Destination prediction apparatus and destination prediction method

• US 20060238409A1
• Filed: 03/06/2006
• Published: 10/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Godo Kaisha IP Bridge 1 (IP Bridge, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Ozawa, Jun, Yoshioka, Mototaka
• Granted Patent: US 7,419,095 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/126
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3623 using a camera or code reader, e.g. for optical or magnetic codes
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

To provide a destination prediction apparatus which can predict a destination of a user by using a carried item carried by the user, the destination prediction apparatus according to the present invention includes: a position information detection unit which detects a present position of a mobile terminal; a carried item detection unit which detects the carried item of the user; a history accumulation unit which accumulates a history of date and time information detected by a clock unit, position information detected by the position information detection unit, and information of the carried item of the user detected by the carried item detection unit; a carry frequency judgment unit which calculates a frequency at which the carried item is carried; a causal relationship extraction unit which calculates an infrequently carried item and a related point; a destination prediction unit which predicts the destination using the position information, the carried item information, and a position causal relationship extracted by the causal relationship extraction unit; and the clock unit which detects the date and time information.

Claims

1. A destination prediction apparatus which predicts a destination of a user, said apparatus comprising:

a carried item detection unit operable to detect a carried item which the user carries;

an accumulation unit operable to associate at least the carried item detected by said carried item detection unit with predetermined position information, and accumulate the carried item and the information as a history;

a causal relationship extraction unit operable to extract, from the history, a causal relationship between at least the carried item and the predetermined position information; and

a destination prediction unit operable to predict the destination of the user based on the causal relationship and the carried item.

2. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a carry frequency judgment unit operable to perform judgment that distinguishes whether the carried item is a frequently carried item which is carried with a frequency greater than or equal to a predetermined percentage, or an infrequently carried item which is carried with a frequency lower than the predetermined percentage,

wherein said causal relationship extraction unit is operable to extract a causal relationship between the infrequently carried item and the frequently carried item.

3. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein said carry frequency judgment unit is operable to judge the carried item with a percentage lower than the predetermined percentage to be the infrequently carried item, and the carried item with a percentage greater than or equal to the predetermined percentage to be the frequently carried item, using, as the predetermined percentage, a percentage at which the user carries the carried item in each of a predetermined period.

4. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein said frequency carry judgment unit is operable to judge the carried item with a percentage lower than the predetermined percentage to be the infrequently carried item, and the carried item with a percentage greater than or equal to the predetermined percentage to be the frequently carried item, using, as the predetermined percentage, a percentage at which the user carries the carried item in each of areas obtained by dividing a travel route of the user on a map.

5. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 2,

wherein said frequency carry judgment unit is operable to judge the carried item with a percentage lower than the predetermined percentage to be the infrequently carried item, and the carried item with a percentage greater than or equal to the predetermined percentage to be the frequently carried item, using, as the predetermined percentage, a percentage at which the carried item is present in each of classes that are obtained by dividing a travel route into the classes.

6. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising

a target area prediction unit operable to predict a target area which is the destination of the user,

wherein said causal relationship extraction unit is operable to extract a causal relationship between the infrequently carried item and the target area.

7. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein said carry frequency judgment unit is further operable to judge the carried item with a percentage lower than the predetermined percentage to be the infrequently carried item, and the carried item with a percentage greater than or equal to the predetermined percentage to be the frequently carried item, using, as the predetermined percentage, a percentage at which the carried item is carried when a movement from a departure area to the target area predicted by said target area prediction unit is calculated as one movement.

8. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a carried item confirmation unit operable to confirm a presence/absence of the carried item by using the causal relationship extracted by said causal relationship extraction unit; and

a notification unit operable to notify the user in the case where said carried item confirmation unit has confirmed that the carried item is absent.

9. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 8,

wherein said accumulation unit is operable to accumulate a combined history in which a plurality of the carried items related to the position information is present;

said carried item confirmation unit is operable to refer to the combined history and judge the carried item that is denoted in the combined history but has not been detected by said carried item detection unit; and

said notification unit is operable to notify the user of the corresponding carried item.

10. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a clock unit operable to detect date and time information,

wherein said accumulation unit is operable to associate at least the date and time information, the carried item, and the position information, and accumulate the associated date and time information, carried item, and position information as a history;

said causal relationship extraction unit is operable to extract a causal relationship between the carried item, the date and time information, and the position information; and

said destination prediction unit is operable to predict the destination of the user from the causal relationship.

11. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a database unit operable to register commercial information regarding the destination; and

a display unit operable to acquire from said database unit, and display on a screen, the commercial information regarding the destination predicted by said destination prediction unit.

12. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising

a communications unit operable to connect, via a network, to a server apparatus that provides the commercial information regarding the destination predicted by said destination prediction unit,

wherein the commercial information acquired via said communications unit is recorded in said database unit.

13. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising

a specified item judgment unit operable to judge, as a specified item, the carried item with no overlap in differing destinations, from among the carried items accumulated in said accumulation unit,

wherein said destination prediction unit is operable to predict a destination that corresponds to the specified item as the destination of the user, in the case where the specified item is present among the carried items detected by said carried item detection unit.

15. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a movement direction detection unit operable to detect a movement direction of the user from the position information; and

a destination candidate isolation unit operable to isolate a plurality of candidates for a destination based on the carried item of the user,

wherein said destination prediction unit is operable to predict, as the destination of the user, a destination candidate toward which the user is approaching, in the movement direction detected by said movement direction detection unit.

16. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a non-carried item isolation unit operable to isolate a non-carried item which is not carried by the user based on the casual relationship and the carried item detected by said carried item detection unit;

a non-carried item position detection unit operable to detect a position in which the non-carried item is present; and

a non-carried item position relationship judgment unit operable to judge a position relationship between the non-carried item and the user based on the position of the non-carried item detected by said non-carried item position detection unit, the position of the user and the movement direction of the user,

wherein said destination prediction unit is operable to predict, as the destination of the user, a destination corresponding to the non-carried item, in the case where said non-carried item position relationship judgment unit judges that the user is approaching the non-carried item.

18. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said accumulation unit is further operable to accumulate a carried item analogy dictionary in which information regarding a substitute carried item, which is a substitute for the carried item, is denoted, and

said destination prediction unit is operable to predict the destination of the user using an analogous carried item that corresponds to the substitute carried item, using the carried item analogy dictionary, in the case where the substitute carried item is detected by said carried item detection unit.

14. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising

a position information detection unit operable to detect position information of the user,

wherein said accumulation unit is operable to associate at least the carried item detected by said carry item detection unit and the position information detected by said position information detection unit, and accumulate the associated carried item and position information;

said specified item judgment unit is further operable to judge, based on the history, the carried item carried at a high frequency to a predetermined destination as the specified item; and

said destination prediction unit is operable to predict a destination that corresponds to the specified item as the destination of the user, in the case where the specified item is present among the carried items detected by said carried item detection unit.

17. The destination prediction apparatus according to claim 17,

wherein said destination prediction unit is further operable to predict the destination of the user excluding the destination corresponding to the non-carried item.

19. A destination prediction method for predicting a destination of a user, said method comprising:

detecting a carried item which the user carries;

associating at least the carried item detected by said carried item detection unit with predetermined position information, and accumulating the carried item and the information as a history;

extracting, from the history, a causal relationship between at least the carried item and the predetermined position information; and

predicting the destination of the user based on the causal relationship and the carried item.

20. A program used in a destination prediction method for predicting a destination of a user, said program causing a computer to execute the steps of:

detecting a carried item which the user carries;

associating at least the carried item detected by said carried item detection unit with predetermined position information, and accumulating the carried item and the information as a history;

extracting, from the history, a causal relationship between at least the carried item and the predetermined position information; and

predicting the destination of the user based on the causal relationship and the carried item.