JP2018064290A - Server and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a positional information server capable of promoting use of applications using positional information.SOLUTION: A server includes: a storage unit for storing positional information including a position of a terminal device moving around carried by a user and positioning time of the position, and extraction conditions of a position and time set to a first application installed on the terminal device; and a notification unit for transmitting notice of use promotion of the first application to which the extraction conditions are set to the terminal device if the position included in the positional information stored in the storage unit satisfies the extract conditions of the position and the positioning time included in the positional information satisfies the extraction conditions of the time.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

  The present invention relates to a server and a computer program.

  Some Web services obtain user information about a user of the service from a user terminal and provide the service using the user information. Among these services, there is a service in which a user terminal transmits position information of its own device to a Web server, and the Web server transmits information related to the position information.

  As a technique for a user terminal to obtain position information of its own device, a terminal device described in Patent Document 1 below is known. One or more applications in the terminal device request positioning data from the positioning method selection device. The positioning method selection device uses one or more positioning methods. At this time, the positioning method selection device compares the quality of positioning data provided by a certain positioning method with the quality of positioning required by the application, and provides positioning data to one or more applications.

  The position information measured by the positioning method selection device is collected in the server. The provider who provides the application can grasp the position of the user terminal using the position information collected on the server.

JP 2011-209298 A

  However, in many cases, a provider who provides an application can use only position information from a user terminal that is permitted by the provider to be used by the provider among the position information collected in the server. In this case, the provider needs to promote the activation of the application to be provided to the terminal of the user who wants to permit the use of the location information and to perform an operation for permitting the use of the location information. there were.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a server and a computer program that can promote the use of an application that uses position information.

  (1) In order to solve the above-described problem, a server according to one aspect of the present invention is installed in a terminal device that includes a position of a terminal device that is held by a user and moves, and position information including the positioning time of the position A storage unit that stores an extraction condition related to the position and time set for the first application, and a position included in the position information stored in the storage unit satisfies the extraction condition related to the position; and When the positioning time included in the position information satisfies the extraction condition related to the time, a notification unit that transmits a notification regarding the use promotion of the first application in which the extraction condition is set, to the terminal device; Is provided.

  (2) One aspect of the present invention is the server according to (1) described above, in which the notification unit notifies the first application, which is permitted to use the location information of the terminal device, about the use promotion. It is characterized by transmitting.

  (3) According to one aspect of the present invention, in the server described in (1) or (2) above, the notification unit provides notification regarding the use promotion of the first application that is not activated in the terminal device. It is characterized by transmitting.

  (4) One aspect of the present invention is the server according to any one of (1) to (3) described above, in which the storage unit is configured to receive the notification regarding the use promotion of the first application. Operation information is stored.

  (5) According to one aspect of the present invention, in the server according to any one of (1) to (4), a position specified by a location name or a category is set in the extraction condition stored in the storage unit It is characterized by being.

  (6) According to one aspect of the present invention, in the server according to any one of (1) to (5), the notification unit is different from the first application with respect to the terminal device. It is characterized in that a notification for guiding the promotion or activation of the application is transmitted.

  (7) According to one aspect of the present invention, in the server according to any one of (1) to (6), the notification unit transmits position information of the terminal device to a device other than the terminal device, A notification related to promotion of use of the first application that enables processing of location information of the terminal device is transmitted.

  (8) According to one aspect of the present invention, in the server according to any one of (1) to (7), the position information of the terminal device is different from the position information of the terminal device. It is information obtained by using position information.

  (9) According to one aspect of the present invention, in the server according to any one of (1) to (8), the storage unit stores a user ID for identifying a user who uses the terminal device. The notification unit transmits a notification regarding promotion of use of the first application when the ID transmitted from the terminal device matches the user ID.

  (10) A computer program according to an aspect of the present invention includes a position information acquisition step that causes a computer to acquire position information including a position of a terminal device that is held and moved by a user and a positioning time of the position, and the position information. A position information transmission step for transmitting the information to a server, and a position included in the position information satisfies an extraction condition related to a position set for an application installed in the terminal device, and is included in the position information A notification acquisition step for acquiring, from the server, a notification regarding the use promotion of the application installed in the terminal device and set with the extraction condition when the time satisfies the extraction condition regarding the time set for the application. And a computer program for executing

  According to the present invention, it is possible to promote the use of an application that uses position information.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the position provision system in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the other structure of the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the other structure of the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the process sequence performed in the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the procedure of the master determination process performed in the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the procedure of a position information acquisition and transmission process performed in the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the operation screen for setting the permission setting information which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the positional infomation server which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the corresponding | compatible table which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the starting condition table which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows a part of operation | movement by the positional infomation server which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the table which stores the operation information which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows a part of operation | movement by the terminal device which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows a part of operation | movement by the application server which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, a position providing system 1 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a position providing system 1 according to the embodiment. The location providing system 1 includes a plurality of terminal devices 10A, 10B,..., 10N (hereinafter simply referred to as “terminal device 10” when collectively referred to), a location information server 30, an authentication server 40, a POI (Point Of Interest) server 42, contractor information server 44, and application servers 50A, 50B,..., 50N (hereinafter simply referred to as “application server 50” when collectively referred to).

The location providing system 1 transmits the location information of the terminal device 10 from the terminal device 10 to the location information server 30, and the location information server 30 manages the received location information. The location information server 30 receives identification information (terminal ID) for identifying each terminal device 10 together with the location information. The contractor information server 44 stores user attribute information associated with the terminal ID. The terminal ID is associated with the user ID of the user who is the owner of the terminal device 10. The location information server 30 refers to the contractor information server 44, acquires user attribute information corresponding to the location information received from the terminal device 10 based on the terminal ID, and manages the attribute information in association with the location information.
Further, the position information server 30 stores each position information in association with information indicating whether the application is permitted to use the position information. Thereby, the position information server 30 can manage whether or not use of each position information is permitted for each application. The user can set permission or non-permission of use of location information, a permission period, and the like for each application. A setting value indicating permission or non-permission set by the user is hereinafter referred to as permission setting information. The permission setting information is, for example, a setting value set for each application, and is information indicating whether or not to permit use of the position information. The permission setting information may include a setting value indicating a permission period.

Further, the position information server 30 extracts position information satisfying the extraction condition from the received position information. In the embodiment, the position information server 30 extracts position information satisfying the extraction condition from the position information associated with the information indicating that the use of the position information is permitted from the position information. The location information server 30 provides the extracted location information to the POI server 42 or the application server 50.
The terminal device 10 transmits position information at an arbitrary transmission timing or every predetermined period. The position information includes positioning time, latitude, and longitude. In the present embodiment, an example in which position information is transmitted at a transmission timing determined in advance in the terminal device 10 will be described. However, the position information transmission timing of the terminal device 10 may be set by the position information server 30.

The location information server 30 receives and accumulates location information transmitted from the terminal device 10. In this specific example, the location information server 30 accumulates location information in time series for each terminal device 10. Further, the location information server 30 stores permission setting information indicating whether or not the application is permitted to use the location information by the user of the terminal device 10 in association with the location information. Here, there are cases where the user wants to notify the position information of the terminal device 10 (for example, his current position) to others other than himself or not. As an example of the case where the user wants to inform the other person of the position information, there is a case where the user waits at a certain place with another person, or a case where the user wants to acquire information on a certain place. In this case, the user can provide the position information of the terminal device 10 to others by permitting the use of the position information. In addition, when the user does not want to notify the location information to others, the user can stop providing the location information by not permitting the use of the location information.
In addition, the user can set permission or non-approval of use of position information for the position information after the present. Further, the user can set the permission or non-approval of the use of the position information retroactively with respect to the past position information. In other words, the permission or non-permission setting of the use of the position information here includes the meaning of whether or not to use the new position information and the meaning of whether or not to use the already registered position information.

The application here is software that provides a predetermined function when installed in the terminal device 10. This application includes an application installed in the terminal device 10 and an application not installed in the terminal device 10. The permission setting information described above may be set not only for applications installed on the terminal device 10 but also for applications not installed on the terminal device 10.
The application includes an application authenticated by the authentication server 40 and an application that is not authenticated by the authentication server 40. Here, the application authenticated by the authentication server 40 is an application permitted to be used in the terminal device 10 by the authentication server 40. The application that is not authenticated by the authentication server 40 is an application that is not permitted to be used in the terminal device 10 by the authentication server 40. The permission setting information described above is set not only for applications that are permitted to be used in the terminal device 10 by the authentication server 40 but also for applications that are not permitted to be used in the terminal device 10 by the authentication server 40. Also good.

  The permission setting information can be set by various methods. For example, the terminal device 10 may be set for each application. Alternatively, the terminal device 10 may access the location information server 30 and set each of all applications managed by the location information server 30. As a result, the user can set permission setting information for each application on the terminal device 10 as well as access the position information server 30 to set permission setting information. For example, by displaying a list of currently used applications on the terminal device 10, the user can set permission setting information for each application, for each company, or for each type of application while viewing the list. Further, when a new application is installed in the terminal device 10, that fact may be automatically uploaded to the location information server 30 or may be uploaded by a push instruction from the location information server 30. The location information server 30 may request the terminal device 10 to set whether or not to permit the use of location information for a newly installed application.

  In addition, the permission setting information is not limited to information for setting permission or non-permission of use of the position information in the future from the time of setting. The permission setting information may be set retroactively from the time of setting. For example, a permission period indicating a period during which the use of the position information is permitted may be set as the permission setting information.

  The permission setting information can be managed in various ways. For example, the terminal device 10 or the location information server 30 holds permission setting information for which permission or non-license is determined for each application or each user ID. Further, the permission setting information may be held in both the terminal device 10 and the location information server 30.

  The location information server 30 stores the location information and information associated with the permission setting information in its own storage unit, and when the permission setting information is set or changed by the user, the license stored in the storage unit. A part of the setting information may be updated. The update includes a process for registering a set value from a state in which there is no set value and a process for changing the set value to another value.

The location information server 30 transmits the accumulated location information to the POI server 42 and the application server 50. In the embodiment, the location information server 30 selects whether to transmit to the POI server 42 and the application server 50 according to whether or not the use of the location information is permitted. Specifically, the location information server 30 transmits, to the application server 50, location information for which use of location information is permitted in the application provided by the application server 50 among the accumulated location information. On the contrary, the location information server 30 does not transmit to the application server 50 location information that is not permitted to use location information in the application provided by the application server 50 among the accumulated location information.
However, when the terminal device 10 acquires the position information, even if the application is not permitted to use the position information, the use of the position information at that point is permitted as a result of the retroactive change of the permission period thereafter. In the case where the position information server 30 is to be used, the position information server 30 can transmit the position information to the application server 50. That is, the position information server 30 transmits position information corresponding to a license period for which use of the position information is permitted to the application server 50. The permission period during which the location information can be used can be changed at any time.

  Here, the position information server 30 may associate the position information with the permission setting information by itself, or may acquire the position information associated with the terminal device 10 and the permission setting information from the terminal device 10. Hereinafter, the former method is referred to as a server linking method. The latter method is hereinafter referred to as a terminal linking method.

The server linking method will be described. In the case of this method, the position information server 30 holds permission setting information. Here, the permission setting information includes an application ID indicating the application for which the use of the position information is permitted, or the name and type of the application, information indicating the permission period for which the use of the position information is permitted, and the like. The location information server 30 receives location information from the terminal device 10. The position information server 30 refers to the permission setting information, and based on the positioning time included in the received position information, the user of the terminal device 10 that transmitted the position information is permitted to use the position information at the positioning time. Identify the application. The location information server 30 refers to the permission setting information, and based on the information associated with the received location information, the application of which the user of the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the location information is permitted to use the location information. May be specified. The information associated with the position information includes terminal ID, user ID, OS information, web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, environment information, terminal battery, which will be described later. Contains information such as remaining amount.
The location information server 30 stores permission setting information indicating that use of the location information by the application server 50 that provides the specified application is permitted in the storage unit in association with the location information. Among the permission setting information, permission setting information (permission) indicating that the use of the position information is permitted is set as permission setting information (permission), and permission setting information indicating that the use of the position information is not permitted. (Non-licensed).

The terminal linking method will be described. In the case of this method, the terminal device 10 reads permission setting information from the storage unit. When the permission setting information is stored in the position information server 30, the terminal device 10 may refer to the permission setting information of the position information server 30. The terminal device 10 refers to the permission setting information, and identifies an application that is permitted to use the position information at the positioning time, based on the positioning time included in the position information transmitted to the position information server 30. The terminal device 10 may identify an application that is permitted to use the position information based on the information associated with the position information transmitted to the position information server 30 with reference to the permission setting information.
The terminal device 10 transmits permission setting information (permission) to the position information server 30 in association with the position information. The position information server 30 associates the permission setting information (permission) with the position information received from the terminal device 10 and stores it in its own storage unit. The terminal device 10 may directly transmit the acquired position information to the application server 50 that provides an application for which use of the position information is permitted.

  The application server 50 is a server device corresponding to each of a plurality of applications. A plurality of application programs can be installed in the terminal device 10. In the present embodiment, a case where application programs A to C are installed in the terminal device 10 will be described as an example. In this specific example, the application server 50A is a server device corresponding to the application program A. The application server 50B is a server device corresponding to the application program B. The application server 50C is a server device corresponding to the application program C. The application server 50 receives position information from the terminal device 10 that is permitted to use position information for its own application via the position information server 30. In other words, the application server 50 includes position information associated with permission setting information (permission) indicating permission to use the position information for an application corresponding to itself among the position information stored in the position information server 30. Receive.

  The application server 50 performs predetermined application processing using the tracked location information of the terminal device 10. The tracked position information includes the latest position or past position of the terminal device 10 that is updated arbitrarily or repeatedly at predetermined intervals. This application process may include a process of analyzing a change in the position of the terminal device 10 and determining application information such as advertisement information suitable for the terminal device 10. The application information may be transmitted from the application server 50 to the terminal device 10 or may be transmitted from the POI server 42 to the terminal device 10. Thereby, the application server 50 and the POI server 42 can display an advertisement or the like suitable for the position of the terminal device 10 on the terminal device 10. In this example, the application information corresponds to information based on the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit of the terminal device 10.

  The authentication server 40 performs various authentication processes when the terminal device 10 starts communication with the location information server 30. The authentication process performed by the authentication server 40 includes, for example, a terminal authentication process, a user authentication process, or an application authentication process. Specific examples of these authentication processes will be described. In the terminal authentication process, the authentication server 40 makes the authentication successful when the terminal ID transmitted from the terminal device 10 matches the terminal ID stored in advance. Here, the terminal ID is information such as a unique symbol or number for identifying the terminal device 10. The authentication server 40 in the user authentication process makes the authentication successful when the user ID transmitted from the terminal device 10 matches the user ID stored in advance. Here, the user ID is information such as a unique symbol or number for identifying a user who uses the terminal device 10. The authentication server 40 in the application authentication process makes the authentication successful when the application ID transmitted from the terminal device 10 matches the application ID stored in advance. Here, the application ID is information such as a unique symbol or number for identifying each application program.

  When the authentication by the authentication server 40 is successful, the authentication server 40 generates a token in the terminal device 10 and transmits it to the terminal device 10. The token transmitted from the authentication server 40 is stored in the terminal device 10. Thereby, the terminal device 10 can perform secure communication with the position information server 30 and the application server 50. Note that the token may be updated at an arbitrary timing. Thereby, the terminal device 10 can perform more secure communication.

  In addition, when the terminal device 10 is a mobile phone, the authentication server 40 may use an IP (Internet Protocol) address and a telephone number in the terminal authentication process. The authentication server 40 receives the IP address and telephone number transmitted from the terminal device 10 via the location information server 30. The authentication server 40 collates the received IP address and telephone number with a valid IP address and telephone number. If the received IP address and telephone number can be verified with a valid IP address and telephone number, the authentication server 40 transmits an authentication result permitting communication to the location information server 30.

The POI server 42 stores POI information. The POI information includes at least information indicating the latitude and longitude of a store or the like. The POI server 42 receives a request from the terminal device 10, the position information server 30 or the application server 50. This request includes the position information of the terminal device 10. In response to accepting this request, the POI server 42 searches for POI information corresponding to the position information, and returns POI information near the position information. The POI information may include a location ID such as a store, a location name, and a category. As a result, the POI server 42 can return a location ID, a location name, a category, and the like corresponding to the position information as a search result.
The POI server 42 may search the terminal device 10 using the POI information as a key. As a result, the POI server 42 can extract the terminal device 10 corresponding to the POI information and send it back as a search result. For example, the POI server 42 can search for the terminal device 10 present in a certain store and send back the user ID of the terminal device 10.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the terminal device 10 according to the embodiment. The terminal device 10 includes a processing unit 12, a communication unit 14, a GPS (Global Positioning System) positioning unit 16, a storage unit 18, and a display unit 19. The terminal device 10 is a device that is owned and moved by a user. The terminal device 10 may be a mobile phone or a smartphone, for example.

  The communication unit 14 communicates with the position information server 30. The communication unit 14 is configured by a communication IC chip, for example. The communication unit 14 converts the position information supplied from the processing unit 12 into predetermined communication data and transmits it to the position information server 30. When the authentication server 40 performs application authentication, the position information may be associated with the application ID of the application that has been successfully authenticated. When communication data is received from the position information server 30 or the application server 50, the communication unit 14 performs a predetermined process on the received communication data and outputs it to the processing unit 12.

  The GPS positioning unit 16 functions as a position information acquisition unit that acquires position information. The GPS positioning unit 16 specifies the position of the device itself, generates position information, and outputs the position information to the processing unit 12. At this time, the GPS positioning unit 16 receives a GPS signal including the position and time of the GPS satellite from a plurality of GPS satellites. The GPS positioning unit 16 calculates the distance between the plurality of GPS satellites and the terminal device 10, and specifies the position of the own device by triangulation calculation. The specified position and time are supplied from the GPS positioning unit 16 to the processing unit 12 as position information.

  The GPS positioning unit 16 operates in at least two states, a sleep state and a normal operation state. Among these, the sleep state is a state in which standby is performed without performing positioning, and is a state in which power consumption is less than that in the normal operation state. The normal operation state is a state in which positioning is performed, and is a state in which power consumption is higher than that in the sleep state. The GPS positioning unit 16 changes the state according to the activation request from the processing unit 12 and the completion of the normal operation. Specifically, the operation state of the GPS positioning unit 16 transitions from the sleep state to the normal operation state with the activation request from the processing unit 12 as a trigger. The operation state of the GPS positioning unit 16 transitions from the normal operation state to the sleep state, triggered by the completion of the positioning calculation. Here, the activation request is a request that is output from the processing unit 12 to the GPS positioning unit 16 and is a command that requests execution of a process for specifying the position of the own device and generating position information.

  In other words, the GPS positioning unit 16 is in a sleep state during a period of waiting for an input of an activation request output from the processing unit 12. The sleep state is a state of operating with power saving and is canceled by a start request. The GPS positioning unit 16 is activated in response to an activation request input from the processing unit 12. As a result, the GPS positioning unit 16 switches from the sleep state to the normal operation state. The activation request is a command for acquiring position information of the own device. When the GPS positioning unit 16 acquires position information in response to the activation request and outputs it to the processing unit 12, the GPS positioning unit 16 enters a sleep state after a predetermined time.

Note that the position information acquisition unit that acquires the position information may acquire the position information by another method.
The location information acquisition unit may acquire location information by a cell ID (mobile phone base station) method. In the cell ID method, when the terminal device 10 is a mobile phone terminal, the current location of the terminal device 10 is calculated based on radio wave information of three or more mobile phone base stations by applying a communication function as a mobile phone terminal. .
The position information acquisition unit may acquire position information by a Wi-Fi method. In the Wi-Fi scheme, radio waves transmitted from wireless LAN access points around the terminal device 10 are detected, and the location information of the terminal device 10 is acquired from the access point or a predetermined server based on the location information of the access point. .
Furthermore, the position information acquisition unit may acquire position information by a network positioning method. In the network positioning method, position information is acquired by positioning using the cell ID method and the Wi-Fi method.
As described above, the position information acquisition unit is activated from the sleep state in response to the activation request from the processing unit 12 even in a configuration using not only the GPS positioning method but also the cell ID method or the Wi-Fi method. Location information can be acquired.
In the present embodiment, the terminal device 10 gives priority to the positioning method by the GPS positioning unit 16 over the Wi-Fi method and the cell ID method as the position information acquisition method. The terminal device 10 switches to the positioning by the cell ID method or the Wi-Fi method instead of the positioning by the GPS positioning unit 16 in a situation where the GPS positioning unit 16 cannot perform positioning, for example, the terminal device 10 is indoors.

  The processing unit 12 is a software function unit that functions when a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) executes a program stored in a memory. Some or all of these functional units may be hardware functional units such as LSI (Large Scale Integration) and ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

  The processing unit 12 includes application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C (hereinafter simply referred to as “application processing unit 120” when collectively referred to) and a control unit 124. The control unit 124 will be described later with reference to FIG. The application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C are software function units that function when the CPU executes the application programs A, B, and C. In the present embodiment, each of the plurality of application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C executes arbitrary application processing. Moreover, although this embodiment demonstrates the example which performs three application programs A, B, and C, it is not restricted to this. The application processing unit 120 only needs to execute two or more application programs at the same time.

  The terminal device 10 may perform an operation for application authentication when the application programs A, B, and C are activated. In this case, when the application program is activated, the terminal device 10 transmits an application ID predetermined for each application program to the authentication server 40. More specifically, the terminal device 10 transmits an application ID indicating the application program A to the authentication server 40 when the application program A is activated. The terminal device 10 receives an authentication result indicating whether application authentication is permitted from the authentication server 40. The terminal device 10 permits the application program to be activated only when the authentication result is “permitted”.

The processing unit 12 can execute a plurality of application programs A, B, and C at the same time. The processing unit 12 executes an application program with a low priority among the plurality of application programs A, B, and C in the background. Note that the application programs A, B, and C may be set to output an activation request every predetermined period. The predetermined period may be set for each of the application programs A, B, and C. Examples of the predetermined period include 1 minute, 10 minutes, and 1 hour.
In the terminal device 10 of the present embodiment, even if the application program outputs an activation request, any one of the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C outputs the activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16.

  The storage unit 18 stores a position information library attached to each of the application programs A, B, and C. In the embodiment, a position information library A is attached to the application program A. The application program B is attached with a position information library B, and the application program C is attached with a position information library C. In the following description, these position information libraries A, B, and C are collectively referred to as a position information library.

  The position information library is software executed by the CPU of the terminal device 10. That is, in the terminal device 10, the CPU executes the position information library. Thereby, the terminal device 10 constitutes position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C (hereinafter, simply referred to as “position information acquisition control unit 122” when collectively referred to) as software function units. That is, the processing unit 12 has the position information acquisition control unit 122 for each application.

  The position information acquisition control units 122 </ b> A, 122 </ b> B, and 122 </ b> C output activation requests to the GPS positioning unit 16. In the embodiment, the activation request is output from any one of the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C. The position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, 122C acquire the position information generated by the GPS positioning unit 16 in response to the activation request, and output the acquired position information to the application processing units 120A, 120B, 120C. In the embodiment, the GPS positioning unit 16 outputs the generated position information to any one of the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C that output the activation request. Any one of the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C to which the position information is input may output the position information to another position information acquisition control unit. As a result, each of the application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C can use the position information generated by the GPS positioning unit 16.

  Here, the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C may output the position information to the application processing unit 120 corresponding to the application that is permitted to use the position information based on the permission setting information. . That is, the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C do not output position information to the application processing unit 120 corresponding to an application that is not permitted to use the position information. The position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C may refer to the permission setting information stored in the terminal device 10, or may refer to the permission setting information stored in the position information server 30.

  The application programs A, B, and C are provided with location information libraries A, B, and C, respectively. However, all the location information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C are not necessarily connected to the GPS positioning unit 16. It is not necessary to output a start request. That is, the processing unit 12 has one position information acquisition control unit 122 that acquires position information and makes the position information available to the application processing unit 120 among the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C. It only has to exist. The “one position information acquisition control unit 122” is realized by a position information library which is a master described later. “One position information acquisition control unit 122” may be attached as one position information library corresponding to a plurality of applications, as will be described later with reference to FIG.

The application processing unit 120 uses position information that is acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16 by one position information acquisition control unit 122.
“Use location information” includes using location information within the terminal device 10. For example, the application processing unit 120 can display the position of its own device on the map based on the position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16 by using the position information.
“Using position information” includes using information based on position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16. Information based on position information is new information obtained by using position information. The information based on the position information may be information obtained by processing based on the position information in the terminal device 10, or information obtained by processing based on the position information in the application server 50. It may be. For example, the application processing unit 120 may extract advertisement information of a store close to the position of the own device and display the advertisement information as a push advertisement. The application processing unit 120 may receive the advertisement information extracted based on the position information by the application server 50 and display the advertisement information as a push advertisement.

The application processing unit 120 makes the position information acquired by one position information acquisition control unit 122 available. “Making location information available” includes causing a device other than the terminal device 10 to acquire the position information and enabling a device other than the terminal device 10 to process the position information.
For this purpose, the application processing unit 120 permits the use of the position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16. At this time, the application processing unit 120 inquires of the user whether to permit transmission of the position information. When the user permits transmission of the position information, the application processing unit 120 generates permission information that permits the use of the position information. The application processing unit 120 transmits the generated permission information to the location information server 30. After receiving the permission information transmitted from the terminal device 10, the location information server 30 can accumulate the position information transmitted from the terminal device 10 and transmit it to the application server 50 or the like thereafter. Accordingly, the application processing unit 120 can cause the application server 50 to analyze the position of the terminal device 10 by using the position information.

  Furthermore, the application processing unit 120 is installed in the terminal device 10 in advance. The application processing unit 120 may be installed in the terminal device 10 as the position information library is supplied to the terminal device 10. Specifically, an application program with a location information library is downloaded at the same time and installed in the terminal device 10. Accordingly, the terminal device 10 can include the application processing unit 120 and the position information acquisition control unit 122.

The location information library is downloaded according to the user's permission. When the application program is activated, the application processing unit 120 displays a screen for inquiring whether transmission of position information of the own device is permitted. When transmission of location information is permitted based on a user operation, the application processing unit 120 transmits a download request for the location information library.
The location information server 30 transmits a location information library to the terminal device 10 in response to receiving the download request. As a result, the terminal device 10 starts downloading the position information library. When the download is completed, the processing unit 12 attaches the position information library to each application program.

The processing unit 12 may attach the downloaded position information library to another application. The processing unit 12 duplicates the downloaded location information library and incorporates it into an application not provided with the location information library. As a result, the processing unit 12 can attach the position information library to an application that does not have the position information library.
The processing unit 12 may update to the latest version of the position information library instead of the old version of the position information library already incorporated in the application. Accordingly, the processing unit 12 can update the position information library of the application to the latest one.

  As described above, the position information acquisition control unit 122 makes an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16. One position information acquisition control unit 122 among the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C attached to the plurality of application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C makes an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16. One position information acquisition control unit 122 that makes an activation request among the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122 is specified in advance. That is, it is specified which application program among the plurality of application programs A, B, and C outputs the activation request from the position information acquisition control unit 122 to the GPS positioning unit 16.

  Among the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122, the position information acquisition control unit 122 that has output the activation request is supplied with position information from the GPS positioning unit 16. The position information acquisition control unit 122 notifies the other position information acquisition control unit 122 that the position information is supplied from the GPS positioning unit 16. The other position information acquisition control unit 122 requests position information from the position information acquisition control unit 122 that has output the activation request in response to the notification indicating that the position information has been supplied. The position information acquisition control unit 122 that has output the activation request outputs position information to the other position information acquisition control unit 122 in response to a request from the other position information acquisition control unit 122. Here, the location information acquisition control unit 122 that has output the activation request is the location information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application specified in advance. The other position information acquisition control unit 122 is a position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to an application other than the application specified in advance. That is, the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application specified in advance outputs the position information to the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to another application. As a result, the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to another application can acquire the position information generated by the GPS positioning unit 16 without making an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16.

Here, the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application specified in advance is also referred to as a position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. Further, the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to an application other than the application specified in advance is also referred to as a position information acquisition control unit 122 that does not have master authority or a slave position information acquisition control unit 122.
In other words, one location information acquisition control unit 122 that outputs an activation request has master authority over the other location information acquisition control unit 122. The other position information acquisition control unit 122 functions as a slave with respect to the master position information acquisition control unit 122. The other position information acquisition control unit 122 does not transmit an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16. When receiving the notification from the master position information acquisition control unit 122, the other position information acquisition control unit 122 requests the position information from the master position information acquisition control unit 122 and acquires the position information.

  The storage unit 18 is a recording medium that stores various types of information. The storage unit 18 accumulates the position information acquired by the position information acquisition control unit 122. The storage unit 18 stores position information in time series. The storage unit 18 may store permission setting information. The permission setting information may include information indicating the date and time when the use of the position information is permitted, information indicating the date and time when the use of the position information is not permitted, and the like.

  Further, the storage unit 18 stores a position information library as a position acquisition control program for operating the position information acquisition control unit 122. The position acquisition control program is a program that can be read by a computer.

Further, the storage unit 18 stores the following information.
The storage unit 18 stores a terminal ID assigned to the terminal device 10.
The storage unit 18 stores a user ID assigned to the user of the terminal device 10.
The storage unit 18 stores web history information related to the access history to the web page accessed by the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the position information and the operation history of the activated web browser. The web history information includes the time when the terminal device 10 accessed a corporate advertisement or a web page such as a home page and the address of the accessed web page.

  The storage unit 18 stores program execution history information related to a program executed by the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the position information. The program execution history information includes the time when the terminal device 10 executes the program and the name and type of the executed program. The program execution history information includes the time when the program is started and the time when the program is restarted from the sleep state. The programs executed by the terminal device 10 include, for example, a camera program, a mail program, a telephone program, a music playback program (which may include a played music name, etc.), a calculator program, and the like.

  The storage unit 18 stores operation history information related to an operation from the user received by the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the position information. The operation history information includes the time when the terminal device 10 receives an operation and the name and type of the received operation. The operations received by the terminal device 10 include, for example, an operation to turn on the power, an operation to turn off the power, an operation to adjust the speaker volume, and an operation to switch to the power saving mode.

  The storage unit 18 stores charging history information indicating whether or not the terminal device 10 is in the charging mode at the position indicated by the position information. The charging history information includes a time when the terminal device 10 starts charging and a time when charging ends. Further, the charge history information may include the remaining capacity of the terminal device 10 and the ratio of the remaining capacity.

  The storage unit 18 stores posture change information indicating a change in posture of the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the position information. The posture change information includes the time when the posture of the terminal device 10 is changed. Note that the change in the attitude of the terminal device 10 is detected by an acceleration sensor or the like to be described later.

  The storage unit 18 stores environment information acquired by the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the position information. The environmental information includes sound information collected by the terminal device 10, a communication history of near field communication, and the like. The sound information collected by the terminal device 10 is information on audible sounds and inaudible sounds that are circulated in stores, for example. The communication history of near field communication includes, for example, Bluetooth (registered trademark), the time when infrared communication or the like was performed, and the like.

  Web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, and environment information are generated by the processing unit 12.

  The position information acquisition control unit 122 reads the position information stored in the storage unit 18 and outputs the position information to the communication unit 14 when transmitting the position information to the position information server 30. Accordingly, the position information acquisition control unit 122 causes the communication unit 14 to transmit the position information read from the storage unit 18 to the position information server 30. The position information acquisition control unit 122 may transmit all or part of the web history information, the program execution history information, the operation history information, the charging history information, the posture change information, and the environment information together with the position information.

  Furthermore, the position information acquisition control unit 122 may store the transmission completion or the transmission failure of the position information as a transmission history every time the position information is read from the storage unit 18 and communicated by the communication unit 14. For example, if the position information acquisition control unit 122 cannot transmit the position information due to the influence of radio waves around the device itself, the position information acquisition control unit 122 stops the transmission of the position information and displays a transmission history indicating that transmission is impossible in association with the position information. The data is stored in the storage unit 18. The position information acquisition control unit 122 refers to the transmission history at the transmission timing, reads out the position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16 after the previous transmission timing and the position information that cannot be transmitted from the storage unit 18, and communicates with the communication unit 14. To communicate. Thereby, the position information acquisition control unit 122 can transmit the position information without omission even when a situation where the position information cannot be transmitted occurs.

The location information acquisition control unit 122 associates information about the terminal device 10 such as a user ID, a terminal ID, a terminal model name, and an OS (Operating System) type with the location information, and sends the location information via the communication unit 14. You may transmit to the server 30. Further, the position information acquisition control unit 122 may transmit the position information in association with the positioning method of the position information and the positioning error of the position information measured by the positioning method. Examples of the positioning method include a GPS positioning method, a cell ID method, a Wi-Fi method, and a network positioning method. Further, when the terminal device 10 exists in the Wi-Fi network, the location information acquisition control unit 122 may transmit the location information in association with the ID of the access point of the Wi-Fi network. Furthermore, when the terminal device 10 is communicating by starting the Bluetooth (registered trademark) function, the location information acquisition control unit 122 transmits the location information in association with an ID as a Bluetooth (registered trademark) terminal. Also good. In addition, permission settings may be set for each piece of position information.
Further, the position information acquisition control unit 122 may transmit the position information directly to the application server 50 without using the position information server 30.

The location information acquisition control unit 122 causes the location information server 30 to transmit location information when a predetermined condition is met. The predetermined condition is a transmission timing determined in advance in the terminal device 10. The predetermined condition may be a predetermined period transmitted from the location information server 30. Thereby, the terminal device 10 can transmit position information to the position information server 30 at a frequency requested by the position information server 30.
The predetermined condition may be a timing set by an application. For example, the terminal device 10 may measure the position information in accordance with the push instruction from the position information server 30. Further, the push instruction of the position information server 30 may be performed according to the positioning timing instructed from the application server 50 to the position information server 30. Thereby, the terminal device 10 can transmit position information to the position information server 30 at a frequency requested by the application.
The predetermined condition may be a predetermined period transmitted from the application server 50 when the position information is transmitted directly to the application server 50 without going through the position information server 30. Thereby, the terminal device 10 can transmit position information to the application server 50 at a frequency requested by the application server 50.

Next, an example of associating information indicating whether or not an application is permitted to use position information with position information in a system that employs a terminal association method will be described.
For example, the processing unit 12 associates permission setting information with position information. Note that the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master is not limited to the processing unit 12, and the permission setting information may be associated with the position information. The processing unit 12 refers to the permission setting information and associates the application ID indicating the application for which the use of the position information is permitted by the user of the terminal device 10 with the position information acquired during the permission period. The permission period is, for example, a period during which use of location information is permitted by the user. The permission period is set by the user for each application program. The permission period is included in the permission setting information.

  As described above, the GPS positioning unit 16 measures the position information in response to the activation request output from the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. However, in the present embodiment, the processing unit 12 associates application IDs indicating all applications that are permitted to use position information with the position information when the position information is measured. That is, the processing unit 12 is associated with the position information including the application ID indicating the application having the authority of the slave, not limited to the application having the authority of the master that has output the activation request. By receiving the positional information and permission setting information associated in this way, the positional information server 30 writes the following information in the correspondence table 38T.

  For example, it is assumed that the positioning interval of the app A is every 5 minutes, the positioning interval of the app B is 1 hour, and the positioning interval of the app C is 3 hours. Here, when the application A has the master authority, the position information measured at intervals of 5 minutes is written in the correspondence table 38T of the position information server 30. In addition, when the use of the position information is permitted in each of the applications A to C, “◯” is displayed in the columns of “application A”, “application B”, and “application C” in the permission setting information of the correspondence table 38T. Written. Thereby, the position information server 30 can provide the position information measured at intervals of 5 minutes to all of the application servers 50A to 50C of the applications A to C. In addition, the application servers 50B and 50C of the applications B and C can use the position information measured at intervals shorter than the prescribed positioning intervals.

  FIG. 3 shows another configuration example of the terminal device 10. The terminal device 10 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 2, and may be configured as shown in FIG. The terminal device 10 in FIG. 3 has one position information acquisition control unit 122 for a plurality of application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C. The position information acquisition control unit 122 is implemented as one position information library corresponding to a plurality of applications.

FIG. 4 shows still another configuration example of the terminal device 10. In the terminal device 10, the position information acquisition unit 160 includes an acceleration sensor 161 in addition to the GPS positioning unit 16 described above. The acceleration sensor 161 changes its physical quantity in accordance with a change in acceleration applied to the terminal device 10 that is its own device. The acceleration sensor 161 may be a semiconductor capacitance sensor.
The terminal device 10 may include a gravity sensor, a gyro sensor, or a geomagnetic sensor in order to detect the behavior of the device itself. In the present embodiment, it is described that only the acceleration sensor 161 is provided. However, the gravity sensor, the gyro sensor, or the geomagnetic sensor may be provided together with the acceleration sensor 161 or instead of the acceleration sensor 161.

  The acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 161 corresponds to the behavior of the terminal device 10. The position information acquisition unit 160 detects the movement of the own device based on the behavior detected by the acceleration sensor 161. The position information acquisition unit 160 updates the movement amount in response to detecting the movement of the own device. Unlike the actual movement amount of the terminal device 10, this movement amount is a movement amount estimated from the behavior of the terminal device 10. This movement amount is output from the position information acquisition unit 160 to the processing unit 12. Thereby, the processing unit 12 can accumulate in the storage unit 18 the position information of the own device that changes according to the movement amount.

  Note that the position information acquisition unit 160 may detect that the device itself has moved based on a change in physical quantity in the acceleration sensor 161. The position information acquisition unit 160 can cause the position information acquisition control unit 122 to determine the positioning timing in response to detecting that the own apparatus has moved. For example, the position information acquisition control unit 122 can determine that it is the positioning timing when the own apparatus is in a moving state. The position information acquisition control unit 122 can determine that it is the positioning timing when the movement distance per unit time or the movement distance from the predetermined position exceeds a predetermined distance (for example, 100 meters). .

  Further, the position information acquisition control unit 122 may determine the positioning timing based on an identifier of a communication area in which the communication unit 14 can communicate. Examples of the identifier of the communication area include a cell ID of a base station or an access point ID in a Wi-Fi network. The position information acquisition control unit 122 can determine that the timing at which it is determined that the identifier of the communication area detected by the communication unit 14 has changed is the positioning timing.

  Next, the operation of the terminal device 10 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for determining whether to perform master determination processing for determining the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master by the terminal device 10 configured as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of master determination processing.

  First, in step S100 of FIG. 5, the terminal device 10 determines whether or not a plurality of application programs are simultaneously activated by the processing unit 12. If a plurality of application programs are activated, the process proceeds to step S102. When only one application program is activated, the terminal device 10 repeats this determination.

  In step S102, the processing unit 12 performs the master determination process of FIG. This master determination process is described as being performed by the processing unit 12 of each position information acquisition control unit 122. This master determination process is merely an example, and it goes without saying that the position information library as a master may be determined by other processes.

  First, in step S200 of FIG. 6, the processing unit 12 determines whether or not the current operation mode of the own apparatus is the power saving mode. At this time, the processing unit 12 refers to the remaining battery level in the own device. The processing unit 12 determines that the power saving mode is set when the remaining battery level is equal to or less than a predetermined value. If so, the process proceeds to step S202; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S204. Note that the processing unit 12 may detect that the power saving mode is set by a user operation.

  In the next step S202, the processing unit 12 determines the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application program corresponding to the power saving mode as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. At this time, the processing unit 12 may determine the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application program with the old version as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. The processing unit 12 may determine the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to an application program with less information to be acquired as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. The processing unit 12 determines the position information acquisition control unit 122 other than the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master as the slave position information acquisition control unit 122.

  In step S204, the processing unit 12 detects the position information acquisition control unit 122 that matches a predetermined master determination condition. As the predetermined master determination condition, a condition for setting the position information library as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master is set in advance. The predetermined master determination condition may be the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to an application that frequently makes a start request to the GPS positioning unit 16 among a plurality of applications. In this case, the processing unit 12 refers to data including a history of application program activation times. The processing unit 12 detects an application having the largest number of activations. Thus, the processing unit 12 detects the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application with the largest number of activations as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate.

  The predetermined master determination condition may be the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application activated first among the plurality of applications. In this case, the processing unit 12 refers to data including a history of application activation times. The processing unit 12 detects an application having the oldest activation time among currently activated applications. The position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application with the oldest start time is detected as the master candidate position information acquisition control unit 122.

  The predetermined master determination condition may be a position information library having the latest version among a plurality of position information libraries. In this case, the processing unit 12 refers to the version information of each position information library attached to a plurality of applications. The processing unit 12 detects the position information library of the latest version information from the version information of the position information library. The processing unit 12 detects the position information acquisition control unit 122 corresponding to the position information library of the latest version information as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate.

  Note that the predetermined master determination conditions may include other conditions. The processing unit 12 may detect the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application program having the oldest installation date and the least likely to be deleted as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate. Good. Further, the processing unit 12 may detect the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application having the most types of position information to be acquired as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate. Further, the processing unit 12 may detect the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application with the highest positioning frequency as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate.

  In step S206, the processing unit 12 determines the position information acquisition control unit 122 corresponding to the predetermined master determination condition detected in step S204 as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. The processing unit 12 determines the position information acquisition control unit 122 other than the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave. When a plurality of master candidate position information acquisition control units 122 are detected, the processing unit 12 determines that the position information acquisition control unit 122 that has a large number that matches a predetermined master determination condition The information acquisition control unit 122 may determine the information.

  In this embodiment, the location information acquisition controller 122 may be determined by the location information server 30 having the authority of the master. The location information server 30 receives from the terminal device 10 a list that defines information about the running application and permission information that the user has permitted to use the location information. The location information server 30 can determine, with reference to the received list, the location information library that is permitted to use the location information and that belongs to the active application among the active applications. The position information server 30 notifies the terminal device 10 of the application to which the determined master position information library is attached. Thereby, the terminal device 10 can set the position information library attached to the application determined by the position information server 30 as a master.

Note that the location information server 30 allows the information on the running application and the user to use the location information from the terminal device 10 periodically, at a fixed date and time, or when a change occurs in the previously transmitted list. A list defining permission information may be received. As a result, the location information server 30 can notify the terminal device 10 of the next master without delay even when there is a change in the permission information that the application or the user that has been permitted to use the location information changes. .
Further, the location information server 30 may receive information indicating the remaining amount of charge together with the location information from the terminal device 10 and may instruct to change the master when the remaining amount of charge falls below a predetermined capacity. .

  In addition, the location information server 30 is attached with a master location information library based on a list that defines the information of the activated application received from the terminal device 10 and permission information that the user has permitted to use the location information. A list may be created that defines the ranking of the applications that are running. As a result, when the application to which the master location information library is attached is deleted, the terminal device 10 can determine the location information library attached to the next rank application as the master.

  As described above, the processing unit 12 can determine any one of the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122 as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure for causing the terminal device 10 to acquire position information by the master position information acquisition control unit 122 and transmitting the acquired position information to the position information server 30.

  First, in step S300, the master position information acquisition control unit 122 determines whether or not the positioning timing has come. The positioning timing is a timing for acquiring the position information of the own device. The positioning timing is a time interval set in advance in the own apparatus. The positioning timing may be a time interval specified by the position information server 30.

  In the next step S <b> 302, the master position information acquisition control unit 122 outputs an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16. Thereby, the GPS positioning part 16 receives a GPS signal, performs a triangulation calculation, and pinpoints the position of an own apparatus. The GPS positioning unit 16 acquires the specified position as position information. The position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16 is supplied to the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. The position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master accumulates the supplied position information in the storage unit 18 together with the positioning time.

  In the next step S304, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master notifies the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave that the position information has been acquired in step S302.

  In the next step S306, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master determines whether or not the request is received from the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave. When the request is received (step S306: YES), the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master stores the position information accumulated in step S302 in the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave that transmitted the request. Is output (step S308). The position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master outputs the position information to the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of all the slaves that output the request. After the notification in step S304, if there is no request from the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave and a predetermined time has elapsed, the process may be timed out and the process proceeds to step S310.

In step S <b> 310, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master determines whether it is the transmission timing of the position information to the position information server 30. The transmission timing of the position information is when a predetermined time has elapsed from the previous transmission timing. The predetermined time is a time determined in advance in the own apparatus. The predetermined time may be a time interval requested by the location information server 30.
When the transmission timing of the positional information is reached (step S310: YES), the positional information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master reads the positional information that has not been transmitted to the positional information server 30 from the storage unit 18, and the positional information server 30 (step S312). If it is not the transmission timing, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master returns the process to step S300.

Next, an operation screen for setting permission setting information will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of an operation screen for setting permission setting information.
The operation screen may be a screen displayed on the terminal device 10 when the terminal device 10 accesses the location information server 30, and is displayed on the terminal device 10 when the terminal device 10 accesses a predetermined address. It may be a screen.
As shown in FIG. 8, on the operation screen for setting permission setting information, “all application permission” B1, “permission” B2, and “non-permission” B3 are displayed. “Permission” B2 and “Non-Permission” B3 are provided for each application. For example, an application installed in the terminal device 10 is displayed on the operation screen for setting the permission setting information. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and on the operation screen for setting the permission setting information, an installable application that is not yet installed in the terminal device 10 may be displayed.

  The “all application permission” B1 is an operation unit that receives an operation for permitting the use of position information for all applications displayed on the operation screen. When "all application permission" B1 is instructed, a setting for permitting the use of the position information for all applications displayed on the operation screen for setting permission setting information is accepted.

The “permission” B2 is an operation unit that receives an operation for permitting the use of position information for the associated application. When “permission” B2 is instructed, a setting for permitting the use of the position information for the associated application is accepted.
The “non-permission” B3 is an operation unit that receives an operation for not permitting use of position information for the associated application. When “non-permitted” B3 is instructed, a setting not to permit the use of the position information for the associated application is accepted.

The applications associated with “permitted” B2 and “non-permitted” B3 are applications displayed on the left side of the respective operation screens of “permitted” B2 and “unlicensed” B3. In the illustrated example, the use of position information is permitted for the application A, and the use of position information is not permitted for the applications B and C. In the “permitted” B2 and the “non-permitted” B3, the character display color is lighter than the background color. On the other hand, the display mode that is not set is determined and displayed, and the character color is darker than the background color.
In addition, the operation screen for setting permission setting information can be set for each type of information transmitted to the external device when the permission is granted, for the purpose of transmitting information to the external device, and for each type of application. It is described that there is.

  Next, the configuration of the location information server 30 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the location information server 30 according to the embodiment. The location information server 30 includes a processing unit 32, a first communication unit 34, a second communication unit 36, and a storage unit 38.

  The first communication unit 34 includes a reception unit and a transmission unit that communicate with the terminal device 10. The first communication unit 34 receives position information from the terminal device 10. Further, the first communication unit 34 receives permission setting information from the terminal device 10. In addition, the first communication unit 34 receives a notification regarding promotion of use of the target application (hereinafter referred to as an application notification) from the processing unit 32 and transmits the notification to the terminal device 10. In the application notification, as information for promoting the use of the target application using the position information, for example, information for promoting the start of the target application, information for permitting the use of the position information for the target application, etc. Is included. The second communication unit 36 includes a reception unit and a transmission unit that communicate with the application server 50. The second communication unit 36 transmits the position information to the application server 50 that provides an application whose use is permitted by the user.

The storage unit 38 stores position information received from the terminal device 10. For example, the storage unit 38 stores a correspondence table 38T that associates received position information with each piece of information, and a notification condition table 39T that associates an extraction condition and a notification condition for each application. Here, an example of the correspondence table 38T stored in the storage unit 38 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the correspondence table 38T stored in the storage unit 38. As illustrated in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 10, the correspondence table 38T includes a user ID, permission setting information, position information, web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, It is a table that associates environmental information.
The user ID, position information, web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, attitude change information, and environment information are information received from the terminal device 10. The permission setting information is information received from the terminal device 10 in the case of the terminal association method, and is information associated with the position information server 30 in the case of the server association method.

Details of the permission setting information and the position information associated with the user ID in the correspondence table 38T will be described.
The permission setting information includes a column for each application ID. The permission setting information may be composed of only a column of applications installed in the terminal device 10, or may include a column of all applications recognized by the location information server 30. That is, the permission setting information may include a column of applications that are not installed in the terminal device 10. Each row of the permission setting information stores information indicating whether or not the use is permitted by the user for each position information. In the drawing, the permission setting information (permission) is indicated by “◯”, which indicates that the use of the position information is permitted by the user. The permission setting information (non-permitted) is indicated by “-”, and indicates that the use of the position information is not permitted by the user.
The position information includes a column indicating latitude and longitude, and a column indicating positioning time.

Next, an example of the notification condition table 39T stored in the storage unit 38 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of the notification condition table 39T stored in the storage unit 38. As illustrated in FIG.
As illustrated in FIG. 11, the notification condition table 39T is a table that associates application IDs, extraction conditions, and notification conditions.
In the example shown in the figure, the extraction conditions of the application A include attribute information, position, time, charging history, web history, etc. Although not shown in the drawings, for example, posture changes, environment information, and the like are included in the extraction conditions. The extraction condition is a condition set for extracting position information associated with the terminal device 10 that wants to transmit the application notification.

It is possible to set the age and sex of the user of the terminal device 10 in the attribute information of the extraction condition.
The position where the terminal apparatus 10 exists in the past, the present, or the future can be set as the position of the extraction condition. Here, the position may be specified by latitude and longitude, or the position may be specified by location name, category, etc. using POI information.
The time when the position information is acquired from the terminal device 10 can be set as the extraction condition time. Here, the time from the past to the present, the time from the present to the future, the future time, etc. can be freely set.
In the charging history of the extraction condition, it can be set whether or not the terminal device 10 is charged at the position where the position information is acquired.
The web page accessed by the terminal device 10 or the activated web browser can be set in the web history of the extraction condition.
Whether or not the posture of the terminal device 10 has changed at the position where the position information is acquired can be set in the posture change of the extraction condition.
In the environment information of the extraction condition, it is possible to set the feature of the environment at the position where the terminal device 10 acquired the position information.

The extraction condition table 39T is not limited to these, and other extraction conditions can be additionally set.
As an extraction condition, an application activation state can be additionally set. For example, it is possible to set whether or not other applications that are not subject to application notification are being activated. Thereby, for example, when the app A subject to app notification is a ramen gourmet guide app, if the user implements the tavern gourmet guide app B, the user is permitted to use the location information about the app B. It is possible to guide the activation of the application and the installation of the application.
Further, the user's hobbies and preferences can be additionally set as extraction conditions. For example, it is possible to set a genre that is highly likely to be of interest to the user. The genre may be a higher category such as meal, travel, and art, or may be a middle and lower category such as ramen, sushi, and soba in the meal. For example, based on the history of applications that the user has purchased online in the past and applications that have been downloaded in the past, the location information server 30 may analyze the tendency that the user is likely to be interested and determine the genre.
Further, the user state can be additionally set as the extraction condition. For example, it is possible to set whether the user is stationary, moving on foot, running and moving, or moving on a train.
Further, the state of the terminal device 10 can be added as an extraction condition. For example, it is possible to set whether the terminal device 10 is in operation, is in sleep mode, or is turned off.

In the illustrated example, the notification condition of the application A includes permission guidance, activation, activation guidance, update / update guidance, access to a website, and the like. The notification condition can be set for the content of the application notification.
In the notification condition permission guide, it is possible to set whether or not to include the guide regarding the use permission of the location information for the target application in the application notification. For example, if the use of the location information is not permitted for the target application, it can be set to display a permission screen that guides the user to grant the permission.
In the activation of the notification condition, it is possible to set whether or not to include a command for forcibly executing activation of the target application in the application notification.
In the activation guide of the notification condition, it is possible to set whether or not a notification regarding activation of the target application is included in the application notification. For example, when the target application is downloaded but is not activated in the terminal device 10, it is possible to set to display a guidance screen for displaying a message for instructing activation, an operation key for instructing activation, or the like.
In the update / update guidance for the notification condition, it can be set whether or not to include an automatic update function for automatically executing update of the target application in the application notification. The automatic update function includes, for example, a function for displaying a screen for guiding the installation of the latest version, a function for forcibly installing the latest version, and the like when the version of the target application is updated.
In accessing the website under the notification condition, it is possible to set whether or not to include a command for compulsorily accessing a predetermined website and acquiring the latest information in the application notification. Whether or not to acquire the latest information is arbitrary. Here, it is possible to set to include a command for forcibly accessing a predetermined website in the application notification. When the latest information is acquired, “NEW” is displayed on the icon of the target application displayed on the terminal device 10 or the icon of the target application is blinked to notify that the latest information has been acquired. Also good.

Not limited to these, other notification conditions can be additionally set in the notification condition table 39T.
As notification conditions, it is possible to additionally set guidance for installing other applications. For example, it is also possible to set so that guide information for guiding installation of other applications that are not subject to application notification is included in the application notification.

The processing unit 32 is a software function unit that functions when a processor such as a CPU executes a program stored in a memory. Some or all of these functional units may be hardware functional units such as an LSI or an ASIC.
The processing unit 32 includes an extraction unit 321, an authentication unit 322, a notification unit 323, an operation management unit 324, and a charge calculation unit 325. The authentication unit 322 determines whether or not the application server 50 that requests the position information is a valid application server 50. The legitimate application server 50 is a server that is permitted to acquire position information. For example, the authentication unit 322 cooperates with the authentication server 40 and determines that the application server 50 authenticated by the authentication server 40 is a valid application server 50. The authentication unit 322 may determine whether or not the application server 50 is a legitimate application server 50 by executing a process similar to the authentication process executed by the authentication server 40. The authentication as to whether or not the application server 50 is legitimate may be authentication based on a combination of an ID and a password, or may be authentication using an IP address.

The extraction unit 321 extracts position information satisfying the extraction condition from the storage unit 38. In the embodiment, the extraction condition is defined in the notification condition table 39T. The extraction condition can be arbitrarily set by the position information server 30 or the application server 50.
For example, when user attribute information is set as an extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 acquires a user ID associated with the attribute information set in the contractor information server 44 and corresponds to the acquired user ID. The attached position information is extracted from the correspondence table 38T.
When the position is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 extracts position information corresponding to the position of the extraction condition from the correspondence table 38T.
When time is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 extracts position information including the positioning time corresponding to the time of the extraction condition from the correspondence table 38T.
When the charge history is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 extracts the charge history information corresponding to the setting content of the charge history of the extraction condition and the position information associated with the correspondence table 38T from the correspondence table 38T. .
When the web history is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 extracts, from the correspondence table 38T, the position information associated with the web history information corresponding to the setting content of the web history of the extraction condition in the correspondence table 38T. .
When the posture change is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 extracts the position change information corresponding to the posture change information corresponding to the setting content of the posture change of the extraction condition from the correspondence table 38T. .
When environment information is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 extracts, from the correspondence table 38T, the position information associated with the environment information corresponding to the setting content of the environment information of the extraction condition in the correspondence table 38T.

  Note that the extraction unit 321 may extract position information in which the combination of the position information and at least one of the information associated with the position information satisfies the extraction condition. The information associated with the position information includes information indicating the attribute of the user of the terminal device 10, user ID, web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, and environment information , At least one is included.

  The notification unit 323 generates and transmits an application notification that satisfies the notification condition to the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the position information extracted by the extraction unit 321. The notification unit 323 refers to the notification condition table 39T and generates an application notification that satisfies the notification condition.

Note that the notification unit 323 may transmit the application notification only to the terminal device 10 in which the target application is not available. The case where the target application is not usable includes the case where the target application is not installed, the target application is not activated, the use of the location information for the target application is not permitted, and the like.
For example, when the notification unit 323 transmits an application notification for the application A, the notification unit 323 refers to the correspondence table 38T and applies the application A of the permission setting information to the user ID associated with the terminal device 10 that transmits the application notification. It is determined whether or not “◯” is written in the column. When “◯” is written in the column of application A, the notification unit 323 determines that an application notification for the application A is not transmitted. On the other hand, when “◯” is not written in the column of application A, the notification unit 323 determines to transmit an application notification for the application A.

Next, a part of the operation by the location information server 30 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a part of the operation of the position information server 30.
In step S400, the extraction unit 321 refers to the notification condition table 39T and extracts position information corresponding to the set extraction condition.
Next, in step S402, the notification unit 323 refers to the notification condition table 39T, generates an application notification that satisfies the notification condition, and sends an application notification to the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the position information extracted by the extraction unit 321. Send.

In step S404, the operation management unit 324 determines whether operation information has been received from the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the application notification. The operation information indicates whether or not an operation corresponding to the application notification is performed in the terminal device 10 that has received the application notification. Note that the operation information may include information indicating the content of the operation executed in the terminal device 10 that has received the application notification.
If it is determined in step S404 that the operation information has been received from the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the application notification, the operation management unit 324 stores the received operation information in the storage unit 38 in step S406. For example, the operation management unit 324 stores the received operation information in the table illustrated in FIG. As illustrated in FIG. 13, the operation information includes, for example, the operation content, the operation time, and the target application. The operation content includes information indicating the content of the operation executed in the terminal device 10 that has received the application notification. The operation time includes information indicating the date and time when the operation indicated by the operation content is executed. The target application includes the application ID of the target application. The operation management unit 324 associates the user ID indicating the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the operation information with the operation information and writes the user ID in the table illustrated in FIG.

  Next, in step S408, the charge calculation unit 325 calculates a charge amount charged to the application provider that provides the target application based on the transmission content of the application notification. The charge amount includes a fee for a service for transmitting an application notification to the terminal device 10, a communication fee for transmitting the application notification to the terminal device 10, and the like. For example, the charge calculation unit 325 may calculate the charge amount according to the number of times the application notification is transmitted or the number of terminal devices 10 that have transmitted the application notification.

Next, a part of operation | movement by the terminal device 10 is demonstrated with reference to FIG. FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a part of the operation of the terminal device 10.
In step S <b> 500, the control unit 124 of the terminal device 10 receives the application notification from the position information server 30 and causes the display unit 19 to display an image based on the application notification.
Next, in step S502, the control unit 124 determines whether activation of the target application has been instructed. For example, when an operation key for instructing activation of the target application is displayed in step S500 and this operation key is touched, the control unit 124 determines that activation of the target application has been instructed.
If it is determined in step S502 that activation of the target application has been instructed, in step S504, the control unit 124 activates the target application. If the target application is not installed, the control unit 124 accesses the application server 50 of the target application, installs the application program, and then starts the target application.

Next, in step S506, the control unit 124 determines whether or not it is instructed to permit the use of the position information regarding the target application. For example, in step S500, an operation key instructing permission to use the position information about the target application is displayed, and when this operation key is touched, the control unit 124 permits the use of the position information about the target application. It is determined that an instruction to do is given.
If it is determined in step S506 that it is instructed to permit the use of the position information for the target application, in step S508, the control unit 124 indicates that the use of the position information for the target application is permitted. Is transmitted to the location information server 30.
Thereafter, in step S510, the control unit 124 activates the target application. If the target application is not installed, the control unit 124 accesses the application server 50 of the target application, installs the application program, and then starts the target application.

Next, a part of the operation performed by the application server 50 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a part of the operation performed by the application server 50.
In step S600, the application server 50 accesses the location information server 30 and sets extraction conditions and notification conditions.
In step S602, the application server 50 determines whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the extraction condition and the notification condition were set.
If it is determined in step S602 that the predetermined time has elapsed, in step S604, the application server 50 accesses the location information server 30 and requests operation information. When the motion management unit 324 of the location information server 30 receives the motion information request, the motion information including the application ID for identifying the application server 50 and the user ID associated with the motion information are illustrated in FIG. Read from the table and send it to the application server 50. In addition, the operation management unit 324 may transmit the number of the terminal devices 10 that transmitted the application notification, the number of times of transmitting the application notification, and the like to the application server 50. Thereby, the application server 50 acquires operation information from the position information server 30.
In step S606, the application server 50 executes an effect confirmation process based on the received operation information. As the effect confirmation process, the application server 50 may obtain, for example, the ratio of the number of activated target applications in the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the application notification. For the target application in the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the application notification. The ratio of the number of units permitted to use the location information may be obtained.

  Based on the extracted information, the extraction unit 321 may execute an analysis process for analyzing the behavior of the user who owns the terminal device 10.

  In the above description, the example in which the permission setting information is information indicating permission or non-permission of use of the position information has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the permission setting information may include information indicating whether or not to permit use of at least one of web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, and environment information. Each user can also set whether or not to permit the use of each piece of information. Further, the user can set permission or non-permission of use of these pieces of information for each application. When these usages are permitted, the extraction unit 321 of the location information server 30 can extract the location information using the usage-licensed information.

As described above, according to the position information server 30, application information regarding the target application can be transmitted to the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the position information extracted by the extraction unit 321.
Thereby, the terminal device 10 of the user who wants to promote the use of the target application can be extracted based on the position information, and the application information can be transmitted. Therefore, activation of the target application can be promoted for the terminal device 10 of the user who wants to promote the use of the target application. When the target application is activated and use of the location information is permitted, the application provider can use the location information transmitted from the terminal device 10.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was explained in full detail with reference to drawings, the specific structure is not restricted to this embodiment, The design change etc. of the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention are included.
The present invention can be implemented as, for example, a location information server.

Further, a computer program for realizing the functions of the terminal device 10 and the location information server 30 described above is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read into a computer system and executed. You may do it. Here, the “computer system” may include an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices.
“Computer-readable recording medium” refers to a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, a writable nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory, a portable medium such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), and a built-in computer system. A storage device such as a hard disk.

Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” means a volatile memory (for example, DRAM (Dynamic DRAM) in a computer system that becomes a server or a client when a program is transmitted through a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. Random Access Memory)), etc., which hold programs for a certain period of time. The program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the “transmission medium” for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line.
The program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, and what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Position provision system 10, 10A, 10B, ..., 10N ... Terminal device, 12 ... Processing part, 14 ... Communication part, 16 ... GPS positioning part, 160 ... Position information acquisition part, 161 ... Acceleration sensor, 18 ... Storage unit, 30 ... Location information server, 40 ... Authentication server, 42 ... POI server, 50, 50A, 50B, ..., 50N ... Application server, 120, 120A, 120B, 120B ... Application processing unit, 122, 122A 122B, 122C ... position information acquisition control unit, 32 ... processing unit, 321 ... extraction unit, 322 ... authentication unit, 323 ... notification unit, 324 ... operation management unit, 325 ... billing calculation unit, 34 ... first communication unit, 36 ... 2nd communication part, 38 ... Memory | storage part

Claims (10)

Stores location information including the location of the terminal device held and moved by the user and the positioning time of the location, and extraction conditions related to the location and time set for the first application installed in the terminal device A storage unit;
When the position included in the position information stored by the storage unit satisfies the extraction condition related to the position and the positioning time included in the position information satisfies the extraction condition related to the time, the terminal device, A notification unit for transmitting a notification regarding the use promotion of the first application in which the extraction condition is set;
A server comprising:   The server according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit transmits a notification regarding the use promotion to the first application that is permitted to use position information of the terminal device.   The server according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit transmits a notification regarding use promotion of the first application that is not activated in the terminal device.   The server according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the storage unit stores operation information of the terminal device according to a notification related to promotion of use of the first application.   5. The server according to claim 1, wherein a position specified by a location name or a category is set in the extraction condition stored in the storage unit.   The said notification part transmits the notification which guides utilization promotion or starting of the 2nd application different from the said 1st application with respect to the said terminal device, The any one of Claim 1 to 5 characterized by the above-mentioned. The listed server.   The notification unit transmits position information of the terminal device to a device other than the terminal device, and transmits a notification regarding the use promotion of the first application that enables processing of the position information of the terminal device. The server according to any one of claims 1 to 6.   8. The location information of the terminal device is information obtained by using location information different from the location information of the terminal device. Server. The storage unit stores a user ID for identifying a user who uses the terminal device,
The said notification part transmits the notification regarding utilization promotion of a said 1st application, when ID transmitted from the said terminal device and the said user ID correspond. A server according to one item. On the computer,
A position information acquisition step for acquiring position information including the position of the terminal device held and moved by the user and the positioning time of the position;
A positional information transmission step for transmitting the positional information to a server;
The time at which the position included in the position information satisfies the extraction condition related to the position set for the application installed in the terminal device, and the positioning time included in the position information is set for the application A notification acquisition step of acquiring a notification regarding the use promotion of the application installed in the terminal device and the extraction condition set from the server when the extraction condition is satisfied,
A computer program for running.

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