JP2016217931A - Moving body search server, moving body search method, moving body search program and moving body search system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To use a device transmitting a beacon signal and receiver receiving the beacon signal to enable an efficient and effective search for a location of a moving body.SOLUTION: A moving body search server 10, which can communicate with portable terminals 30 held by users existing in a fixed range and searchers of moving bodies, and serving as a receiver of a beacon signal via a wireless network, includes: a user location registration unit 11 that receives location information, information specifying a beacon device 20, and information relating to electric wave intensity from the portable terminal 30, and registers them; and a beacon location calculation unit 12 that receives an instruction to search for the beacon device 20 of a search object from the portable terminal 30 held by the searcher, and calculates location information on the beacon device 20 of the search object on the basis of location information on each portable terminal 30 and a distance between the beacon device 20 and each portable terminal 30.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobile search technique, and more particularly to a technique that is effective when applied to a mobile search system that searches for a mobile such as a person having a device that transmits a Bluetooth (registered trademark, hereinafter the same) beacon. It is.

  A beacon is used as a technique for acquiring various information such as position, distance, and identification information by receiving radio waves transmitted from a wireless station or the like. In recent years, Bluetooth beacons based on the BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) standard capable of communicating with extremely low power consumption are becoming widespread. As a Bluetooth beacon, for example, there is iBeacon (registered trademark, the same applies hereinafter) of Apple (registered trademark) (Non-Patent Document 1), and a mobile terminal such as a smartphone in which this is standardly installed and various devices are also provided. ing.

  As a position measurement technique using a beacon, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-17684 (Patent Document 1), a plurality of beacon transmitters are distributed in a positioning space with almost equal density, and the ID of the own device is provided. A technique for calculating the current position of a mobile station radio that has received a beacon in an environment where a beacon including a beacon is launched to the surroundings is described. Here, a beacon receiver of a mobile station radio receives a beacon from a nearby beacon transmitter and measures its electric field strength. The base station receives beacon information from the mobile station radio, obtains the beacon transmission position by referring to the beacon transmission position information table, and further, for each beacon, based on the transmission position and the ratio of the electric field strength in the mobile station radio. Calculate the current position of the mobile station radio.

  As one of the application areas of the position measurement technology using wireless communication as described above, for example, grasping the location of a moving body such as a person or searching for a position has been studied. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-293785 (Patent Document 2), a transmitter that transmits a specific radio wave having a fixed interval is carried by a facility visitor, and the radio wave is received by at least one receiver. To identify the visitors carrying the transmitter, to collect and store the data obtained by the receiver, and to search for the location of the visitors carrying the transmitter by searching if necessary, A technique for quickly searching for a lost child by mapping and displaying it on map data prepared in advance is described.

JP 2011-17684 A JP 2000-293785 A

“IBeacon for Developers”, [online], Apple Inc., [Search May 7, 2015], Internet <URL: https://developer.apple.com/ibeacon/>

  For example, a mobile object such as a person or an animal such as a search for a specific person such as a family in a crowded place using a technique such as that described in Patent Document 2 In a case where a position measurement technique using a beacon as described in Patent Document 1 is applied in the case of searching for a position or grasping a position, the mobile object to be searched has a function as a beacon receiver. It is necessary to hold the radio. Specifically, for example, when the above-described Bluetooth beacon is used as a beacon, it is necessary that a person or the like to be searched holds a mobile terminal such as a smartphone having a function as a BLE receiver. In the case where a search target is a child, an elderly person who is jealous, or a pet, it is often not realistic to always hold a smartphone or the like due to its characteristics.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a mobile body search system that can efficiently and effectively search for the position of a mobile body using a device that transmits and receives a beacon signal.

  The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

  Of the inventions disclosed in this application, the outline of typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  A mobile search server according to a representative embodiment of the present invention is a mobile search server that constitutes a mobile search system that searches for a position of a mobile that holds a beacon device within a certain range. It is possible to communicate with a mobile terminal that is a receiver of a beacon signal held by a user who is located in the above range and a searcher of the mobile body, and each mobile terminal via a wireless network.

  And the said mobile body search server is the information which concerns on the radio field strength of the received beacon signal from the said portable terminal, the information which specifies the said beacon device which concerns on the position information of the said portable terminal, and the beacon signal which the said portable terminal received A user position registration unit that receives and records the reception status, and receives a search instruction for a beacon device to be searched from the portable terminal held by the searcher, and is recorded by the user position registration unit A beacon position calculation unit that calculates position information of the search target beacon device based on position information of each portable terminal and information on a distance between the beacon device obtained from information related to the radio field intensity And having.

  The present invention also provides a mobile body search system configured using the above mobile body search server, a mobile body search method using the mobile body search system, and a computer that functions as the mobile body search server. It can also be applied to a mobile search program to be executed.

  Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, effects obtained by typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  In other words, according to the representative embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently and effectively search for the position of a moving body using a device that transmits and receives a beacon signal.

It is the figure which showed the outline | summary about the structural example of the mobile body search system which is one embodiment of this invention. It is the sequence diagram shown about the example of the flow of a process which the parent | child's location in one embodiment of this invention grasps | ascertains the location of a child, and searches in the case of a lost child. It is the figure which showed the outline | summary about the example of the method of calculating the positional information on the beacon apparatus in one embodiment of this invention. (A), (b) is the figure which showed the outline | summary about the specific example of the data structure of user information DB in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the outline | summary about the specific example of the data structure of beacon information DB in one embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that components having the same function are denoted by the same reference symbols throughout the drawings for describing the embodiment, and the repetitive description thereof will be omitted. On the other hand, parts described with reference numerals in some drawings may be referred to with the same reference numerals although not illustrated again in the description of other drawings.

<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a configuration example of a mobile body search system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The mobile body search system 1 according to the present embodiment prevents a child from getting lost in a place where many people gather, including parents and children, such as amusement parks, theme parks, and watching sports such as soccer. In this case, a case where a lost child search service that enables a parent or guardian to quickly and easily search for a child's position and location is taken as an example. In addition, the mobile body in the mobile body search system 1 of this Embodiment is not restricted to a lost child (child), For example, you may target search services, such as an elderly person and a pet. Further, the search target may be various articles (for example, rented cars, bicycles, carts, etc.) that can be moved actively / passively, not limited to people and animals.

  Here, for example, when the technique as described in Patent Document 1 is to be used, as described above, each mobile device to be searched is a mobile phone such as a smartphone having a function as a Bluetooth beacon receiver. It is not realistic to hold the terminal at all times.

  Therefore, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, the reception / transmission function is switched, and a plurality of mobile terminals such as smartphones as BLE receivers are fixedly arranged at predetermined positions, Consider a configuration in which a mobile device to be searched has a device that emits a signal. Devices that simply send out BLE beacon signals in recent times are available in general in various shapes and forms, and they are available at a relatively low cost. Since these do not require special operations, children and the elderly It is suitable for holding it on a mobile object to be searched.

  However, in order to search for the position of the moving body as described above, a configuration in which a plurality of mobile terminals such as smartphones having a beacon signal reception function or a plurality of dedicated receivers are fixedly arranged at predetermined positions However, the location and environment are limited, and it is also not practical in terms of operation and cost such as power supply to the portable terminal and the management of the operation status.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, unlike the prior art, a portable terminal having a beacon signal reception function is normally held by a parent who is a searcher for a search target such as a child or other users in the vicinity. And is not fixedly arranged at a specific location. Thereby, it is not necessary to arrange the receivers in advance in a fixed manner. For example, a mobile search service can be implemented flexibly and at a low cost even when used for a one-day event or the like.

  In FIG. 1, the mobile body search system 1 includes, for example, a mobile body search server 10, a parent 42 (guardian), an in-region peripheral user 43 i and an out-of-region peripheral user 43 o (hereinafter collectively referred to as a peripheral user 43. Mobile terminal 30 such as a smartphone each possessed and beacon device 20 possessed by child 41 to be searched. Based on the information of the beacon signal from the beacon device 20 received by the plurality of portable terminals 30 held by the parent 42 and the plurality of peripheral users 43 located at different positions, and based on the information of the beacon signal from the beacon device 20 received by the beacon device 20 This is an information processing system that realizes a service for searching for a location / location, that is, a location / location of a child 41 that is a mobile object that owns the location / location.

  The mobile object search server 10 is a server system implemented by an information processing device such as a virtual server or a PC (Personal Computer) constructed on a server device or a cloud computing service, for example, and an OS (Operating System) (not shown). ), DBMS (DataBase Management System), and a user location registration unit 11 and a beacon location calculation unit 12 implemented as software operating on middleware such as a Web server program. Each data store includes a user information database (DB) 13 and a beacon information DB 14 implemented as a database, a file table, and the like.

  The user location registration unit 11 receives the location information of each mobile terminal 30 itself transmitted from the mobile terminal 30 owned by the peripheral user 43 and the parent 42 via a network such as the Internet (not shown), and the contents are received by the user. It has a function of registering in the information DB 13 as needed. Note that the own position information transmitted from each mobile terminal 30 includes information related to a beacon signal transmitted from one or more beacon devices 20 received by each mobile terminal 30 at that position.

  The beacon position calculation unit 12 is based on the content recorded in the user information DB 13, that is, the position information of each mobile terminal 30 and the information related to the beacon signal received from the beacon apparatus 20. The approximate position information (for example, absolute / relative coordinates) is calculated and registered in the beacon information DB 14. Moreover, based on the request | requirement of the lost child search from the portable terminal 30 which the parent 42 holds, the positional information on the beacon apparatus 20 which the child 41 which is a search object holds from the beacon information DB14, and responds as a search result. When the mobile terminal 30 of any peripheral user 43 has not received the beacon signal from the target beacon device 20, a response to that effect is made. You may make it respond as a search result the positional information calculated from the condition which had been received most recently, and the information on the date.

  The position information calculation process of each beacon device 20 may be performed periodically at predetermined time intervals, or the latest position information is calculated at the timing when a request for searching for a lost child from the parent 42 is received. May be. In the former case, the position information can be returned to the mobile terminal 30 of the parent 42 with a relatively fast response. However, the mobile phone 30 may not always be in the latest state due to the calculation timing. When the number is large, the normal processing load of the mobile search server 10 may increase. Conversely, in the latter case, the processing load during normal times can be reduced, and the latest location information at the time of receiving the search request can be responded to the mobile terminal 30, but the search request is received. The processing load at the time becomes high, and the response may take time. Instead of fixing to any method, it may be possible to appropriately determine which method to take according to the number of mobile terminals 30, the frequency of search requests, and the like.

  The beacon device 20 is a small and lightweight device having a function of broadcasting a BLE-standard Bluetooth beacon signal, for example, and has a built-in button battery for a long time (for example, 1 A beacon signal is always transmitted at regular intervals over a year). As described above, the beacon device 20 can be obtained at a relatively low price. For example, the beacon device 20 may be preliminarily held in the search target child 41 by the parent 42 that is purchased and held by the parent 42, Facilities such as an amusement park, a theme park, and a stadium that provide a lost child search service may be rented to the parent 42 when entering the facility.

  The Bluetooth beacon signal transmitted from each beacon device 20 includes reception information including identification information for identifying each beacon device 20 (in the case of iBeacon, “proximity UUID”, “major”, “minor” parameters) and received radio wave intensity. Information on the situation (in iBeacon, parameters of “proximity”, “RSSI”, and “accuracy”) are included. When beacon device 20 is provided with other sensors, such as an acceleration sensor, the information which these sensors detected may further be included.

  From the information included in the beacon signal, the receiver (the mobile terminal 30 in this embodiment) that has received the Bluetooth beacon signal determines whether or not it is in the communicable region (beacon signal reachable region) of the beacon device 20 (in the region). Or not) (“Monitoring” function in iBeacon). That is, it is possible to easily grasp that the beacon device 20 (child 41) is located in the vicinity of the target mobile terminal 30. In addition, the mobile terminal 30 can also grasp an approximate distance from the target beacon device 20 based on information such as received radio wave intensity included in the beacon signal (“ranging” function in iBeacon).

  In FIG. 1, areas where the beacon signal from the beacon device 20 arrives, that is, areas where the mobile terminal 30 which is a receiver can receive the beacon signal, are three of beacon signal arrival areas 21 a to 21 c centering on the beacon device 20. It is schematically shown by two concentric circles (hereinafter, these areas may be collectively referred to as a beacon signal arrival area 21). The reach distance of a beacon signal can vary depending on the radio field strength, environment, etc., so concentric circles are conceptual only and their size and shape are variable, but the “ranging” function in iBeacon is an approximate It can be grasped by dividing into four areas as distance divisions.

  The inner area of the innermost beacon signal arrival area 21a (the area where the received radio wave intensity of the beacon signal is highest) is less than about 1 m (“immediate” in iBeacon), the beacon signal arrival area 21a and the outer beacon signal arrival area 21b. The area between the beacon signal is about 5 m (“near” in iBeacon), the area between the beacon signal arrival area 21 b and the beacon signal arrival area 21 c outside thereof is 10 to 15 m (“far” in iBeacon), the beacon signal arrival An area outside the area 21c (area where a beacon signal cannot be detected) is classified as 15 m or more (“unknown” in iBeacon).

  When a certain mobile terminal 30 receives a beacon signal from the beacon device 20, it is possible to grasp the approximate distance to the beacon device 20 by the above function, but to grasp in which direction it is located. I can't. In the present embodiment, as will be described later, when three or more mobile terminals 30 receive a beacon signal from the same beacon device 20, the approximate position (coordinates) of the beacon device 20 is determined by three-point positioning. ) Can also be calculated.

  The mobile terminal 30 includes a smartphone or a tablet terminal having at least a reception function for the BLE-standard Bluetooth beacon, and is always carried by the peripheral user 43 and the parent 42. The mobile terminal 30 includes each unit such as a beacon registration unit 33, a location information report unit 34, and a beacon search unit 35 that are implemented as software that runs on middleware such as an OS (not shown). The mobile search server 10 can be accessed via the network.

  In the present embodiment, the functions realized by the above-described units are provided as a mobile search API (Application Programming Interface) 32 and are executed in a form that is called from another application 31. In the present embodiment, as a receiver for searching for the beacon device 20, instead of a receiver that is fixedly arranged as in the prior art, each mobile phone owned by a freely moving peripheral user 43 or a parent 42 is used. In order for the terminal 30 to play the role of a receiver, it is desirable that as many people as possible can install the software on the mobile terminal to become the peripheral users 43.

  In this case, for example, even if it is provided as a single-function application called “lost child search application”, it is difficult for a general person who has no possibility of searching for lost children to install it. Therefore, in this embodiment, the above-mentioned software is provided as the mobile object search API 32, and for example, many general people install it regardless of the lost child search, such as a soccer watching application or an attraction application at a theme park. As a result of being incorporated in the application 31, the number of peripheral users 43 is secured.

  The parent 42 also installs the application 31 on its own mobile terminal 30. The parent 42 is a user who uses the lost child search service in relation to his / her child 41, but plays a role as the peripheral user 43 in relation to the other child 41.

  The beacon registration unit 33 of the mobile body search API 32 is a function used by the parent 42 and has a function of registering a beacon number of the beacon device 20 to be held by the child 41 to be searched in a memory or the like on the portable terminal 30. The unique identification information for each beacon device 20 (for example, “proximity UUID” in iBeacon) has a large number of digits, and it is difficult for the parent 42 to directly grasp and process it. Therefore, in this embodiment, for example, a beacon number of about several digits is assigned to each rented beacon device 20, and this is displayed by labeling or the like.

  When the parent 42 rents the beacon device 20, the target beacon number is registered through the registration screen displayed on the portable terminal 30 by the function of the beacon registration unit 33, and is then held by the child 41. Start using the lost child search service. In the mobile body search server 10, for example, by using a table such as a beacon device master (not shown), the unique identification information of each beacon device 20 and the assigned several-digit beacon number are associated in advance. Thereby, the beacon device 20 currently used in the lost child search service can be specified. The beacon registration unit 33 of the portable terminal 30 acquires information of unique identification information corresponding to the registered beacon number from the mobile search server 10 and holds it. With this unique identification information, the beacon device 20 held by the child 41 can be uniquely specified on the BLE function.

  For example, the position information report unit 34 acquires the position information of the mobile terminal 30 itself at a predetermined timing and receives a beacon signal. From all the beacon signals that can be received, the information included in each beacon signal is used. It has the function of acquiring the identification information of the corresponding beacon device 20 and the information related to the received radio wave intensity and registering the information via the user position registration unit 11 of the mobile search server 10. The information related to the received radio wave intensity is not limited to the radio wave intensity information itself of the beacon signal, but a distance (or a section indicating a range of distance) from the beacon device 20 obtained by calculation based on the radio wave intensity. Information shall also be included. For the position information of the mobile terminal 30 itself, for example, various positioning technologies using various sensors (not shown) such as GPS (Global Positioning System), PDR (Pedestrian Dead Reckoning), geomagnetism, etc. can be used as appropriate. .

  The acquisition timing of the position information and the reception timing of the beacon signal can be periodically performed at regular intervals, for example. In iBeacon, the function of “monitoring” automatically activates in the background when the application 31 is not activated when it is detected that the mobile terminal 30 has entered the beacon signal arrival area 21. Have Thereby, even if it is the peripheral user 43 who has not started the application 31, the information which concerns on the beacon device 20 which received the positional information and beacon signal of the portable terminal 30 automatically is acquired, and it registers with the mobile body search server 10. can do.

  The mobile terminal 30 that has received a beacon signal from any one of the beacon devices 20, that is, the mobile terminal 30 that has not received a beacon signal from any beacon device 20, as well as the mobile terminal 30 of the in-region peripheral user 43i, that is, The mobile terminal 30 of the out-of-area peripheral user 43o may register its own location information at regular intervals when the application 31 is activated. In this case, the fact that the beacon device 20 is not located in the vicinity of the portable terminal 30 of the out-of-area peripheral user 43o is registered.

  The location information report unit 34 in the mobile terminal 30 of the parent 42 uses the function of periodically receiving the beacon signal to check whether the beacon signal from the beacon device 20 held by the child 41 can be received. It may have a function of constantly checking (iBeacon's “monitoring” function). For example, when a beacon signal cannot be received, a notification / warning is output to the parent 42 on the portable terminal 30 of the parent 42, so that it is possible to prevent getting lost.

  The beacon search unit 35 is a function used by the parent 42. When the child 41 is lost, the beacon search unit 35 accepts a request to search for the location of the beacon device 20 held by the child 41, and sends the search result to the parent. It has a function of displaying on 42 mobile terminals 30. When the search request is accepted, the beacon position calculation unit 12 of the mobile body search server 10 is notified of the beacon number (or unique identification information) of the beacon device 20 held by the child 41 to request a position search. To do. When the position information of the target beacon device 20 and the detection date / time information are returned as a search result, for example, the position is mapped to a map, a facility floor plan, etc., and displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal 30. The information on the date and time of detection is also displayed. Thereby, the parent 42 can grasp the approximate location of the child 41.

  The method of displaying the search result on the screen of the mobile terminal 30 is not limited to mapping the position to a map or the like. For example, the range or area is displayed in different colors according to the probability of existing at the position, Various display methods can be used, such as displaying an arrow indicating a direction and information on a distance without using a text.

<Process flow>
FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a flow of processing in which the parent 42 grasps the location of the child 41 and searches when the child 42 is lost. First, as a presetting, a business operator who operates the mobile body search system 1 or a person in charge such as a business person that provides a lost child search service or the like accesses the mobile body search server 10 to use each of them. A combination of the unique identification information (ID) of the beacon device 20 to be rented to the person and the beacon number assigned to the beacon device 20 is registered (S01). You may enable it to register the specific identification information of the beacon apparatus 20 which the parent 42 who becomes a user of a lost child search service owns uniquely.

  When actually using the lost child search service, the parent 42 activates the application 31 of the mobile terminal 30 owned by the parent 42, inputs the beacon number assigned to the beacon device 20 rented from the operator from the screen, It registers in the portable terminal 30 using the function of the beacon registration unit 33 (S02). Thereafter, the beacon device 20 is held by the child 41 and the use of the lost child search service is started. At this time, the parent 42 acts as one peripheral user 43 while carrying the mobile terminal 30 in the same manner as the other peripheral users 43.

  In the steady state, the mobile terminal 30 of the parent 42 and each peripheral user 43 uses the function of the location information report unit 34 by the application 31 to periodically acquire the detection status of the beacon signal and combine it with its own location information. These are uploaded to the mobile search server 10 (S03). The mobile body search server 10 records the acquired position information of each mobile terminal 30 and information related to the beacon signal (such as the radio wave intensity and distance information of the beacon signal) in the user information DB 13 as needed (S04).

  As described above, for the position information of itself, for example, a known positioning technique provided in the mobile terminal 30 such as GPS, PDR, and geomagnetism can be appropriately used. When iBeacon is used, even when the application 31 is not activated on the mobile terminal 30, the “monitoring” function automatically activates the application 31 in the background when a beacon signal is detected, and the above processing is performed. Can be done.

  Here, when the child 41 is lost from the parent 42 and lost, that is, when the mobile terminal 30 of the parent 42 cannot receive the beacon signal from the beacon device 20 held by the child 41, the parent 42 A notification / warning is output on the portable terminal 30 (S05).

  The parent 42 calls the function of the beacon search unit 35 from the application 31 of the mobile terminal 30 and requests a search for the beacon device 20 held by the child 41 (S06). The beacon search unit 35 notifies the mobile search server 10 of the beacon number of the beacon device 20 held by the child 41 registered in the mobile terminal 30 (S07). In the mobile body search server 10, the beacon position calculation unit 12 calculates or acquires the latest position information of the beacon device 20 having the unique identification number corresponding to the beacon number and responds to the portable terminal 30 (S09). In the mobile terminal 30 of the parent 42, for example, the position of the beacon device 20 is mapped to a map, a facility floor plan, etc. based on the position information returned from the mobile body search server 10 and displayed together with the detection date / time information. (S10).

<Position calculation method of beacon device>
FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of a method for calculating the position information of the beacon device 20 in the beacon position calculation unit 12 of the mobile body search server 10. There are various methods for obtaining the approximate position of the beacon device 20, but in this embodiment, the position is obtained by three-point positioning. That is, at least three mobile terminals 30 receive a beacon signal from the beacon device 20 (there are at least three in-region peripheral users 43i), and the information from each received radio wave intensity information to the beacon device 20 Get distance information. Based on the position (coordinates) of each mobile terminal 30 and information on the distance from each mobile terminal 30, the position of the beacon device 20 on the two-dimensional plane or the three-dimensional space is calculated by geometric calculation.

  As described above, for example, in iBeacon, depending on the received radio wave intensity of the beacon signal from the beacon device 20 (usually, the closer to the beacon device 20), it is less than about 1 m (“immediate” in iBeacon), around 5 m ( The distance information can be obtained as four types of divisions: “near” for iBeacon, 10 to 15 m (“far” for iBeacon), and 15 m or more (“unknown” for iBeacon). Note that the distance values, classifications, and the like described above may vary depending on the product of the beacon device 20. In FIG. 3, the beacon signal arrival areas 21a to 21c are three concentric circles in which the approximate distance is grasped by the above four types of sections when the beacon signal is received, centering on the beacon device 20 held by the child 41. It shows by.

  In this situation, for example, “Mr. A” (coordinates are indicated by pos (ax, ay, az)) and “Mr. B” (coordinates are indicated by pos (bx, by, bz)) in the figure are: Each of them indicates that the user is an in-area peripheral user 43i existing in an area of about 5 m from the beacon device 20. Further, “Mr. C” (coordinates are indicated by pos (cx, cy, cz)) indicates that the user is an in-area peripheral user 43i that exists in the area of 10 to 15 m from the beacon device 20. On the other hand, “Mr. D” (coordinates are indicated by pos (dx, dy, dz)) indicates that the user is an out-of-area peripheral user 43o existing in an area 15 m or more away from the beacon device 20.

  In this case, for example, with respect to each position (coordinates) of “Mr. A”, “Mr. B”, and “Mr. C” who are the peripheral users 43i in the area, It is assumed that the beacon device 20 exists near a position (intersection of three dotted circles) that satisfies all the conditions of the dotted circle centered on the terminal 30 and the position (coordinates) is obtained by geometric calculation. it can. Instead of or in addition to any of the above-mentioned in-area peripheral users 43i, within 15 m from the position (coordinates) of “Mr. It is also possible to consider the condition that it does not exist in the distance).

  About the position information of the beacon device 20 obtained as a calculation result, since the distance information between each mobile terminal 30 and the beacon device 20 as the basis is an approximate value, the position (coordinates) of the calculation result is also For example, it may be output as an area having a certain width, such as “range from the position (coordinates) to OOm”. Moreover, you may make it output a some area | region according to the high probability that the beacon apparatus 20 exists.

  In the present embodiment, the reference position for calculating the position of the beacon device 20 by the three-point positioning is the position of the mobile terminal 30 held by the peripheral user 43, which can be moved by the peripheral user 43 itself. Therefore, it may vary in time series. Therefore, the mobile terminal 30 used for the reference may differ depending on the timing of calculating the position by the three-point positioning, and the mobile terminal 30 (beacon signal from the beacon device 20) that can be used for the reference depends on the degree of the density of the surrounding users 43. There may be cases where there are less than three mobile terminals 30) receiving Conversely, there may be a case where there are a large number of mobile terminals 30 that can be used as a reference, such as several tens.

  If there are less than three portable terminals 30 that can be used as a reference, three-point positioning cannot be performed, so that the position cannot be specified and that fact may be output to the screen. When there are one or two, a region that satisfies all the conditions for the distance from the portable terminal 30 may be obtained by geometric calculation. In addition to or in addition to these displays, the position information of the beacon device 20 and the date and time information when the approximate position has been identified by the three-point positioning most recently are output. May be.

  Further, when there are three or more portable terminals 30 that can be used as a reference, the accuracy can be improved by calculating the position using all of them. Therefore, even when the approximate position information of the beacon device 20 is output as an area having a certain width, the width of the width can be made variable according to the accuracy.

  On the other hand, when there are a large number of portable terminals 30 that can be used as a reference, if all of them are used to calculate the position information of the beacon device 20, the processing load may be significantly higher than necessary. Therefore, in such a case, for example, the received radio signal strength of the beacon signal from the beacon device 20 is strong (that is, the distance from the beacon device 20 is short). A number of portable terminals 30 may be selected, and the position of the beacon device 20 may be calculated by three-point positioning based on distance information between the portable terminals 30 and the beacon device 20. As a result, it is possible to efficiently calculate position information while maintaining accuracy.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the calculation of the position information of the beacon device 20 is performed based on a search request from the parent 42 that grasps the child 41 lost. However, the position information of the beacon device 20 may be calculated and recorded periodically so that the movement status can be grasped in time series. When beacon device 20 is provided with an acceleration sensor etc., it may be made possible to grasp a movement situation based on the measurement information. As a result, the parent 42 can infer the situation such as whether the child 41 is stopped, hovering, or moving by a moving means such as a car.

<Data structure>
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an outline of a specific example of the data configuration of the user information DB 13 held by the mobile body search server 10. The user information DB 13 is composed of two tables, for example, a user position information table 13a shown in FIG. 4A and a detection beacon information table 13b shown in FIG. 4B.

  The user position information table 13a shown in FIG. 4A is a table that holds position information of the peripheral user 43 (the portable terminal 30 held by the peripheral user 43). For example, each of the user ID, position information, update date and time, etc. Have items.

  The item of user ID holds identification information such as an ID that uniquely identifies the target peripheral user 43. For example, this ID may be registered by the user when each user uses the application 31 on the mobile terminal 30, or the terminal ID for uniquely identifying the mobile terminal 30 used by the target user, The identification information in the Bluetooth beacon may be automatically used. The item of position information holds information on the position (coordinates) of the target peripheral user 43 (mobile terminal 30). As described above, this position information can be acquired by appropriately using a known positioning technique provided in the mobile terminal 30, such as GPS, PDR, and geomagnetism.

  The update date and time item holds time stamp information indicating the date and time when the position information value of the target peripheral user 43 is updated. Therefore, the value of the position information item is approximate position information at the date and time indicated by the update date and time item. A record relating to the position information of each peripheral user 43 can be held as a history for each update date and time.

  The detected beacon information table 13b illustrated in FIG. 4B is a table that holds information on the detection status of the beacon device 20 in which the mobile terminal 30 owned by each peripheral user 43 has detected a beacon signal. Each item includes ID, beacon ID, radio wave intensity information, other beacon information, and update date and time.

  The user ID item is ID information that identifies the target peripheral user 43, and has the same content as the user ID item in the user position information table 13a shown in FIG. The item of beacon ID holds unique identification information assigned to the beacon device 20 from which the mobile terminal 30 of the target user (in-area peripheral user 43i) has received the beacon signal. As described above, for example, by using a table such as a beacon device master (not shown), the value of the beacon number assigned to the beacon device 20 corresponding to the target beacon ID can be acquired.

  The item of the radio wave intensity information holds information on the radio wave intensity (or distance information based on the beacon signal) received from the target beacon device 20 by the mobile terminal 30 of the peripheral user 43i in the target area. In the case of iBeacon, distance classification information such as “immediate”, “near”, and “far” can be used. The item of other beacon information holds necessary information other than information about ID and radio wave intensity (or distance) among information obtained from a beacon signal received by the target mobile terminal 30. For example, sensor detection information in the case where the beacon device 20 includes other sensors such as an acceleration sensor may be included.

  The update date / time information holds time stamp information indicating the date / time when the detection status information about the target beacon device 20 is updated. That is, the values of the items of the radio wave intensity information and other beacon information are information at the date and time indicated by the update date and time item. A record relating to information of the beacon device 20 detected by the mobile terminal 30 of each peripheral user 43 can be held as a history for each update date.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an outline of a specific example of the data configuration of the beacon information DB 14 held by the mobile body search server 10. The beacon information DB 14 is a table that holds information related to the position of each beacon device 20 calculated by the beacon position calculation unit 12 based on the content recorded in the user information DB 13 illustrated in FIG. Each item includes a beacon ID, position information, other beacon information, and update date and time.

  The item of the beacon ID is unique identification information that identifies the target beacon device 20, and has the same content as the item of the beacon ID in the detected beacon information table 13b illustrated in FIG. The item of position information holds position (coordinate) information calculated by the beacon position calculation unit 12 for the target beacon device 20. If there is no portable terminal 30 that has received the beacon signal from the target beacon device 20 and the position information cannot be calculated, a value such as blank may be set and the record itself may be recorded. .

  The other beacon information item holds information other than the position information about the target beacon device 20. For example, information such as whether or not the target beacon device 20 is moving and the moving speed and direction when moving can be included. The update date / time item holds time stamp information indicating the date / time when the information about the target beacon device 20 is updated. That is, the value of the item of the position information or other beacon information is information at the date and time indicated by the update date and time item. Records relating to position information and the like of each beacon device 20 can be held as a history for each update date and time.

  Note that the data configuration (items) of each table shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is merely an example, and other table configurations and data configurations may be used as long as similar data can be held and managed. It may be.

  As described above, the mobile body search system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention is such that, for example, in a certain area such as a theme park or a stadium, a searcher such as a parent 42 and a plurality of peripheral users 43 are respectively connected. Based on the information of the beacon signal from the beacon device 20 received by the plurality of portable terminals 30 that are not held and fixedly arranged at a specific location as receivers of the beacon signal, A service for searching for the position / location of the child 41 or the like that is a mobile body (including a case where the beacon device 20 is attached) holding the beacon device 20 is realized. This eliminates the need for a fixed arrangement of the receiver in advance. For example, it is flexible, low-cost, efficient and effective for moving objects such as stray children, even when used for events such as one-day events. A search service can be implemented.

  As mentioned above, the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiments. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say. For example, the above-described embodiment has been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and is not necessarily limited to the one having all the configurations described. In addition, it is possible to add, delete, and replace other configurations for a part of the configuration of the above-described embodiment.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used in a mobile object search system that searches for a mobile object such as a person having a device that transmits a Bluetooth beacon.

1 ... Mobile body search system,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Mobile body search server, 11 ... User position registration part, 12 ... Beacon position calculation part, 13 ... User information DB, 13a ... User position information table, 13b ... Detection beacon information table, 14 ... Beacon information DB,
20 ... Beacon device, 21, 21a-21c ... Beacon signal arrival area,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 30 ... Portable terminal, 31 ... Application, 32 ... Mobile body search API, 33 ... Beacon registration part, 34 ... Location information report part, 35 ... Beacon search part,
41 ... Child, 42 ... Parent, 43 ... Peripheral user, 43i ... In-area peripheral user, 43o ... Out-of-area peripheral user

Claims (13)

A mobile search server that constitutes a mobile search system that searches for a position of a mobile that holds a beacon device within a certain range,
It is possible to communicate via a wireless network with a mobile terminal that is a receiver of a beacon signal held by a user located in the certain range and a searcher of the mobile body,
The mobile terminal receives position information of the mobile terminal, a reception status including information specifying the beacon device related to the beacon signal received by the mobile terminal and information related to the radio wave intensity of the received beacon signal. A user location registration unit for recording,
An instruction to search for a beacon device to be searched is received from the mobile terminal held by the searcher, and is obtained from the position information of each mobile terminal recorded by the user position registration unit and the information related to the radio wave intensity. And a beacon position calculation unit that calculates position information of the beacon device to be searched based on information on a distance to the beacon device. In the mobile search server according to claim 1,
The beacon position calculation unit receives the beacon signal from the beacon device to be searched among the mobile terminals in which the position information and the information on the radio wave intensity are recorded by the user position registration unit. When three or more exist, the mobile body search server which calculates the position information of the search target beacon device by three-point positioning. In the mobile search server according to claim 2,
The beacon position calculation unit extracts a predetermined number of three or more mobile terminals in descending order of the received radio wave intensity of the beacon signal from the beacon device to be searched, and the extracted position information of each mobile terminal And a mobile search server that calculates position information of the beacon device to be searched based on the information on the radio wave intensity. In the mobile search server according to claim 1,
The mobile terminal that has not received a beacon signal from the search target beacon device among the mobile terminals in which position information and information on the radio wave intensity are recorded by the user position registration unit. The position information of the search target beacon device is calculated assuming that the search target beacon device does not exist within the range of the distance from which the beacon signal from the search target beacon device can reach. Body search server. In the mobile search server according to claim 1,
The beacon position calculation unit, when there is no mobile terminal that has received a beacon signal from the search target beacon device, the position information of each mobile terminal recorded by the user position registration unit, and the radio wave A mobile search server that calculates position information of the search target beacon device based on history information about the distance to the beacon device obtained based on information related to strength. In the mobile search server according to claim 1,
The beacon position calculation unit of the server further receives detection information from an acceleration sensor included in the mobile terminal from the mobile terminal, and calculates information related to the movement status of the beacon device based on the detection information. Body search server. In the mobile search server according to claim 1,
The information for specifying the search target beacon device includes a character string shorter than the unique identification information of the search target beacon device, the information for specifying the search target beacon device, and the unique information of the search target beacon device. A mobile search server that records the identification information in association with each other. A mobile object search method in a mobile object search server constituting a mobile object search system for searching for a position of a mobile object holding a beacon device in a certain range,
It is possible to communicate via a wireless network with a mobile terminal that is a receiver of a beacon signal held by a user located in the certain range and a searcher of the mobile body,
The mobile terminal receives position information of the mobile terminal, a reception status including information specifying the beacon device related to the beacon signal received by the mobile terminal and information related to the radio wave intensity of the received beacon signal. Recording steps,
The beacon device that receives an instruction to search for a beacon device to be searched from the mobile terminal held by the searcher and is obtained from the position information of each mobile terminal recorded in the server and the information related to the radio wave intensity And calculating the position information of the search target beacon device based on the distance information between the mobile object search method and the mobile object search method. A mobile search program for causing a computer to execute processing so as to function as a mobile search server constituting a mobile search system that searches for a position of a mobile that holds a beacon device in a certain range,
The mobile search server is capable of communicating via a wireless network with a mobile terminal that is a receiver of a beacon signal held by a user located in the certain range and a searcher of the mobile, respectively.
The mobile object search program includes:
The mobile terminal receives position information of the mobile terminal, a reception status including information specifying the beacon device related to the beacon signal received by the mobile terminal and information related to the radio wave intensity of the received beacon signal. User location registration process to record,
Received from the portable terminal held by the searcher is an instruction to search for a beacon device to be searched, and is obtained from the position information of each portable terminal recorded by the user position registration process and the information related to the radio wave intensity. A moving body search program for causing the computer to execute a beacon position calculation process for calculating position information of the search target beacon apparatus based on information on a distance to the beacon apparatus. A mobile object search system for searching for a position of a mobile object holding a beacon device in a certain range,
A mobile terminal that is a receiver of a beacon signal that is held by a user located in the certain range and a searcher of the mobile body,
A server capable of communicating with each mobile terminal via a wireless network,
The server
The mobile terminal receives position information of the mobile terminal, a reception status including information specifying the beacon device related to the beacon signal received by the mobile terminal and information related to the radio wave intensity of the received beacon signal. A user location registration unit for recording,
Based on the location information of each portable terminal recorded by the user location registration unit and the information on the distance between the beacon device obtained from the information related to the radio wave intensity, the location information of the beacon device is obtained. A beacon position calculation unit for calculating,
The portable terminal is
Means for obtaining position information of the mobile terminal;
An application, and
The application is
A beacon registration unit that receives and records input of information identifying a beacon device to be searched from the searcher;
A location information reporting unit that periodically transmits to the server location information of the mobile terminal, information identifying the beacon device related to the beacon signal received by the mobile terminal, and the reception status;
Based on an instruction from the searcher, a beacon search unit that requests the beacon position calculation unit of the server to calculate the position information of the beacon device to be searched and displays the returned position information on the screen And a mobile object search system. The mobile body search system according to claim 10,
The mobile terminal searching system that activates the mobile terminal when the application is not activated when receiving a beacon signal from the beacon device. The mobile body search system according to claim 10,
The mobile information search system, wherein the location information report unit of the mobile terminal further transmits detection information from other sensors included in the mobile terminal to the server. The mobile body search system according to claim 10,
The mobile terminal, when information identifying the search target beacon device is recorded by the beacon registration unit, when the beacon signal from the search target beacon device cannot be received, outputs that fact, Mobile object search system.

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