JP2005266160A - Personal digital assistant - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate wasteful access charges and to reduce communication load. <P>SOLUTION: A personal digital assistance 2 comprises: a position detecting section 13 for detecting the user's present position; a communication I/F 15 connecting by radio with a server 21 which provides a map picture 30 according to the detection result of the position detecting section 13; an LCD 19 for displaying the map picture 30; a pedometer 12 for counting the number of steps of the user; and a CPU 10 which makes the communication I/F 15 access the server 21 to update the map picture 30 when a prescribed number of steps are counted by the pedometer 12. Since the map picture 30 is updated by the access to the server 21 when a prescribed number of steps of the user are counted, wasteful access frequency can be reduced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a portable information terminal that displays a current position of a user on a map image in accordance with the movement of the user.

  In recent years, portable information terminals such as mobile phones equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System) functions and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistance) have become widespread. In such a portable information terminal, a so-called human navigation system that detects the current position of a user by GPS, displays the current position on a map image, and can move to a destination quickly and reliably. Some services are available (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2001-289664 A

  When using the service, a server storing a large amount of map images is accessed at regular time intervals, and a map image corresponding to a GPS detection result is downloaded and updated each time. For this reason, the map image is frequently updated while the user stops without moving or moves without gazing at the map image. In other words, the user is paid a useless access fee, and the server is subjected to an extra communication load.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a portable information terminal that can reduce a communication load without generating a useless access fee when using a human navigation service. And

  In order to achieve the above object, a portable information terminal according to the present invention includes a position detection unit that detects a current position of a user, and a map image providing unit that provides a map image according to a detection result of the position detection unit. Wireless communication means for wireless connection, display means for displaying the map image, a pedometer for counting the number of steps of the user, and the wireless communication means triggered by the fact that a fixed number of steps are counted by the pedometer Control means for updating the map image by accessing the map image providing means through communication means.

  The control means preferably corrects the detection result of the position detection means with reference to the count value of the number of steps by the pedometer. Moreover, it is preferable that the said display means displays the count value of the step count by the said pedometer with the said map image.

  According to the portable information terminal of the present invention, the position detecting means for detecting the current position of the user, the wireless communication means for wirelessly connecting to the map image providing means for providing the map image according to the detection result of the position detecting means, , A display means for displaying the map image, a pedometer for counting the number of steps of the user, and when the pedometer has counted a certain number of steps, the wireless communication means is allowed to access the map image providing means, Since the control means for updating the map image is provided, the communication load can be reduced without incurring useless access charges when using the human navigation service.

  In FIG. 1, a portable information terminal 2 to which the present invention is applied includes, for example, a mobile phone or a PDA, and is entirely controlled by a CPU 10. An operation unit 11, a pedometer 12, a position detection unit 13, an LCD driver 14, a communication I / F 15, and a memory 16 are connected to the CPU 10.

  The operation unit 11 includes a power switch for turning on / off the portable information terminal 2 and various operation buttons. The CPU 10 operates each unit of the portable information terminal 2 in conjunction with the operation of the operation unit 11.

  The pedometer 12 counts the number of steps of the user of the portable information terminal 2 and transmits the count result to the CPU 10. Note that the pedometer 12 is composed of, for example, a pendulum that vibrates in accordance with the user's walking motion, and counts the number of steps of the user by detecting this vibration.

  The position detection unit 13 receives radio waves from the artificial satellite 18 through the GPS antenna 17. Then, based on the radio signal, the current position (such as longitude and latitude) of the user of the portable information terminal 2 is detected, and the detection result is transmitted to the CPU 10.

  The LCD driver 14 performs display control of a liquid crystal display (LCD) 19. The communication I / F 15 connects to a server 21 that provides a map image 30 (see FIG. 2) according to the detection result of the position detection unit 13 via the antenna 20 and mediates wireless transmission and reception of data with the server 21. . The memory 16 stores the map image 30 downloaded from the server 21.

  The server 21 stores an enormous map image 30. When the detection result of the position detection unit 13 is transmitted from the portable information terminal 2, the server 21 searches the map image 30 according to the transmitted detection result from a large number of map images 30 and searches for the map image 30. The map image 30 is transmitted to the portable information terminal 2. The server 21 manages the number of accesses of the portable information terminal 2 for each user, and calculates an access fee.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the portable information terminal 2, the map image 30 around the current position of the user is retrieved from the server 21 using the GPS function by the position detection unit 13 and the network connection function by the communication I / F 15. The downloaded map image 30 is displayed on the LCD 19, and a human navigation service that helps the user to move to the destination can be used.

  The CPU 10 attaches a cross-shaped mark 31 informing the user's current position detected by the position detection unit 13 to the map image 30 displayed on the LCD 19, and indicates the count value of the number of steps by the pedometer 12 on the lower side. The counter 32 is displayed.

  The CPU 10 causes the communication I / F 15 to access the server 21 when the pedometer 12 counts a certain number of user steps (for example, 100 steps). Further, the detection result of the position detection unit 13 at this time is corrected with reference to the count value of the number of steps by the pedometer 12, and the corrected detection result is transmitted to the server 21. And the map image 30 memorize | stored in the memory 16 is updated to the map image 30 downloaded from the server 21 according to the corrected detection result. As a method of correcting the detection result of the position detection unit 13 with reference to the count value, one step is converted to about 1 m, and the current user's current obtained from this and the previous detection result of the position detection unit 13 is converted. The position is checked by collating with the detection result of the position detector 13.

  Next, a processing procedure when using the human navigation service in the portable information terminal 2 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the user operates the operation unit 11 to access the server 21 through the communication I / F 15. After accessing the server 21, the current position of the user is detected by the position detection unit 13, and a map image 30 around the current position is downloaded from the server 21 to the memory 16.

  The map image 30 downloaded from the server 21 is read from the memory 16 to the CPU 10. The map image 30 read out by the CPU 10 is subjected to various image processing such as a cross-shaped mark 31 that informs the user's current position detected by the position detection unit 13, and then, via the LCD driver 14. Are displayed on the LCD 19.

  When the walking of the user is detected by the pedometer 12, the number of steps of the user is counted. This count value is transmitted to the CPU 10 and displayed on the counter 32 below the map image 30 displayed on the LCD 19.

  When the pedometer 12 counts the number of steps of the user, the access to the server 21 by the communication I / F 15 is executed again, and the position detection unit 13 detects the current position of the user. In the CPU 10, the detection result of the position detection unit 13 at this time is corrected with reference to the count value of the number of steps by the pedometer 12. Then, the corrected detection result is transmitted to the server 21.

  In the server 21, the map image 30 corresponding to the received detection result after correction is searched. The map image 30 retrieved by the server 21 is transmitted to the portable information terminal 2. In the portable information terminal 2, the map image 30 stored in the memory 16 is updated to the map image 30 transmitted from the server 21, and the updated map image 30 is displayed on the LCD 19. These series of processes are repeatedly executed until the user operates the operation unit 11 to disconnect the connection with the server 21 and terminates the use of the human navigation service.

  As described above, when the user's step count is counted for a certain number of steps, the server 21 is accessed and the map image 30 is updated, so the server is accessed at regular time intervals and the map image is downloaded each time. Compared to the conventional case of updating, it is possible to reduce the number of useless accesses while the user stops without moving, or while moving without gazing at the map image 30. Moreover, since the detection result of the position detection unit 13 is corrected with reference to the count value, a more accurate current position of the user can be acquired.

  In the embodiment described above, the number of steps that triggers access to the server 21 is 100 steps as an example, but the number of steps can be changed as appropriate. The number of steps may be set / changed by the user.

It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the portable information terminal to which this invention is applied. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state in which the map image was displayed on LCD. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the portable information terminal at the time of utilizing a human navigation service.

Explanation of symbols

2 Portable information terminal 10 CPU
120,000 Pedometer 13 Position detector 15 Communication I / F
16 Memory 19 Liquid crystal display (LCD)
21 server 30 map image 32 counter

Claims (3)

Position detecting means for detecting the current position of the user;
Wireless communication means for wirelessly connecting to a map image providing means for providing a map image according to the detection result of the position detecting means;
Display means for displaying the map image;
A pedometer for counting the number of steps of the user;
A portable type comprising: a control means for causing the wireless communication means to access the map image providing means and updating the map image when a predetermined number of steps are counted by the pedometer Information terminal.   The portable information terminal according to claim 1, wherein the control unit corrects a detection result of the position detection unit with reference to a count value of the number of steps by the pedometer.   The portable information terminal according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the display means displays a count value of the number of steps by the pedometer together with the map image.

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