JP2002196063A - Position detector using gps and network assist-ready gps position detecting system using it - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a GPS position detector capable of selectively setting a plurality of previously prepared positioning functions for use according to preference of a user. SOLUTION: This position detector 10 using GPS having a GPS positioning function and a communication function is provided with a positioning mode selection means 10c for selectively setting an optional positioning mode from a plurality of previously prepared GPS modes.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a GPS position detecting device having a positioning function in a plurality of GPS positioning modes, and a network assisted GPS position detecting system using the same.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Weak high-frequency radio waves (hereinafter, referred to as GPS signals) transmitted from a GPS satellite (hereinafter, also referred to as "satellite") orbiting the earth by pseudo-noise encoding are received, and the GPS signals are transmitted to the ground. GPS position detecting devices, which decode the time of arrival, time information and navigation messages contained in GPS signals, and accurately determine position information on the earth, have become widely used with the recent development of communication technology. Have been.

[0003] Such a GPS position detecting device needs to capture at least four or more GPS satellites orbiting the visible position and decode the GPS signals. After demodulating the noise-coded high-frequency radio waves with the key code assigned to each satellite and demodulating them, the navigation messages are decoded and collected.

[0004] When performing GPS positioning, the GPS position detecting device must find a visible satellite and determine a satellite to be tracked immediately after the power is turned on. However, ephemeris, almanac, approximate time, transmitted from orbiting satellites, If information such as the terminal approximate position information is given by others, the GPS position detecting device will focus on satellites that can be tracked, receive navigation messages from those satellites, decode it, and determine the time to perform GPS positioning. Can be shortened.

Therefore, conventionally, various systems for performing GPS positioning using such information have been adopted, and the system proposed in JP-A-10-31061 is one example.

In the method proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 10-31061, a GPS position detecting device transmits orbit information from a GPS base station installed on a network that always holds ephemeris via a mobile phone or the like. According to the network assist configuration for receiving and calculating position information, according to this, ephemeris data indicating a more accurate orbit for a satellite to be tracked, terminal approximate position information, and approximate time are used as GPS assist information as GPS assist information. By receiving the GPS signal from the base station, the GPS positioning from the orbiting satellite can be performed in a short time even in an environment where the radio wave condition is poor.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION However, GPS
There are various requests from users for performing positioning, and the above-described GPS position detecting device having the network assist configuration does not always satisfy such user requests. For example, there are various demands such as a person who wants a low-cost one even if it takes time for positioning, and a person who wants a thing that can perform positioning in a short time without worrying about the positioning accuracy.

The present invention has been proposed to satisfy such various demands, and a GPS position which can be used by selecting and setting a plurality of positioning functions prepared in advance according to a use or a situation desired by a user. It is intended to provide a detection device.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a network assisted GPS position detecting system using the position detecting device.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a GPS position detecting device having a GPS positioning function and a communication function, and a plurality of GPS devices prepared in advance.
There is provided a positioning mode selection unit that allows an arbitrary positioning mode to be selected and set from the PS positioning mode.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the GPS position detecting device according to the first aspect has a function capable of performing positioning in at least two of a single GPS positioning mode, a data-assisted GPS positioning mode, and a simple positioning mode. The positioning mode selecting means can select and set any one of the positioning modes.

In the single GPS positioning mode, an orbiting satellite that can be tracked is acquired, a navigation message is decoded from the acquired orbiting satellite, and positional information such as latitude and longitude on the earth is calculated.

In the data-assisted GPS positioning mode, if the server receives assist information such as ephemeris, approximate time, and approximate position from a server on the network, GPS positioning can be performed to obtain position information.

The simple positioning mode is further divided into a base station information use mode, a single periodic positioning mode, and a data assisted periodic positioning mode. In any case, a positioning result can be obtained in a short time in response to a positioning command.

That is, in the base station information use mode, G
Position information corresponding to the closest base station used by the PS position detecting device at the time of communication is transmitted from the base station or a base station position center affiliated with the base station, and the GPS position detecting device
The position information of the base station can be directly used as the positioning position. In the single periodic positioning mode, the GPS position detecting device periodically stores the position information obtained by the GPS positioning in a memory provided in the GPS detecting device in an updatable manner, and in the network periodic positioning mode, the GPS position detecting device If the position information obtained by GPS positioning obtained by communicating with a server on the network is stored in the memory in an updatable manner, the GPS position detecting device, when receiving the GPS positioning command, updates the latest position information stored in the memory. The position information is read out and can be used as it is as the position information.

The user can freely switch and set a plurality of such positioning modes by using the positioning mode selection means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the positioning mode according to the set parameters is automatically selected by the user selecting and operating at least the positioning accuracy and the required time as the selection parameters. I have.

If the positioning accuracy, required time, and cost can be set with priorities and parameters can be set, it can be executed in a desired positioning mode. For example, time, cost,
If the positioning accuracy is set in the order, the positioning result is obtained in a short time, but the positioning position accuracy is low.

In the present invention, the GPS position detecting device is connected to a communication terminal such as a service center via a communication network. The positioning mode selecting means is capable of selecting and setting a positioning mode based on the GPS positioning mode selection information transmitted from the communication terminal.

As described above, if the positioning mode selection can be remotely controlled from a communication terminal such as a service center,
A GPS position detecting device can be used for a service for monitoring behavior by holding a child or a wandering elderly person.

[0021] The system according to claim 5 has the following features.
4 is a network assisted GPS position detecting system configured by connecting the GPS position detecting device according to 4 and a GPS assist server via a communication network, wherein the GPS position detecting device requires GPS data assistance. When the positioning mode (that is, either the data-assisted positioning mode or the data-assisted periodic positioning mode) is selected and set, the GPS assist server returns GPS assist information necessary for the selected positioning mode. I have to.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of an embodiment of the GPS position detecting device.

GPS position detecting device 1 in this embodiment
0, a user input unit 10a operable by a user, a communication unit 10b having a communication function of transmitting and receiving data via a communication network, and an arbitrary positioning mode can be selected from a plurality of positioning functions. Positioning mode selection means 10c
And a GPS positioning unit 10d capable of receiving GPS signals from GPS satellites and having a plurality of GPS positioning functions.

Here, a plurality of positioning functions include a single GPS
It includes a positioning function, a data-assisted GPS positioning function, and a base station information utilization function that is a simple positioning mode. The GPS position detecting device 10 is not limited to a device having all three positioning functions, but may have at least two functions.

This GPS position detecting device 10 is a base station 1
, And can be connected to the communication terminal 2 and the GPS assist server 3 of the service center.

Here, the service center has a plurality of GPs.
A monitoring center that comprehensively monitors the S position detecting device 10 is included. For example, it includes a center that provides a monitoring service by providing a wandering elderly person with the device 10. In addition, it is not limited to the communication terminal of the service center, but may be a portable terminal, a personal computer, or the like. For example, a configuration may be employed in which a child has the GPS position detecting device 10 so that a parent having a portable terminal at home or outside can monitor the child.

Further, the GPS assist server 3 has a GPS
A server that provides ephemeris data, terminal approximate position information, approximate time, and the like to the position detection device 10 is included. The GPS position detecting device 10 uses these GPS
Data-assisted GPS positioning can be realized in which GPS positioning can be performed in a short time by the assist information.

The GPS position detecting device 10 performs the following basic operation.

The user operates the user input unit 10a (shown in FIG. 3) to execute the single GPS positioning mode and the data assist GP.
When one of the S positioning mode and the base station information use mode is selected in advance, the positioning mode selection unit 10c stores the selected positioning mode. Here, the selection of the positioning mode
This includes not only the setting by the user input unit 10a but also the case where the setting is performed via a communication network from the outside such as the communication terminal 2 (in the figure). This takes into account remote setting from a service center or the like.

Next, when a positioning command is issued, the positioning mode selecting means 10c determines which mode is selected, specifies the mode to the GPS positioning unit 10d, issues a positioning instruction, and transmits necessary information. Delivery, GPS positioning unit 1
0d calculates the positioning position in that mode.

More specifically, (1) when the single GPS positioning mode is selected, the positioning mode selecting means 10
c only needs to instruct the GPS positioning unit 10d to perform positioning in this mode.
Executes the independent GPS positioning in response to this instruction.

(2) In the case of the data-assisted GPS positioning mode, based on the request for the GPS assist information from the communication unit 10b, the GPS assist information is received from the GPS assist server 3, and the positioning mode selecting means 10c , G
It instructs the PS positioning unit 10d to perform positioning in this mode and delivers the GPS assist information. G
The PS positioning unit 10d calculates position information based on the information.

(3) In the case of the base station information use mode,
Base station position information of the base station 1 is received from a base station position center (not shown) or the like via the base station 1 and this information is transmitted to the GP.
Deliver to S positioning section 10d. The GPS positioning unit 10d uses the base station position information as it is as the position information.

Therefore, if (1) is selected, the GPS
Since the positioning is performed by the device alone, a highly accurate positioning position can be obtained, and communication costs are not required, so that the cost is excellent. On the other hand, it is necessary to receive ephemeris data from a GPS base station (not shown) or the like, which requires a communication time, so that quick positioning cannot be expected.

If (2) is selected, the positioning accuracy is high, but the cost of information assistance is incurred. When (3) is selected, the GPS positioning calculation is not executed, so that the speed is excellent, but the positioning accuracy can hardly be expected.

The numbers of the positioning modes shown above correspond to “NO.” In the positioning function table shown in FIG. 3 (the same applies hereinafter).

As described above, the GPS position detecting device 10
Is provided with a plurality of positioning functions having different advantages and can switch the plurality of positioning modes to perform positioning, so that it can respond to various requests of users.

FIG. 2 shows an example of an embodiment of another GPS position detecting device.

GPS position detecting device 1 in this embodiment
1, a user input unit 11a operable by a user, a communication unit 11b having a communication function of transmitting and receiving data via a communication network, and an arbitrary positioning mode can be selected from a plurality of positioning functions. Positioning mode selection means 11c
And a GPS positioning unit 11d capable of receiving a GPS signal from a GPS satellite and having a plurality of GPS positioning functions, and a periodic positioning data storage unit 11 for storing periodically located information
e.

Here, a plurality of positioning functions include a single GPS
It includes a positioning function, a data-assisted GPS positioning function, and a single periodic positioning function that is a simple positioning mode. The GPS position detecting device 11 is not limited to a device having all three positioning functions, but may have at least two functions. Further, a data assisted periodic positioning function may be provided instead of the independent periodic positioning function.

The GPS position detecting device 11 is a base station 1
, And can be connected to the communication terminal 2 and the GPS assist server 3 of the service center.

The GPS position detecting device 11 performs the following basic operation.

The user operates the user input section 11a (in the figure) to execute the single GPS positioning mode and the data-assisted GP.
When one of the S positioning mode and the single periodic positioning mode is selected in advance, the positioning mode selection unit 11c stores the selected mode. As in the embodiment of FIG. 1, selection from the communication terminal device 2 (in the figure) is also possible.

Next, when a positioning command is issued, the positioning mode selection means 11c determines which mode is in effect, specifies the mode to the GPS positioning unit 11d, issues a positioning instruction, and transmits necessary information. Delivery, GPS positioning unit 1
1d calculates the positioning position in that mode.

More specifically, (1) when the single GPS positioning mode is selected, the positioning mode selecting means 11
c need only instruct the GPS positioning unit 11d to perform positioning in this mode, and the GPS positioning unit 11d
Executes the independent GPS positioning in response to this instruction.

(2) In the case of the data assisted GPS positioning mode, based on the request for the GPS assist information from the communication section 11b, the GPS assist information is received from the GPS assist server 3, and the positioning mode selecting means 11c is provided. , G
It instructs the PS positioning section 11d to perform positioning in this mode and delivers the GPS assist information. G
The PS positioning unit 11d calculates position information based on these pieces of information.

(4) In the case of the single periodic positioning mode,
The GPS positioning unit 11d repeatedly executes the single GPS positioning at a fixed cycle after this positioning mode is selected and switches to another mode, regardless of the positioning command, and periodically performs positioning positioning information every time positioning is performed. Data storage unit 11e
Overwrite the specified location. Then, when a positioning command is issued, the positioning position information is extracted from the periodic positioning data storage unit 11e and used as a positioning result.

(5) Also in the case of the data-assisted periodic positioning mode, the GPS positioning unit 11d performs the data-assisted GPS positioning at a fixed cycle regardless of the positioning command, as long as this positioning mode is selected. Then, every time positioning is performed, the positioning position information is overwritten and stored in a predetermined location of the periodic positioning data storage unit 11e. Then, when a positioning command is issued, the positioning position information is extracted from the periodic positioning data storage unit 11e and used as a positioning result.

As described above, in the case of the single periodic positioning mode or the data-assisted periodic positioning mode, positioning is performed at a fixed period. Therefore, when a positioning command is issued immediately after positioning, there is no problem in positioning accuracy. However, when a command is issued immediately before positioning, there is a possibility that the device has been moved from the location immediately before positioning, and positioning accuracy cannot be expected. That is, there is a feature that the positioning accuracy is not guaranteed, but instead, since the latest GPS positioning position is always stored in the periodic positioning data storage unit 11e, the positioning result is obtained at the same time as the positioning command.

In the case of the GPS position detecting device 11 as well, a plurality of positioning functions can be selected according to the application and the situation at that time, so that the user can perform positioning as desired.

FIG. 3 shows a list of the above five positioning functions. As shown in the figure, the features of each positioning function appear in terms of positioning accuracy, required time, and cost.

Further, these GPS position detecting devices 10,
Reference numeral 11 enables a positioning mode to be automatically determined by selecting and setting positioning accuracy, required time, and cost as parameters. FIG. 4 shows an example of the positioning parameter setting.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4A, when the positioning accuracy is set in the first parameter and the required time is set in the second parameter, the positioning mode is determined in the order of the positioning accuracy and the required time. As a result, the data assisted GPS positioning mode is automatically selected. In FIG. 4B, only the cost is set as a parameter, so that the GPS position detecting device 10 automatically selects the single GPS positioning mode.

Since the positioning mode is automatically selected only by setting the parameters, the user does not need to understand the features of each positioning mode. This is particularly effective when the elements (parameters) that determine the positioning mode are further subdivided and the number of parameters increases.

[0056]

As can be understood from the above description, the present invention allows a user to select a GPS positioning mode and perform positioning in a desired mode by using a plurality of GPS positioning functions. Can be satisfied.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the GPS position detecting device is a single GPS positioning function, a data-assisted GPS positioning function, or a simple positioning function (one of base station information use, independent periodic positioning, and data-assisted periodic positioning) Among them, at least two positioning functions are provided, and any one of them is selected so that positioning can be performed. Therefore, by selecting a single GPS positioning function or a data-assisted GPS positioning function, highly accurate positioning can be performed. Also, quick positioning can be realized by the simple positioning function.

According to the third aspect, if at least the positioning accuracy and the required time are set as the selection parameters, any one of the positioning modes is automatically selected. Therefore, the user does not need to understand the features of each positioning mode and can perform the desired positioning. It can be performed. This is particularly effective when the selection parameters for determining the positioning mode are further subdivided and the number of parameters is increased.

According to the fourth aspect, the positioning mode can be selected and set from a communication terminal connected to the GPS position detecting device via a communication network. For example, a wandering elderly person or infant can have a GPS terminal. In a service such as remote monitoring, the positioning mode can be remotely controlled.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network-assisted type GPS in which the GPS position detecting device is connected to a GPS assist server via a communication network.
Because it is a position detection system, the GPS position detection device
It is possible to receive the GPS assist information required for the data assisted GPS positioning mode.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an example of an embodiment of a GPS position detecting device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an example of an embodiment of another GPS position detecting device of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a positioning function list showing characteristics of each positioning mode.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of selection parameter setting.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 11 GPS position detecting device 10a, 11a User input unit 10b, 11b Communication unit 10c, 11c Positioning mode selection unit 10d, 11d GPS positioning unit 11e Regular positioning data storage unit 1 Base station 2 Communication terminal 3 GPS assist server

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Junichi Suzuki 1048 Kadoma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Inside Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. Inventor Takuya Suedo 1048 Kadoma Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. (72) Inventor Masahito Fukuda 1048 Kadoma Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. 1048 Kadoma Matsushita Electric Works, Ltd. Inventor Kenji Kuramae 1048 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma-shi, Osaka Matsushita Electric Works Co., Ltd. 5J062 AA01 AA02 AA08 BB05 CC07 DD11 DD23 FF01

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A GPS having a GPS positioning function and a communication function.
A GPS position detecting device, comprising: a positioning mode selection unit that allows an arbitrary positioning mode to be selected and set from a plurality of GPS positioning modes prepared in advance. 2. The GPS position detecting device according to claim 1, wherein the GPS position detecting device has a function of performing positioning in at least two of a single GPS positioning mode, a data-assisted GPS positioning mode, and a simple positioning mode. The GPS position detecting device, wherein the positioning mode selecting means is capable of selecting and setting any one of the positioning modes. 3. The positioning mode selecting means according to claim 1, wherein said positioning mode selecting means includes at least positioning accuracy and required time as selection parameters, and selects and sets a predetermined parameter from among these selection parameters to perform positioning in accordance with the selected parameter. GP, characterized in that the mode can be selected and set
S position detection device. 4. The GPS device according to claim 1, wherein said GPS position detecting device is connected to a communication terminal via a communication network, and said positioning mode selecting means includes a GPS device transmitted from said communication terminal. GPS, characterized in that a positioning mode can be selectively set based on positioning mode selection information.
Position detection device. 5. A network-assisted G configured by connecting the GPS position detecting device according to claim 1 and a GPS assist server via a communication network.
A PS position detection system, wherein the GPS assist server, when the GPS position detection device is selected and set to a positioning mode that requires GPS data assistance, sets a GPS required for the selected positioning mode.
A GPS assisted GPS position detection system, characterized by returning PS assist information.