Information providing device, mobile communication device, information providing system, information providing method, and program

• US 8,244,227 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2010
• Issued: 08/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Yohei
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao, Minh D
• Application Number:
  US12/657,519
• Publication Number:
  US 20100190449A1
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.2, 455/404.2, 455/550.1, 455/456.1, 455/12.1, 342/457, 701/212
• US Class Current: 455/414.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

An information providing device includes: a measurement information receiver receiving, from one or more mobile communication devices, measurement information including position information representing a present position of one mobile communication device and speed information representing a speed of a communication at a given point of time; a measurement information storage unit storing the measurement information received from the one or more mobile communication devices; a specifying information receiver receiving position specifying information for specifying a predetermined position from the mobile communication device; a communication environment information extractor extracting as communication environment information one or more pieces of the measurement information including the speed information of communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position from the measurement information stored in the measurement information storage unit; and a communication environment information transmitter transmitting the communication environment information to the mobile communication device having transmitted the position specifying information.

Claims

1. An information providing device comprising:

a measurement information receiver receiving, from one or more mobile communication devices, measurement information including position information representing a present position of one mobile communication device and speed information representing a speed of a communication performed between the mobile communication device and a wireless base station at a given point of time;

a measurement information storage unit storing the measurement information received from the one or more mobile communication devices;

a specifying information receiver receiving position specifying information for specifying a predetermined position from the mobile communication device;

a communication environment information extractor extracting as communication environment information one or more pieces of the measurement information including the speed information of communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position from the measurement information stored in the measurement information storage unit; and

a communication environment information transmitter transmitting the communication environment information to the mobile communication device having transmitted the position specifying information.

2. The information providing device according to claim 1, further comprising a communication environment map information preparing unit preparing communication environment map information in which the speed information of the communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position is plotted on map information on the basis of the communication environment information, wherein the communication environment information transmitter transmits the communication environment map information to the mobile communication device having transmitted the position specifying information.

3. The information providing device according to claim 2, wherein the speed information of the communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position is plotted on the map information as different color or gray-scale markers depending on the communication speed indicated by the speed information.

4. The information providing device according to claim 2, wherein the measurement information included in the communication environment information is divided among a plurality of corresponding regions based on the position information included in the measurement information.

5. The information providing device according to claim 4, wherein a maximum value and an average value of the communication speeds are calculated for each of the plurality of corresponding regions from the speed information of the measurement information corresponding to that region, and the maximum values and the average values for each of the plurality of corresponding regions is plotted on the map information.

6. The information providing device according to claim 1, wherein the measurement information receiver receives, from the one or more mobile communication devices, the measurement information including the position information, the speed information, and communication condition information representing a communication condition affecting the speed of the communication performed between the mobile communication device and the wireless base station at a given point of time, wherein the communication environment information extractor extracts, as the communication environment information, one or more pieces of the measurement information corresponding to a predetermined communication condition out of the one or more pieces of the measurement information, which includes the speed information of the communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position, from the measurement information stored in the measurement information storage unit, and wherein the communication environment information transmitter transmits the communication environment information to the mobile communication device having transmitted the position specifying information.

7. The information providing device according to claim 6, further comprising a communication environment map information preparing unit preparing communication environment map information in which the speed information included in the one or more pieces of measurement information corresponding to the predetermined communication condition out of the speed information of the communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position is plotted on map information on the basis of the communication environment information, wherein the communication environment information transmitter transmits the communication environment map information to the mobile communication device having transmitted the position specifying information.

8. A mobile communication device comprising:

a position information acquiring unit acquiring position information representing a present position of the mobile communication device;

a speed information acquiring unit measuring a speed of a communication performed between a wireless base station and the mobile communication device and acquiring the measured communication speed as speed information;

a measurement information transmitter transmitting measurement information including the position information and the speed information at a given point of time to an information providing device;

a specifying information transmitter transmitting position specifying information for specifying a predetermined position to the information providing device;

a communication environment information receiver receiving, as communication environment information from the information providing device, one or more pieces of the measurement information including the speed information on the communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position out of the measurement information, which is transmitted from one or more mobile communication devices and stored in the information providing device; and

an output unit outputting the communication environment information.

9. The mobile communication device according to claim 8, wherein the communication environment information receiver receives communication environment map information in which the speed information of the communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position is plotted on map information from the information providing device, and wherein the output unit outputs the communication environment map information.

10. The mobile communication device according to claim 8, further comprising a communication condition information acquiring unit acquiring communication condition information representing a communication condition affecting the speed of the communication performed between the wireless base station and the mobile communication device, wherein the measurement information transmitter transmits the measurement information including the position information, the speed information, and the communication condition information at a given point of time to the information providing device, wherein the communication environment information receiver receives, as the communication environment information from the information providing device, one or more pieces of the measurement information corresponding to the predetermined communication condition out of the one or more pieces of the measurement information including the speed information of the communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position, and wherein the output unit outputs the communication environment information.

11. The mobile communication device according to claim 10, wherein the communication environment information receiver receives, from the information providing device, communication environment map information in which the speed information included in the one or more pieces of the measurement information corresponding to the predetermined communication condition out of the speed information of the communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position is plotted on map information, and wherein the output unit outputs the communication environment map information.

12. The mobile communication device according to claim 8, further comprising a search unit searching the measurement information included in the communication environment information for the measurement information corresponding to a predetermined search condition, wherein the output unit outputs the speed information included in the searched measurement information.

13. The mobile communication device according to claim 9 or 12, further comprising a search unit searching the measurement information included in the communication environment map information for the measurement information corresponding to a predetermined search condition, wherein the output unit outputs the speed information included in the searched measurement information.

14. The mobile communication device according to claim 8, wherein the speed information of the communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position are sorted based on a sorting condition, and the output unit outputs the sorting condition and the sorted speed information.

15. The mobile communication device according to claim 8, wherein the speed information of the communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position are modified using one or more weighting coefficients associated with the position information included in the measurement information.

16. An information providing system comprising an information providing device and one or more mobile communication devices,

wherein the mobile communication device includes

a position information acquiring unit acquiring position information representing a present position of the mobile communication device,

a speed information acquiring unit measuring a speed of a communication performed between a wireless base station and the mobile communication device and acquiring the measured communication speed as speed information,

a measurement information transmitter transmitting measurement information including the position information and the speed information at a given point of time to the information providing device,

a specifying information transmitter transmitting position specifying information for specifying a predetermined position to the information providing device,

a communication environment information receiver receiving communication environment information representing a communication environment in the vicinity of the predetermined position from the information providing device, and

an output unit outputting the communication environment information, and

wherein the information providing device includes

a measurement information receiver receiving the measurement information from the one or more mobile communication devices,

a measurement information storage unit storing the measurement information received from the one or more mobile communication devices,

a specifying information receiver receiving position specifying information from the mobile communication device,

a communication environment information extractor extracting as communication environment information one or more pieces of the measurement information including the speed information of communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position from the measurement information stored in the measurement information storage unit, and

a communication environment information transmitter transmitting the communication environment information to the mobile communication device having transmitted the position specifying information.

17. An information providing method comprising the steps of:

receiving, from one or more mobile communication devices, measurement information including position information representing a present position of one mobile communication device and speed information representing a speed of a communication performed between the mobile communication device and a wireless base station at a given point of time;

storing the measurement information received from the one or more mobile communication devices;

receiving position specifying information for specifying a predetermined position from the mobile communication device;

extracting as communication environment information one or more pieces of the measurement information including the speed information of communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position from the stored measurement information; and

transmitting the communication environment information to the mobile communication device having transmitted the position specifying information.

18. A processor encoded with a computer program to execute an information providing method, the method comprising:

receiving, from one or more mobile communication devices, measurement information including position information representing a present position of one mobile communication device and speed information representing a speed of a communication performed between the mobile communication device and a wireless base station at a given point of time;

storing the measurement information received from the one or more mobile communication devices;

receiving position specifying information for specifying a predetermined position from the mobile communication device;

extracting as communication environment information one or more pieces of the measurement information including the speed information of communication speeds measured in the vicinity of the predetermined position from the stored measurement information; and

transmitting the communication environment information to the mobile communication device having transmitted the position specifying information.