Guide apparatus, guide system, and guide method

• US 7,933,234 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2004
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.), NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Company (HP Inc.), NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Inventors: Shimizu, Hidenori, Iso, Toshiki, Suzuki, Hiroki, McEachern, Marc, Kurakake, Shoji, Bouno, Hironori, Sugimura, Toshiaki, Nakagawa, Shinya, Ukai, Fumitoshi, Otsuji, Kiyotaka, Sugahara, Taro
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao; Kwang B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bokhari; Syed M
• Application Number:
  US10/891,018
• Publication Number:
  US 20050026630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,476 Days
• Field of Search: 370/218, 370/235, 370/412, 370/216, 370/220, 370/338, 340/539, 340/988, 705/26, 348/211, 348/207, 455/456, 455/456.1, 455/457, 235/382, 382/115, 707/3, 342/451
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3623 using a camera or code reader, e.g. for optical or magnetic codes
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3644 Landmark guidance, e.g. using POIs or conspicuous other objects
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096811 where the route is computed offboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096838 where the user preferences are taken into account or the user selects one route out of a plurality
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096894 where input is assisted by the navigation device, i.e. the user does not type the complete name of the destination, e.g. using zip codes, telephone numbers, progressively selecting from initial letters

Abstract

A guide apparatus 50 according to the present invention is provided with a service information DB 30d storing service information containing a service providing place and attribute information of a target user; a recognizing device 30b for acquiring an ID from image data transmitted from a cell phone 14; a retrieving device 30c for retrieving service information from the service information DB 30d on the basis of the acquired ID and for retrieving such service information that attribute information of the user of cell phone 14 coincides with attribute information of a target user, out of service information provided at service providing places near the service providing place; and a route retrieving device 20c for retrieving a route between the information about the service providing place retrieved and the cell phone 14; and transmits the route information and service information as guide information to the cell phone 14.

Claims

1. A guide apparatus for transmitting guide information to a portable terminal for guiding a user of the portable terminal to a store the guide apparatus comprising:

means for storing service information about a store providing a service and expected attribute information of an expected user for the service;

means for receiving image data containing identification information to identify a first store, the image data being captured by and transmitted from the portable terminal;

means for acquiring the identification information of the first store by analyzing the image data included in the data received by the means for receiving from the portable terminal to acquire the identification information of the first store included in the image data;

means for retrieving first service information from the means for storing, based on the identification information acquired by the means for acquiring identification information;

means for retrieving a plurality of second service information of a plurality of services provided at a second store located within a distance of a predetermined threshold from the first store, based on location information about the first store included in the first service information and location information about the second store included in the second service information;

means for comparing attribute information of the user of the portable terminal with expected attribute information of an expected user of each of the plurality of the services provided at the second store, and for determining which services of the plurality of the services to offer to the user based on whether the attribute information of the user of the portable terminal matches the expected attribute information;

means for selecting, from the plurality of second service information selected service information corresponding to the services determined to be offered to the user of the portable terminal by the means for comparing and determining;

means for retrieving a route between the portable terminal and the first store, based on the first service information about the store included in the service information retrieved by the means for retrieving first service information; and

means for transmitting to the portable terminal, information about the route retrieved by the means for retrieving the route and the selected service information retrieved by the means for selecting, as guide information about the services determined to be offered to the user of the portable terminal.

2. The guide apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for receiving further receives information about a location of the portable terminal, and

wherein the means for retrieving the route retrieves the route on the basis of the location information of the portable terminal received by the means for receiving and the information about the first store.

3. The guide apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for storing information about a display location of the identification information,

wherein the means for retrieving the route acquires the information about the display location of the identification information from the means for storing information about the display location on the basis of the identification information acquired by the means for acquiring identification information, and retrieves the route on the basis of the display location of the acquired identification information and the information about the first store.

4. The guide apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for receiving further receives the attribute information of the user of the portable terminal, and

based on the attribute information of the user received by the means for receiving, the means for retrieving the plurality of second service information retrieves such service information that the attribute information of the user matches the expected attribute information of the expected user for a service of the plurality of services.

5. The guide apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for storing the attribute information of the user of the portable terminal,

wherein the means for receiving further receives identification information of the portable terminal, and

the means for retrieving the plurality of second service information retrieves the attribute information of the user of the portable terminal from the means for storing the attribute information of the user of the portable terminal, based on the identification information of the portable terminal received by the means for receiving, and retrieves such service information that the attribute information of the user matches the expected attribute information of the expected user for a service of the plurality of services, based on the retrieved attribute information.

6. The guide apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for converting the identification information acquired by the means for acquiring identification information, to global identification information,

wherein the means for storing stores the service information in connection with global identification information unitarily assigned to service groups of different types, and

the means for retrieving first service information retrieves the first service information from the means for storing, using the global identification information obtained through the conversion by the means for converting.

7. The guide apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a path determining device having the means for receiving, the means for retrieving the route, and the means for transmitting; and

an information managing device having the means for storing, the means for retrieving first service information, and the means for retrieving the plurality of second service information,

wherein each of the path determining device and the information managing device comprises means for transmitting and receiving data which was transmitted from the portable terminal and which the path determining device received by the means for receiving, and service information which the information managing device retrieved from the means for storing.

8. The guide apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the guide information transmitted by the means for transmitting is map information.

9. The guide apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification information is displayed in the form of a mark of a two-dimensional bar code.

10. The guide apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first store includes more than one store or a shopping mall.

11. A guide system comprising the guide apparatus as set forth in claim 1, a portable terminal wirelessly communicable with the guide apparatus, and a display of identification information of the second store located at a place different from the first store, wherein the portable terminal comprises:

means for photographing the display of the identification information, means for transmitting image data obtained through photography by the means for photographing, to the guide apparatus and for receiving guide information transmitted from the guide apparatus, and means for displaying the guide information received by the means for transmitting image data and receiving guide information.

14. The guide apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for acquiring the identification information of the first store recognizes a first ID from the received image data and converts the first ID into a second ID, and

the means for retrieving first service information from the means for storing retrieves the first service information from the means for storing based on the second ID.

12. A guide method in a guide system including a guide apparatus having means for storing service information comprising information about a store providing a service and expected attribute information of an expected user for the service, a portable terminal wirelessly connected to the guide apparatus, and a display of identification information of the store located at a place different from the store, the guide method being adapted to transmit to the portable terminal guide information for guiding a user of the portable terminal to the store, the guide method comprising:

photographing the display of the identification information by the portable terminal;

transmitting image data obtained through photographing the display to the guide apparatus from the portable terminal;

wherein the guide apparatus transmits information about a route retrieved and a selected service information as guide information from the guide apparatus to the portable terminal;

analyzing the image data received from the portable terminal in the transmitting image data;

acquiring the identification information of a first store included in the image data by analyzing the image data to acquire the identification of the first store included in the image data;

retrieving first service information from the means for storing, based on the identification information acquired in the acquiring step;

retrieving a plurality of second service information of a plurality of services provided at a second store located within a distance of a predetermined threshold from the first store, based on location information about the first store included in the first service information and location information about the second store included in the second service information;

comparing attribute information of the user of the portable terminal with expected attribute information of an expected user of each of the plurality of the services provided at the second store;

determining which services of the plurality of services to offer to the user of the portable terminal based on whether the attribute information of the user of the portable terminal matches the expected attribute information of the expected user;

selecting from the retrieved plurality of second service information selected service information wherein the selected service information corresponds to the services determined to be offered to the user of the portable terminal;

retrieving the route between the portable terminal and the first store, based on the information about the first store included in the first service information;

receiving of the guide information by the portable terminal.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein acquiring the identification information of the first store included in the image data includes recognizing a first ID from the received image data and converting the first ID into a second ID, and

retrieving first service information from the means for storing includes retrieving the first service information from the means for storing based on the second ID.

13. A guide apparatus for transmitting guide information to a user of a portable terminal, the guide information guiding the user of the portable terminal to a store, the guide apparatus comprising:

a service information memory storing service information including information about a store providing a service and expected attribute information of an expected user for said service;

a receiver receiving image data containing identification information to identify a first store, the image data being captured by and transmitted from the portable terminal;

an identification information acquiring unit configured to acquire the identification information of the first store by analyzing the image data included in the data received by the receiver from the portable terminal to acquire the identification information of the first store included in the image data;

a first retriever configured to retrieve first service information from the service information memory, based on the identification information acquired by the identification information acquiring unit;

a second retriever configured to retrieve a plurality of second service information of a plurality of services provided at a second store located within a distance of a predetermined threshold from the first store, based on location information about the first store included in the first service information and location information about the second store included in the second service information;

a comparing unit configured to compare attribute information of the user of the portable terminal with expected attribute information of an expected user of each of the plurality of the services provided at the second store, and to determine which services of the plurality of the services to offer to the user of the portable terminal based on whether the attribute information of the user of the portable terminal matches the expected attribute information;

a selector configured to select from the plurality of second service information selected service information corresponding to the services determined to be offered to the user of the portable terminal by the comparing unit;

a route retriever configured to retrieve a route between the portable terminal and the first store, based on the first service information; and

a transmitter configured to transmit to the portable terminal information about the route retrieved by the route retriever and the selected service information selected by the selector, as guide information about the services determined to be offered to the user of the portable terminal.

16. The guide apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the identification information acquiring unit is configured to recognize a first ID from the received image data and convert the first ID into a second ID, and

the first retriever is configured to retrieve the first service information from the service information memory based on the second ID.