Method of collecting information of physical distribution of products and system for offering information of product positions

• US 20020050945A1
• Filed: 04/06/2001
• Published: 05/02/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Kitamura, Koichi, Tsukishima, Takahiro, Chiba, Kyoji, Kan, Masayuki
• Granted Patent: US 6,650,286 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.12
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/42 Determining position

Abstract

A position information acquiring apparatus for receiving an electric wave and for on the basis of the received signal, acquiring the position information exhibiting the position where the product is kept to record successively the position information thus acquired is packed together with an objective matter of conveyance in a package box and then is operated in the state of being able to be moved to receive an electric wave signal radiated from the GPS satellite group to acquire successively the position information. On the basis of the position information, a map of a part corresponding to the position information is retrieved from map information which is previously obtained to carry out an output for showing visibly the resultant partial map and a symbol with which the position contained in a position history information is shown on the map.

Claims

1. A physical distribution information collecting method of collecting the physical distribution information exhibiting through what route the objective matter of conveyance flows, wherein a position history recorder for receiving an electric wave to acquire position information exhibiting the place where the objective matter of conveyance is kept on the basis of the received signal and also to record successively the acquired position information as the position history information is operated in the state, in which it can be moved together with the objective matter of conveyance, to receive the electric wave to acquire successively the position information to record the position information thus acquired as the position history information.

2. A physical distribution information collecting method according to claim 1, wherein the acquirement of the position information of the objective matter of conveyance is carried out at a specific timing.

3. A physical distribution information collecting method according to claim 2, wherein a GPS apparatus is mounted to said position history recorder, and the electric wave radiated from the GPS satellite group is received by said GPS apparatus, and on the basis of the received signal, the position information is acquired.

4. A physical distribution information collecting method according to claim 3, wherein on the basis of the information contained in the received signal, time information exhibiting a time containing a date is further acquired, and the position information and the time information which have been acquired are associated with each other to be recorded as the position history information.

5. A physical distribution information collecting method according to claim 2, wherein an apparatus having a function of acquiring the time information exhibiting a time containing a date is employed as said position history recorder. and the position information of the objective matter of interest is acquired at a specific timing by said position history recorder, and also the time information at that time point is acquired thereby, and the position information and the time information which have been acquired are associated with each other to be recorded as the position history information.

6. A physical distribution information collecting method according to claim 1, wherein when the position exhibited by the position information acquired by said position history recorder exhibits the position falling in a predetermined range with respect to the acquired position information of interest, the record is not added thereto.

7. A physical distribution information collecting method according to claim 2, wherein an apparatus having an acceleration detector is employed as said position history recorder, and under the condition in which said acceleration detector detects the change in acceleration equal to or higher than a fixed level, the specific timing is determined.

8. A physical distribution information collecting method according to claim 2, wherein said position history recorder is provided with a timing generating apparatus for outputting a timing signal at fixed intervals, and on the basis of the timing signal outputted by said timing generating apparatus, the specific timing is determined.

9. A physical distribution information collecting method according to claim 1, wherein the objective matter of conveyance is an apparatus including a function of carrying out the mail transmission;

the state in which said position history recorder can be moved together with the objective matter of conveyance is the state in which said position history recorder is electrically connected to said apparatus; and

the mail address is stored in the state of being able to be referred thereto by said apparatus in said position history recorder.

10. A physical distribution information collecting method according to claim 9, wherein said apparatus has a program for realizing an online registration function and in response to an instruction to carry out the online registration, when carrying out the online registration by the program, reads out the position history information from said position history recorder and also reads out the mail address to transmit the position history information from the objective matter towards the mail address.

11. A position history recorder for acquiring the information exhibiting the position where said position history recorder is kept to record therein successively the information thus acquired, said recorder comprising:

means for receiving an electric wave to acquire position information exhibiting the position where said position history recorder is kept on the basis of the received signal;

means having a recording medium for recording successively the acquired position information as the position history information in said recording medium;

means for receiving a read request to output the recorded position history information; and

means having a power source for supplying an electric power used to drive each of said means from said power source.

12. A position history recorder according to claim 11, further comprising means for generating a specific timing signal used to determine the timing at which the position information is acquired, wherein said means for acquiring the position information acquires the position information using the generated specific timing signal.

13. A position history recorder according to claim 12, wherein said means for acquiring the position information receives the electric wave radiated from the GPS satellite group to acquire time information.

14. A position history recorder according to claim 13, wherein said means for acquiring the position information receives the electric wave radiated from the GPS satellite group to further acquire the time information exhibiting a time containing a date, and said recording means associates the position information and the time information, which have been acquired, with each other to record them as the position history information.

15. A position history recorder according to claim 12, wherein said means for generating the specific timing signal further generates time information exhibiting a time containing a date;

said means for acquiring the position information acquires the position information on the basis of the generated specific timing signal; and

said recording means associates the acquired position information and the generated time information at the time point of interest with each other to record them as the position history information.

16. A position history recorder according to claim 12, wherein said means for generating the specific timing signal has an acceleration detector and when the output of said acceleration detector shows the charge in acceleration equal to or higher than a fixed level, generates the specific timing signal to output the specific timing signal thus generated.

17. A position history recorder according to claim 11, wherein a mail address is stored in said recording medium.

19. A physical distribution information collecting apparatus according to claim 18, wherein said position information acquiring apparatus includes means for generating a specific timing signal on the basis of which the timing is determined at which the position information is acquired, and on the basis of the generated specific timing signal, acquires the position information.

18. A physical distribution information collecting apparatus for acquiring the information exhibiting the position where said physical distribution information collecting apparatus is kept, said apparatus comprising:

a position information acquiring apparatus for receiving an electric wave to acquire position information exhibiting the position where said physical distribution information collecting apparatus is kept on the basis of the received signal; and

a cellular wireless communication terminal electrically connected to said position information acquiring apparatus for storing previously telephone number information of a specific distribution of the information transmission,

wherein said position information acquiring apparatus, at the time when having acquired the position information, activates said cellular wireless terminal to transmit the position information to the specific destination of the information transmission.

20. A physical distribution information collecting apparatus for acquiring the information exhibiting the position where said physical distribution information collecting apparatus is kept, said apparatus comprising:

a position information acquiring apparatus for receiving an electric wave to acquire position information exhibiting the position where said physical distribution information collecting apparatus is kept on the basis of the received signal; and

a cellular wireless communication terminal electrically connected to said position information acquiring apparatus for storing previously telephone number information of a specific distribution of the information transmission,

wherein said cellular wireless communication terminal, at the time when having received a position information inquiry in the form of a wireless signal, activates said position information acquiring apparatus to make said position information acquiring apparatus acquire the position information to transmit the resultant position information to said specific destination of the information transmission.

21. A physical distribution information collecting apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said position information acquiring apparatus receives an electric wave radiated from the GPS satellite group to acquire the position information.

22. A physical distribution information collecting apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said position information acquiring apparatus receives an electric wave from the GPS satellite group to further acquire time information exhibiting a time containing a date and associates the position information and the time information which have been acquired with each other to transmit them to said specific destination of the information transmission through said cellular wireless communication terminal.

24. An electronic apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said means for extracting the processing of transmitting/receiving a mail has a function of processing the online registration and when executing the online registration, carries out the mail generation for transmitting the position history information.

26. A method of offering information of product movement situation according to claim 25, wherein when carrying out the output, the time information in the position of interest is added to the symbol.

27. A method of offering information of product movement situation according to claim 25, wherein when reading out the position history information, the position history information is retrieved with the specified condition relating to a time as a key;

the position information obedient to the specified condition relating to a time is extracted;

on the basis of the position information, a map of a part in which the position exhibited by the position information is contained is retrieved from map information which is previously prepared; and

an output for showing visibly the resultant map and a symbol with which the position exhibiting the position information is shown on the map is carried out.

28. A method of offering information of product movement situation according to claim 27, wherein as the specified condition relating to a time, at least the specification with respect to a certain time point in the unit selected from a day, a month and a year, the specification exhibiting the time of start and the time of end of a period of time, the specification with respect to an arbitrary year, month and day, and the specification with respect to an arbitrary year, month and day, and a time are contained as the choices, and the specified condition relating to a time is any one of these specifications.

29. A method of offering information of product movement situation according to claim 25, wherein an inquiry of the information exhibiting the movement situation with respect to any one of the products is received through a network, and the output is carried out for the source of the inquiry through said network.

30. A method of offering information of product movement situation according to claim 29, wherein an output for showing visibly a map in which the position expressed by the position information is contained, and a symbol with which the position exhibited by the position information is shown on the map is transmitted together with those data and a program in accordance with which those data are displayed to the source of the inquiry through said network.

23. An electronic apparatus which is electrically connected to a communication network and which has a function of transmitting/receiving information, said electronic apparatus comprising:

a communication processor for realizing the function of transmitting/receiving the information; and

a position history recorder which is provided connectably to said communication processor,

wherein said position history recorder stores previously a mail address in a recording medium; and

said communication processor includes means for extracting the processing of transmitting/receiving a mail, and said means for extracting the processing of transmitting/receiving a mail reads out the mail address recorded in said recording medium of said position history recorder and position history information to generate a mail for the mail address thus read out which contains the position history information as the transmission contents and when having recorded a transmission instruction, transmits the mail thus generated.

25. A method of offering information exhibiting the situation in which the product is moved, wherein position history information which contains time information containing a date and information exhibiting the position where the product is kept at the time of interest and which is provided with respect to the product and which is stored in a storage device is read out;

on the basis of the position information contained in the position history information, a map of a part in which the position exhibited by the position information is contained is retrieved from map information which is previously prepared; and

the output for showing visibly the resultant partial map and the symbol with which the position contained in the position history information is shown on the map is carried out.

31. A recording medium in which the information of the movement situation of a product, wherein position history information, with respect to the product, containing time information containing a date and information exhibiting the position where the product is kept at the time point of interest and map data in the range in which at least the position information contained in the position history information is contained are both recorded in such a way as to be able to be read out by a computer.

32. A recording medium according to claim 31, wherein a program in accordance with which said computer executes the processing of displaying a map based on the map data on a display screen and of displaying a symbol exhibiting the position contained in the position history information on the display screen is recorded in said recording medium.

33. A system for offering information exhibiting the movement situation of a product, said system comprising:

means for storing therein position history information, with respect to the product, which is stored in a storage device and which contains time information containing a date, and information exhibiting the position where the product is kept at the time point of interest;

means for storing therein map information;

means for reading out the position history information to retrieve, on the basis of position information contained in the position history information, a map of a part in which the position exhibited by the position information is contained; and

means for carrying out an output for showing visibly a symbol with which the position contained in the position history information is shown on the resultant map.

34. A system for offering information exhibiting the product movement situation according to claim 33, wherein when carrying out the output, time information at the position of interest is added to the symbol.

35. A system for offering information exhibiting the product movement situation according to claim 33, further comprising means for receiving an input of a condition key relating to a time, wherein said retrieval means, when reading out the position history information, retrieves the position history information with the specified condition relating to a time as a key to extract the position information obedient to the specified condition relating to a time, and on the basis of the position information, retrieves a map of a part in which the position exhibited by the position information is contained from map information which is previously prepared.