JP4088961B2 - Junction support apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a merging support apparatus and method, and more particularly to a merging support apparatus and method for supporting a member who is acting without assuming a merging with a specific partner.
[0002]
[Prior art]
There is known a system that guides a plurality of vehicles heading from the different starting points to the same destination to an optimal joining point (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-243596 A
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, such a system guides multiple people (vehicles) acting on the premise of merging with a specific opponent to the optimal merging point, so without assuming merging with a specific opponent. It cannot support the merging of members of a group that is acting.
An object of the present invention is to provide a merging support device that can support merging of members of a group who are acting without assuming merging with a specific partner.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
  According to the present invention, information is transmitted to a plurality of members having mobile terminals connected through a network and registered in an identifiable manner through the mobile terminals, thereby supporting the joining of the members. A confluence support device,
  Search means for searching for members who can join from the members;
  Information transmitting means for transmitting predetermined information regarding other members that can be joined to the mobile terminal possessed by the detected member that can join;
  The search means searches for a member that can be joined based on the position of the mobile terminal, and when a plurality of mobile terminals are positioned at substantially the same position,To positionHave multiple mobile devicesDo not search between members,
  A merging support device is provided.
  Note that “having a mobile terminal” refers to a vehicle in which a navigation device with a communication function is attached in addition to a case where a member has (or wears) a mobile terminal phone, a PDA, etc. Including the case of boarding.
  According to the present invention having such a configuration, members that can be joined are searched for from among the members of the group carrying (carrying) the registered mobile terminal, so that appropriate joining is supported.
[0005]
  According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the search means is a member possessing a mobile terminal located within a predetermined distance from the specified position.And members excluding the member possessing the mobile terminal located at substantially the same position as the specified positionSearch as a member who can join.
[0006]
According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the search means can receive a setting from the mobile terminal that a member possessing the mobile terminal does not need join support, Exclude members who have mobile terminals that are set as requiring no merge support from the search.
According to such a configuration, when a member of the group does not wish to join, by setting the information transmission means that transmission of information related to the joining is not required, the group members are excluded from the target of joining support. It can come off.
[0007]
According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the search means can receive a setting of a merging purpose of a member possessing the mobile terminal from the mobile terminal, and the merging purpose is common. Make members joinable members. According to such a configuration, it is supported to join with a partner who has the same purpose of joining, such as wanting a partner to eat together. Preferably, the merging purpose is at least one of moving together, eating and drinking together, merging, and position information transmission.
[0008]
According to another preferred aspect of the present invention, the search means can receive the setting of a member to be searched for the set merging purpose from the mobile terminal, and the set merging Search for joinable members from the search targets set for each purpose. According to such a configuration, information on members who surely meet the purpose of joining is provided.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram schematically showing a configuration of a merging support system including a merging support device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, in this merging support system, a plurality of mobile terminals such as a mobile terminal (PDA) 1 or a mobile phone 2, an in-vehicle navigation device 3 having a communication function, etc. are connected to a network 4. It is connected. An information center 6 is connected to the network 4. The information center 6 stores a host computer, a customer database in which customer information is stored, a merge support database that receives and sets conditions related to merge, and traffic information such as road information and a railway timetable. It is equipped with a traffic information database, etc., and functions as a merge support device. A personal computer 8 is also connected to the network 4.
[0012]
The mobile terminals 1, 2, 3 are configured to detect the current position by GPS or the like and notify the information center 6 of the current position. In the present embodiment, the mobile terminal constantly notifies the current position, but may be configured to notify the current position in response to a request from the information center 6 at a predetermined time interval. Furthermore, the mobile terminals 1, 2, and 3 are provided with a display screen capable of displaying images such as characters and input keys.
[0013]
This merging support system is a merging support system that supports the merging of members by transmitting information to a plurality of members registered in advance via a mobile terminal. This system searches for other members that can join in response to an instruction from a member, and supports manual mode join support that supports joins and multiple members that have been accepted and saved in advance. When a search condition for search is established, a search is made for a plurality of members that can join based on this condition, and automatic mode join support that supports join is performed.
[0014]
In manual mode merge support, for example, a signal for a mobile unit requesting a merge support request that a group member wants to join another member of the group for a predetermined merge purpose, such as “meal together”. The terminal 1 (or 2 etc.) transmits to the information center 6 that functions as a confluence support device and becomes a sender. In response to this request signal, whether the information center (joining support device) 6 is close to other members based on the current position of the mobile terminals 1, 2, 3 possessed by each member of the group. Further, it is determined whether there is a member that meets the purpose of joining the sender among the found members. Then, when the member is found, the information that the sender who wants to join is near is transmitted to the member, and the member (receiver) who received the communication accepts that the sender joins the sender. , Information including information that the receiver accepting the merge is nearby is transmitted to the sender.
[0015]
In the automatic mode merge support, for example, when a search condition such as 5pm to 6pm on Sunday that is set and stored in advance is satisfied, it is registered within a set range (for example, a range of 2 km from the xx station). Based on other search conditions such as whether or not multiple mobile terminals owned by the selected member are located, a search for members that can join is automatically performed, and a plurality of members that can join can be found. Then, information that a member who can join is found is transmitted to the mobile terminal of the member who can join.
[0016]
Next, the initial setting performed for the information center 6 will be described. First, initial settings common to all members will be described. FIG. 2 shows a screen (joining condition setting: member common setting) displayed at the time of initial setting common to the members. The initial setting common to the members is that, for example, one of the members of the group represents the group and uses the personal computer 8 or the like at home from the personal computer 8 or the like via the network 4 before using the confluence support device. Center) 6 is performed. This setting can also be performed from the mobile terminals 1, 2, and 3.
[0017]
As shown in FIG. 2, in the initial setting common to all members of this embodiment, the “member” of the group to be joined support, the “purpose & transmission message” that is the joining purpose, and the “join member search” The “range” and the “end timing” of the merge support are set. The target members may be members of any group such as circles, clubs, tennis friends, company colleagues, drinking friends.
In “Member”, for each member who uses confluence support, a member name (or nickname) such as “Taro Taro” is associated with the identification number (ID) of the mobile terminal carried by the member. be registered. The identification number (ID) is used for the information center 6 to identify the owner of each mobile terminal and notify information related to the merge when the position of each mobile terminal is specified at the time of merge support. E-mail addresses, mobile phone numbers, etc. are preferably used.
[0018]
In the “purpose & transmission message setting”, the merging purpose is freely set according to the characteristics of the group. For example, if you are a company colleague and a drinking companion is a member, for example, as shown in Figure 2, you can “meal / drink together” and “join together” Commuting / returning home ”,“ passing in! ”To ask a person traveling by car to ride together, and“ other () ”to be entered each time each member uses it. Other setting examples include “move together”, “meal together”, “join”, and “position information transmission”. If the group is a tennis companion, the purpose of “tennis together” (not shown) is set. The merging purpose set in this way is displayed on the display screen of the mobile terminal as a merging purpose option when the group members use the merging support system, as will be described later.
[0019]
Furthermore, in the “joining member search range”, it is set which member is in the search target range. In the illustrated example, “3 km” is set as the standard setting. By setting in this way, at the time of merging support, members within 3 km from the reference point specified by the sender are candidates for the receiver. In addition, the present embodiment is configured so that a search range can be set for each merging purpose by default. In the example of FIG. 2, the search range is a reference point for the merging purpose of “meal / drink together”. The search range is from the reference point to “200 meters” from the reference point, and the search range is the reference point for the join purpose of “Join now!” To "5km".
[0020]
Further, at the “end timing”, it is set at which point the merge support ends. If “5 minutes later” is set as shown in FIG. 2, the search is performed for 5 minutes after the start of the merge support, and then the merge support ends. In addition, there are options such as “until returning home”.
[0021]
Next, the initial setting for each member performed for the information center 6 will be described. FIG. 3 shows a screen (joining condition setting: member member) displayed at the time of initial setting for each member. The initial setting for each member is that each member registered in the initial setting common to the members uses the network 4 from the personal computer 8 at home before using the merging support device after the initial setting common to the members. This is a setting to be made to the merging support device 6 via This setting can also be performed from the mobile terminals 1, 2, and 3.
[0022]
As shown in FIG. 3, “transmission condition” and “reception condition” are set in the initial setting for each member of this embodiment. “Transmission condition” is a condition when the member becomes a “sender” and searches for other members who have the desired purpose of joining, and “Receiving condition” means that other members meet the purpose of joining. This is a condition that determines what kind of search is to be performed, that is, what kind of search is targeted.
[0023]
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, in “Transmission condition”, “Confluence start condition” is “Start only with manual setting”, “Manual + automatic start”, and “Confluence support system are used. “No” is selected.
“Start only with manual setting” means that when the member requests to search for other members (recipients) who want to join using the mobile terminals 1, 2, and 3, the member is the sender. This item is used to select a manual transmission mode in which merge support is started.
[0024]
In addition to “manual + automatic start”, in addition to the manual transmission mode, a predetermined condition preset by the member (for example, 18:00 to 19:00 on Saturday) is stored, and when this condition is satisfied, This is an item for selecting an automatic transmission mode in which join support with the member as a sender is automatically started. The predetermined condition is set in an item “automatic start condition setting” to be described later.
Furthermore, “Do not use the merge support system” is an item for the member to select not to use the merge support system as a sender.
[0025]
Furthermore, the “automatic start condition” is set. “Automatic start condition” is a condition for automatically starting the merge support. As described above, “Manual + automatic start” is selected in “Merge start condition”, and the automatic reception mode is set. It will be set when selected. When the joining start condition set here is satisfied, the joining support device 6 automatically starts searching for members that can join based on the joining start condition.
[0026]
In this embodiment, a plurality of conditions can be set in parallel as shown in FIG. 3 as “Setting 1”, “Setting 2”, and “Setting 3”. In this embodiment, in each setting, a member who is a setting person sets “purpose setting”, “day setting”, “time setting”, “receiving member setting”, “location setting”, and “other setting”. And specify the content of the merge support (search conditions for members that can be merged) to be started as a sender.
[0027]
In the purpose setting, the desired joining purpose in “Setting 1” is simply “nobody?”, “Meal / drink together”, “commute / go home together”, “request to ride together!” From the “other ()” that can be arbitrarily set by the setter, the member selects one of the desired joining purposes. The merging purpose exemplified in this screen is basically the merging purpose set in the “initial setting common to all members”.
[0028]
Also, “Day of Week” and “Time” for starting the search for other members that can join are set as the search start date and time desired by the member in “Day of Week Setting” and “Time Setting”. If the purpose of joining is “Food / Drink together”, for example, “Friday” from “19:00 to 20:00”, and if the purpose of joining is “Commuter / go home together”, for example, “Monday to Friday” If “18:00 to 19:00” is set and the purpose of joining is “other (tennis)”, for example, “Sunday” “10:00 to 11:00”, the day of the week and time suitable for the purpose of joining Will be set.
[0029]
Further, in the “reception member setting”, other members that are desired to be searched for members that can be merged are set by the merge support based on “setting 1”. This is to select other members that meet the merging purpose selected in the “purpose setting”. Other members selected in this item are candidates for recipients when merge support is performed in the automatic transmission mode based on “Setting 1”. Therefore, members who are not selected in this “Receiving member setting” are not subject to the merging support in the merging support based on “setting 1” even if they meet other conditions, and the sender joins. Information that you are looking for a candidate is not transmitted.
[0030]
Next, when performing automatic mode merge support based on “setting 1” in “place setting”, the center (reference point) of the range (region) to search for other members that can be merged is set, for example, “○ × Station Set as “Nearby”. The search range (regional condition) is a range from the reference point set in this way, with the distance determined by “member common setting” as the radius.
[0031]
Finally, “other settings”, for example, only when “communication device (mobile phone) is not in silent mode and ON”, that is, when the member is ready to respond to the merge support, etc. To complete the setting of “Setting 1”. If necessary, settings after “Setting 2” having a different content from “Setting 1” are performed, and the transmission condition setting is completed.
[0032]
Next, “reception conditions” are set. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, in the setting of “reception condition”, “join start condition” is “receive only with manual setting”, “manual + automatic receive” and “join support system”. "Do not use" is selected.
[0033]
“Reception only by manual setting” is an item for selecting a manual reception mode in which the transmission of information indicating that the sender is looking for a confluence is received only when the member desires. When this item is selected, information that the sender is looking for a confluence is displayed only when the mobile support terminal is instructed to receive the information to the confluence support device (conjunction information). Will receive the communication.
[0034]
In addition to the manual reception mode, “manual + automatic reception” is information indicating that the sender is looking for a confluence when a predetermined condition (for example, 18:00 to 19:00 on Saturday) is satisfied. This is an item for selecting an automatic reception mode in which information) can be automatically received. This predetermined condition is set in an item of “automatic reception condition setting” to be described later.
[0035]
Furthermore, “Do not use the merge support system” is an item for the member to select not to participate in merge support as a recipient. When this item is selected, until the item is deselected, information indicating that the sender is looking for the conjoiner (confluence information) is not communicated to the member, and further to other members Information about this member is deleted from the merge information sent.
[0036]
Next, “automatic reception conditions” are set. The “automatic reception condition” is a joining condition acceptable by this member, and is set when the automatic reception mode is selected by “manual + automatic start” in “reception condition”. In this embodiment, a plurality of conditions can be set in parallel as shown in FIG. 3 as “Setting 1”, “Setting 2”, and “Setting 3”. In this embodiment, in each setting, each member has each item of “purpose setting”, “day setting”, “time setting”, “receiving member setting”, “location setting”, and “other setting”. Set up.
[0037]
In the present embodiment, in the “purpose setting” of “setting 1”, acceptable confluence purposes are received, “all transmissions from members are received”, “meals / drinks are received together”, “commuting / returns together are received” ”,“ Receive boarding request is received ”, and“ Other () ”that can be arbitrarily set by the setter. In other words, when “meal / drink together” is selected, a search is made for members who can join for the purpose of “meal / drink together”. The merging purpose displayed on this screen is basically the merging purpose set in the initial setting common to all members.
[0038]
In “day setting” and “time setting”, the day of the week and time for receiving based on “setting 1” are set. If the purpose of joining is “Food / Drink together”, for example, “Friday” from “19:00 to 20:00”, and if the purpose of joining is “Commuter / go home together”, for example, “Monday to Friday” If “18:00 to 19:00” and the purpose of joining is “other (tennis)”, for example, “Sunday” “10:00 to 11:00” is selected and set according to the purpose. become.
[0039]
Further, in the “reception member setting”, in the reception mode based on “setting 1”, a member who accepts joining is selected and set. This is because the member (sender) who accepts the merge is selected in accordance with the purpose selected in the “purpose setting”. When joining support is performed in the automatic reception mode based on “Setting 1”, the member selected in this item becomes a partner who accepts joining.
[0040]
Next, in “place setting”, the reference point for receiving the merge support in the automatic reception mode according to “setting 1” is set to “near the station”, for example. When the date and time set in “Day setting” and “Time setting” are within a predetermined range (region) centered on this reference point, it is possible to receive merge support for the automatic reception mode based on “Setting 1”. .
[0041]
Finally, “other settings”, eg, only when “communication device (mobile phone) is not in silent mode and is ON”, ie, only when the member is ready to respond to merge support, receive support. The setting of “Setting 1” is completed. If necessary, the setting after “Setting 2”, which is different from “Setting 1”, is performed in the same manner.
In this way, the common condition setting common to the members and the merge condition setting for each member are performed, and the initial setting is completed.
[0042]
In the manual transmission mode, conditions similar to the conditions set in the above “automatic start condition setting” are set for each transmission. In other words, the merging support device 6 displays the intention that the member wants to receive the merging support in the manual transmission mode via the mobile terminals 1, 2, 3, and then the mobile terminals 1, 2, 3 4 to 9 are sequentially displayed on the display screen, and the condition setting corresponding to the “automatic start condition setting” in FIG. 3 is performed.
[0043]
First, the willingness to receive the merge support is confirmed on the “Join support start” screen in FIG. 4, and the merge purpose is set on the “purpose setting” screen in FIG. 5. Next, other members to be searched are specified on the “member setting” screen in FIG. 6, and the search range is set on the “search range” screen in FIG. 7. Further, the member search end condition is set on the “end condition” screen of FIG. 8, and the final confirmation of the start of the merge support is performed on the “start” screen of FIG. In the illustrated example, the “search range” in FIG. 7 sets how much distance is set as the search range from the member who receives the merge support in the manual transmission mode. In addition, the location is entered in the XX of “OFF until XX” on the “end condition” screen in FIG.
Also, in the manual reception mode, the same screens are sequentially displayed and reception conditions are set.
[0044]
Next, operation | movement of a confluence | merging support apparatus is demonstrated along FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the content of the merge support process performed by the merge support device 6.
First, in step S1, it is determined whether or not a signal requesting to receive join support in the manual transmission mode as a sender is received from the member mobile terminals 1, 2, and 3. This manual transmission mode signal is received when a member of the group displays an intention to start merging support on the screen of FIG.
[0045]
If NO in step S1, the process proceeds to step S2, and it is determined whether or not the time condition of the “automatic start condition” set by any member is satisfied. That is, it is determined whether or not the time condition (day of the week, time) of “automatic start condition” set by any member, for example, “Friday” “19:00 to 20:00” is satisfied. If YES in step S2, automatic mode merge support is performed based on another “automatic start condition” set by the member who set the time condition established in step S2.
[0046]
At this time, by setting the “automatic start condition” in the “transmission condition”, a message as shown in FIG. 11 is sent to the mobile terminals 1, 2, and 3 of the members serving as the sender, and information transmission is started. It is preferable to perform the final confirmation. Similarly, “automatic setting condition” is set in “reception condition”, and “automatic reception condition setting” is set in the mobile terminals 1, 2, and 3 of the members who are receivers under the set condition. When the date and time set in is reached, a message as shown in FIG. 12 is preferably sent and the final confirmation is performed.
[0047]
If YES in step S1 or step S2, the process proceeds to step S3, where the registered member is detected from the current position of the mobile terminal 1, 2, 3 possessed by each member. Furthermore, it progresses to step S4 and it is determined whether the registered member exists in the set search range (area).
If YES in step S4, the process proceeds to step S5, where there are a plurality of senders (members looking for members that can be joined), the joining purposes of these senders match, and these transmissions are further transmitted. It is determined whether or not the other party has set the other party as a member who wishes to join for the purpose. When YES in step S5, the process proceeds to step S6, and information including information on where other senders are located is transmitted to the mobile terminal of each sender.
[0048]
If NO in step S5, the process proceeds to step S7, and it is determined whether there is a member that satisfies the condition among the members within the search range. That is, from the members within a predetermined range, a member whose merging purpose matches the sender's merging purpose is extracted, and the extracted member and the sender wish to join the partner with respect to the merging purpose. It is determined whether or not it is set as a member to perform. If YES in step S7, the process proceeds to step S8, where the merger information that the sender is searching for other members that can be merged is displayed on the mobile terminals 1 and 2 of the other members (recipients) whose reception conditions are met. 3 、 For example, as shown in FIG. 13, “Taro XX wants to join for the purpose of“ meal / drink together ”. The message “I am near the station” is displayed, and the recipient is allowed to select whether to accept the merge displayed along with this message. In step S9, the merge is accepted from the recipient. You will receive a response as to whether or not to do so.
Subsequently, it progresses to step S10 and it is determined whether a receiver accepts joining. If YES in step S10, that is, if the receiver accepts the join, the process proceeds to step S11, and the receiver is informed of the receiver's location information, etc. along with information that the receiver who wants to join is nearby. .
[0049]
When the processes of step S6 and step S11 are completed, the process proceeds to step S12, the merging support between the information transmitted is stopped, and the process returns. Moreover, it returns also when it is NO in step S2, step S4, step S7, and step S10.
Further, when a plurality of mobile terminals are located at substantially the same position within a predetermined range, it is determined that the members possessing these mobile terminals are acting together, and the members join together. No support is provided.
[0050]
It is preferable that a message or the like added to the merge information as shown in FIG. 13 can be freely selected in the setting common to the members. When there are two or more recipients, a configuration may be used in which one recipient is notified that the other recipient has been found.
[0051]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various changes or modifications can be made within the scope of the technical matters described in the claims.
For example, the purpose of joining, the start condition, etc. can be freely set according to the group and members. Further, the mobile terminal is not limited to a PDA, a mobile phone, or the like, and may be another portable device having necessary functions such as a communication function, a position specifying function, and a display function.
[0052]
In the above embodiment, the search is made for members within a predetermined range (mobile terminals possessed by the member) based on time conditions such as day of the week and time. It may be configured to search for (a mobile terminal held by a member), that is, search for a member (mobile terminal held by a member) within a predetermined area regardless of time or the like.
[0053]
【The invention's effect】
Thus, according to the present invention, there is provided a merging support device that can support merging of members of a group that are acting without assuming merging with a specific partner.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a basic configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a merging support system including a merging support device of the present invention.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a screen displayed at the time of initial setting common to members for a merging support apparatus.
FIG. 3 shows an example of a screen displayed at the time of initial setting for each member for the merge support device.
FIG. 4 shows an example of a “join support start” screen displayed when setting conditions for transmission in manual mode.
FIG. 5 shows an example of a “purpose setting” screen displayed when setting conditions for transmission in the manual mode.
FIG. 6 shows an example of a “member setting” screen displayed when setting conditions for transmission in manual mode.
FIG. 7 shows an example of a “search range” screen displayed when setting conditions for transmission in the manual mode.
FIG. 8 shows an example of an “end condition” screen displayed when setting conditions for transmission in the manual mode.
FIG. 9 shows an example of a “start” screen displayed when setting conditions for transmission in manual mode.
FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the contents of processing performed by the merge support device during merge support.
FIG. 11 shows an example of a message displayed on a mobile terminal of a set member when starting transmission for confluence support based on “automatic setting conditions”.
FIG. 12 shows an example of a message displayed on a mobile terminal of a set member when starting reception for join support based on “automatic setting conditions”.
FIG. 13 shows an example of a message to be displayed on the mobile terminal of the recipient whose merging conditions match.
[Explanation of symbols]
1: Portable terminal (PDA)
2: Mobile phone
3: Navigation device
4: Network
6: Information center (confluence support device)
8: Personal computer

Claims (6)

A merging support device for transmitting information to a plurality of members having mobile terminals connected through a network and identifiably registered via the mobile terminal and supporting the merging of the members. ,
Search means for searching for members who can join from the members;
Information transmitting means for transmitting predetermined information regarding other members that can be joined to the mobile terminal possessed by the detected member that can join;
The search means searches for a member that can be joined based on the position of the mobile terminal, and when a plurality of mobile terminals are positioned at substantially the same position, Do not search between members who have multiple mobile terminals located ,
A merging support device characterized by that. The search means is a member possessing a mobile terminal located within a predetermined distance from an identified position, excluding members possessing a mobile terminal located at substantially the same position as the identified position. the members, to search as a member that can be joined,
The merging support device according to claim 1. The search means can receive from the mobile terminal a member that possesses the mobile terminal can receive a setting that the merging support is unnecessary, and the moving body that is set as the merging support is unnecessary. Exclude members with mobile devices from search,
The merge support apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The search means can receive the setting of the merging purpose of the member possessing the mobile terminal from the mobile terminal, and the member having the common merging purpose is a member that can be merged.
The merging support device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. The merging purpose is at least one of moving together, eating and drinking together, merging, and position information transmission.
The merging support device according to claim 4. The search means can receive the setting of a member to be searched for from the mobile terminal for each set merging purpose, and from among the search targets set for each set merging purpose Search for members you can join,
The merging support device according to claim 4 or 5.

Images