Claims
- 1. An apparatus which acquires position information about a user of plural types of information terminals different in position information communication system, comprising:
a terminal determination unit determining a type of the information terminal depending on data transmitted from an information terminal of the user; and a position information extraction unit extracting position information about a user from the data transmitted from the information terminal in response to the determination result.
- 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising
an accounting unit performing an accounting process depending on an entry of a user in a system including the information terminal user position information acquisition apparatus.
- 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
said terminal determination unit can determine a type of the information terminal depending on the data transmitted from an information terminal in a system of announcing position information when a service is requested to an external device.
- 4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising
a communications system and/or data conversion unit converting data transmitted from an information terminal in a system of regularly or irregularly announcing position information when a service is not requested to an external device into the same communications system and/or data format as the data from the information terminal in the system of announcing position information when the service is requested to the external device in plural types of information terminals, wherein said terminal determination unit determines a type of an information terminal in a system of regularly or irregularly announcing position information when a service is not requested to an external device.
- 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising:
a user authentication unit authenticating a user of a terminal which has announced position information using data from an information terminal of a system of announcing position information when a request is issued to an external device, or data converted by the communications system and/or data conversion unit; and a position information storage unit storing position information extracted by a position information extraction unit together with information about the terminal determined by said terminal determination unit.
- 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising
an application linking apparatus for link with an application of a service provider for providing a service for a user, wherein said application linking apparatus can further comprise a position information retrieval unit for retrieving position information about specified user by said position information storage unit, and notifying the application side of the information.
- 7. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
each time position information is announced from an information terminal of a user, said terminal determination unit can determine the type of information terminal, said position information extraction unit can extract position information, and said position information storage unit can store latest position information and terminal information.
- 8. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising:
a user authentication unit authenticating a user of a terminal which has announced position information; and a position information storage unit storing position information extracted by said position information extraction unit together with information about the terminal determined by said terminal determination unit corresponding to an authenticated user, wherein when position information is simultaneously announced from a plurality of information terminals of the user, a policy of prioritizing position information from which information terminal is set as a system operation environment; and said position information storage unit can store position information from an information terminal prioritized by the policy.
- 9. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising
an application linking apparatus for link with an application of a service provider for providing a service for a user.
- 10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein
said application linking apparatus comprises an event notification unit for receiving designation of a condition including an area from a service provider in advance, and notifying the application side of the data relating to the user when the user satisfies the designated condition.
- 11. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein
said application linking apparatus comprises a position information reformat unit for receiving a request from a service provider, and reformatting position information about a user extracted by the position information extraction unit.
- 12. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein
said application linking apparatus comprises an accounting unit for performing an accounting process for a service provider a service provider on the communications established between a service provider and a user by a link with an application.
- 13. A method for obtaining position information about a user of plural types of information terminals different in position information notification system, comprising:
determining a type of an information terminal by the data transmitted from an information terminal of a user; and extracting the position information about the user from the data transmitted from the information terminal depending on a determination result.
- 14. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program used to direct a computer forming an apparatus for obtaining position information about a user of plural types of information terminals different in position information notification system, comprising the steps of:
determining a type of an information terminal by the data transmitted from an information terminal of a user; and extracting the position information about the user from the data transmitted from the information terminal depending on a determination result.
- 15. A program used to direct a computer forming an apparatus for obtaining position information about a user of plural types of information terminals different in position information notification system, comprising the procedures of:
determining a type of an information terminal by the data transmitted from an information terminal of a user; and extracting the position information about the user from the data transmitted from the information terminal depending on a determination result.
- 16. A system of obtaining, managing, and using a status and a position of a user in an information terminal, comprising:
a service synchronous position information acquisition unit for acquiring position information about an information terminal according to a first communications protocol which announces position information when a user requests a service; and a service asynchronous position information acquisition unit for converting various communications protocol depending on the information terminal into the first communications protocol when the user requests a service, and transmitting the position information to the service synchronous position information acquisition unit according to the converted first communications protocol, characterized in that said service synchronous position information acquisition unit comprises: a position information management unit for managing the status and position information acquired according to the first communications protocol for each user; and an application link unit capable of retrieving service information according to the status and position information about a user from a user database and notifying a service provider of the information.
- 17. The system according to claim 16, wherein
said service synchronous position information acquisition unit absorbs the difference in the technology of the information terminal and the carrier, and acquires the position information about a user.
- 18. An apparatus which acquires position information about a user of plural types of information terminals different in position information communication system, comprising:
a terminal determination means for determining a type of the information terminal depending on data transmitted from an information terminal of the user; and a position information extraction means for extracting position information about a user from the data transmitted from the information terminal in response to the determination result.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of international PCT application No. PCT/JP01/05978 filed on Jul. 10, 2001.
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
PCT/JP01/05978 |
Jul 2001 |
US |
Child |
10751485 |
Jan 2004 |
US |