JP2011203863A - Information terminal and data retrieval method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to easily refer to a plurality of retrieval results relating to landmarks, and easily perform the next operation based on the result of the retrieval.SOLUTION: A cellular phone set 10 includes: an acquisition part 11 for acquiring map data corresponding to input retrieval conditions and a plurality of landmark information relating to a plurality of landmarks present on a map shown by the map data; a map display part 12a for displaying the map including the position information showing the positions of the plurality of landmarks at a display part 105 based on the acquired map data; and an attribute display part 12b for displaying attribute information showing the attributes of each landmark as a link to an application program corresponding to the attribute information at the display part 105 based on the plurality of acquired landmark information.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information terminal and a data search method for displaying search results related to landmarks together with a map.

  Conventionally, various techniques for displaying search results related to landmarks such as facilities together with a map are known. For example, in Patent Document 1 below, set destination information is included in a facility information request and transmitted to an information providing server, and facility information (including geographical information) sent from the information providing server in response to the request Is described.

  As a method for displaying the landmark search result indicated by the facility information as described above on a monitor, there is a method of displaying a pin indicating the position of each landmark on a map. There is also a method of displaying detailed information related to one landmark selected via the user interface in a superimposed manner with or without switching screens.

JP 2009-19976 A

  In the display method as described above, the user cannot compare the detailed information of a plurality of landmarks at a glance. In order to perform the next operation based on the detailed information, the user needs to open a screen different from the search result screen. For example, in order to refer to a website related to a facility on a map, the user needs to open a browser different from the search result screen and try to access the website from there.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an information terminal and a data search method that allow a user to easily refer to a plurality of search results related to landmarks and easily perform the next operation based on the search results. To do.

  An information terminal according to the present invention includes: acquisition means for acquiring map data corresponding to an input search condition; and a plurality of landmark information relating to a plurality of landmarks existing on the map indicated by the map data; Based on the map data obtained by the above, a map display means for displaying a map including position information indicating the positions of a plurality of landmarks in the display area, and a plurality of landmark information obtained by the obtaining means, Attribute display means for displaying, in a display area, attribute information indicating the attribute of the landmark as a link to an application program corresponding to the attribute information.

  The data search method of the present invention is a data search method executed by an information terminal, and includes a plurality of map data corresponding to an input search condition and a plurality of landmarks existing on the map indicated by the map data. An acquisition step of acquiring the landmark information, and a map display step of displaying, on the display area of the information terminal, a map including position information indicating the positions of the plurality of landmarks based on the map data acquired in the acquisition step; Attribute for displaying, in the display area, attribute information indicating the attribute of the landmark as a link to the application program corresponding to the attribute information for each landmark based on the plurality of landmark information acquired in the acquisition step And a display step.

  According to such an invention, for each of a plurality of searched landmarks, the landmark attribute information is displayed on the map at a time, so the user can easily refer to the attributes of each landmark at a glance. . Since the attribute information is displayed as a link to the application program, the user can select the link without switching the screen (search result screen) on which the attribute information of the map and the landmark is displayed. You can easily move on to the next operation.

  According to such an information terminal and data search method, attribute information of a plurality of searched landmarks is displayed on the map at a time as a link to an application program. Thus, the user can easily refer to a plurality of search results related to the landmark and easily perform the next operation based on the search results.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the mobile telephone which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the mobile telephone shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of the screen which inputs search conditions. It is a figure which shows the example which displayed the search result to the middle. It is a figure which shows the example of the final display mode of a search result. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the mobile phone shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this embodiment, the information terminal according to the present invention is applied to a mobile phone. In the description of the drawings, the same or equivalent elements are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

  First, the function and configuration of the mobile phone 10 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. The mobile phone 10 is a communication terminal having a call function, a mail function, a web browser function, and the like. The mobile phone 10 also has a function of acquiring and displaying map information from the server S via a network (not shown).

  Before describing the mobile phone 10 in detail, the server S will be described. The server S is a computer that provides the mobile phone 10 with map data corresponding to a predetermined geographic area and information on landmarks (landmark information) existing on the map indicated by the map data. When a search condition regarding map display is sent from the mobile phone 10, the server S searches a predetermined database based on the search condition, and extracts map data and landmark information that match the search condition. Then, the server S transmits the extracted map data and landmark information to the mobile phone 10 as a search result. The database accessed by the server S may be provided inside the server S, or may be provided on another computer connected to the server S via a network.

  Here, a landmark is a place that can be a target, and examples thereof include facilities such as stores and stations, buildings, and scenic spots. The landmark information is information including position information indicating the position of the landmark on the map and attribute information indicating other attributes of the landmark. The position information is generated in advance in a format such as latitude / longitude data or coordinate data. The attribute information is generated in advance in a form that includes the landmark name, location, telephone number, e-mail address, and URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a related website (for example, a landmark website or a blog site related to the landmark) Has been.

  However, the expression format of the position information and the configuration of the attribute information are not limited to those described above, and may be arbitrarily set. For example, the position information may be included in the map data instead of the landmark information. With regard to the attribute information, for example, attribute information including only a telephone number and a mail address may be defined, or attribute information further including a facsimile number may be defined.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mobile phone 10 includes an acquisition unit 11 and a result display unit 12 as functional components. As shown in FIG. 2, the cellular phone 10 includes a CPU 101 that executes an operating system, application programs, and the like, a main storage unit 102 that includes a ROM and a RAM, and an auxiliary storage unit 103 that includes a memory. The communication control unit 104 performs data communication, the display unit 105 includes a liquid crystal monitor, and the operation unit 106 includes input keys. Each function shown in FIG. 1 reads a predetermined program on the CPU 101 and the main storage unit 102 and operates the communication control unit 104, the display unit 105, and the operation unit 106 under the control of the CPU 101, and the main storage unit. This is realized by reading or writing data to 102 or the auxiliary storage unit 103. Data necessary for the database and processing is stored in the main storage unit 102 or the auxiliary storage unit 103.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the acquisition unit 11 acquires map data corresponding to the input search condition and one or more landmark information relating to one or more landmarks present on the map indicated by the map data. Means.

  The acquisition unit 11 displays on the display unit 105 an input screen that accepts an input of landmark search conditions in a predetermined geographic area, and transmits the search conditions input by the user to the server S via the screen. Subsequently, the acquisition unit 11 receives the search result sent from the server S in response to the transmission and outputs it to the result display unit 12.

  The configuration of the input screen provided by the acquisition unit 11 is arbitrary. For example, the acquisition unit 11 displays an input screen Fs as shown in FIG. The input screen Fs is a search result screen that is displayed when searching for the area “A district” and the restaurant category “Italian” on a website that provides restaurant information. In this screen Fs, the names of the four stores a to d that meet the above conditions, a check box C for selecting an arbitrary store from these, and map information indicating the position of the selected store are displayed on the server S. And a decision button for obtaining from.

  When the user checks the columns of stores a, b, and d and presses the enter button on the input screen Fs, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the acquisition unit 11 generates a search condition that reflects the input content and the like to create a server To S. Specifically, the acquisition unit 11 specifies information for specifying map data (for example, information for specifying “A district”) and information for specifying landmarks (for example, “stores a, b, d”). The search condition including the information) is generated and transmitted. Thereafter, the acquisition unit 11 receives a search result based on the search condition from the server S.

  The result display unit 12 is a means for displaying the search results (map data and landmark information) input from the acquisition unit 11 on the display unit 105 (display area), and includes a map display unit 12a and an attribute display unit 12b. Yes.

  The map display unit 12 a is a means for displaying a map including position information indicating the position of one or more landmarks on the display unit 105 based on the map data input from the acquisition unit 11 and one or more landmark information. . For example, the map display unit 12a displays a search result screen Fr as shown in FIG. A screen Fr shown in FIG. 4 is a screen showing a result when a store is specified and a search is executed as shown in FIG. It can be said that this screen Fr is a final search result screen following the search result screen (input screen) Fs shown in FIG. On the search result screen Fr, a map M is displayed, and position information indicating the positions of the stores a, b, and d in FIG. 3 are displayed on the map as star-shaped marks Pa, Pb, and Pd, respectively. .

  The attribute display unit 12b displays, for each landmark, the attribute information of the landmark as a link to the application program corresponding to the attribute information based on one or more landmark information input from the acquisition unit. 105 is a means for displaying.

  The attribute display unit 12b identifies a corresponding application program for each piece of attribute information in the landmark information, and generates a command for starting the program or making a transition to the program. At this time, the attribute display unit 12b substitutes the attribute information for the argument of the command. The attribute display unit 12b performs such processing on all the inputted landmark information. Subsequently, the attribute display unit 12b superimposes and displays the link in which the generated command is embedded on the map displayed by the map display unit 12a. At this time, the attribute display unit 12b sets attribute information (attribute content itself or attribute item name) as a link display character string.

  3 and 4, the attribute display unit 12b displays the attribute information of the stores a, b, and d on the map as described in the balloons Za, Zb, and Zd as shown in FIG. To do. For example, in the balloon Za, the name and location of the store a, the mail address, the URL of the home page, the telephone number, and the URL of the related site are described. In any of the balloons, each attribute information excluding the name is displayed as a link for starting the corresponding application program or making a transition to the program.

  With regard to the balloon Za, a command for starting a route search application and searching for a route from the current location to the store a is embedded in the link “location a”. In the link “address a”, a command for opening a screen for starting a mail application and creating a mail addressed to the store a is embedded. In the link “homepage URL-a”, a command for starting a web browser and displaying the homepage of the store “a” is embedded. In the link “telephone number a”, a command for starting a call application and preparing for making a call to the store a is embedded. In the link “related site URL-a”, a command for starting a web browser and displaying a predetermined related site (for example, a site describing so-called word-of-mouth information) is embedded. The same applies to the links in the blowouts Zb and Zd.

  Note that the operation interface of the mobile phone 10 may be constructed so as to enable an operation to return from the screen displayed by selecting the link to the map display screen as shown in FIG.

  Next, the operation of the mobile phone 10 will be described using FIG. 6 and the data search method according to the present embodiment will be described.

  First, the acquisition unit 11 displays an input screen on the display unit 105 and receives an input of search conditions (step S11, acquisition step). Subsequently, the acquisition unit 11 transmits the input search condition to the server S, and receives the search result sent in response to the transmission, that is, map data and landmark information (step S12, acquisition step).

  Subsequently, the result display unit 12 displays the search result on the display unit 105. Specifically, the map display unit 12a displays a map based on the map data, and further, based on the landmark information, the position information of each landmark is obtained by a predetermined method (for example, a star shape as shown in FIG. 4). Display on the map (with a mark) (step S13, map display step). Moreover, the attribute display part 12b produces | generates the link corresponding to the attribute information of each landmark based on landmark information, and displays the produced | generated link on a map (step S14, attribute display step).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, for each of a plurality of searched landmarks, the attribute information of the landmark is displayed on the map at a time, so that the user can recognize the attribute of each landmark at a glance. Can be easily referred to (see FIG. 5). For example, the user can compare the attributes of a plurality of landmarks in a short time. Since the attribute information is displayed as a link to the application program (see FIG. 5), the user does not switch the screen (search result screen) on which the map and landmark attribute information is displayed. By selecting, you can easily move to the next operation.

  The present invention has been described in detail based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. The present invention can be variously modified without departing from the gist thereof.

  The present invention is particularly effective in a device such as a mobile phone whose screen size is limited. However, the present invention may be applied to a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable or stationary personal computer, or other information terminals, and in that case, the above-described effects can be obtained.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Mobile phone (information terminal), 11 ... Acquisition part (acquisition means), 12 ... Result display part, 12a ... Map display part (map display means), 12b ... Attribute display part (attribute display means).

Claims (2)

Acquisition means for acquiring map data corresponding to the input search condition and a plurality of landmark information relating to a plurality of landmarks existing on the map indicated by the map data;
Map display means for displaying a map including position information indicating positions of the plurality of landmarks in a display area based on the map data acquired by the acquisition means;
Based on the plurality of landmark information acquired by the acquisition means, for each landmark, attribute information indicating the attribute of the landmark is displayed in the display area as a link to an application program corresponding to the attribute information. Attribute display means;
An information terminal comprising: A data search method executed by an information terminal,
An acquisition step of acquiring map data corresponding to the input search condition, and a plurality of landmark information relating to a plurality of landmarks existing on the map indicated by the map data;
Based on the map data acquired in the acquisition step, a map display step of displaying a map including position information indicating the positions of the plurality of landmarks in a display area of the information terminal;
Based on a plurality of landmark information acquired in the acquisition step, attribute information indicating the attribute of the landmark is displayed in the display area as a link to an application program corresponding to the attribute information for each landmark. An attribute display step;
A data search method comprising:

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