Method of and device for requesting guide information, method of and device for supplying guide information, and computer product

• US 6,456,930 B1
• Filed: 09/07/2001
• Issued: 09/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Takayama, Kuniharu, Maeda, Yoshiharu, Naito, Hirohisa
• Primary Examiner(s): Camby, Richard M.
• Application Number:
  US09/947,532
• Time in Patent Office: 382 Days
• Field of Search: 701/207, 701/208, 701/200, 701/205, 701/210, 701/211, 701/213, 701/25, 340/988
• US Class Current: 701/207
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/343 Calculating itineraries, i.e. routes leading from a starting point to a series of categorical destinations using a global route restraint, round trips, touristic trips travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

The device includes a current position information acquiring section that acquires current position information related to the current position of a car every fixed interval of time, a matching processing section that carries out a matching between a target position information located on a route through which the car travels and the current position information, a control unit which, if there is a match between the target position information and the current position information, requests a guide information supplying device to send guide information related to the target position information, through a radio link, a radio station, a traveling object network and the Internet, and a display section that displays the guide information supplied from the guide information supplying device through the Internet, the traveling object network, the radio station and the radio link.

Claims

1. A guide information requesting device comprising:

a situation information acquiring unit which acquires current situation information related to a current situation concerning a traveling object every predetermined interval of time;

a matching unit which carries out a matching between a normal situation and the current situation, based upon the normal situation information including a sequence of a plurality of predetermined normal situations and the current situation information;

a requesting unit which, if there is a match between the normal situation and the current situation, requests an external guide information supplying device to send guide information related to the normal situation, through a network; and

a presenting unit which presents the guide information supplied by the guide information supplying device through the network.

2. The guide information requesting device according to claim 1, wherein said requesting unit transmits information indicating the normal situation to said guide information supplying device as a pointer for the guide information.

3. The guide information requesting device according to claim 1, wherein said requesting unit carries out the request to any of guide information supplying devices among a plurality of external guide information supplying devices in a scattered manner.

4. The guide information requesting device according to claim 1, further comprising a request timing adjusting unit which adjusts the timing when a request is given to said guide information supplying device.

5. A guide information requesting device comprising:

a current position information acquiring unit which acquires current position information related to a current position concerning a traveling object every predetermined interval of time;

a matching unit which carries out a matching between target position information including a sequence of target positions located on a route through which said traveling object shifts and the current position information;

a requesting unit which, if there is a match between the target position information and the current position information, requests an external guide information supplying device to send guide information related to the target position, through a network; and

a presenting unit which presents the guide information supplied by the guide information supplying device through the network.

6. The guide information requesting device according to claim 5, wherein said requesting unit transmits information indicating the target position to said guide information supplying device as a pointer for the guide information.

7. The guide information requesting device according to claim 5, wherein said requesting unit transmits information related to a storage location of said guide information to said guide information supplying device as a pointer for the guide information.

8. The guide information requesting device according to claim 5, wherein said requesting unit transmits a retrieving program used for retrieving a database for said guide information to said guide information supplying device.

9. The guide information requesting device according to claim 5, wherein said requesting unit carries out the request to any of guide information supplying devices among a plurality of external guide information supplying devices in a scattered manner.

10. The guide information requesting device according to claim 5, further comprising a request timing adjusting unit which adjusts the timing when a request is given to said guide information supplying device.

11. The guide information requesting device according to claim 5, further comprising a route selection unit which, based upon information of a start point and an end point that have been specified by the user, retrieves for a plurality of routes and allows the driver to select a desired route from the plurality of routes.

12. A computer program containing instructions which when executed on a computer realizes following units:

a situation information acquiring unit which acquires current situation information related to a current situation concerning a traveling object every predetermined interval of time;

a matching unit which carries out a matching between a normal situation and the current situation, based upon the normal situation information including a sequence of a plurality of predetermined normal situations and the current situation information;

a requesting unit which, if there is a match between the normal situation and the current situation, requests an external guide information supplying device to send guide information related to the normal situation, through a network; and

a presenting unit which presents the guide information supplied by the guide information supplying device through the network.

13. A guide information requesting method comprising the steps of:

acquiring current situation information related to a current situation concerning a traveling object every predetermined interval of time;

carrying out a matching between a normal situation and the current situation, based upon the normal situation information including a sequence of a plurality of predetermined normal situations and the current situation information;

if there is a match between the normal situation and the current situation, requesting an external guide information supplying device to send guide information related to the normal situation, through a network; and

presenting the guide information supplied by the guide information supplying device through the network.

14. A computer program containing instructions which when executed on a computer realizes following units:

a current position information acquiring unit which acquires current position information related to a current position concerning a traveling object every predetermined interval of time;

a matching unit which carries out a matching between target position information including a sequence of target positions located on a route through which said traveling object shifts and the current position information;

a requesting unit which, if there is a match between the target position information and the current position information, requests an external guide information supplying device to send guide information related to the target position, through a network; and

a presenting unit which presents the guide information supplied by the guide information supplying device through the network.

15. A guide information requesting method comprising the steps of:

acquiring current position information related to a current position concerning a traveling object every predetermined interval of time;

carrying out a matching between target position information including a sequence of target positions located on a route through which said traveling object shifts and the current position information;

if there is a match between the target position information and the current position information, requesting an external guide information supplying device to send guide information related to the target position, through a network; and

presenting step for presenting the guide information supplied by the guide information supplying device through the network.

16. A guide information supplying device comprising:

a request receiving unit which, if there is match between a current situation related to a traveling object and a predetermined normal situation, receives a request for receiving a supply of guide information related to the normal situation from a guide information requesting device through a network; and

a supply unit which, when the request has been accepted, supplies guide information related to the normal situation to said guide information requesting device through the network.

17. The guide information supplying device according to claim 16, wherein said request receiving unit receives the information concerning a pointer for the guide information as the request, and said supply unit retrieves a database for the guide information in accordance with the pointer so as to supply the guide information to the guide information requesting device through the network.

18. The guide information supplying device according to claim 16, further comprising a normal situation information generation unit which generates normal situation information including a sequence of predetermined normal situations, and for supplying the normal situation information to said guide information requesting device.

19. The guide information supplying device according to claim 16, further comprising a timing adjusting information generation unit which generates timing adjusting information that adjusts the timing in said guide information requesting device, and for supplying the timing adjusting information to said guide information requesting device.

20. A guide information supplying device comprising:

a request receiving unit which, if there is a match between a current position of a traveling object and a target position located on a route through which said traveling object shifts, receives a request for receiving a supply of guide information related to the target position from a guide information requesting device through a network; and

a supply unit which, when the request has been accepted, supplies guide information related to the target position to said guide information requesting device through the network.

21. A computer program containing instructions which when executed on a computer realizes following units:

a request receiving unit which, if there is a match between a current situation related to a traveling object and a predetermined normal situation, receives a request for receiving a supply of guide information related to the normal situation from a guide information requesting device through a network; and

a supply unit which, when the request has been accepted, supplies guide information related to the normal situation to said guide information requesting device through the network.

22. A guide information supplying method comprising the steps of:

if there is a match between a current situation related to a traveling object and a predetermined normal situation, receiving a request for receiving a supply of guide information related to the normal situation from a guide information requesting device through a network; and

when the request has been accepted, supplies guide information related to the normal situation to said guide information requesting device through the network.

23. A computer program containing instructions which when executed on a computer realizes following units:

a request receiving unit which, if there is a match between a current position of a traveling object and a target position located on a route through which said traveling object shifts, receives a request for receiving a supply of guide information related to the target position from a guide information requesting device through a network; and

a supply unit which, when the request has been accepted, supplies guide information related to the target position to said guide information requesting device through the network.

24. A guide information supplying method comprising the steps of:

if there is a match between a current position of a traveling object and a target position located on a route through which said traveling object shifts, receives a request for receiving a supply of guide information related to the target position from a guide information requesting device through a network; and

when the request has been accepted, supplies guide information related to the target position to said guide information requesting device through the network.