System and method for providing information to a portable terminal

• US 7,697,933 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2006
• Issued: 04/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/09/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Original Assignee: Seiko Epson Corporation (Seiko Group)
• Inventors: Kitada, Naruhide, Fukui, Yoshiki, Taniguchi, Shinya
• Primary Examiner(s): D'Agosta; Stephen M
• Application Number:
  US11/641,680
• Publication Number:
  US 20070099612A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,210 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/432.1, 455/435.1, 455456-457, 455/552.1, 370/310, 709/218, 709/219, 709/227
• US Class Current: 455/435.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/022 with dynamic range variability

Abstract

An information providing system can include a registration terminal having a guidance information registration database which stores information groups, which are correlated with reference position information. When portable terminal position information for specifying the position of a portable terminal is received together with a transmission request for the guidance information, the guidance information is automatically selected from an information group in accordance with the received transmission request on the basis of the position relationship between the reference position which is specified by the reference position information corresponding to the information group in accordance with the received transmission request, and the position which is specified by the received portable terminal position information, and the selected guidance information is transmitted to the portable terminal.

Claims

1. An information providing system comprising:

a portable terminal that is connected with a registration terminal for registering target information that is to be used by the portable terminal, and that provides the target information in the registration terminal to the portable terminal;

the registration terminal being adapted to associate a plurality of different pieces of the target information with a single information group, and to register the information group, which is correlated with reference position information for specifying a single reference position as a reference;

the target information in the registration terminal being provided to the portable terminal by automatically selecting a particular one of the different pieces of the target information from the information group, each of the different pieces corresponding to the single reference position, on the basis of the positional relationship between the reference position that is specified by the reference position information corresponding to the information group, and the portable terminal, and by transmitting the selected target information to the portable terminal;

the registration terminal including a storage device that stores the information group, which is correlated with the reference position information, in which, when portable terminal position information for specifying the position of the portable terminal is received together with a transmission request for the target information, the target information is selected from an information group in accordance with the received transmission request based on a positional relationship between the reference position that is specified by the reference position information corresponding to the information group in accordance with the received transmission request, and the position that is specified by the received portable terminal position information, and the selected target information is transmitted to the portable terminal;

the portable terminal including a position information retrieving device that retrieves the portable terminal position information in which the portable terminal position information retrieved by the position information retrieving device is transmitted to the registration terminal together with the transmission request;

the information group including first target information and second target information having different content from the first target information, which are associated with each other; and

in the selection of the target information, the first target information being selected from the information group if a distance from the reference position that is specified by the reference position information to the position that is specified by the portable terminal position information is within a first predetermined range, and the second target information is selected from the information group if a distance from the reference position that is specified by the reference position information to the position that is specified by the portable terminal position information is within a second predetermined range which is smaller than the first predetermined range.

3. The information providing system according to claim 1, the registration terminal being connected with an external terminal having the target information registered therein, and including a target information retrieving device that retrieves the target information from the external terminal;

and

the target information retrieved by the target information retrieving device being stored in the storage device.

2. An information providing system comprising:

a portable terminal that is connected with a registration terminal for registering target information that is to be used by the portable terminal, and that provides the target information in the registration terminal to the portable terminal;

the registration terminal being adapted to associate a plurality of different pieces of the target information with a single information group, and to register the information group, which is correlated with reference position information for specifying a single reference position as a reference;

the target information in the registration terminal being provided to the portable terminal by automatically selecting a particular one of the different pieces of the target information from the information group, each of the different pieces corresponding to the single reference position, on the basis of the positional relationship between the reference position that is specified by the reference position information corresponding to the information group, and the portable terminal, and by transmitting the selected target information to the portable terminal;

the registration terminal including a storage device that stores the information group, which is correlated with the reference position information, in which, when portable terminal position information for specifying the position of the portable terminal is received together with a transmission request for the target information, the target information is selected from an information group in accordance with the received transmission request based on a positional relationship between the reference position that is specified by the reference position information corresponding to the information group in accordance with the received transmission request, and the position that is specified by the received portable terminal position information, and the selected target information is transmitted to the portable terminal;

the portable terminal including a position information retrieving device that retrieves the portable terminal position information in which the portable terminal position information retrieved by the position information retrieving device is transmitted to the registration terminal together with the transmission request;

the information group including first target information and second target information that includes different content from the first target information in addition to the content of the first target information, which are associated with each other; and

in the selection of the target information, the first target information being selected from the information group if a distance from the reference position that is specified by the reference position information to the position that is specified by the portable terminal position information is within a first predetermined range, and the second target information is selected from the information group if a distance from the reference position that is specified by the reference position information to the position that is specified by the portable terminal position information is within a second predetermined range that is smaller than the first predetermined range.

4. An information providing system comprising:

a portable terminal that is connected with a registration terminal for registering target information that is to be used by the portable terminal, and that provides the target information in the registration terminal to the portable terminal;

the registration terminal being adapted to associate a plurality of different pieces of the target information with a single information group, and to register the information group, which is correlated with reference position information for specifying a single reference position as a reference;

the target information in the registration terminal being provided to the portable terminal by automatically selecting a particular one of the different pieces of the target information from the information group, each of the different pieces corresponding to the single reference position, on the basis of the positional relationship between the reference position that is specified by the reference position information corresponding to the information group, and the portable terminal, and by transmitting the selected target information to the portable terminal;

the registration terminal including a storage device that stores the information group, which is correlated with the reference position information, in which, when portable terminal position information for specifying the position of the portable terminal is received together with a transmission request for the target information, the target information is selected from an information group in accordance with the received transmission request based on a positional relationship between the reference position that is specified by the reference position information corresponding to the information group in accordance with the received transmission request, and the position that is specified by the received portable terminal position information, and the selected target information is transmitted to the portable terminal;

the portable terminal including a position information retrieving device that retrieves the portable terminal position information in which the portable terminal position information retrieved by the position information retrieving device is transmitted to the registration terminal together with the transmission request;

the information group including first target information and second target information having more detailed content than the first target information, which are associated with each other; and

in the selection of the target information, the first target information being selected from the information group if a distance from the reference position that is specified by the reference position information to the position that is specified by the portable terminal position information is within a first predetermined range, and the second target information is selected from the information group if a distance from the reference position that is specified by the reference position information to the position that is specified by the portable terminal position information is within a second predetermined range which is smaller than the first predetermined range.

5. An information providing system comprising:

a portable terminal that is connected with a registration terminal for registering target information that is to be used by the portable terminal, and that provides the target information in the registration terminal to the portable terminal;

the registration terminal being adapted to associate a plurality of different pieces of the target information with a single information group, and to register the information group, which is correlated with reference position information for specifying a single reference position as a reference;

the target information in the registration terminal being provided to the portable terminal by automatically selecting a particular one of the different pieces of the target information from the information group, each of the different pieces corresponding to the single reference position, on the basis of the positional relationship between the reference position that is specified by the reference position information corresponding to the information group, and the portable terminal, and by transmitting the selected target information to the portable terminal;

the registration terminal including a storage device that stores the information group, which is correlated with the reference position information, in which, when portable terminal position information for specifying the position of the portable terminal is received together with a transmission request for the target information, the target information is selected from an information group in accordance with the received transmission request based on a positional relationship between the reference position that is specified by the reference position information corresponding to the information group in accordance with the received transmission request, and the position that is specified by the received portable terminal position information, and the selected target information is transmitted to the portable terminal;

the portable terminal including a position information retrieving device that retrieves the portable terminal position information in which the portable terminal position information retrieved by the position information retrieving device is transmitted to the registration terminal together with the transmission request;

the information group including first target information and second target information that includes more detailed content than the first target information in addition to the content of the first target information, which are associated with each other; and

in the selection of the target information, the first target information being selected from the information group if a distance from the reference position that is specified by the reference position information to the position that is specified by the portable terminal position information is within a first predetermined range, and the second target information is selected from the information group if a distance from the reference position that is specified by the reference position information to the position that is specified by the portable terminal position information is within a second predetermined range that is smaller than the first predetermined range.