ID included in the received location information updating request, the management server 300 updates the location information of the ID to the reset location information. More specifically, the location information “Unknown” of the ID “01”, which originally has the state shown in
In the third embodiment, an example has been described in which the user is prompted to update the location information (“Unknown”) of the information transmission apparatus 100 to correct information and input the location information, thereby updating the database to correct information. Since this allows even a user other than a special user such as an administrator to appropriately set the location information of the moved information transmission apparatus, the labor in management can be reduced. In addition, since location reset is notified at the timing at which the user has come close to the moved information transmission apparatus, the user can easily find the moved information transmission apparatus.
The fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the fourth embodiment, an example will be described in which the location information of an information transmission apparatus 100 after movement is automatically estimated. The difference from the second embodiment will mainly be described below.
[Processing Procedure]
Processing of automatically estimating the location information of the information transmission apparatus 100 will be described with reference to
Steps S1401 to S1410 in the flowcharts of
This embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that the self location of the mobile terminal 200 upon receiving the beacon signal is transmitted to the management server 300, and the location of the information transmission apparatus 100 whose location information is “Unknown” is estimated based on the collected self locations. This makes it possible to estimate the location of the information transmission apparatus 100 and notify the mobile terminal 200 of it.
In step S1401, the mobile terminal 200 calculates the self location by a self location calculation unit 257. The parameters of location information will be described here. In the first to third embodiments, the location information of the information transmission apparatus 100 is allocated to a rough section. From the fourth embodiment, however, coordinates on a horizontal plane are registered as the parameters of the location information to accurately estimate the location of the information transmission apparatus 100. For example, in
In step S1405, the mobile terminal 200 transmits the current location (that is, self location) of the mobile terminal 200 and the packet information of the information transmission apparatus 100 to the management server 300. More specifically, location information (13.0, 4.5, 2) is transmitted to the management server 300 as the current location. For example, assume that a user A comes close to the information transmission apparatus 100 that transmits a movement detection packet signal including an ID “01”, as shown in
In step S1406, the mobile terminal 200 receives return information from the management server 300 as a response to the information transmitted in step S1405. For example, return information when the mobile terminal 200 has received the movement detection packet signal is represented by “ID: 01, location information: Unknown, estimated location: (13.0, 4.5, 2), number of observed location information: 1”.
In step S1409, if the information transmission apparatus 100 is present within a predetermined range, the mobile terminal 200 updates the current location information of the mobile terminal 200. More specifically, if it is determined, based on the received radio field intensity measured in step S1403, that the information transmission apparatus 100 is present within a predetermined range (for example, 1 m), the location information in a location information storage unit 256 of the mobile terminal 200 is updated to the received location information of the information transmission apparatus 100.
In step S1411, the management server 300 causes a wired network transmission/reception unit 355 to perform reception processing of the current location information of the mobile terminal 200 and the packet information. The pieces of received information are sent to a packet information processing unit 352 by a main control unit 351. In step S1412, the management server 300 performs packet information processing. The process of this step will be described later with reference to
Steps S1501 to S1508 in the flowchart of
In step S1505, the management server 300 updates the location information of the beacon of the corresponding ID in the beacon location database 354 to “Unknown”. For example, the location information corresponding to the ID “01” is updated, as shown in
In step S1506, the management server 300 updates the number of observed location information and observed location information in the beacon location database 354. More specifically, the number of observed location information and observed location information are represented by columns of
In step S1507, the management server 300 estimates the location of the information transmission apparatus 100 for the observed location information and updates the estimated location information. More specifically, the estimated location is calculated as the center of gravity of a polygon having the observed location information expressed as (x component, y component) as the apexes, and the estimated location information is updated to the calculated center of gravity. The center of gravity of the polygon can be calculated using a known method, and a detailed description thereof will be omitted here. In step S1508, the management server 300 returns the packet information processing result to the mobile terminal 200. For example, in
In the fourth embodiment, the location of the information transmission apparatus 100 whose location information is “Unknown” is estimated based on the self estimated location of the mobile terminal 200. Note that although how to use the estimated location information of the beacon notified to the mobile terminal 200 has not been specified above, for example, the information may be presented in place of preceding location information when the user inputs a location reset by the method according to the third embodiment. Alternatively, the information may be used by another application.
The fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the fourth embodiment, even if the location of the information transmission apparatus 100 is sufficiently estimated, the location information remains “Unknown” unless the user manually resets the movement detection flag of the information transmission apparatus 100. In the fifth embodiment, an example will be described in which a reset notification to the user is made to reset the estimated location information of an information transmission apparatus 100 whose location is sufficiently estimated as new location information. The difference from the fourth embodiment will mainly be described below.
A method of resetting the location information of the information transmission apparatus 100 to an estimated location will be described with reference to
[Processing Procedure]
Steps S1701 to S1715 in the flowcharts of
This embodiment is different from the fourth embodiment in that a reset notification to the user is made to reset the location information of the information transmission apparatus 100 whose location is sufficiently estimated as an estimated location. This makes it possible to change location information in the beacon location database 354 to the estimated location.
In step S1710, the mobile terminal 200 determines whether the number of observed location information in return information is larger than a predetermined number. For example, if the number of observed location information is 100 or more, as shown in
In step S1711, the mobile terminal 200 displays, on a display module 206, a notification to prompt the user to reset the movement detection flag of the information transmission apparatus 100. For example, the reset notification pops up, like a display 1801 shown in
In step S1712, the mobile terminal 200 determines whether a normal packet signal is received from the information transmission apparatus 100 of the ID that has transmitted a movement detection packet signal till then. More specifically, when the user presses the reset button of the information transmission apparatus 100 that is transmitting the movement detection packet signal, a normal packet signal is received from the information transmission apparatus 100, and the screen shown in
In step S1713, the mobile terminal 200 requests the management server 300 to set estimated location information input as new location information. For example, the mobile terminal 200 transmits “ID: 01, estimated location request: 1” as the location information updating request. In step S1714, the mobile terminal 200 displays a termination screen. For example, the mobile terminal 200 displays a screen 1803 shown in
In step S1719, the management server 300 receives the location information updating request transmitted from the mobile terminal 200 in step S1713. In step S1720, based on the ID included in the received location information updating request, the management server 300 updates the location information of the ID to the value of the estimated location information. More specifically, the location information “Unknown” shown in
In the fifth embodiment, an example has been described in which a beacon reset notification to the user is made to reset the estimated location information of the information transmission apparatus 100 whose location is sufficiently estimated as new location information. This can prompt the user to change the movement detection flag transmission state of the beacon whose location is sufficiently estimated to a normal packet transmission state.
The sixth embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second to fifth embodiments, an example has been described in which the information transmission apparatus 100 transmits the movement detection flag as additional information, and the management server 300 thus detects movement via the mobile terminal 200. The information transmission apparatus 100 operates with low power consumption and therefore performs only transmission processing to the outside. For this reason, to reset the movement detection flag, the user needs to directly press the reset button of the information transmission apparatus 100. In addition, only the same movement detection packet is transmitted until the movement detection flag is reset. Hence, even when movement is performed a plurality of times, it is impossible to detect it.
In the sixth embodiment, an example will be described in which a management server 300 detects the movement of an information transmission apparatus 100 not by the movement detection flag of the information transmission apparatus 100 but by a movement counter. When the movement count is held, the movement can always be detected without pressing the reset button of the information transmission apparatus 100. As a result, it is possible to improve the maintainability of the information transmission apparatus 100. The difference from the second and fourth embodiments will mainly be described.
A method of detecting movement of the information transmission apparatus 100 using the movement counter will be described with reference to
[Processing Procedure]
Steps S2001 to S2007 in the flowchart of
In step S2005, if a predetermined time has elapsed from preceding signal transmission, the information transmission apparatus 100 transmits a packet signal. For example, if a time of 1 sec or more has elapsed from preceding signal transmission in a case where the ID of the information transmission apparatus 100 is “01”, and movement is detected five times, a packet “ID: 01, movement counter: 5” including a movement counter as additional information is transmitted as an RF signal. The predetermined time “1 sec” is merely an example here, and the time can be set to an arbitrary value by a program. In step S2006, the information transmission apparatus 100 increments the original movement counter value by one upon detecting movement. The movement counter value reaches a predetermined counter value and then returns to “0”. The predetermined counter value is assumed to be, for example, “31”.
(Processing of Management Server)
Steps S2101 to S2111 in the flowchart of
In step S2102, the management server 300 determines whether the movement counter value in the packet information of the information transmission apparatus 100 has changed. For example, if the movement counter value in the received packet information is “6” in a case where the movement counter corresponding to an ID “01” in the beacon location database 354 is “5”, it is determined that the movement counter value has changed. If the movement counter value has changed (YES in step S2102), the process advances to step S2105. If the movement counter value has not changed (NO in step S2102), the process advances to step S2103.
In step S2106, the management server 300 updates the number of observed location information, observed location information (that is, the location information of the mobile terminal 200), and the movement counter. For example, the database shown in
In step S2109, the management server 300 determines whether the number of observed location information is 100 or more. For example, in
In step S2111, the management server 300 updates the location information of the ID to the value of the estimated location information. More specifically, the location information “Unknown” shown in
In the sixth embodiment, an example has been described in which the management server 300 detects the movement of the information transmission apparatus 100 not by the movement detection flag of the information transmission apparatus 100 but by the movement counter. This makes it possible to always detect movement on the side of the management server 300 without pressing the reset button of the information transmission apparatus 100.
In the first embodiment, an example has been described in which the information transmission apparatus stops transmitting packet information upon detecting movement. In the second to sixth embodiments, an example has been described in which the movement of the information transmission apparatus is detected based on an accelerator sensor value by the information transmission apparatus 100, the mobile terminal 200, and the management server 300, and the value in the database is appropriately maintained. However, the movement may be detected based on not the value of the accelerator sensor but the value of another sensor. Not the sensor but, for example, a button that projects to the contact surface and detects movement may be used. In the above embodiments, the database is unitarily managed on the management server 300 such that a plurality of mobile terminals 200 can refer to the same database. However, the database may be held on a specific mobile terminal 200, and other terminals may refer to the database. Alternatively, the database on the management server 300 and the database on the mobile terminal 200 may always synchronize.
Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)′M), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-104515, filed May 20, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-104515 | May 2014 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2015/064394 | 5/13/2015 | WO | 00 |
