JP2002024230A - Method and device for providing position information and recording medium with recorded position information providing program - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] A position information providing method and apparatus capable of providing accurate position information using image information of an object at a point whose position is desired to be known indoors, such as a large-scale underground mall, and position information provision. Provided is a recording medium on which a program is recorded. SOLUTION: An image acquiring device 11 acquires an image of an object at a point to be searched, creates a search request sentence based on the image information by a search request sentence creating means 13, and searches the information source 5 with the search request sentence. The search result is presented together with the position information to the search request source, and a map of the position of the specific search result selected at the search request source from the presented search results is retrieved from the map database 27 based on the position information. A search is performed, and the searched map is displayed on the map display means 29.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a position information providing method and apparatus for retrieving and providing position information of a point to be searched based on image information of an object at the point to be searched. Position information providing method and apparatus for receiving image information of an object at a point to be searched, which is supplied from a terminal to be used via a network, and searching and providing position information of the point based on the image information The present invention relates to a recording medium on which an information providing program is recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, location information providing technology has been
obal Positioning System), a mobile phone, and a location information acquisition service using PHS.

[0003] By the way, in an indoor place such as a large-scale underground shopping mall or an indoor large-scale shopping mall, the user may lose his or her own position. In some cases, it is difficult to detect a proper position using the above-described related art.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Among the prior art, GP
In the position information providing technology using S, there is a problem that position information cannot be obtained because radio waves from GPS do not reach indoors such as a large-scale underground shopping mall or an indoor large-scale shopping mall.

[0005] In addition, a location information acquisition service using a mobile phone or a PHS has high accuracy except in exceptional cases where a plurality of base stations can be accessed indoors such as a large-scale underground shopping mall or an indoor large-scale shopping mall. There is a problem that it is difficult to obtain position information.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above,
The object is to provide a position information providing method and apparatus and a position information providing program that can provide accurate position information using image information of an object at a point where the user wants to know the position even indoors such as a large underground mall. An object of the present invention is to provide a recorded recording medium.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention obtains image information of an object existing at a point to be searched, creates search information based on the obtained image information, and generates image information. The point is that an image database stored together with the position information is searched based on the search information, and the search result is presented to the search request source together with the position information.

Further, there is provided a position information providing method for searching and providing position information of a point based on image information of an object present at a point to be searched, wherein a search request sentence based on the image information is created. The image database storing the image information together with the position information is searched by the search request sentence, and the search result is presented together with the position information to the search request source. From the presented search results, the search request source The gist of the present invention is to search a map at a position of a selected specific search result from a map database based on the position information of the search result, and to present the searched map to a search request source.

According to the present invention, a search request sentence based on image information of an object existing at a point to be searched is created, an image database is searched using the search request sentence, and the search result is sent together with the position information to a search request. In order to search the map of the position of the specific search result selected from the search results from the map database based on the position information and present the searched map to the search request source, in the related art, Using image information of things at search points even indoors, such as large underground malls where accurate location detection is impossible,
An accurate position can be detected.

The present invention also provides position information for receiving image information of an object at a point to be searched, which is supplied from a terminal via a network, and searching for and providing position information of the point based on the image information. A method for providing, based on image information supplied from a terminal via a network, creating a search request sentence based on the image information, and requesting an image database storing the image information together with its position information to obtain the search request. Search by sentence, return this search result to the terminal together with its position information, receive the returned search result at the terminal, and select the position of the specific search result selected at the terminal from the received search results The gist is that a map of is searched from the map database based on the position information of the search result, and the searched map is presented on the terminal.

According to the present invention, image information of an object present at a point to be searched is received from a terminal via a network, a search request sentence is created based on the image information, and an image database is searched using the search request sentence. Then, the search result is returned to the terminal together with the position information, and the terminal searches the map of the position of the specific search result selected from the search result from the map database based on the position information,
In order to present the searched map on the terminal, the accurate position is detected by using the image information of the object at the search target point indoors, such as a large-scale underground mall, where accurate position detection is impossible with the conventional technology. be able to.

Further, the present invention obtains an image database storing image information together with its position information, a map database storing map information, and image information of an object present at a point to be searched. Search request sentence creating means for creating search information based on the acquired image information, search means for searching the image database based on the search information, and search result obtaining means for obtaining a search result of the search means together with its position information A search result presenting means for presenting the obtained search result to the search request source; and a map of the position of the specific search result selected at the search request source from the presented search results. Map search means for searching the map database based on the information; and map display means for displaying the searched map to a search request source. The gist of the door.

Further, there is provided a position information providing apparatus for searching and providing position information of an object located at a point to be searched, based on image information of the object, wherein the image information is stored together with the position information. A database, a map database storing map information, a search request sentence creating means for creating a search request sentence based on the image information, a search means for searching the image database with the search request sentence, and the search means Search result acquiring means for acquiring the search result together with the position information, search result presenting means for presenting the acquired search result to the search request source, and a search result source selected from the presented search results. Map search means for searching a map at a position of a specific search result from the map database based on the position information of the search result; And summarized in that with a map display means for displaying the search request source.

According to the present invention, a search request sentence is created based on image information of an object existing at a point to be searched, an image database is searched by the search request sentence, and the search result is sent together with the position information to a search request. In order to search the map of the position of the specific search result selected from the search results from the map database based on the position information and present the searched map to the search request source, in the related art, Using image information of things at search points even indoors, such as large underground malls where accurate location detection is impossible,
An accurate position can be detected.

According to the present invention, a terminal transmits image information of an object existing at a point to be searched to a server via a network, and the server searches and provides position information of the point based on the image information. A location information providing apparatus, wherein the server stores a search request sentence creating unit that creates a search request sentence based on image information transmitted from the terminal via a network, and stores the image information together with the position information. Search means for searching an image database with the search request sentence, search result obtaining means for obtaining the search result together with its position information, search result transmitting means for transmitting the obtained search result to the terminal, Received the specific search result, and stores a map of the position of the specific search result in a map database based on the position information of the search result. A search Map unit, and summarized in that and a map transmitting means for transmitting the retrieved map terminal.

According to the present invention, the server creates a search request sentence based on the image information of the object at the search target point transmitted from the terminal via the network, and searches the image database using the search request sentence. , Obtaining the search result together with the position information, transmitting the search result to the terminal, searching a map of the position of the specific search result selected on the terminal from the map database based on the position information, Is transmitted to the terminal, the accurate position can be detected using the image information of the thing at the search target point even indoors, such as a large-scale underground shopping mall, where accurate position detection is impossible with the conventional technology.

Further, according to the present invention, a terminal transmits image information of an object existing at a point to be searched to a server via a network, and the server searches for position information of the point based on the image information. A location information providing apparatus, wherein the terminal obtains image information of an object present at the point to be searched for, image obtaining means for transmitting the image information to a server, and Search result selection means for receiving the transmitted search results and returning a specific search result selected from the search results to the server, and display means for receiving and displaying the map information transmitted from the server. It is the gist to have.

According to the present invention, the terminal obtains image information of an object existing at a point to be searched for, transmits the image information to the server, receives a search result from the server, and selects from among the search results. The specific search result is returned to the server, and the map information transmitted from the server is received and displayed. An accurate position can be detected using the image information of the thing.

Further, the present invention is a recording medium storing a position information providing program for searching for and providing position information of a point based on image information of an object existing at the point to be searched, wherein the program stores the position information providing program. A search request sentence is created based on the search request sentence, and an image database storing image information and its position information is searched by the search request sentence, and the search result is presented to the requester together with the position information. From a map database based on the position information of the search result, and a location information providing program for presenting the searched map to the request source is stored in the recording medium. It shall be recorded.

According to the present invention, a search request sentence is created based on image information of an object existing at a point to be searched, an image database is searched using the search request sentence, and the search result is sent together with the position information to the request source. And a location information providing program for presenting the searched map to the requesting source on a recording medium by searching a map of the position of the specific search result selected at the requesting source from the map database based on the location information. Therefore, the distribution of the recording medium can be improved by using the recording medium.

According to the present invention, there is provided a position information providing program for receiving image information of a thing present at a point to be searched supplied from a terminal via a network, searching for and providing position information of the point based on the image information. Is a recording medium that receives image information supplied from a terminal via a network, creates a search request sentence based on the image information, and stores the image information together with its position information in an image database. A search is performed using the search request sentence, the search result is returned to the terminal together with the location information, the returned search result is received at the terminal, and a specific search selected at the terminal from the received search results is performed. A map of a result position is searched from a map database based on the position information of the search result, and the searched map is presented on a terminal. The positional information providing program and summarized in that the recording medium.

According to the present invention, image information of an object existing at a point to be searched is received from a terminal via a network, a search request sentence is created based on the image information, and an image database is searched using the search request sentence. Then, the search result is returned to the terminal together with the position information, and the terminal searches the map of the position of the specific search result selected from the search result from the map database based on the position information,
Since the location information providing program for presenting the searched map on the terminal is recorded on the recording medium, the distribution can be improved by using the recording medium.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a terminal 1 constituting a position information providing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The terminal 1 constituting the position information providing device of the present embodiment is connected to a plurality of information sources 5 via a network 3. The information source 5 constitutes an image database that stores image information together with its position information.

The terminal 1 shown in FIG. 1 can be carried by a user as a mobile terminal and used while moving. For example, during such movement, a large-scale underground mall, an indoor large-scale shopping mall, or the like can be used. When the user himself loses his or her own position indoors, the image acquisition device 11 that acquires an image of a thing that is a landmark or the like at the point in order to obtain position information of the point where the user is located. Have. The image acquisition device 11 is, for example, a digital camera, a digital video, or a composite terminal thereof, and an image captured by these devices is output from the image acquisition device 11. The user may use what is drawn by the user himself.

The image information of the thing present at the point acquired by the image acquisition device 11 is converted into a feature amount of an image corresponding to the image information stored in the information source 5 as it is, or The search request sentence creating means 13 is supplied. The search request sentence creating means 13 creates a search request sentence for searching the information source 5 from the image information supplied from the image acquisition device 11, and converts this search request sentence to the information source search means 15
To supply.

The information source search means 15 converts the search request sentence as it is or converts it into a search request sentence corresponding to the information source 5 and sends it to the information source 5 via the network 3. To search the information source 5. The result of searching this information source 5 with the search request sentence is
Is received by the search result acquisition means 17 via the. In this case, when search results are received from a plurality of information sources 5,
Integrate these search results.

The search result received by the search result obtaining means 17 is supplied to the search result editing means 19. The search result editing means 19 edits the search result to output it on the screen, and supplies the search result to the search result display means 21 for display.
It should be noted that the editing processing in the search result editing means 19 includes:
Specifically, it is to arrange a plurality of search result images in order of similarity.

When the search result is displayed on the search result display means 21, the user of the terminal 1 browses the displayed search result and, for example, searches for a search result image similar to the image obtained by the image obtaining device 11. The specific search result is selected by the specific search result selecting means 23. The selection by the specific search result selecting unit 23 is performed by, for example, clicking a specific search result from a plurality of search result images displayed on the search result display unit 21.

The specific search result selected by the specific search result selecting means 23 is supplied to the specific search result output means 25. The specific search result output means 25 acquires map information of position information such as latitude and longitude information corresponding to the image of the specific search result from the map database 27, and corresponds to the image of the specific search result on this map. The point is displayed on the map display means 29 and provided to the user.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a position information providing apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. The position information providing device shown in the figure is different from the position information providing device of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in that the device is divided into two terminals, a terminal 1 and a server 10, and the internal configuration is basically the same. It is.

That is, the terminal 1 of the position information providing device shown in FIG. 2 includes the image obtaining device 11, the search result display means 21, the specific search result selecting means 23, and the map of the position information providing device shown in FIG. The server 10 of FIG. 2 includes a search request sentence creating unit 13, an information source searching unit 15, a search result obtaining unit 17, a search result editing unit 19, a specific search result output unit 25, and a map database. The function of each component is the same as that of FIG. In the functional arrangement between the terminal 1 and the server 10, the search result editing means 19, the specific search result output means 25, and the map database 27 can be provided in the terminal 1. In this case, the map database 27 is provided in the terminal 1. By providing the information, it is not necessary to communicate the position information when searching for the map information between the terminal 1 and the server 10, and the stress felt by the user can be reduced.

FIG. 2 shows a case where the terminal 1 and the server 10 are directly connected, but as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the terminal 1 and the server 10 3, a plurality of terminals 1 can be selectively connected to the server 10 via the network 3, as shown in FIG.

That is, in the position information providing device shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of terminals 1 such as PCs are connected to a network 3 and a plurality of data terminals 1a such as PDAs and the data terminals 1a are connected. For example, a terminal 1 composed of a terminal communication device 1b connected wirelessly or the like is connected to a network 3, and is connected to a server 10 via the network 3. In addition to the information source 5 in the network 3,
An image database 7 is connected, and an image similar to the image information of the thing is searched by the server 10 from the information source 5 and the image database 7.

FIG. 4 basically shows a configuration similar to that of FIG. 3, except that a data terminal 1a such as a PC and a terminal communication device 1b connected to the data terminal 1a by radio or the like.
Is connected to a server 10 via a network 3 and an image database 7
And a digital camera constituting the image acquisition device 11 is connected to the data terminal 1a, and the image information of the object acquired by the image acquisition device 11 comprising the digital camera is input to the data terminal 1a. It is something that has become.

Next, the operation of the position information providing apparatus shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. This description can be similarly applied to the terminal 1 constituting the position information providing device shown in FIG.

First, in the terminal 1, for example, an image acquisition device 11 such as a digital camera as shown in FIG.
Then, an image of an object existing at the point to be searched is acquired, and this image information is transmitted from the terminal 1 to the server 10 via the network 3 and a search request is made (steps S11 and S13 in FIG. 5). This search request is made by transferring the image information of the object as an image file (step S1).
5) Alternatively, the feature amount of the image corresponding to the image database is extracted (step S17).

When the server 10 receives the image information of an object to be searched as an image file or as an image feature by the search request sentence creating means 13, it creates a search request sentence based on the image information of the object ( Step S19).

FIG. 6 shows this relationship. As an example, the digital camera constituting the image acquisition device 11 acquires an image of a “pub” called “Aiya”.
This shows a case where this image file is specified as a search condition. As shown in FIG. 7, the search condition statement specifies the location of an image file by a URL or the like according to a search interface of an image database.

The search request sentence creating means 13 supplies this search condition sentence to the information source search means 15, and the information source search means 15 transfers this search condition sentence to the information source 5 and the image database 7 via the network 3. The information source 5 and the image database 7 are searched according to the search condition sentence (step S21). It should be noted that a plurality of information sources 5
As a method for searching the image database 7, for example, a search method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-232301 can be used. Further, as an information search device capable of searching for image information, for example, an IBM DB
2. There is an image database such as Informix Universal Sever from Informix.

FIG. 8 shows the data structure of image information stored in the information source 5. As shown in FIG. 8, the image information includes name, latitude and longitude information indicating a position, and It is composed of images. In FIG. 8, as an example, image information of names such as "Aiya" and "Aoya" is shown together with position information such as latitude and longitude.

As described above, the search results obtained by searching the information source 5 and the image database 7 are received by the search result obtaining means 17 via the network 3. As the search results, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, image information with names such as "Aoya", "Aoya", "Aiya" is output as a plurality of search results together with latitude and longitude position information indicating the location. Is done. The search result is sent to the terminal 1 via the network 3 after being subjected to editing processing such as being arranged in the order of similarity in the search result editing means 19 (step S23). When a plurality of search results are output as search results, the plurality of search results are converted into the same expression format. Specifically, position information and similarity information are converted into a unified expression format and integrated. Also, when a plurality of search results are output as search results, a predetermined similarity threshold is provided, and only those having a similarity or higher are output, or the number of search results to be output is specified and specified. It is also possible to output only the search results of the specified number.

Upon receiving the search results from the server 10, the terminal 1 displays the plurality of search results on the search result display means 21.
Are displayed in a list format, for example (steps S25, S2).
7). In the display of the search result, images, similarities, names, and the like are displayed. The user of the terminal 1 browses the plurality of search results displayed on the search result display means 21,
A specific search result that is most similar to the image of the thing requested to be searched is selected by the specific search result selecting unit 23 (step S).
29), the selected specific search result is transmitted to the network 3
Is transmitted to the specific search result output means 25 of the server 10 via the.

Specific search result output means 25 of server 10
Searches the map database 27 to obtain a map of the position composed of the latitude and longitude of the specific search result, and transmits the obtained map to the terminal 1 as the map of the point to be searched. The terminal 1 receives the map transmitted from the specific search result output unit 25 of the server 10 and displays the map on the map display unit 29 as the map of the point to be searched. The user of the terminal 1 can see the map displayed on the map display means 29 and know the position. The map display means 29 is, for example, a data terminal 1 as shown in FIG.
a.

The processing procedure of the position information providing method of the above embodiment is recorded as a program on a recording medium, and this recording medium is incorporated in a computer system.
Of course, by downloading or installing the program recorded on the recording medium into a computer system, and operating the computer system with the program, it is possible to function as a position information providing device that implements the position information providing method. By using such a recording medium, its distribution can be enhanced.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention,
A search request is created based on the image information of the object at the point to be searched, an image database is searched using the search request, and the search result is presented to the search requester together with the position information. Searches the map of the position of the specific search result selected from the map database based on the position information, and presents the searched map to the search request source. Even in an indoor area such as an underground shopping mall, an accurate position can be detected by using image information of an object at a search target point.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a terminal included in a location information providing device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a position information providing device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific system configuration of the position information providing device shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing another specific system configuration of the position information providing device shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the position information providing device shown in FIGS. 2 to 4;

6 is a diagram illustrating image information captured by a digital camera included in the image acquisition device in the position information providing device illustrated in FIG. 2, and search conditions obtained from the image information.

7 is a diagram showing search conditions for an information source and an image database in the position information providing device shown in FIG. 2;

8 is a diagram showing a data configuration stored in an information source used in the position information providing device shown in FIG.

9 is a diagram showing a plurality of search results in the position information providing device shown in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a map including a search target point displayed on a display of a data terminal constituting a map display means used in the position information providing device shown in FIG. 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Terminal 3 Network 5 Information source 7 Image database 10 Server 11 Image acquisition device 13 Search request sentence creation means 15 Information source search means 17 Search result acquisition means 19 Search result editing means 21 Search result display means 23 Specific search result selection means 25 Identification Search result output means 27 Map database 29 Map display means

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Takashi Hoshi 2-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo F-term in Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (reference) 5B075 ND06 PP10 PR06 QM08 UU13

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image database in which image information of an object existing at a point to be searched is obtained, search information based on the obtained image information is created, and an image database storing the image information together with the position information is included in the search information. A location information providing method for performing a search based on the location information and presenting the search result together with the location information to a search request source. 2. Acquiring image information of a thing present at a point to be searched supplied from a terminal via a network, creating a search request sentence based on the image information, and storing the image information together with its position information. The search result sentence is returned to the terminal together with the position information, and the returned search result is received at the terminal, and the terminal selects the received search result from the received search results. A method for providing a position information, comprising: searching for a map of a position of a specific search result from a map database based on the position information of the search result; and presenting the searched map on a terminal. 3. An image database that stores image information together with its position information, a map database that stores map information, and image information of an object present at a point to be searched for. Search request generating means for generating search information based on the search information; search means for searching the image database based on the search information; search result obtaining means for obtaining a search result of the search means together with its position information; Search result presenting means for presenting the retrieved search result to the search request source; and a map of the position of the specific search result selected at the search request source from the presented search results based on the position information of the search result. Map search means for searching from a map database, and map display means for displaying the searched map at a search request source Position information providing apparatus for. 4. Position information for transmitting image information of an object existing at a point to be searched from a terminal to a server via a network, and for searching and providing position information of the point on the server based on the image information. A providing device, wherein the server comprises: a search request sentence creating means for creating a search request sentence based on image information transmitted from the terminal via a network; and an image database storing the image information together with its position information. Searching means for searching for the search result with the search request sentence, search result obtaining means for obtaining the search result together with its position information, search result transmitting means for transmitting the obtained search result to the terminal, and identification selected at the terminal. And retrieves a map of the position of the specific search result from the map database based on the position information of the search result. A location information providing apparatus, comprising: a map search unit that performs a search; and a map transmission unit that transmits the searched map to a terminal. 5. Position information for transmitting image information of an object existing at a point to be searched from a terminal to a server via a network, and for searching and providing position information of the point based on the image information in the server. A providing device, wherein the terminal includes: an image obtaining unit that obtains image information of an object present at the point to be searched; an image information transmitting unit that transmits the image information to a server; and a search transmitted from the server. Search result selection means for receiving a result and returning a specific search result selected from the search results to a server; and display means for receiving and displaying map information transmitted from the server. Location information providing device. 6. A recording medium storing a position information providing program for searching and providing position information of a point based on image information of an object present at a point to be searched, wherein a search request statement based on the image information is provided. The search request sentence is searched for an image database storing the image information together with the position information, and the search result is presented to the request source together with the position information. A position information providing program for searching a map of a position of a specific search result selected in the original from a map database based on the position information of the search result, and presenting the searched map to a request source; recoding media. 7. A position information providing program for receiving image information of an object at a point to be searched, which is supplied from a terminal via a network, and searching for and providing position information of the point based on the image information. Receiving the image information supplied from the terminal via the network, creating a search request sentence based on the image information, and searching the image database storing the image information together with its position information. A search is performed using a request sentence, the search result is returned to the terminal together with the location information, the returned search result is received at the terminal, and a specific search result selected by the terminal from the received search result is received. Searching a map of a position from a map database based on the position information of the search result, and presenting the searched map on a terminal; Recording medium for recording the positional information providing program characterized.