HK1144351B - Radio communication apparatus, information processing system, program, and radio communication method - Google Patents

Description

Radio communication device, information processing system, program, and radio communication method

Technical Field

The invention relates to a radio communication device, an information processing system, a program, and a radio communication method.

Background

In recent years, radio communication apparatuses capable of communicating with a base station (access point) of a GPS (global positioning system) or a wireless LAN (local area network) have been widely used. Such radio communication devices can estimate the location of the local device by using GPS positioning or wireless LAN. Position estimation techniques using such radio communication devices are an important popular base technology in many fields such as navigation, security and entertainment. However, according to the position estimation technology based on GPS positioning, it takes a long time to complement synchronization during startup, and it is difficult to use such radio communication devices indoors or underground where radio signals from satellites cannot be received.

On the other hand, the position estimation technique using the wireless LAN is a technique of: the position of the radio communication apparatus is estimated based on the signal strength of a radio signal received by the radio communication apparatus from the base station and the position information of the base station registered in advance. Since the base station of the wireless LAN is also built indoors or underground, indoor or underground position estimation can be performed according to a position estimation technique using the wireless LAN, which is difficult to be implemented according to a position estimation technique based on GPS positioning. That is, in the case where base station information indicating the positions of base stations of a wireless LAN disposed around a radio communication apparatus is registered in the position estimation apparatus, it can be considered that the above-described position estimation method is an excellent position estimation technique in terms of ease and convenience.

Therefore, a technique of constructing a database of base station information of a wireless LAN is now proposed. For example, in patent document 1, a method of associating base station identification information received by a radio communication apparatus having a current position acquisition function with a current position of the radio communication apparatus acquired by the current position acquisition function and registering both is described. In patent document 2, a method of associating base station identification information contained in a radio signal received from a base station of a wireless LAN with position information acquired by using a GPS receiving function to register in a vehicle equipped with the GPS receiving function and the wireless LAN communication function is described.

Documents of the prior art

[ patent document 1] Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2007-43574

[ patent document 2] U.S. patent application publication No. 2006-0095349

Disclosure of Invention

However, the base station information collected by the conventional method depends on the moving path of a moving body such as a mobile radio communication device. Therefore, if the mobile body moves only in the vicinity of the base station for which the base station information is known, there is a problem that no new base station information is obtained so that information collection is not efficient.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved radio communication device, information processing system, program, and radio communication method capable of efficiently collecting base station information.

In order to solve the above-described problems, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a radio communication apparatus capable of communicating with a base station performing radio communication and moving with movement of a mobile body, the radio communication apparatus including: a storage unit in which position information of an unknown base station, in which base station identification information attached to the base station is unknown, is recorded; a notification unit configured to notify the mobile body or an operating subject of the mobile body of the position information of the unknown base station recorded in the storage unit; a communication unit for receiving a radio signal containing base station identification information from a base station including an unknown base station; and a recording unit for recording the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit in the storage unit.

With the above configuration, the notification unit notifies the mobile body or the operating subject of the mobile body of the position information of the unknown base station recorded in the storage unit. Therefore, based on the notification of the position information of the unknown base station by the notification unit, the radio communication apparatus can be moved to the vicinity of the position of the unknown base station along with the movement of the moving body. Then, the communication unit may receive a radio signal containing base station identification information of the unknown base station from the unknown base station in the vicinity of the position of the unknown base station. Here, the recording unit records the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit in the storage unit. As a result, the base station identification information of the unknown base station is recorded in the storage unit by the recording unit so that the position information of the unknown base station is associated with the base station identification information, which can be used for, for example, subsequent position estimation.

The radio communication apparatus further includes: a location information acquisition unit for acquiring location information of the radio communication apparatus. The communication unit may receive the radio signal at a predetermined cycle, and the recording unit may associate an acquisition time of the position information with the position information and record the acquisition time of the position information and the position information in the storage unit, and associate a reception time of the radio signal received by the communication unit with the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit and record the base station identification information and the reception time in the storage unit.

With the above configuration, the base station identification information recorded in the storage unit by being associated with the reception time near the acquisition time of a certain piece of location information is the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit in the vicinity of the location information. That is, base station identification information of a base station currently in the vicinity of a position indicated by a certain piece of position information can be extracted from the position information. Therefore, the base station identification information of the unknown base station can be extracted from the base station identification information recorded in the storage unit based on the position information that matches or approximates the position information of the unknown base station.

The radio communication apparatus further includes: a measuring unit for measuring a reception intensity of each base station that is a source of the radio signal received by the communication unit. The recording unit may further associate the reception intensity measured by the measuring unit with the base station identification information and the reception time of the radio signal, and record the base station identification information, the reception time, and the reception intensity in the storage unit.

With the above configuration, if a plurality of pieces of base station identification information are extracted based on a certain piece of position information that matches or approximates the position information of the unknown base station, the base station identification information of the unknown base station can be identified based on the reception strength associated with each piece of base station identification information. For example, if the position information of the unknown base station and a certain piece of position information are extremely similar, it can be determined that the base station identification information associated with the maximum signal strength among the plurality of pieces of base station identification information is the base station identification information of the unknown base station.

The radio signal may further include base station additional information attached to the base station that is a source of the radio signal, and the recording unit may associate the base station additional information with the base station identification information and record the base station identification information and the base station additional information in the storage unit. For example, if the base station additional information of an unknown base station is known and a plurality of pieces of base station identification information are recorded in the storage unit, it may be determined that the base station identification information associated with the base station additional information of the unknown base station is the base station identification information of the unknown base station.

The radio communication apparatus further includes an operation unit in which a predetermined operation is performed by the mobile body or an operation subject of the mobile body. The recording unit may record the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit in the storage unit when a predetermined operation is performed in the operation unit. For example, if a predetermined operation is performed in the vicinity of an unknown base station, a radio signal transmitted from the unknown base station is received by the communication unit, and therefore, base station identification information of the unknown base station is recorded in the storage unit. As a result, it is possible to associate the base station identification information of the unknown base station with the position information of the unknown base station after the fact.

The communication unit may transmit the base station identification information recorded in the storage unit by the recording unit. With the above configuration, the information processing apparatus that receives the base station identification information recorded in the storage unit from the communication unit can associate the base station identification information of the unknown base station with the position information of the base station identification information.

The radio communication apparatus further includes an imaging unit for taking an image of its surroundings. The notification unit may notify the operation subject of the moving body of the image captured by the imaging unit. With the above configuration, the operating body of the moving body can operate the movement of the moving body based on the image captured by the imaging unit. Since the radio communication apparatus moves with the movement of the moving body, the radio communication apparatus can record, for example, base station identification information of an unknown base station currently located at a position distant from the operating subject of the moving body in the storage unit.

In addition, in order to solve the above-described problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system including: a radio communication device capable of communicating with a base station of radio communication and capable of moving with movement of a mobile body; and an information processing device for processing the information acquired by the radio communication device. The radio communication apparatus includes: a storage unit in which position information of an unknown base station, in which base station identification information attached to the base station is unknown, is recorded; a notification unit configured to notify the mobile body or an operating subject of the mobile body of the position information of the unknown base station recorded in the storage unit; a communication unit for receiving a radio signal containing base station identification information transmitted from a base station including an unknown base station; and a recording unit that records the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit in the storage unit. The information processing apparatus includes a processing unit for associating base station identification information contained in a radio signal received by a communication unit near the position of an unknown base station in the base station identification information recorded in the storage unit with position information of the unknown base station.

With the above configuration, the notification unit notifies the mobile body or the operating subject of the mobile body of the position information of the unknown base station recorded in the storage unit. Therefore, the radio communication device can move to the vicinity of the position of the unknown base station with the movement of the mobile body based on the notification of the position information of the unknown base station. Then, the communication unit may receive a radio signal containing base station identification information of the unknown base station from the unknown base station in the vicinity of the position of the unknown base station. Here, the recording unit records the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit in the storage unit. As a result, the base station identification information of the unknown base station can be recorded in the storage unit by the recording unit. Thus, the processing unit of the information processing apparatus can efficiently associate the base station identification information with the position information of the unknown base station, which can then be used for subsequent position estimation performed, for example, by the wireless communication apparatus.

The radio communication apparatus may further include a location information acquisition unit that acquires location information of the radio communication apparatus; the communication unit may receive a radio signal at a predetermined cycle; the recording unit may associate the acquisition time of the position information with the position information and record the acquisition time and the position information in the storage unit, and associate the reception time of the radio signal received by the communication unit with the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit and record the base station identification information and the reception time in the storage unit. In addition, the information processing apparatus may further include an extraction unit for extracting an acquisition time of the position information recorded in the storage unit in association with position information whose difference from the position information of the unknown base station is within a first set range, and the processing unit may associate the base station identification information recorded in association with a reception time whose difference from the acquisition time extracted by the extraction unit is within a second set range with the position information of the unknown base station.

With the above configuration, the base station identification information recorded in the storage unit by being associated with the reception time of the acquisition information approximate to a certain piece of position information is the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit near the position of the position information. That is, base station identification information of a base station currently in the vicinity of the position indicated by a certain piece of position information can be extracted from the position information. Therefore, the base station identification information of the unknown base station can be extracted from the base station identification information recorded in the storage unit based on the position information whose difference from the position information of the unknown base station is within the first setting range.

The radio communication device may further include a measurement unit for measuring a reception intensity of each base station that is a source of the radio signal received by the communication unit; the recording unit may further associate the reception intensity measured by the measuring unit with the base station identification information and the reception time of the radio signal, and record the base station identification information, the reception time, and the reception intensity in the storage unit. In addition, the processing unit may associate base station identification information selected based on the reception intensity associated with the base station identification information and location information of an unknown base station among the base station identification information associated with the reception times whose difference between the acquisition times extracted by the extracting unit is within a second setting range.

With the above configuration, if a plurality of base station identification information are extracted based on the position information whose difference from the position information of the unknown base station is within the first setting range, the base station identification information of the unknown base station can be identified based on the reception strength associated with each piece of base station identification information. For example, the base station identification information associated with the largest signal strength among the plurality of base station identification information may be determined as the base station identification information of the unknown base station.

In addition, in order to solve the above-described problem, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for causing a computer to function as a radio communication apparatus capable of communicating with a base station of radio communication and capable of moving with movement of a moving body, the program including: a notification unit configured to notify the mobile body or an operation subject of the mobile body of position information of the unknown base station recorded in the storage medium; a communication unit for receiving a radio signal containing base station identification information transmitted from a base station including an unknown base station; and a recording unit for recording the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit in a storage medium.

The above-described program may cause hardware resources of a computer including, for example, a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM to perform the functions of the above-described notification unit, communication unit, and recording unit. That is, a computer using the program can be made to function as the above-described radio communication apparatus.

In addition, in order to solve the above-described problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a radio communication method performed by a radio communication apparatus capable of communicating with a base station of radio communication and capable of moving with movement of a mobile body, the radio communication method including the steps of: recording location information of an unknown base station, in which base station identification information attached to the base station is unknown, in a storage medium; notifying the moving body or an operating subject of the moving body of the position information of the unknown base station recorded in the storage medium; receiving a radio signal containing base station identification information transmitted from a base station including an unknown base station; and recording the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received from the base station in a storage medium.

As described above, according to the radio communication device, the information processing system, the program, and the radio communication method according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently collect base station information.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of a position estimation system according to the present embodiment;

fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a radio communication apparatus;

fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a radio communication apparatus and a position estimation server incorporated in the position estimation system according to the present embodiment;

fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the reception intensity measured by the measurement unit;

fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of base station information stored by the base station information storage unit;

fig. 6 is a functional block diagram showing the configuration of a radio communication apparatus and an information processing server included in the base station information collection system according to the present embodiment;

fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of unknown base station information;

fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen displayed by the display unit;

fig. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of intensity measurement information;

fig. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of a method of collecting intensity measurement information and log information by a radio communication device;

fig. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of operation of the information processing server; and

fig. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a modification of the present embodiment.

Detailed Description

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that in the present specification and the drawings, structural elements having substantially the same function and structure are denoted by the same reference numerals, and repeated explanation of these structural elements is omitted.

Hereinafter, the "detailed description" will be described according to the order shown below.

[1] Position estimation system

[1-1] overview of position estimation System

[1-2] hardware configuration of radio communication device

[1-3] function of position estimation system

[2] Base station information collection system

[2-1] overview of base station information collecting System

[2-2] function of base station information collecting system

[2-3] operation of base station information collecting system

[3] Summary of the invention

[1] Position estimation system

[1-1] overview of position estimation System

First, an overview of the position estimation system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to fig. 1.

Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of a position estimation system 1 according to the embodiment. The position estimation system 1 includes a radio communication device 20, base stations 30A, 30B, 30C, and 30D, and a position estimation server 40.

The base stations 30A, 30B, 30C, and 30D relay communications between the spatially dispersed communication devices. For example, the base stations 30A, 30B, 30C, and 30D may relay radio communication between a certain radio communication apparatus 20 and another radio communication apparatus (not shown) within the coverage of respective radio waves, or relay communication between the radio communication apparatus 20 and communication apparatuses each wired to the base stations 30A, 30B, 30C, and 30D.

More specifically, the base stations 30A, 30B, 30C, and 30D may be base stations of a wireless LAN (local area network) conforming to a WiFi (wireless fidelity) standard, base stations of GSM (global system for mobile communications), or base stations of bluetooth. Base stations 30A, 30B, 30C and 30D will be generally referred to herein as base stations 30 for simplicity if no distinction of base stations is required.

In addition to the signal transmitted for relaying radio communication, the base station 30 may periodically transmit a beacon signal to inform the surroundings of the presence of the base station 30. For example, the beacon signal contains a base station ID such as a MAC address as base station identification information attached to the base station 30. As a result, the radio communication device 20 can verify the presence of the base stations 30 in its surroundings based on the base station IDs contained in the received beacon signal.

The radio communication device 20 can transmit and receive various data based on radio communication controlled by the base station 30. For example, the radio communication device 20 may receive content data from a content forwarding server (not shown), or send/receive an email to/from another radio communication device (not shown) via the base station 30. The content data includes music data of music, lectures, radio programs, and the like, video data of movies, TV programs, video programs, photographs, pictures, charts, and the like, and other data such as games and software.

Although a portable game machine is shown in fig. 1 as an example of the radio communication device 20, the radio communication device 20 may be an information processing device such as a PC (personal computer), a home video processing device (such as a DVD recorder and a VCR), a mobile phone, a PHS (personal handyphone system), a mobile music reproducing device, a mobile video processing device, a PDA (personal digital assistant), a home game machine, and a home electric appliance.

When receiving a signal (e.g., a beacon signal) from each base station 30, the radio communication device 20 may measure the signal strength of the signal, associate the measured signal strength with the base station ID of each base station 30, and transmit the signal strength as strength measurement information to the position estimation server 40.

The position estimation server 40 has base station information in which information on the position established by each base station 30 is associated with a base station ID stored in advance, and has a method of estimating the position of the radio communication apparatus 20 according to a principle such as triangulation based on the base station information and signal strength information received from the radio communication apparatus 20. The position estimation server 40 notifies the radio communication device 20 of the estimated position so that the radio communication device 20 can recognize the position of the local terminal. The position estimation server 40 can respond not only to position estimation requests from the radio communication device 20 but also to position estimation requests from a plurality of other radio communication devices.

Therefore, the position estimation method using the signal transmitted from the base station 30 is more effective than the position estimation method using the GPS, since the method can be performed indoors or underground in the case where the radio communication apparatus 20 exists within the radio wave coverage of the base station 30.

[1-2] hardware configuration of radio communication device

An overview of the position estimation system 1 has been described above with reference to fig. 1. Subsequently, the hardware configuration of the radio communication device 20 constituting the position estimation system 1 will be described with reference to fig. 2.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the radio communication apparatus 20. The radio communication apparatus 20 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 201, a ROM (read only memory) 202, a RAM (random access memory) 203, a host bus 204, a bridge 205, an external bus 206, an interface 207, an input device 208, an output device 210, a storage device (HDD)211, a drive 212, and a communication device 215.

The CPU 201 functions as an arithmetic processing means and a control means, and controls the overall operation in the radio communication apparatus 20 according to various programs. The CPU 201 may be a microprocessor. The ROM 202 stores programs, arithmetic parameters, and the like used by the CPU 201. The RAM 203 temporarily stores programs used by the CPU 201 to execute and parameters that are appropriately changed during its operation. These components are connected to each other by a host bus 204 constituted by a CPU bus or the like.

The host bus 204 is connected to an external bus 206 such as a PCI (peripheral component interconnect/interface) bus via a bridge 205. In addition, the host bus 204, the bridge 205, and the external bus 206 are not necessarily separately configured, and these functions may be realized by one bus.

The input device 208 is constituted by an input device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, buttons, a microphone, switches, and a lever (lever) for inputting information by a user, and an input control circuit for generating an input signal based on a signal input by the user and outputting the input signal to the CPU 201. The user of the radio communication apparatus 20 can input various data into the radio communication apparatus 20 or provide instructions for processing operations by operating the input device 208.

The output device 210 is constituted by a display device such as a CRT (cathode ray tube) display device, a liquid crystal display (LDC) device, an OLED (organic light emitting display) device, and a lamp, and a sound output device such as a speaker and a headphone. The output device 210 outputs, for example, reproduced content. More specifically, the display device displays various information such as reproduced video data as text or pictures. On the other hand, the sound output device converts reproduced sound data or the like into sound and outputs the sound.

The storage 211 is a device for data storage constituted as an example of the storage unit of the radio communication apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment. The storage device 211 may include a storage medium, a recording device for recording data in the storage medium, a reading device for reading data from the storage medium, or a deleting device for deleting data recorded in the storage medium. The storage device 211 is constituted by, for example, an HDD (hard disk drive). The storage device 211 drives a hard disk to store programs or various data executed by the CPU 201. The storage device 211 also stores map information, intensity measurement information, log information, and the like, which will be described later.

The drive 212 is a reader/writer for a storage medium, and is internally or externally added to the radio communication device 20. The drive 212 reads information recorded in the removable storage medium 24 such as an inserted magnetic disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, and semiconductor memory, and outputs the information to the RAM 203.

The communication device 215 is a communication interface configured by, for example, a communication device or the like for connecting to the communication network 12. The communication device 215 may be a wireless LAN (local area network) compatible communication device, a wireless USB compatible communication device, or a wired communication device that performs wired communication. The communication device 215 transmits various data to the position estimation server 40 or the base station 30 via the communication network 12, or receives various data from the position estimation server 40 or the base station 30. The communication device 215 can also communicate with the information processing server 50 described later.

The hardware configuration of the position estimation server 40 or the information processing server 50 described later can be made substantially the same as that of the radio communication apparatus 20, and therefore, a detailed description thereof is omitted.

[1-3] function of position estimation system

Next, the function of the position estimation system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to fig. 3 to 5.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the radio communication device 20 and the position estimation server 40 included in the position estimation system 1 according to the present embodiment. As shown in fig. 3, the radio communication device 20 includes a communication unit 216, a measurement unit 220, a position information acquisition unit 224, an information recording unit 230, and a display unit 228. The position estimation server 40 includes a communication unit 416, a position estimation unit 420, and a base station information storage unit 424.

The communication unit 216 is an interface for transmitting information to the base station 30 or the position estimation server 40, or receiving information from the base station 30 or the position estimation server 40. For example, the communication unit 216 has a function as a transmitting unit for transmitting the strength measurement information to the position estimation server 40 or a function as a receiving unit for receiving a radio signal from the base station 30. The communication unit 216 may be a wireless LAN compatible communication device, a wireless USB compatible communication device, or a wired communication device that performs wired communication. Further, the communication unit 216 may transmit information not only to one radio terminal but also to any number of two or more radio terminals, or receive information not only from one radio terminal but also from any number of two or more radio terminals.

The measurement unit 220 measures the reception strength of the signal received by the communication unit 216 and transmitted from each base station 30. When the positional relationship between the radio communication device 20 and each base station 30 is as shown in fig. 1, fig. 4 shows an example of the reception intensity measured by the measurement unit 220.

Fig. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the reception intensity measured by the measurement unit 220. In fig. 4, it is assumed that the reference numeral attached to each base station 30 is a base station ID of each base station 30 for convenience of description. More specifically, fig. 4 shows a case where: the reception intensity of a signal transmitted from the base station 30A having the base station ID "30A" is "-90 dBm", the reception intensity of a signal transmitted from the base station 30B having the base station ID "30B" is "-70 dBm", the reception intensity of a signal transmitted from the base station 30C having the base station ID "30C" is "-80 dBm", and the reception intensity of a signal transmitted from the base station 30D having the base station ID "30D" is "-75 dBm".

The location information acquisition unit 224 transmits the reception intensity measured by the measurement unit 220 as intensity measurement information to the location estimation server 40 in response to a request of, for example, the user of the radio communication apparatus 20. Then, the position information acquisition unit 224 acquires, from the position information server 40, the position information based on the radio communication device 20 estimated by the position information server 40 based on the strength measurement information. Details of the position estimation method performed by the position estimation server 40 will be described later.

The display unit 228 displays the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 224 by superimposing the position information on a map. The user of the radio communication device 20 can grasp the current position based on the display of the display unit 228.

The information recording unit 230 records the intensity measurement information acquired by the measurement unit 220 and the current position input by, for example, the user of the radio communication apparatus 20 as log information by associating with the current time. The detailed function of the information recording unit 230 will be described in the function of the [2-2] base station information collection system.

The communication unit 416 of the position estimation server 40 is an interface with the radio communication device 20, and receives the strength measurement information from the radio communication device 20 and transmits the position information estimated by the position estimation unit 420 to the radio communication device 20.

The position estimation unit 420 estimates the current position of the radio communication device 20 based on the intensity measurement information received from the radio communication device 20 via the communication unit 416 and the base station information recorded in the base station information storage unit 424.

The base station information storage unit 424 associates a base station ID of a base station that performs radio communication with the radio communication apparatus 20 and position information indicating an installation position of the base station, and stores the base station ID and the position information as base station information. An example of the base station information stored in the base station information storage unit 424 will be described with reference to fig. 5.

Fig. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the base station information stored by the base station information storage unit 424. As shown in fig. 5, the base station information storage unit 424 associates base station IDs with latitudes and longitudes and stores them as position information for establishing base stations. Fig. 5 shows an example of this: by assuming that the base station 30A is established at longitude "135.001" (east longitude), latitude "35.49" (north latitude), the base station 30A whose base station ID is "30A" is registered in the base station information storage unit 424.

Similarly, by assuming that the base station 30B is established at the longitude "135.002" (east longitude), the latitude "35.51" (north latitude), the base station 30C is established at the longitude "135.003" (east longitude), the latitude "35.50" (north latitude), and the base station 30D is established at the longitude "135.002" (east longitude), the latitude "35.47" (north latitude), the base station 30B with the base station ID "30B", the base station 30C with the base station ID "30C", and the base station 30D with the base station ID "30D" are registered in the base station information storage unit 424. Herein, the same reference numerals as those of the corresponding base stations are used as the base station IDs.

The format of the location information stored in the base station information storage unit 424 is not limited to a format using latitude and longitude, and may be, for example, a format using x and y coordinates or a format using polar coordinates.

The base station information storage unit 424 may be a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory) and an EPROM (erasable programmable read only memory), a magnetic disk such as a hard disk and a floppy (registered trademark) disk, an optical disk such as a CD-R (compact disk recordable)/CD-RW (compact disk rewritable), a DVD-R (digital versatile disk recordable)/RW/+ R/+ RW/RAM (random access memory), and a BD (blu-ray disk (registered trademark)) -R/BD-RE, and an MO (magneto optical) disk.

Returning to the description of fig. 3, the position estimation unit 420 estimates the position where the radio communication device 20 is located based on the strength measurement information received from the radio communication device 20 via the communication unit 416 in response to the position estimation request from the radio communication device 20 and the base station information registered in the base station information storage unit 424.

For example, the position estimation unit 420 estimates the position O of the radio communication apparatus 20 using the strength measurement information shown in fig. 4 and the base station information registered in the base station information storage unit 424 and based on equation 1 shown below:

[ mathematical formula 1]

(formula 1)

[ mathematical formula 2]

(formula 2)

[ mathematical formula 3]

(formula 3)

In formula 1, Ai represents the position information of the ith base station registered in the base station information storage unit 424. Therefore, if the base station information is represented by longitude and latitude as in fig. 5, equation 1 is applied to each of the longitude and latitude. As shown in equation 2, Wi is a weight factor obtained based on distS (O, Ai) representing the distance between the radio communication device 20 and the i-th base station estimated from the reception intensity. W is the sum of the weighting factors, as shown in equation 3.

Referring to equation 1, the position information of the base station whose distS (O, Ai) is small is largely reflected in the position O of the radio communication apparatus 20. On the other hand, the position information of the base station whose distS (O, Ai) is large has little influence on the position O of the radio communication device 20. By using the above formula 1, the position estimation unit 420 can reasonably estimate the position O of the radio communication device 20. Then, by notifying the radio communication device 20 of the position O estimated by the position estimation unit 420, the user using the radio communication device 20 can check the position of the user.

The position estimation method of the radio communication device 20 is not limited to the method using the above equation 1, and for example, the position of the base station 30 that is the source of the signal having the highest reception strength in the radio communication device 20 may be estimated as the position of the radio communication device 20. Alternatively, the position of the center of the base station that is the source of the signal whose reception strength in the radio communication device 20 is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold value may be estimated as the position of the radio communication device 20. Alternatively, the position of the center of the base station, which is the source of the signal whose reception intensity in the radio communication device 20 is within a predetermined ratio such as the top 10% or 20%, may be estimated as the position of the radio communication device 20. Alternatively, the position of the center of the base station that is the source of the signal whose reception intensity in the radio communication device 20 is within a predetermined level such as the top five or the top ten may be estimated as the position of the radio communication device 20.

For example, the above-described position estimation system 1 can estimate the position of the radio communication device 20 based on the signal strength of a signal received by the radio communication device 20 compatible with the wireless LAN from the base station 30 of the wireless LAN. The base station of the wireless LAN may be disposed anywhere such as indoors or underground. Therefore, if the radio communication device 20 is compatible with the wireless LAN, the position estimation system 1 can estimate the position of the radio communication device 20 regardless of the place where the radio communication device 20 is located.

[2] Base station information collection system

[2-1] overview of base station information collecting System

As described with reference to fig. 3 to 5, the position estimation system 1 according to the present embodiment must register base station information on the position estimation server 40 in advance to estimate the position of the radio communication device 20. The base station information collecting system 2 according to the present embodiment is constructed by focusing on collecting such base station information efficiently. Hereinafter, an overview of the base station information collecting system 2 will be described.

As a method of collecting base station information, a method may be considered in which: the person moves randomly while carrying a mobile device capable of receiving the radio signal transmitted from the base station 30, and the mobile device sequentially receives the radio signal to store the strength measurement information of the radio signal. If the strength measurement information stored by the mobile device contains any base station ID of a known base station whose base station ID is known, the location information of an unknown base station whose base station ID is unknown can be quickly or easily estimated based on the location information of the known base station having the base station ID. Even if no base station ID of a known base station is contained in one piece of strength measurement information stored in the mobile device, it is possible to estimate the position information of an unknown base station having an unknown base station ID contained in the piece of strength measurement information based on a plurality of pieces of strength measurement information.

However, the base station ID collected by the above method depends on, for example, the moving path of the user of the mobile radio communication device 20. Therefore, if the user of the radio communication device 20 moves only in the vicinity of a known base station whose base station ID is known, there is a problem that no new base station information is obtained so that information collection is not efficient.

Further, the radio service operator establishes a base station in a station or restaurant to provide a service of granting the use right of the base station to the radio communication device 20 registered with the radio service operator. Such base stations established by the radio service operator are typically unknown base stations whose base station ID is not disclosed despite the fact that their location information is disclosed.

Therefore, the above-described situation results in the creation of the base station information collection system 2 capable of preferentially collecting the base station ID of an unknown base station by notifying the user of the radio communication device 20 of the position information of the unknown base station. Hereinafter, the base station information collecting system 2 as an example of the information processing system will be described in detail.

[2-2] function of base station information collecting system

Fig. 6 is a functional block diagram of the configuration of the radio communication device 20 and the information processing server 50 included in the base station information collection system 2 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in fig. 6, the information recording unit 230 of the radio communication apparatus 20 includes a recording unit 232, a storage unit 234, and an operation unit 236. The information processing server 50 includes a communication unit 516, an extraction unit 520, an operation unit 524, a processing unit 528, and a storage unit 532, and functions as an information processing apparatus.

The recording unit 232 records the intensity measurement information obtained by the measurement unit 220 in the storage unit 234. In the present embodiment, the measurement unit 220 measures the reception intensity of the radio signal received by the communication unit 216 at a predetermined cycle to obtain intensity measurement information; and the recording unit 232 records the intensity measurement information obtained by the measuring unit 220 at predetermined periods in the storage unit 234.

The storage unit 234 stores map information, unknown base station information, intensity measurement information, and log information. The map information is information for causing the display unit 228 to display a map. The map information may contain detailed information of a specific area (such as underground and indoors) outside the radio wave coverage of a base station whose radio wave coverage is another area. For example, the detailed information includes a guide map of a building or an underground shopping mall. An icon indicating that the detailed information exists may be superimposed on the map displayed in the display unit 228 so that the applicable detailed information is displayed when the icon is selected.

The unknown base station information is information that associates location information of an unknown base station whose base station ID is unknown and ESSID, which is an example of base station additional information attached to each base station. A specific example of such unknown base station information will be described with reference to fig. 7.

Fig. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of unknown base station information. As shown in fig. 7, the unknown base station information has an ESSID associated with it and location information including longitude and latitude. In the example shown in fig. 7, an unknown base station with an EESID of "newdoor" is located at longitude "135.005", latitude "35.41", and longitude "134.938", latitude "36.25". Further, in the example shown in fig. 7, an unknown base station whose ESSID is "livestation" is located at longitude "135.003" latitude "35.53".

The display unit 228 displays the position information of such an unknown base station by superimposing the position information on a map expanded based on the map information. An example of a display screen displayed by the display unit 228 in this manner will be described with reference to fig. 8.

Fig. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the display screen displayed by the display unit 228. As shown in fig. 8, the positions of unknown base stations (unknown a, unknown B) are superimposed on the map displayed in the display unit 228. The user of the radio communication device 20 can grasp the position of an unknown base station by looking at the display unit 228, so that the user can move to the vicinity of such an unknown base station.

That is, the display unit 228 has a function of notifying the user of the radio communication apparatus 20 of the position information of the unknown base station as a notification unit. The display unit 228 is shown only as an example of a notification unit, and the notification unit may notify the position information of the unknown base station by sound or by speeding up the flashing as the distance between the unknown base station and the radio communication device 20 becomes shorter.

In the example shown in fig. 8, the installation places of the base stations 30A, 30B, 30C, 30D, 30E, 30F, and 30G whose base station IDs are known are also displayed in the display unit 228, but this is not necessarily displayed.

Here, a case will be considered: the display screen shown in fig. 8 is displayed in the display unit 228, and the user of the radio communication device 20 moves from the "ときわこ station" to an unknown base station (unknown a) along a movement path indicated by a broken line in fig. 8.

In this case, the measurement unit 220 obtains intensity measurement information by the reception intensity of the radio signal received from the surrounding base station 30 measured by the communication unit at a predetermined cycle, and the recording unit 232 records the intensity measurement information in the storage unit 234. Fig. 8 shows a case where the intensity measurement information is obtained at the positions to which the data numbers "221", "222", "223", and "224" are attached. Such intensity measurement information will be described with reference to fig. 9.

Fig. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of the intensity measurement information. As shown in fig. 9, each of the strength measurement information includes a data number, an acquisition time, a base station ID, a reception strength, and an ESSID. For example, FIG. 9 shows that the strength measurement information of data number "221" is acquired at "2007/08/10/13: 10: 14", a signal having a reception strength of "-80 dBm" is received from the base station 30A, and the ESSID of the base station 30A is "newdoor". In addition, the information of the strength measurement information in which one base station ID is associated with one reception strength and one EESID may be referred to herein as individual strength measurement information.

Returning to the description of the configuration of the base station information collecting system 2 with reference to fig. 6, the operation unit 236 accepts various operations performed by the user of the radio communication device 20 to output an instruction according to the operation or convert the operation into a data signal according to the operation. For example, the operation unit 236 has a function as a position information acquisition unit through which the user inputs the current position and the current time.

More specifically, when the user arrives in the vicinity of an unknown base station, the user can select a certain position as the current position on the map or in the detailed information displayed in the display unit 228 through the operation unit 236. The recording unit 232 records the current position and the current time (for example, longitude "135.005", latitude "35.41", and time "2007/08/10/13: 13: 20") selected by the operation unit 236 as log information in the storage unit 234.

In this way, the intensity measurement information and the log information are recorded in the storage unit 234 by the recording unit 232. In addition, the storage unit 234 may be a nonvolatile memory such as an EEPROM and an EPROM, a magnetic disk such as a hard disk and a floppy (registered trademark) disk, an optical disk such as a CD-R, DVD-R/RW/+ R/+ RW/RAM and BD (blu-ray disk (registered trademark) -R/BD-RE), and an MO disk, like the base station information storage unit 424 of the position estimation server 40. The configuration having the storage function is generally represented as the storage unit 234 in fig. 6, and the unknown base station information, the strength measurement information, and the log information may be stored in physically different storage media.

The communication unit 516 of the information processing server 50 is an interface with the radio communication device 20, and receives intensity measurement information and log information from the radio communication device 20. The method of receiving the strength measurement information and the log information from the radio communication device 20 by the information processing server 50 is not limited to the method using a cable or using radio via the communication unit 516, and the strength measurement information and the log information may be received by a method of installing a storage medium detachably provided in the radio communication device 20 onto the information processing server 50.

The extraction unit 520 extracts the base station ID of the unknown base station from the strength measurement information acquired by the radio communication apparatus 20 based on the log information. More specifically, the extraction unit 520 extracts, in the log information, the acquisition time of the position information associated with the position information whose difference from the position information of the unknown base station is within a range of a set distance (within a first set range of, for example, 10 m). The acquisition time of such position information may represent the time when the radio communication device 20 is moved to the vicinity of the position of an unknown base station.

Then, the extraction unit 520 extracts the intensity measurement information associated with a time in which the difference between the acquisition times of the extracted position information is within a set time (within a second set range of, for example, one minute). Such strength measurement information may be strength measurement information obtained near the location of an unknown base station. In addition, the extraction unit 520 extracts individual strength measurement information associated with the ESSID identical to that of the desired unknown base station from the extracted strength measurement information.

If a plurality of pieces of individual strength measurement information are extracted based on the log information by the extracting unit 520, the user operating the extracting unit 520 or the operating unit 524 extracts the base station ID of the unknown base station from the plurality of pieces of individual strength measurement information.

For example, the extraction unit 520 may extract a base station ID contained in the individual strength measurement information having the highest reception strength among the plurality of pieces of individual strength measurement information as the base station ID of the unknown base station. Alternatively, the user of the radio communication apparatus 20 may extract a base station ID considered appropriate as a base station ID of an unknown base station among the plurality of pieces of individual strength measurement information via the operation unit 524.

The processing unit 528 associates the base station ID extracted by the extraction unit 520 or the operation unit 524 with the location information of the unknown base station, and records the base station ID and the location information as base station information of the known base station in the storage unit 532. For the purpose of description, the base station information recorded in the storage unit 532 in this manner can be used for position estimation as shown in fig. 3, for example. The storage unit 532 may be the same as the base station information storage unit 424.

[2-3] operation of base station information collecting system

In the foregoing, the functions of the base station information collecting system 2 according to the present embodiment have been described with reference to fig. 6 to 9. Subsequently, an example of the radio communication method performed in the base station information collecting system 2 will be described with reference to fig. 10 and 11.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart showing a method of collecting intensity measurement information and log information by the radio communication device 20. As shown in fig. 10, the radio communication apparatus 20 first records the position information and ESSID of the unknown base station as unknown base station information in the storage unit 234 (S604). Then, the display unit 228 of the radio communication device 20 displays the position of the unknown base station based on the unknown base station information recorded in the storage unit 234 (S608).

Thereafter, when the communication unit 216 of the radio communication device 20 receives a radio signal from the base station 30 in its surroundings (S612), the measurement unit 220 measures the reception intensity of the radio signal received by the communication unit 216 to obtain intensity measurement information, and the recording unit 232 records the intensity measurement information in the storage unit 234 (S616). Subsequently, if an input operation of log information is performed in the operation unit 236 (S620), the recording unit 232 records the input log information in the storage unit 234 (S624) to repeat the processing starting at S612.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of operation of the information processing server 50. As shown in fig. 11, first, the extraction unit 520 of the information processing server 50 determines whether there is any log information whose distance to an unknown base station is a set distance or less among the log information recorded in the radio communication apparatus 20 (S654). If the extraction unit 520 determines that there is log information whose distance to the unknown base station is a set distance or less, the extraction unit 520 extracts applicable log information (S658).

Subsequently, the extraction unit 520 determines whether there is any intensity measurement information whose acquisition time has a difference equal to or less than the set time from the acquisition time contained in the extracted log information among the intensity measurement information recorded in the radio communication device 20 (S662). If the extracting unit 520 determines that there is intensity measurement information whose acquisition time has a difference equal to or less than a set time from the acquisition time included in the extracted log information, the extracting unit 520 extracts individual intensity measurement information including the same ESSID as that of the desired unknown base station from the applicable intensity measurement information (S666).

If only one piece of individual strength measurement information is extracted at S666, the processing unit 528 associates the base station ID contained in the individual strength measurement information with the location information of the desired unknown base station and records the base station ID and the location information in the storage unit 532 (S674).

On the other hand, if a plurality of pieces of individual intensity measurement information are extracted at S666, the extraction unit 520 determines whether there is individual intensity measurement information having the highest reception intensity (S678). If the extraction unit 520 determines that there is the individual strength measurement information having the highest reception strength, the processing unit 528 associates the base station ID contained in the individual strength measurement information with the location information of the desired unknown base station and records the base station ID and the location information in the storage unit 532 (S674).

If the individual strength measurement information having higher reception strength is not extracted by the extraction unit 520 and there is an arbitrary selection operation of the operation unit 524 by the user (S682), the processing unit 528 associates the base station ID contained in the individual strength measurement information selected by the user with the location information of the desired unknown base station and records the base station ID and the location information in the storage unit 532 (S674).

On the other hand, if a negative result is obtained at each of steps S654, S662, and S682, the information collection by the radio communication apparatus 20 may be considered insufficient, so that the information collection anew may be considered.

[3] Summary of the invention

As described above, in the base station information collection system 2 according to the present embodiment, the display unit 228 displays the position information of the unknown base station recorded in the storage unit 234, and the user of the radio communication device 20 grasps the position information of the unknown base station. Therefore, based on the display of the location information of the unknown base station, the radio communication apparatus 20 can move to the vicinity of the location of the unknown base station as the user of the radio communication apparatus 20 moves. Then, the communication unit 216 may receive a radio signal containing the base station ID of the unknown base station from the unknown base station in the vicinity of the position of the unknown base station. Here, the recording unit 232 records the strength measurement information of the radio signal received by the communication unit 216 in the storage unit 234. As a result, the base station ID of the unknown base station is recorded in the storage unit 234 by the recording unit 232, and therefore, the position information of the unknown base station and the base station ID can be associated by the information processing server 50.

When estimating the position of each base station 30 based on the intensity measurement information of a specific area (such as underground and indoors) outside the radio wave coverage of the base station whose radio wave coverage is another area, the estimation process is complicated first because there are few constraints between the base stations. Therefore, by preferentially collecting information on unknown base stations whose position information is known as in the present embodiment, the positions of other base stations 30 can be quickly or easily estimated.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and changes may be made within the scope of the appended claims or their equivalents, depending on design requirements and other factors.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the measurement unit 220 measures the reception intensity of the radio signal received by the communication unit 216 at a predetermined cycle to obtain intensity measurement information or the user performs the input operation of log information in the vicinity of the position of an unknown base station has been described, but the present invention is not limited to such an example. For example, when the user arrives near the location of an unknown base station, the user may perform a predetermined operation on the operation unit 236, so that after the predetermined operation is performed, the measurement unit 220 obtains intensity measurement information and the recording unit 232 records the intensity measurement information.

With the above configuration, only the strength measurement information containing the base station ID of the unknown base station is recorded in the storage unit 234, and therefore, the process of extracting the base station ID of the unknown base station on the information processing server 50 can be simplified.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, a person is taken as an example of a moving body of the mobile radio communication apparatus 20, but the present invention is not limited to such an example. For example, as shown in fig. 12, the mobile body may be a flying device 60.

Fig. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a modification of the present embodiment. As shown in fig. 12, the radio communication device 20 is mounted on the flying apparatus 60 and moves with the movement of the flying apparatus 60. The radio communication apparatus 20 is provided with an imaging unit 250, and the communication unit 216 transmits an image taken by the imaging unit 250 to the remote device 254.

The remote device 254 displays the image received from the communication unit 216. An operator of the heeling apparatus 60 may control the movement of the heeling apparatus 60 by operating the controller 260 while viewing the image displayed in the remote device 254. The radio communication apparatus 20 may have any position estimation function such as GPS, so that the current position estimated based on the position estimation function is transmitted to the remote device 254 through the communication unit 216. With the above configuration, the operator of the flying device 60 can grasp more exactly where the flying device 60 is flying.

Further, the communication unit 216 of the radio communication apparatus 20 has a function as a notification unit that notifies the position information of an unknown base station to the operator of the remote device 254 by transmitting the position information to the remote device 254. The operator of the remote device 254 operates the controller 260 based on the notified position information of the unknown base station, so that the radio communication apparatus 20 mounted on the flying device 60 can efficiently collect the position information of the unknown base station. With the above configuration, it is possible to collect base station IDs of unknown base stations established in locations difficult for a person to reach.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the user of the radio communication apparatus 20 manually inputs the current position is described, but the present invention is not limited to such an example. For example, an arbitrary position estimation function (such as GPS and triangulation) using the base station position of a mobile phone or PHS may be mounted on the radio communication device 20 as a position information acquisition unit, so that the position information and the position estimation time estimated by the position estimation function are recorded in the storage unit 234 as log information.

It is not necessary to perform each step in the processing of the base station information collection system 2 described herein in chronological order in the order as described in the flowchart. For example, each step in the processing of the base station information collection system 2 may include processing that is executed in parallel or individually (for example, parallel processing or processing by an object).

It is also possible to create a computer program that causes hardware such as the CPU 201, the ROM 202, and the RAM 203 included in the radio communication device 20 or the information processing server 50 to function similarly to the radio communication device 20 or the information processing server 50. Further, a storage medium storing the computer program is provided. Further, the processing sequence may be realized by hardware by configuring each functional block shown in the functional block diagram of fig. 6 in hardware.

Claims (9)

1. A radio communication apparatus capable of communicating with a base station of radio communication and moving with movement of a mobile body, comprising:

a storage unit having recorded therein location information of an unknown base station whose base station identification information attached to the base station is unknown;

a notification unit configured to notify the mobile body or an operation subject of the mobile body of the position information of the unknown base station recorded in the storage unit;

a communication unit for receiving a radio signal containing the base station identification information from the base station including the unknown base station;

a recording unit operable to record the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit in the storage unit; and

a position information acquisition unit for acquiring the position information of the radio communication apparatus, wherein

The communication unit receives the radio signal at a predetermined cycle, an

The recording unit associates the acquisition time of the position information with the position information and records the acquisition time of the position information and the position information in the storage unit, and associates the reception time at which the communication unit receives the radio signal with the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit and records the base station identification information and the reception time in the storage unit.

2. The radio communication device of claim 1, further comprising:

a measurement unit that measures reception intensity of each base station that is a source of the radio signal received by the communication unit, wherein

The recording unit further associates the reception intensity measured by the measuring unit with the base station identification information and the reception time of the radio signal, and records the base station identification information, the reception time, and the reception intensity in the storage unit.

3. The radio communication device according to claim 1, wherein

The radio signal further includes base station additional information attached to a base station from which the radio signal originated, an

The recording unit associates the base station additional information with the base station identification information, and records the base station identification information and the base station additional information in the storage unit.

4. The radio communication device of claim 1, further comprising:

an operation unit in which a predetermined operation is performed by the movable body or the operation body of the movable body, wherein

The recording unit records the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit in the storage unit when the predetermined operation is performed in the operation unit.

5. The radio communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit transmits the base station identification information recorded in the storage unit by the recording unit.

6. The radio communication device of claim 1, further comprising:

an imaging unit for capturing an image around the imaging unit, wherein

The notification unit notifies the operating subject of the moving body of the image captured by the imaging unit.

7. An information processing system comprising a radio communication device capable of communicating with a base station of radio communication and moving with movement of a mobile body, and an information processing device that processes information acquired by the radio communication device, wherein

The radio communication apparatus includes:

a storage unit having recorded therein location information of an unknown base station whose base station identification information attached to the base station is unknown;

a notification unit configured to notify the position information of the unknown base station recorded in the storage unit to a mobile body or an operation subject of the mobile body;

a communication unit for receiving a radio signal containing the base station identification information transmitted from a base station including the unknown base station; and

a recording unit for recording the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit in the storage unit, and

the information processing apparatus includes a processing unit for associating base station identification information contained in a radio signal received by a communication unit in the vicinity of a position of an unknown base station of the base station identification information recorded in the storage unit with position information of the unknown base station, wherein

The radio communication apparatus further includes:

a location information acquisition unit that acquires location information of the radio communication apparatus,

the communication unit receives the radio signal at a predetermined cycle, an

The recording unit associates an acquisition time of the position information with the position information and records the acquisition time and the position information in the storage unit, and associates a reception time at which the communication unit receives the radio signal with the base station identification information contained in the radio signal received by the communication unit and records the base station identification information and the reception time in the storage unit,

the information processing apparatus further includes:

an extraction unit that extracts, in a storage unit, an acquisition time of the position information recorded in association with the position information whose difference from the position information of the unknown base station is within a first setting range, and

the processing unit associates base station identification information recorded in association with a reception time at which the difference between the acquisition times extracted by the extracting unit is within a second setting range with the position information of the unknown base station.

8. The information processing system of claim 7, wherein the radio communication device further comprises:

a measurement unit for measuring a reception intensity of each base station that is a source of the radio signal received by the communication unit,

the recording unit further associates the reception intensity measured by the measuring unit with the base station identification information and the reception time of the radio signal and records the base station identification information, the reception time, and the reception intensity in the storage unit, and

the processing unit associates, among the base station identification information associated with the reception time whose difference between the acquisition times extracted by the extraction unit is within a second setting range, the base station identification information selected based on the reception intensity associated with the base station identification information and the position information of the unknown base station.

9. A radio communication method performed by a radio communication apparatus that is capable of communicating with a base station of radio communication and moves with movement of a mobile body, the radio communication method comprising the steps of:

recording location information of an unknown base station, in which base station identification information attached to the base station is unknown, in a storage medium;

notifying a moving body or an operating subject of the moving body of the position information of the unknown base station recorded in the storage medium;

receiving a radio signal containing the base station identification information transmitted from a base station including the unknown base station;

recording base station identification information contained in a radio signal received from the base station in the storage medium; and

obtaining the location information of the radio communication device, wherein

Receiving the radio signal at a predetermined period, an

Associating the acquisition time of the position information with the position information and recording the acquisition time of the position information and the position information in the storage medium, and associating the reception time of receiving the radio signal with the base station identification information contained in the received radio signal and recording the base station identification information and the reception time in the storage medium.