Search supporting apparatus, search supporting system, operation instructing terminal, search supporting method, and operation instructing system

• US 20040107191A1
• Filed: 07/09/2003
• Published: 06/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Secom Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Secom Company Limited
• Inventors: Nakamura, Toshinori, Hamano, Katsutoshi, Osaka, Nobuo
• Application Number:
  US10/616,369
• Publication Number:
  US 20040107191A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0222 Message structure or message content, e.g. message protocol
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/028 Communication between parent and child units via remote transmission means, e.g. satellite network
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0294 Display details on parent unit

Abstract

A search supporting device, a search supporting system, an operation instructing terminal, a search supporting method, and an operation instructing system, which can support a quick search and can improve the security of a command. A center-side device (2) holds the present position of a transmission terminal (1) carried by a person to be sought. A search terminal (3) inquires the center-side device (2) of the present position of the transmission terminal (1), acquires the present position of the search terminal (3), and synthesizes, displays the information on a map, and draws a vector diagram from the present position of the search terminal (3) to the position of the sought person. Moreover, the search terminal (3) receives the operation instruction, stores its, and presents it to the person in charge of the operation. This search terminal (3) measures the lapse of time from a predetermined registration for a site device (4), and erases the stored operation instruction after the lapse of a predetermined time. When the search terminal (3) is lost, moreover, the center-side device (2) transmits an instruction to erase the stored content to the search terminal (3).

Claims

1. A search supporting apparatus, comprising:

means for acquiring current position information of a search manager;

means for acquiring current position information of a person being sought; and

means for composing and displaying a relative positional relationship of the search manager and the sought person on a map based on the current position information of the search manager and the sought person.

2. The search supporting apparatus of claim 1, wherein information based on a relative positional relationship of the search manager and the sought person is search guidance information from the current position of the search manager to the current position of the sought person.

3. The search supporting apparatus of claim 1 or claim 2, further comprising means for calculating a relative distance between the current position of the search manager and the current position of the sought person, and wherein the relative distance is displayed as the relative positional relationship.

4. The search supporting apparatus of any one of claim 1 to claim 3, wherein the means for displaying the map selectively displays a reduced scale map in accordance with the relative positional relationship from a plurality of maps of differing scale.

5. The search supporting apparatus of any one of claim 1 to claim 4, further comprising:

means for detecting a direction in which the apparatus is facing; and

means for displaying information regarding the direction on the map.

6. A search supporting system, comprising:

a transmission terminal, carried by a person being sought, for transmitting positional information of the sought person;

a center side device for receiving positional information of the sought person from the transmission terminal and providing the position information; and

a search terminal owned by a search manager,

the search terminal comprising;

means for making an inquiry to the center side device for positional information of the sought person;

means for receiving positional information provided in response to the inquiry;

means for acquiring information of the current position of the search terminal; and

means for displaying a relative positional relationship based on received position information of the sought person and information of the current position of the search terminal.

7. The search supporting system of claim 6, wherein the center side device or the search terminal includes means for managing a history of position information for the sought person, and the search terminal displays a movement locus of the sought person using the managed history.

8. The search supporting system of claim 6 or claim 7, wherein the means for displaying a relative position of the search terminal displays current position of the sought person as an image having an area related to information relating to errors in positional information of the transmission terminal set in advance.

9. A search supporting method, comprising the steps of:

acquiring current position of a search manager;

acquiring current position of a person being sought; and

composing and displaying arrows from the search manager to the sought person on a map based on the current positions of the search manager and the sought person.

10. An operation instructing terminal, carried by an operations manager, for receiving an operation instruction and presenting the instruction to the operations manager after a specified registration operation by the operations manager, comprising:

a storage section for storing received operation instruction content;

a timer for clocking a time from the specified registration operation; and

a control section for determining whether or not the time clocked by the timer has exceeded a specified time and, if the specified time has elapsed, carrying our erasure processing for information stored in the storage section.

11. An operation instructing system, comprising a plurality of operation instructing terminals and a center side device for transmitting instruction content to the operation instructing terminals,

the operation instructing terminals comprising:

a storage section for receiving and storing content of an operation instruction from the center side device;

means for presenting content of an operation instruction stored in the storage section to an operations manager in response to an operation from the operations manager; and

means for performing erasure processing of information stored in the storage section if a signal instructing erasure of information stored in the storage section is received from the center side device,

the center side device comprising;

means for managing missing flags representing loss of each operation instructing terminal; and

signal transmission means for transmitting a signal instructing erasure of information to an operation instructing terminal having the missing flag set.

12. The operation instructing system of claim 11, wherein:

the operation instructing terminal is provided with a timer for clocking elapsed time from a specified operation relating to the center side device, and means for carrying out erasure processing of operation instruction content stored in the storage section when the time clocked by the timer exceeds a specified time set in advance;

the center side device comprises clock means for carrying out timing management for elapsed time from the specified operation of each operation instructing terminal; and

the signal transmission means transmits a signal instructing to erase the information to the operation instructing terminal having a missing flag set when the elapsed time from the corresponding specified operation does not exceed a specified time set in advance.

13. An operation instructing system, comprising a plurality of operation instructing terminals and a center side device for transmitting instruction content to the operation instructing terminals, wherein

the operation instructing terminals comprise:

means for acquiring operation instruction content from the center side device by accessing the center side device;

a storage section for storing the acquired operation instruction content;

means for providing operation instruction content stored in the storage section to an operations manager in response to operation from the operations manager; and

means for carrying out erasure processing for information stored in the storage section if a signal instructing erasure of information stored in the storage section is received from the center side device, and

the center side device comprises;

means for managing missing flags indicating loss of each operation instructing terminal; and

signal transmission means for referring to missing flags corresponding to the operation instructing terminals that are being accessed and, when a flag is set to indicate that a terminal is missing, transmitting a signal instructing erasure of the information to that operation instructing terminal.

14. An operation instructing terminal, carried by an operations manager, for acquiring operation instructions from an instruction center side and presenting the operation instructions to the operations manager, comprising:

a storage section for storing acquired operation instruction content;

means for collecting information relating to operating conditions of a terminal; and

means for carrying out processing to make it impossible to refer operation instruction content stored in the storage section if the collected information related to operating conditions satisfies previously set operation stop conditions or if any instruction is acquired from the instruction center.

15. A search supporting system containing a center side device and a plurality of search supporting devices possessed by each search staff, wherein:

the center side device comprises;

means for transmitting a search instruction to a specific search supporting terminal possessed by a search manager selected from among search staff managing a search of a person being sought; and

means for providing information about the sought person relating to a received search request in, response to a request from the specific search supporting device,

wherein the search supporting devices are set to be capable of requesting information on the sought person if a search instruction is received

18. The search supporting system of any one of claims 15 to 17, wherein the sought person information contains image information of a portrait information of the sought person.

16. A search supporting system, comprising a transmitter carried by a sought person, a center side device and a search supporting device possessed by every search manager, wherein:

the center side device comprises;

means for holding a plurality of items of information relating to a sought person and respective security levels in a correlated manner;

means for receiving current position information of a search supporting device and a request for sought person information from the search supporting device;

means for calculating information on a relative positional relationship between a transmitter carried by a sought person and a search supporting device based on current position information of the search supporting device;

means for determining a disclosable security level based on the relative positional relationship information; and

means for providing information about sought persons up to a security level set as disclosable to a requesting search supporting device based on the determination.

17. A search supporting system comprising:

a center side device, and

a plurality of search supporting devices, one of each possessed by each search manager, for acquiring information of persons to be sought from the center side device and providing this information to a search manager, wherein the search supporting devices are provided with means for storing acquired sought person information, and delete the stored sought person information upon receipt of a search completion instruction input from a search manager.

19. A search supporting device, possessed by a search manager, comprising:

means for detecting its own current position;

means for acquiring current position of a transmitter carried by a sought person;

means for calculating a relative positional relationship of itself and the transmitter based on the detected own current position information and the current position of the transmitter;

means for receiving and storing a plurality of items of information relating to sought persons from a center side together with respective security level attributes; and

means for determining disclosable security levels according to the calculated relative positional relationship and providing to a search manager information, among stored information relating to sought persons, that has been determined as being disclosable.

20. A search supporting device, possessed by a search manager, for acquiring and storing information relating to sought persons, and supporting a search by providing the stored information to a search manager, wherein

if a search manager inputs a search completion instruction, stored information relating to a sought person is deleted.