JP2010230380A - Position estimation apparatus and position estimation method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce power consumption when a mobile communication terminal having a positioning function repeats positioning.
A positioning server 10 includes a transmission / reception unit 12 that transmits / receives information to / from a mobile communication terminal 20 and another mobile communication terminal 20 located near the mobile communication terminal 20 based on the received information. Of the mobile communication terminal 20 that is a position estimation target based on the received location information about the neighboring terminal information acquisition unit 13 that acquires the neighboring terminal information shown, and another mobile communication terminal 20 indicated by the neighboring terminal information A position calculation unit 15 for calculating the position.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a position estimation device and a position estimation method for estimating the position of a mobile communication terminal.

  Conventionally, a mobile communication terminal provided with a GPS receiver has been used (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In such a mobile communication terminal, the positioning result obtained by the function of the GPS receiver is used for control of various services and mobile communication functions.

Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-359145

  In a mobile communication terminal having a positioning function as described above, positioning may be repeated at predetermined time intervals for service use and control. However, since the power consumption increases as the number of positioning times increases, lower power consumption is required.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and provides a position estimation device and a position estimation method that enable a mobile communication terminal having a positioning function to reduce power consumption when positioning is repeated. For the purpose.

  In order to achieve the above object, a position estimation apparatus according to the present invention is a position estimation apparatus that estimates the position of a mobile communication terminal, and is a nearby terminal that indicates another mobile communication terminal located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal Proximity terminal information acquisition means for acquiring information, position information acquisition means for acquiring position information indicating the position of another mobile communication terminal, and another mobile communication terminal indicated by the proximity terminal information acquired by the proximity terminal acquisition means Based on the position information acquired by the position information acquisition means, the position calculation means for calculating the position of the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target, and the position information indicating the position calculated by the position calculation means are output. Output means.

  In the position estimation device according to the present invention, the position information of a mobile communication terminal different from the position estimation target indicated by the neighboring terminal information is acquired, and the mobile communication terminal of the position estimation target based on the position information is acquired. The position is calculated. Therefore, the position information of the mobile communication terminal can be obtained without performing positioning in the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target. That is, according to the position estimation apparatus according to the present invention, it is possible to reduce power consumption of a mobile communication terminal having a positioning function when positioning is repeated.

  The proximity terminal information acquisition means includes an environment in which the mobile communication terminal to be a position estimation target is placed, information indicating the user status of the mobile communication terminal acquired by the mobile communication terminal, and another mobile communication terminal Information indicating the environment in which the mobile communication terminal is placed or the state of the user of the mobile communication terminal acquired by the other mobile communication terminal is acquired, and another mobile communication terminal becomes a position estimation target based on the information. It is desirable to determine whether or not the mobile communication terminal is located in the vicinity. According to this configuration, it is possible to acquire information on another mobile communication terminal located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal whose position is to be estimated appropriately and reliably, and the present invention can be reliably implemented.

  The neighboring terminal information acquisition means acquires position information indicating the position of the mobile communication terminal that is a position estimation target and position information indicating the position of another mobile communication terminal, and performs another movement based on the position information. It is desirable to determine whether or not the communication terminal is located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal whose position is to be estimated. According to this configuration, it is possible to acquire information on another mobile communication terminal located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal whose position is to be estimated more appropriately and reliably.

  The neighboring terminal information acquisition means acquires information indicating a distance between the mobile communication terminal that is a position estimation target and another communication terminal, and another mobile communication terminal is determined as a position estimation target based on this information. It is desirable to determine whether or not the mobile communication terminal is located in the vicinity. According to this configuration, it is possible to acquire information on another mobile communication terminal located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal whose position is to be estimated appropriately and reliably, and the present invention can be reliably implemented.

  The nearby terminal information acquisition unit acquires positional relationship information indicating the positional relationship between the mobile communication terminal that is the target of position estimation and another mobile communication terminal, and the position calculation unit acquires the position acquired by the nearby terminal information acquisition unit. It is desirable to calculate the position of the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target based also on the relationship information. According to this configuration, the position of the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target can be estimated more accurately.

  The positional relationship information includes information indicating the traveling direction of at least one of the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target and another mobile communication terminal, and the position information acquisition unit is different from the position indicated by the position information. When the mobile communication terminal is located, it also acquires information indicating the traveling direction of at least one of the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target and another mobile communication terminal, and the position calculation means uses the position information acquisition means. It is desirable to calculate the position of the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target based on the acquired information indicating the traveling direction. According to this configuration, the position of the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target can be estimated more accurately.

  The position estimation device further includes positioning instruction means for instructing another mobile communication terminal of the timing of positioning in the other mobile communication terminal based on the vicinity terminal information acquired by the vicinity terminal information acquisition means. It is desirable. According to this configuration, when there are a plurality of mobile communication terminals to be position estimation targets and the other mobile communication terminals, for example, for each mobile communication terminal, when positioning is repeated uniformly Power consumption can be reduced.

  By the way, the present invention can be described as an invention of a position estimation apparatus as described below, in addition to the invention of a position estimation apparatus as described above. This is substantially the same invention only in different categories, and has the same operations and effects.

  That is, the position estimation method according to the present invention is a position estimation method for estimating the position of a mobile communication terminal, and is information on nearby terminals that obtains nearby terminal information indicating another mobile communication terminal located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal. An acquisition step, a location information acquisition step for acquiring location information indicating the location of another mobile communication terminal, and a location information acquisition step for another mobile communication terminal indicated by the proximity terminal information acquired in the proximity terminal acquisition step And a position calculating step for calculating the position of the mobile communication terminal that is a position estimation target, and an output step for outputting the position information indicating the position calculated in the position calculating step. It is characterized by that.

  According to the present invention, the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target can obtain the position information of the mobile communication terminal without performing positioning, and the mobile communication terminal having the positioning function can repeat the positioning. Power consumption can be reduced.

It is a figure which shows the function structure of the positioning server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the timing of the conventional positioning in the mobile communication terminal, and the timing of the positioning which concerns on this invention. It is a table which shows the example of the information stored in the database for space sharing determination. It is another table which shows the example of the information stored in the same space sharing determination database. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the difference in the position between the mobile communication terminals in a vehicle, and a advancing direction. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the positioning server which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process (position estimation method) performed with the positioning server which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a position estimation device and a position estimation method according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the description of the drawings, the same elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  FIG. 1 shows a positioning server 10 which is position estimation means according to this embodiment. The positioning server 10 is a device that estimates the position of the mobile communication terminal 20. The mobile communication terminal 20 is a device such as a mobile phone that is carried by a user. There are usually a plurality of mobile communication terminals 20, which are carried by each user. The mobile communication terminal 20 has a mobile communication function for performing communication by connecting to a network N which is a mobile communication network. The positioning server 10 is connected to the network N (may be included in the network N), and the positioning server 10 and the mobile communication terminal 20 can transmit / receive information to / from each other through the network N.

  The mobile communication terminal 20 has a function of automatically collecting and storing user actions. The mobile communication terminal 20 has a function of measuring the position of the terminal 20 as a function of automatically collecting user actions, that is, a positioning function. This is because the position of the mobile communication terminal 20 corresponds to the position of the user. Arbitrary methods including the existing method are used for positioning by the mobile communication terminal 20. Specifically, positioning by GPS (Global Positioning System), position estimation based on propagation delay time (RTT: RoundTrip Time) of radio waves transmitted and received between base stations of network N, self-contained navigation positioning (e.g., gyro + Acceleration sensors) and methods such as position estimation using RFID or wireless LAN are used. As the position information, for example, latitude, longitude, and altitude information indicating the position of the mobile communication terminal 20 is acquired.

  The automatic collection is performed at regular time intervals every minute, for example. Usually, in order to obtain the position information of the terminal 20 at a fixed time interval as described above, positioning by the mobile communication terminal 20 itself is required at each time interval as shown in the existing method of FIG. ing. Note that FIG. 2 shows that positioning is performed in the mobile communication terminal at the timing when the line is convex.

  In the present embodiment, the position of the mobile communication terminal 20 is estimated by using the positioning result of another mobile communication terminal 20 that is in a nearby positional relationship. For example, as shown in the proposed method of FIG. 2, the positioning server 10 causes the mobile communication terminals 20 that are in a nearby positional relationship to alternately perform positioning, and also performs positioning for the mobile communication terminals 20 that do not perform positioning. The position is estimated using the positioning result of the mobile communication terminal 20.

  Another mobile communication terminal 20 located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20 is a mobile communication terminal 20 existing in the same space as the mobile communication terminal 20 in the same vehicle or the like. In the present invention, a user of another mobile communication terminal 20 located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20 shares the same space as the user whose position is to be estimated, for example, uses the same moving means. As an example, it is used for position estimation. If the mobile communication terminals 20 share the same space, the position of one of the mobile communication terminals 20 is almost the same as the position of another mobile communication terminal 20.

  The mobile communication terminal 20 transmits information for estimating the position of the mobile communication terminal 20 by the above method to the positioning server 10. The information includes information identifying the own terminal 20 (for example, a user ID), and neighboring terminal information indicating another mobile communication terminal 20 located in the vicinity of the own terminal 20 (for example, corresponding to another mobile communication terminal 20 Information for acquiring (determining) (attached user ID) is included. This information transmission is performed when the position is estimated using the positioning result of another mobile communication terminal 20, and as described later, is performed at a predetermined timing such as a fixed time interval.

  In addition, the mobile communication terminal 20 transmits information on the positioning result of the own terminal 20 (using a positioning function such as GPS provided in the own terminal 20) used to estimate the position of another mobile communication terminal 20 to the positioning server 10. . The positioning and the transmission of the positioning result information are performed at the timing when the position of another mobile communication terminal 20 is estimated using the positioning result of the terminal 20 itself. As will be described later, this timing is controlled from the positioning server 10. However, this timing does not have to be the same timing as the transmission of information for acquiring neighboring terminal information indicating another mobile communication terminal 20 located in the vicinity of the own terminal 20.

  As information for acquiring (determining) the neighboring terminal information, specifically, information indicating the environment where the mobile communication terminal 20 is placed or the state of the user of the mobile communication terminal 20 is used. Examples of the environment in which the mobile communication terminal 20 is placed include, for example, speed, acceleration, sound (volume of sound around the mobile communication terminal 20) and temperature (temperature around the mobile communication terminal 20) applied to the mobile communication terminal 20. Information. The information indicating the state of the user of the mobile communication terminal 20 includes information indicating the user's posture and information indicating the user's brain wave. When the above information is used, the mobile communication terminal 20 includes a sensor for using the information, and acquires information by the sensor. Information indicating the user's posture and information indicating the user's brain waves are also acquired as numerical information (for example, the intensity of brain waves for each frequency) output from the sensor.

  For example, any method including an existing method is used for detecting the speed. Specifically, integration of acceleration obtained from an acceleration sensor, which will be described later, calculation of a temporal difference in position of the terminal 20 obtained by a positioning function, which will be described later, measurement using the fading frequency Fd, and base of the network N A method such as calculation is used from the switching interval of the cell ID of the station. The speed information indicating the speed is acquired by the mobile communication terminal 20 as numerical information such as speed per hour. The acceleration is detected by an acceleration sensor provided in the mobile communication terminal 20.

  When the above information is used as information for acquiring neighboring terminal information, the plurality of mobile communication terminals 20 acquire the information. In addition, information on the time when at least one piece of information is acquired is associated with the above information (as “estimated time” described later).

  In addition, as information for acquiring neighboring terminal information related to another mobile communication terminal 20 located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20, information indicating a distance between the mobile communication terminal 20 and another mobile communication terminal 20 is included. May be used. When the information is used, the mobile communication terminal 20 has a function for measuring a distance from another mobile communication terminal 20. For example, the distance is measured by using a short-range wireless technology (RFID, Bluetooth, zigbee) incorporated in the mobile communication terminal 20 and another mobile communication terminal 20. When this information is used as information for acquiring neighboring terminal information, the plurality of mobile communication terminals 20 do not necessarily need to acquire the information.

  Further, as the information for acquiring the neighboring terminal information, the position information itself indicating the position of the mobile communication terminal 20 obtained by the positioning function of the mobile communication terminal 20 may be used. The above is the function of the mobile communication terminal 20 carried by the user whose position is to be estimated.

  Subsequently, the positioning server 10 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the positioning server 10 includes the same space sharing determination database 11, a transmission / reception unit 12, a nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13, a positioning instruction unit 14, and a position calculation unit 15. .

  The space sharing determination database 11 is a database that stores information for determining whether a user carrying the mobile communication terminal 20 shares the same space, and information on determination results. Specifically, the space sharing determination database 11 stores the above information in the table shown in FIG. Information stored in the space sharing determination database 11 is input from another functional unit of the positioning server 10 and is referred to as necessary.

  As shown in FIG. 3, information of “data ID”, “estimated time”, “position estimation result”, “sensor”, and “same space determination” is stored in association with each other. The table is prepared for each user. For example, each table is associated with a user ID. Each data (data corresponding to one data ID) corresponds to one data transmitted from the mobile communication terminal 20.

  “Data ID” is information for uniquely identifying data, and is automatically given by the positioning server 10 when one piece of data is newly stored in the table. The “estimated time” is a time when any information is acquired by a sensor included in the mobile communication terminal 20. The “position estimation result” is the latitude, longitude, and altitude indicating the position of the mobile communication terminal 20 (obtained by positioning by the mobile communication terminal 20 itself). “Sensor” is information acquired by a sensor included in the mobile communication terminal 20. In the present embodiment, speed, acceleration, and sound information (“speed”, “acceleration”, and “sound” information in the table of FIG. 3) is used as the information by the sensor. However, information other than that described above, for example, information on a posture sensor or an electroencephalogram sensor may be included.

  The “same space determination” specifies the number of other mobile communication terminals 20 determined to be present in the same space as the mobile communication terminal 20 (“number of sharers”) and the other mobile communication terminal 20. Information consisting of information (“user ID”). Information (“user ID”) for specifying another mobile communication terminal 20 that is determined to be present in the same space as the mobile communication terminal 20 is the above-described neighboring terminal information.

  Among the above information, “estimated time”, “position estimation result”, and “sensor” are information received from the mobile communication terminal 20, and “same space determination” is determined by the positioning server 10 in the same space sharing determination. Information calculated or determined based on the information stored in the database 11.

  Further, as information for determining whether the user carrying the mobile communication terminal 20 shares the same space, the space sharing determination database 11 stores the above information in the table shown in FIG. To do. As shown in FIG. 4, information on “user ID” and “distance” is stored in association with each other in the table. The said table is prepared for every user and said data ID, for example, each table is matched with user ID and data ID. Each data (data corresponding to one user ID and data ID) corresponds to one data transmitted from the mobile communication terminal 20.

  “User ID” indicates another mobile communication terminal (different from the mobile communication terminal 20 that transmitted the data). The “distance” is a value indicating the distance between the mobile communication terminal 20 that has transmitted data and the other mobile communication terminal. As described above, this information is measured using, for example, a short-range wireless technology (RFID, Bluetooth, zigbee) incorporated in the mobile communication terminal 20 and another mobile communication terminal.

  The transmission / reception unit 12 is means for performing communication with the mobile communication terminal 20 and transmitting / receiving information. The transmission / reception unit 12 is position information acquisition means for acquiring position information indicating a position as a positioning result of the mobile communication terminal 20 from the mobile communication terminal 20. This position information is used to estimate the position of another mobile communication terminal 20 as described above. The transmission / reception unit 12 outputs the received position information to the position calculation unit 15.

  The transmission / reception unit 12 also functions as a neighboring terminal information obtaining unit that receives information for obtaining (determining) neighboring terminal information related to a mobile communication terminal located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20 from the mobile communication terminal 20. It is. The information for acquiring (determining) the neighboring terminal information is specifically information on “position estimation result” and “sensor” associated with “estimated time” in the table of FIG.

  Further, the request received from the mobile communication terminal 20 as information for acquiring (determining) the vicinity terminal information related to the mobile communication terminal located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20 includes the mobile communication terminal 20 shown in FIG. Information indicating the distance to another mobile communication terminal 20 is included.

  Further, the information received from the mobile communication terminal 20 includes the user ID of the mobile communication terminal 20. The transmission / reception unit 12 outputs the information received from the mobile communication terminal 20 to the same space sharing determination database 11 and stores it in the table of the same space sharing determination database 11 corresponding to the user ID. Further, when receiving the information from the mobile communication terminal 20, the transmission / reception unit 12 notifies the nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 together with the user ID.

  The transmission / reception unit 12 is an output unit that outputs the position information of the mobile communication terminal 20 estimated by the position calculation unit 15 by transmitting the position information to the mobile communication terminal 20.

  When receiving the notification of the user ID from the transmission / reception unit 12, the nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 determines whether another mobile communication terminal 20 is located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20 indicated by the user ID. The nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 performs the above determination on all other mobile communication terminals 20 from which information has been acquired. The nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 acquires information for specifying another mobile communication terminal 20 that is determined to be located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20. As described above, the neighboring terminal information acquisition unit 13 is a neighboring terminal information acquisition unit (one function) that acquires neighboring terminal information. At that time, the number of other mobile communication terminals 20 determined to be located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20 may be counted to obtain information indicating the number of other mobile communication terminals located in the vicinity.

  The nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 refers to the information stored in the space sharing determination database 11 and makes the above determination. The nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 calculates an index value indicating the possibility that another mobile communication terminal 20 is located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20, compares the index value with a threshold value, and calculates the index value. Is determined to be located in the vicinity when it is determined that is greater than the threshold. As the threshold value, a value that can be appropriately determined as a neighborhood is set in advance and stored in the neighborhood terminal information acquisition unit 13.

  When the information shown in the table of FIG. 3 is used, the determination is performed using information of another mobile communication terminal 20 (with a user ID). The information used for the above determination is the latest one or more data in FIG. The number of information used for determination is determined in advance. As will be described later, when the amount of change is used for determination, a plurality of data is used. The same number of data is used for another mobile communication terminal 20 to be compared.

  Here, the “estimated time” of the data of the mobile communication terminal 20 that is the target of position estimation is compared with the “estimated time” of the corresponding data of another mobile communication terminal 20 that is the target of comparison. The comparison may be performed only when the difference is within a predetermined value. The above determination (index value calculation) is specifically performed as follows.

  The distance between the mobile communication terminals 20 is calculated from the “position estimation result” information, and the index value is calculated from the distance. Since the distance becomes smaller as the distance between the mobile communication terminals 20 becomes closer, the index value is calculated by, for example, reversing the positive / negative or taking the reciprocal. Further, a plurality of changes in the estimated position are calculated from a plurality of “position estimation results”, a correlation value (correlation coefficient) between the mobile communication terminals 20 of the change is calculated, and the correlation value is used as an index. It may be a value.

  In addition, the values of a plurality of sensors and the amount of change of the plurality of values regarding the “speed”, “acceleration”, and “sound”, which are information of sensors provided in the mobile communication terminal 20, are calculated, and their correlation values ( The correlation coefficient may be calculated as an index value. This is because if the mobile communication terminals 20 are located in the vicinity and are located in the same space, the values and the tendency of the values are the same. Furthermore, as sensor information, in addition to the above information, information indicating the user's posture, information indicating the user's brain wave, and the like may be used for calculating the index value (in this case, such as “speed”). Correlation values are calculated in the same way as information).

  When the information shown in the table of FIG. 4 is used, it is not necessary to use information of another mobile communication terminal 20. In that case, an index value is calculated from the distance for each different user ID. Similarly to the above, the distance becomes smaller as the distance between the mobile communication terminals 20 becomes closer. Therefore, for example, the index value is calculated by reversing the positive / negative or taking the reciprocal. When a plurality of (time-series) distance information can be used, a correlation value between the mobile communication terminals 20 of the distance change amount may be calculated, and the correlation value may be used as an index value.

  When the determination for all other mobile communication terminals 20 that can be determined is completed, the nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 determines that the mobile terminal 20 is determined to be positioned in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20 whose position is to be estimated. Is stored in the “number of sharers” column of the table shown in FIG. Also, the nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 sets the user ID of another mobile communication terminal 20 that is determined to be located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20 as the “user ID” in the table shown in FIG. Store in the column. Further, the nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 notifies the positioning instruction unit 14 together with the user ID of the mobile communication terminal 20 that the nearby terminal information has been acquired.

  In the above description, a plurality of index values have been described for determining the neighborhood, but any one index value may be used for determination. In addition, when a plurality of index values are used, for example, when three or more index values out of the five index values are larger than the threshold value, it may be determined that they are in the vicinity. Alternatively, a plurality of index values may be summed and handled as one index value.

  The nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 may also acquire positional relationship information indicating the positional relationship between the mobile communication terminals 20 that are considered to be in the proximity relationship. The positional relationship is, for example, a difference in position of the mobile communication terminal 20 and is calculated from the “position estimation result” of each mobile communication terminal 20. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, it is assumed that the mobile communication terminal 20 a and the mobile communication terminal 20 b are located in a vehicle (moving means such as a bus, a train, and an automobile) 30. The neighboring terminal information acquisition unit 13 uses the one mobile communication terminal 20a as a reference, and calculates the difference in the position of the other mobile communication terminal 20b based on the “position estimation result” information of each of the mobile communication terminals 20a and 20b. ,calculate. The position differences | X | and | Y | are indicated by an angle α with respect to an absolute coordinate axis (the axis in the “north” direction shown in FIG. 5 and the same as the coordinate axis of the “position estimation result”). This is the difference in position of each mobile communication terminal 20a, 20b with respect to the traveling direction of the vehicle. | X | is a difference in a direction perpendicular to the traveling direction, and | Y | is a difference in a direction parallel to the traveling direction.

As shown in FIG. 5, since the traveling direction of the vehicle 30 changes according to the time, the correction vector (vector x, vector y shown in FIG. 5) on the absolute coordinate axes at each time changes. However, if the user of each mobile communication terminal 20a, 20b does not move within the vehicle 30, | X | and | Y | are unchanged. When the relationship is as shown in FIG. 5, the correction vector from the position of the mobile communication terminal 20a to the position of the mobile communication terminal 20b is expressed by the following mathematical formula.

  Note that the information indicating the traveling direction is included in the positional relationship information, and is calculated from, for example, the time change of the “position estimation result” of either of the mobile communication terminals 20a and 20b. The nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 also stores the calculated positional relationship information in the space sharing determination database 11 (not shown). Moreover, you may acquire the output value of the direction sensor (gyro etc.) incorporated in either mobile communication terminal 20a, 20b as information which shows a traveling direction.

  The positioning instructing unit 14 refers to the space sharing determination database 11 for each mobile communication terminal 20 that is determined to be in the proximity relationship based on the neighboring terminal information acquired by the neighboring terminal information acquiring unit 13. Thus, it is positioning instruction means for instructing the timing of positioning in each mobile communication terminal 20. The positioning instruction unit 14 instructs the timing of positioning in each mobile communication terminal 20 so that the positioning timings of the mobile communication terminals 20 determined to be in the proximity relationship do not overlap each other as shown in the proposed method of FIG. To do. For example, the mobile communication terminal 20 is instructed to perform positioning sequentially for each positioning interval. The positioning timing is instructed by transmitting a control signal from the positioning instruction unit 14 (via the transmission / reception unit 12) to each mobile communication terminal 20 that is determined to be in the proximity relationship.

  The position calculation unit 15 is a position calculation unit that calculates the position of the mobile communication terminal 20b. The position calculation unit 15 calculates the position of the mobile communication terminal 20 b based on the nearby terminal information acquired by the nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 and stored in the space sharing determination database 11. The position calculation unit 15 receives the position of the mobile communication terminal 20b to be estimated from the position information about another mobile communication terminal 20a indicated by the nearby terminal information received by the transmission / reception unit 12 and input to the position calculation unit 15. Calculate the position. Here, for convenience, the mobile communication terminal 20a is assumed to be the mobile communication terminal 20 from which position information has been acquired, and the mobile communication terminal 20b is assumed to be the position estimation target mobile communication terminal 20. In general, each mobile communication terminal 20 can be both a mobile communication terminal 20a from which position information is acquired and a mobile communication terminal 20 that is a position estimation target.

  Specifically, the position calculation unit 15 uses the position information of the mobile communication terminal 20a in the nearby positional relationship as the position information of the mobile communication terminal 20b that is the position estimation target. That is, the position of the mobile communication terminal 20a in the nearby positional relationship is set as the position of the mobile communication terminal 20b to be estimated.

  In the position estimation method described above, the difference in position between the mobile communication terminals 20a and 20b is not taken into consideration, but the position information of the mobile communication terminal 20a in the nearby positional relationship is corrected, and the estimation target and It is also possible to estimate the position of the mobile communication terminal 20b. That is, correction is performed from the positional relationship information acquired by the nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13 and stored in the space sharing determination database 11. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, from the traveling direction α of the vehicle 30 and the position difference | X |, | Y | calculated by the nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13, the above equation (1) is obtained. The correction vector is calculated based on this. The traveling direction α of the vehicle 30 is obtained, for example, by a change in the position of the mobile communication terminal 20a with time. The position calculation unit 15 stores in advance formulas and rules for estimating the position of the mobile communication terminal 20b, and estimates the position according to the stored information.

  Note that the information about the traveling direction is not necessarily acquired and used for correction when it is considered that the positional relationship between the mobile communication terminals 20 does not change due to the traveling direction. In this case, only the position difference is acquired and used for correction.

  The position calculation unit 15 estimates positions of all mobile communication terminals 20b that are in a proximity relationship with the mobile communication terminal 20a from the position information of the mobile communication terminal 20a from which the position information has been acquired. The information on the estimated position is the latitude, longitude, and altitude indicating the position as in the “position estimation result” in the space sharing determination database 11. The position calculation unit 15 outputs the estimated position information of each mobile communication terminal 20b to the transmission / reception unit 12 for transmission to each mobile communication terminal 20b. The functional configuration of the positioning server 10 has been described above.

  FIG. 6 shows a hardware configuration of the positioning server 10. As shown in FIG. 6, the positioning server 10 includes a CPU 101, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 102 and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 103, which are main storage devices, a communication module 104 for performing communication, and an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk. The computer is configured to include a computer having hardware such as 105. The functions of the positioning server 10 described above are exhibited when these components are operated by a program or the like. The above is the description of the positioning server 10.

  Subsequently, a process (position estimation method) executed by the positioning server 10 according to the present embodiment will be described using the flowchart of FIG. In this process, the information shown in the table of FIG. 3 is also transmitted to the positioning server 10 from a mobile communication terminal 20 different from the mobile communication terminal 20 whose position is to be estimated, and the same space sharing determination database of the positioning server 10 11. Each mobile communication terminal 20 can be both a mobile communication terminal 20 whose position is to be estimated and another mobile communication terminal 20. Information for determining neighboring terminal information is transmitted from the mobile communication terminal 20 that is the position estimation target to the positioning server 10. As described above, this information is information acquired by a sensor or the like included in the mobile communication terminal 20.

  First, in the positioning server 10, the transmission / reception unit 12 receives information from the mobile communication terminal 20 (S01, neighboring terminal information acquisition step). Each received information is stored in the space sharing determination database 11 by the transmission / reception unit 12 (S02). Subsequently, the transmission / reception unit 12 notifies the neighboring terminal information acquisition unit 13 that the information from the mobile communication terminal 20 has been received.

  Here, the number of other mobile communication terminals 20 (same space sharing number n) located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20 whose position is to be estimated is initialized (n = 0) by the nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13. . Subsequently, the neighboring terminal information acquisition unit 13 specifies neighboring terminal information as follows. First, the information stored in the space sharing determination database 11 is referred to by the neighboring terminal information acquisition unit 13, and the position between the mobile communication terminal 20 that is the position estimation target and any other mobile communication terminal 20. Is calculated (S03, neighboring terminal information acquisition step).

  Subsequently, the calculated index value is compared with the threshold value by the neighboring terminal information acquisition unit 13 (S04, neighboring terminal information acquisition step). When it is determined by the comparison that the index value is larger than the threshold value, it is determined that the other mobile communication terminal 20 is located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20. If it judges in this way, user ID of the other mobile communication terminal 20 will be memorized by neighborhood terminal information acquisition part 13 as neighborhood terminal information (S05, neighborhood terminal information acquisition step). In addition, the same space sharing number n is increased by 1 (n = n + 1). If it is determined by the comparison that the index value is not larger than the threshold value, it is not determined that the other mobile communication terminal 20 is located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20, and the user ID of the other mobile communication terminal 20 is determined. Is not stored as neighboring terminal information. As described above, a plurality of index values may be calculated based on a plurality of types of information stored in the same space sharing determination database 11, and the above determination may be made.

  When it is determined that another mobile communication terminal 20 is located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal 20, the positional relationship information indicating the positional relationship between these mobile communication terminals 20 is calculated by the nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13. May be. The positional relationship information can be calculated when the position information of each mobile communication terminal is acquired as described above. The calculated positional relationship information is stored in the space sharing determination database 11 in association with a set of user IDs of the respective mobile communication terminals 20.

  Subsequently, the neighboring terminal information acquisition unit 13 judges whether the above determination (S03 to S05) has been completed with all the other mobile communication terminals 20 that can calculate the index value (S06, neighboring terminal). Information acquisition step). If the above determination is not completed with all the other mobile communication terminals 20, if it is determined by the nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13, the index value for the other mobile communication terminals 20 is similar to the above. Calculation (S03), determination using index values (S04, S05) is performed, and it is determined again whether the above determinations (S03 to S05) have been completed with all other mobile communication terminals 20. (S06).

  When the above-mentioned determination is completed with all the other mobile communication terminals 20, when it is determined by the nearby terminal information acquisition unit 13, the result is reflected in the same space sharing determination database 11. That is, the same-space sharing number n counted in the “number of shared persons” column of “same space determination” in the table of the same space sharing determination database 11 by the neighboring terminal information acquisition unit 13 is the “user ID” field. The user IDs of other mobile communication terminals 20 determined to be in the vicinity are respectively stored. Subsequently, the neighboring terminal information acquisition unit 13 notifies the positioning instruction unit 14 that the neighboring terminal information has been acquired.

  Subsequently, the positioning instruction unit 14 instructs each mobile communication terminal 20 on the timing of positioning based on the neighboring terminal information (S07, positioning instruction step). As shown in the proposed method of FIG. 2, the positioning timing instructed here is a timing at which any one of a plurality of mobile communication terminals 20 in a proximity relationship performs positioning at predetermined positioning timings. It is. Therefore, each mobile communication terminal 20 to which an instruction is given has different positioning timings. The above-mentioned predetermined timing is, for example, a fixed interval timing at which the above-described user behavior is automatically collected in the mobile communication terminal 20 (for example, every minute). Note that the number of positioning per unit can be reduced as the number of mobile communication terminals 20 determined to share the same space increases.

  Each mobile communication terminal 20 receives an instruction from the positioning server 10 (the positioning instruction unit 14 thereof), and measures the position of the own terminal 20 by the positioning function of the own terminal 20 at the timing according to the instruction. Position information that is a positioning result of the mobile communication terminal 20 is transmitted from the mobile communication terminal 20 to the positioning server 10. In the positioning server 10, the position information is received by the transmission / reception unit 12 (S08, position information acquisition step). The received position information is output to the position calculation unit 15.

  Subsequently, the position calculation unit 15 estimates the position of the mobile communication terminal 20 based on the position information from the transmission / reception unit 12 (S09, position calculation step). Here, the estimated position is the position of another mobile communication terminal 20 that is determined to have a positional relationship with the mobile communication terminal 20 related to the position information. The proximity relationship between the mobile communication terminals 20 is determined based on the proximity terminal information stored in the space sharing determination database 11. When the positional relationship information between the mobile communication terminals 20 is calculated by the neighboring terminal information acquisition unit 13, the positional relationship information is used to correct the positional information, and the mobile communication of the position estimation target The position of the terminal 20 is calculated.

  The calculated position information indicating the position of the mobile communication terminal 20 is output from the position calculation unit 15 to the transmission / reception unit 12. Subsequently, the position information is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 12 to the mobile communication terminal 20 that is the position estimation target (S10, output step). The above is the process executed by the positioning server 10 according to the present embodiment.

  The position information reception (S08), position calculation (S09), and transmission (S10) are performed each time position information is received from any mobile communication terminal 20 in the positioning server 10. In addition, the process of determining whether to share the same space (S01 to S07) is performed every time information is received from the mobile communication terminal 20 in the positioning server 10. That is, the processes of S01 to S07 and the processes of S08 to S10 are a series of processes in FIG. 7, but are independent of each other.

  Since the present invention aims to reduce the number of times of positioning processing of each mobile communication terminal 20 as shown in FIG. 2, reception of position information (S08), calculation of position (S09) and transmission ( The processing interval of S10) is set shorter than the processing of the same space sharing determination (S01 to S07). For example, position information reception (S08), position calculation (S09), and transmission (S10) are performed every minute (that is, any one of a plurality of mobile communication terminals 20 having a proximity relationship every minute). The location information is transmitted from the mobile communication terminal 20 every 5 minutes (ie, the location information is transmitted from the mobile communication terminals 20 every 5 minutes). Information is sent).

  In the positioning server 10 according to the present embodiment, the position information of the mobile communication terminal 20 different from the position estimation target indicated by the nearby terminal information is acquired, and the mobile communication that is the position estimation target based on the position information. The position of the terminal 20 is calculated. As described above, if positioning is performed in one of the mobile communication terminals 20 in the proximity relationship and transmitted to the positioning server 10, positioning is not performed in the other mobile communication terminals 20. The position information of the mobile communication terminal 20 can be obtained. The mobile communication terminal 20 can receive the position information related to the own terminal 20 from the positioning server 10 in the same manner as the repeated positioning without repeating the positioning in the own terminal 20 (reducing the number of positioning). . Thereby, according to the positioning server 10 which concerns on this embodiment, the power consumption at the time of the repetition of positioning of the mobile communication terminal 20 which has a positioning function can be reduced.

  In addition, when each mobile communication terminal 20 is configured to transmit the positioning result of its own terminal 20 to the positioning server 10, in this embodiment, the mobile communication terminal 20 is transmitted from only one of the mobile communication terminals 20 in the proximity relationship. As a result, the amount of uplink communication to the positioning server 10 can be reduced, and the load on the network can be reduced. That is, in the case shown in FIG. 2, each mobile communication terminal 20 transmits the positioning result to the positioning server three times in the existing method, but only one or two times in the method according to the present invention.

  Further, according to the method of the present invention, even if positioning is not performed in the mobile communication terminal 20, the position can be estimated as long as it can be determined that the environment is the same. Therefore, a positioning function (for example, GPS) is provided. It is possible to estimate the position even if the terminal is not. Further, according to the present embodiment, it is not necessary to provide a special function such as addition of a wireless transmission device to the vehicle itself such as a bus or a train, and the position can be estimated.

  In addition, by using position information and sensor information to determine whether another mobile communication terminal 20 is located in the vicinity, another mobile communication terminal is provided in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal that is the target of position estimation appropriately and reliably. Can be acquired, and the present invention can be implemented reliably.

  In addition, as in the present embodiment, the mobile communication terminal 20 and another mobile communication terminal 20 are used to use a short-range wireless technology, and the mobile communication terminal 20 acquired by the mobile communication terminal 20 is different from the mobile communication terminal 20. Based on the information on the distance to the terminal 20, it may be determined whether another mobile communication terminal 20 is located in the vicinity. Also by this method, it is possible to acquire information as to whether another mobile communication terminal exists in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal whose position is to be estimated appropriately and reliably, and the present invention can be reliably implemented. .

  Further, if the positional relationship information is used when estimating the position as in the present embodiment, the position of the mobile communication terminal 20 that is the position estimation target can be accurately estimated. However, when an accurate position is not necessary, the correction using the positional relationship information is not necessarily performed.

  In addition, if the positioning timing of each mobile communication terminal 20 is controlled as in the present embodiment, when there are a plurality of mobile communication terminals 20 that are positions to be estimated and perform positioning, for example, For the mobile communication terminal 20, it is possible to reduce power consumption even when positioning is repeated.

  In the present embodiment, the position of the mobile communication terminal 20 is estimated by the mobile communication terminal 20 itself, but the position estimation calculation (positioning calculation) may be performed in the positioning server 10. That is, information for performing a positioning calculation (for example, information related to reception of a signal from a GPS satellite or information indicating an RTT for communication with a base station) is transmitted from the mobile communication terminal 20 to the positioning server 10. Then, the positioning calculation may be performed based on the information in the positioning server 10. Further, the positioning timing instruction by the positioning instruction unit 14 includes a timing instruction to acquire information for performing the above positioning calculation.

  In the present embodiment, the estimated position information is transmitted to the mobile communication terminal 20, but may be used for other purposes. For example, it may be used in the positioning server 10 as described above.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Positioning server, 11 ... Same space sharing determination database, 12 ... Transmission / reception unit, 13 ... Neighborhood terminal information acquisition unit, 14 ... Positioning instruction unit, 15 ... Position calculation unit, 101 ... CPU, 102 ... RAM, 103 ... ROM 104, communication module, 105, auxiliary storage device, 20, mobile communication terminal, 30, vehicle, N, network.

Claims (8)

A position estimation device for estimating a position of a mobile communication terminal,
Neighboring terminal information acquisition means for acquiring neighboring terminal information indicating another mobile communication terminal located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal;
Position information acquisition means for acquiring position information indicating the position of the other mobile communication terminal;
Based on the position information acquired by the position information acquisition means for another mobile communication terminal indicated by the vicinity terminal information acquired by the vicinity terminal acquisition means, the position of the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target is determined. Position calculating means for calculating;
Output means for outputting position information indicating the position calculated by the position calculating means;
A position estimation apparatus comprising:   The proximity terminal information acquisition means includes an environment in which the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target is placed, information indicating the state of the user of the mobile communication terminal acquired by the mobile communication terminal, and the separate movement Information indicating the environment in which the communication terminal is placed or the state of the user of the mobile communication terminal acquired by the other mobile communication terminal is acquired, and the position of the other mobile communication terminal is determined based on the information. The position estimation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether or not the mobile communication terminal is located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal to be estimated.   The neighboring terminal information acquisition unit acquires position information indicating a position of the mobile communication terminal to be the position estimation target and position information indicating a position of the other mobile communication terminal, and based on these position information The position estimation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein it is determined whether or not the another mobile communication terminal is located in the vicinity of the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target.   The neighboring terminal information acquisition unit acquires information indicating a distance between the mobile communication terminal to be the position estimation target and another communication terminal, and based on this information, the other mobile communication terminal detects the position. 4. The position estimation device according to claim 1, wherein the position estimation device determines whether or not the mobile communication terminal is in the vicinity of the estimation target. The neighboring terminal information acquisition means acquires positional relationship information indicating a positional relationship between the mobile communication terminal to be a position estimation target and the other mobile communication terminal,
The position calculation means calculates the position of the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target based also on the positional relationship information acquired by the neighboring terminal information acquisition means.
The position estimation apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the position estimation apparatus includes: The positional relationship information includes information indicating a traveling direction of at least one of the mobile communication terminal and the other mobile communication terminal that are targets of the position estimation,
The position information acquisition means is at least one of the mobile communication terminal to be estimated for the position and the other mobile communication terminal when the other mobile communication terminal is located at the position indicated by the position information. Information that indicates the direction of travel,
The position calculation means calculates the position of the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target based also on information indicating the traveling direction acquired by the position information acquisition means.
The position estimation apparatus according to claim 5, wherein   The positioning instruction means for instructing another mobile communication terminal of the timing of positioning in the other mobile communication terminal based on the vicinity terminal information acquired by the vicinity terminal information acquisition means. The position estimation apparatus as described in any one of -7. A position estimation method for estimating a position of a mobile communication terminal,
A neighboring terminal information obtaining step of obtaining neighboring terminal information indicating another mobile communications terminal located in the vicinity of the mobile communications terminal;
A position information acquisition step of acquiring position information indicating the position of the other mobile communication terminal;
Based on the position information acquired in the position information acquisition step for another mobile communication terminal indicated by the vicinity terminal information acquired in the vicinity terminal acquisition step, the position of the mobile communication terminal that is the position estimation target is determined. A position calculating step to calculate;
An output step of outputting position information indicating the position calculated in the position calculating step;
A position estimation method including:

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