PROVISION OF INFORMATION

• US 20110223938A1
• Filed: 02/25/2011
• Published: 09/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BIGLOBE, Inc. (KDDI Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BIGLOBE, Inc. (KDDI Corporation)
• Inventors: SAKKA, NORIYUKI
• Granted Patent: US 8,874,141 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

An information providing server acquires, according to a relative position of a mobile terminal to an information source which is a base of provided information transmitted to the mobile terminal, preset provided information among a plurality of pieces of provided information stored in a provided information database, and transmits the acquired provided information to the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal displays the received provided information.

Claims

1. An information providing system comprising:

a provided information database for storing a plurality of pieces of provided information;

a mobile terminal; and

an information providing server for transmitting the provided information to the mobile terminal,

wherein the information providing server acquires, according to a relative position of the mobile terminal to an information source which is a base of the provided information, preset provided information from the plurality of pieces of provided information stored in the provided information database, and transmits the acquired provided information to the mobile terminal; and

the mobile terminal displays the provided information received from the information providing server.

2. The information providing system according to claim 1,

wherein the mobile terminal transmits terminal location information indicating a location of the mobile terminal to the information providing server;

and

the information providing server calculates the relative position based on information source location information indicating a location of the information source and the terminal location information received from the mobile terminal, and acquires the preset provided information from the plurality of pieces of provided information stored in the provided information database according to the relative position.

3. The information providing system according to claim 2,

wherein the information providing server associates the information source location information indicating the location of the information source, relative position information indicating the relative position, and provided information identification information added to each of the pieces of provided information to identify the plurality of pieces of provided information with one another, and then stores the information as associated information, calculates, when the terminal location information is received from the mobile terminal, the relative position based on the terminal location information and the information source location information, searches for the provided information identification information in the associated information based on the relative position information indicating the calculated relative position, and acquires the provided information to which the retrieved provided information identification information has been added from the provided information database.

4. The information providing system according to claim 2,

wherein the mobile terminal transmits, when one information name is selected from a plurality of information names indicating a plurality of information sources received from the information providing server, the selected information name together with the terminal location information to the information providing server;

and

the information providing server transmits the plurality of information names to the mobile terminal, and acquires, according to the relative position of the mobile terminal to a location of the information source corresponding to the information name received from the mobile terminal, the preset provided information from the plurality of pieces of provided information stored in the provided information database.

5. The information providing system according to claim 3,

wherein the information providing server associates, for each information source, the relative position information and the provided information identification information with each other, and then stores the information.

6. The information providing system according to claim 2,

wherein the mobile terminal acquires the terminal location information indicating the location of the mobile terminal by using a GPS function, and transmits the acquired terminal location information to the information providing server.

7. The information providing system according to claim 2,

wherein the information providing server uses, as the relative position, a bearing of the location indicated by the terminal location information received from the mobile terminal with respect to the location of the information source.

8. The information providing system according to claim 2,

wherein the information providing server uses, as the relative position, a distance between the information source and the mobile terminal.

9. The information providing system according to claim 3,

wherein the information providing server stores, as the provided information identification information, storage area information indicating a storage area of the pertinent provided information in the provided information database.

10. An information providing server connected to a provided information database for storing a plurality of pieces of provided information and configured to transmit the provided information to a mobile terminal, comprising:

an associated information storage unit that associates information source location information indicating a location of an information source which is a base of the provided information, relative position information indicating a relative position of the mobile terminal to the location indicated by the information source location information, and provided information identification information added to each of the pieces of provided information to identify the plurality of pieces of provided information that are associated with one another, and then stores the information;

a search unit that searches for the provided information identification information in the associated information storage unit based on the relative position information indicating the relative position of the mobile terminal;

an acquisition unit that acquires the provided information to which the provided information identification information retrieved by the search unit has been added from the provided information database; and

a communication unit that transmits the provided information acquired by the acquisition unit to the mobile terminal.

11. The information providing server according to claim 10,

further comprising a relative position calculation unit that calculates, when terminal location information indicating a location of the mobile terminal is received from the mobile terminal, the relative position based on the terminal location information and the information source location information,

wherein the search unit searches for the provided information identification information in the associated information storage unit based on the relative position information indicating the relative position calculated by the relative position calculation unit.

12. The information providing server according to claim 10,

wherein the associated information storage unit associates, for each of a plurality of information sources, a plurality of information names indicating the plurality of information sources, the information source location information, the relative position information, and the provided information identification information that are associated with one another, and then stores the information;

the communication unit transmits the plurality of information names to the mobile terminal; and

the search unit searches for the provided information identification information in the associated information storage unit based on the relative position information and an information name received from the mobile terminal among the plurality of information names.

13. The information providing server according to claim 10,

wherein the associated information storage unit stores, as the relative position information, a bearing of the location indicated by the terminal location information received from the mobile terminal with respect to the location of the information source.

14. The information providing server according to claim 10,

wherein the associated information storage unit stores, as the relative position information, a distance between the information source and the mobile terminal.

15. The information providing server according to claim 10,

wherein the associated information storage unit stores, as the provided information identification information, storage area information indicating a storage area of the pertinent provided information in the provided information database.

16. An information providing method for transmitting provided information to a mobile terminal, comprising:

a step of calculating a relative position of the mobile terminal to an information source which is a base of the provided information;

a step of searching for, based on relative position information indicating the calculated relative position, provided information identification information in associated information associating the relative position information and the provided information identification information added to the provided information to identify the provided information beforehand;

a step of acquiring the provided information to which the retrieved provided information identification information has been added from a provided information database for storing the provided information; and

a step of transmitting the acquired provided information to the mobile terminal.

17. The information providing method according to claim 16,

wherein when terminal location information indicating a location of the mobile terminal is received from the mobile terminal, the step of calculating the relative position is performed based on the terminal location information and information source location information indicating a location of the information source.

18. A recording medium for storing a program which causes an information providing server for transmitting provided information to a mobile terminal to execute:

a step of calculating a relative position of the mobile terminal to an information source which is a base of the provided information;

a step of searching for, based on relative position information indicating the calculated relative position, provided information identification information in associated information associating the relative position information and the provided information identification information added to the provided information with each other to identify the provided information beforehand;

a step of acquiring the provided information to which the retrieved provided information identification information has been added from a provided information database for storing the provided information; and

a step of transmitting the acquired provided information to the mobile terminal.

19. The recording medium for recording the program according to claim 18,

wherein when terminal location information indicating a location of the mobile terminal is received from the mobile terminal, the step of calculating the relative position is performed based on the terminal location information and information source location information indicating a location of the information source.