Position Information Processing Method, Position Information Processing System, Position Information Processing Apparatus, Communication Apparatus and Program

• US 20080254808A1
• Filed: 10/22/2007
• Published: 10/16/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: REKIMOTO, Junichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,095,148 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A position information processing method includes: measuring, at a communication apparatus, a signal intensity of a signal transmitted from a plurality of base stations; recording a history of signal intensity information at one or more times in a history storage medium of the communication apparatus; recording, in an information storage medium of the information recording apparatus, a specific time and information matching a position environment of the information recording apparatus at the specific time, respectively correlated to each other; calculating position information of the communication apparatus based on the history of signal intensity information recorded in the history storage medium, and known base station information constituted of the base station identification information and position information of the base stations; and correlating the calculated position information to the information matching the position environment stored in the medium and correlated to the specific time.

Claims

1. A position information processing method using a communication apparatus capable of wireless communicating with a plurality of base stations, and an information recording apparatus capable of recording information matching an arbitrary position environment, the method comprising the steps of:

measuring, at the communication apparatus, a signal intensity of a signal transmitted from each of the plurality of base stations;

recording a history of signal intensity information at one or more times in a history storage medium of the communication apparatus, the history of signal intensity information including the measured signal intensity or information obtained from the measured signal intensity, base station identification information uniquely assigned to each of the base stations, and a time concerning measurement of the signal intensity, respectively correlated to each other;

recording, in an information storage medium of the information recording apparatus, a specific time and information matching a position environment of the information recording apparatus at the specific time, respectively correlated to each other;

calculating position information of the communication apparatus at the specific time based on the history of signal intensity information and known base station information, the history of signal intensity information being recorded in the history storage medium, and the known base station information being constituted of the base station identification information of the base stations and position information of the base stations correlated to each other; and

correlating the calculated position information to the information matching the position environment, the information matching the position environment being correlated to the specific time and stored in the information storage medium.

2. The position information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the information recording apparatus and the communication apparatus are structured separately.

3. The position information processing method according to claim 2, wherein the signal intensity in the measuring step is measured at a predetermined time interval.

4. The position information processing method according to claim 3, wherein the calculating step calculates the position information of the communication apparatus at the specific time based on signal intensity information correlated to a time nearest to the specific time.

5. The position information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the calculating step comprises the steps of:

obtaining first position information calculated based on signal intensity information correlated to a first time nearest to the specific time and before the specific time;

obtaining second position information calculated based on signal intensity information correlated to a second time nearest to the specific time and after the specific time;

determining a weight coefficient for the first position information and the second position information, based on a ratio of a time from the first time to the second time to a time from the specific time to the second time; and

calculating the position information of the communication apparatus at the specific time from the first position information and the second position information, by using the weight coefficient.

6. The position information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the information recording apparatus is structured integrally with the communication apparatus.

7. The position information processing method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

instructing, by the information recording apparatus, to measure the signal intensity at the specific time when recording the information matching the position environment of the information recording apparatus,

wherein the signal intensity in the measuring step is measured in response to the instruction.

8. A position information processing system comprising:

a communication apparatus capable of communicating with a plurality of base stations;

a position information processing apparatus connectable to the communication apparatus; and

an information recording apparatus for recording information matching an arbitrary position environment,

wherein the communication apparatus includes;

a measuring unit for measuring a signal intensity of a signal transmitted from each of the plurality of base stations;

a storage unit configured to store a history of signal intensity information at one or more times, the history of signal intensity information including the signal intensity measured by the measuring unit or information obtained from the signal intensity, base station identification information uniquely assigned to each of the base stations, and a time concerning measurement of the signal intensity, respectively correlated to each other; and

a transmitting unit configured to transmit the history of signal intensity information stored in the storage unit to the position information processing apparatus; and

the position information processing apparatus includes;

a signal intensity information receiving unit configured to receive the history of signal intensity information from the communication apparatus;

a record time receiving unit configured to receive a record time from the information recording apparatus when the information recording apparatus recorded the information matching the position environment of the information recording apparatus; and

a data processing unit configured to correlate the position information of the communication apparatus at the record time to the information matching the position environment, the position information being calculated based on the history of signal intensity information and known base station information constituted of the base station identification information of the base stations and position information of the base stations correlated to each other, and the information matching the position environment being correlated to the record time and recorded by the information recording apparatus.

9. A position information processing apparatus connectable to a communication apparatus capable of communicating with a plurality of base stations, the position information processing apparatus comprising:

a signal intensity information receiving unit configured to receive from the communication apparatus a history of signal intensity information at one or more times, the history of signal intensity information including a signal intensity of a signal transmitted from each of the base stations and measured at the communication apparatus or information obtained from the signal intensity, base station identification information uniquely assigned to each of the base stations, and a time concerning measurement of the signal intensity, respectively correlated to each other;

a record time receiving unit configured to receive a record time when the information recording apparatus recorded information matching a position environment of the information recording apparatus, from an information recording apparatus capable of recording information matching an arbitrary position environment; and

a data processing unit configured to correlate the position information of the communication apparatus at the record time to the information matching the position environment, the position information being calculated based on the history of signal intensity information and known base station information constituted of the base station identification information of the base stations and position information of the base stations correlated to each other, and the information matching the position environment being correlated to the record time and recorded by the information recording apparatus.

10. A communication apparatus capable of communicating with a plurality of base stations, comprising:

a measuring unit to configured to measure a signal intensity of a signal transmitted from each of the plurality of base stations;

a storage unit configured to store a history of signal intensity information at one or more times, the history of signal intensity information including the signal intensity measured by the measuring unit or information obtained from the signal intensity, base station identification information uniquely assigned to each of the base stations, and a time concerning measurement of the signal intensity, respectively correlated to each other; and

a transmitting unit configured to transmit the history of signal intensity information stored in the storage unit to a position information processing apparatus capable of obtaining position information of the communication apparatus at a specific time by using the history of signal intensity information and known base station information constituted of the base station identification information of the base stations and position information of the base stations correlated to each other.

11. The communication apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the measuring unit measures the signal intensity at a predetermined time interval.

12. The communication apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a recording unit configured to record information matching a position environment of the communication apparatus in the storage unit, wherein the measuring unit measures the signal intensity based on a record of the information matching the position information of the communication apparatus.

13. A program for making a computer execute, the program comprising the steps of:

measuring a signal intensity of a signal transmitted from each of a plurality of base stations;

recording a history of signal intensity information at one or more times in a history storage medium, the history of signal intensity information including the measured signal intensity or information obtained from the measured signal intensity, base station identification information uniquely assigned to each of the base stations, and a time based upon the measuring step, respectively correlated to each other;

recording, by an information recording apparatus capable of recording information matching a position information record in an information storage medium, information matching a position environment of the information recording apparatus at a specific time and the specific time, respectively correlated to each other;

calculating position information of the communication apparatus at the specific time, based on the history of signal intensity information recorded in the history storage medium, and known base station information constituted of the base station identification information of the base stations and position information of the base stations correlated to each other; and

correlating the calculated position information to the information matching the position environment, the information matching the position environment being correlated to the specific time and stored in the information storage medium.