Information processing apparatus, communication system, and information processing method

• US 9,066,315 B2
• Filed: 07/10/2013
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Shimo, Norio, Tsuda, Shinichiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Ajayi, Joel
• Application Number:
  US13/938,370
• Publication Number:
  US 20140024399A1
• Time in Patent Office: 713 Days
• Field of Search: 455/457
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

An information processing apparatus includes a receiver configured to receive designation information corresponding to a user operation for designating an area for which an index indicating a degree of human congestion is to be displayed and a controller configured to perform control to provide a degree of communication traffic in the area as the index for the area.

Claims

1. An information processing apparatus comprising:

a receiver configured to receive designation information corresponding to a user operation, the designation information designating a geographic area for which an index indicating a degree of human congestion in the geographic area is to be determined; and

a controller configured to, in response to receipt of the designation information, determine the index indicating the degree of human congestion by;

determining a degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area; and

evaluating the degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area to produce the index indicating the degree of human congestion in the geographic area,

wherein a ratio of a degree of current wireless communication traffic to the degree of wireless communication traffic in the past in the geographic area is determined as the index for the geographic area and wherein the degree of wireless communication traffic is a ratio of a smallest correlation output for a scrambling code to a highest correlation output for another scrambling code in code division multiple access (CDMA) communication.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the receiver receives the designation information regarding the geographic area by receiving a position and a range designated by a user on a map displayed on a display of a wireless communication apparatus, and

wherein the controller is configured to determine the degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area by:

identifying, from an evaluation of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area, at least one wireless base station located in the geographic area; and

determining a communication-traffic congestion degree regarding each of the at least one wireless base station.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein for a first wireless base station of the at least one wireless base station, the controller determines a first communication-traffic congestion degree for the first wireless base station by receiving the first communication-traffic congestion degree for the first wireless base station from at least one wireless communication apparatus present in the geographic area.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the controller is configured to:

receive the communication-traffic congestion degree for each wireless base station from the at least one wireless communication apparatus present in the geographic area; and

determine the degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area by averaging the communication-traffic congestion degrees for the at least one wireless base station received from the at least one wireless communication apparatus present in the geographic area.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the controller is configured to determine the degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area by:

receiving, at predetermined intervals over time, communication-traffic congestion degrees for the at least one wireless base station from the at least one wireless communication apparatus present in the geographic area, and

evaluating the communication-traffic congestion degrees received over time to determine a current degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area and/or a prior degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the controller is configured to evaluate the degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area to produce the index indicating the degree of human congestion by calculating a ratio of a first prior degree of wireless communication traffic for one time point in the past in the geographic area to a second degree of wireless communication traffic at another time point in the past in the geographic area.

7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the designation information includes date-and-time information, and

the controller is configured to determine the index indicating the degree of human congestion in the geographic area in the period specified by the date-and-time information.

8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller triggers display of the degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area and/or a graphic indicating the degree of wireless communication traffic as the index for the geographic area.

9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the controller triggers the display of the degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area and/or the graphic indicating the degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area in association with a map including the geographic area.

10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the controller triggers the display of the degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area and/or the graphic indicating the degree of wireless communication traffic in a superimposed manner on the map.

11. A communication system comprising:

a wireless communication apparatus configured to transmit, in response to a user operation designating a geographic area for which an index indicating human congestion in the geographic area is to be determined, designation information regarding the geographic area; and

an information processing apparatus comprising;

a transceiver configured to receive the designation information from the wireless communication apparatus and to transmit information indicative of the index of human congestion to the wireless communication apparatus, and

a controller configured to, in response to receipt of the designation information,

determine the index indicating human congestion by;

determining a degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area; and

evaluating the degree of wireless communication traffic in the geographic area to produce the index indicating human congestion in the geographic area,

wherein a ratio of a degree of current wireless communication traffic to the degree of wireless communication traffic in the past in the geographic area is determined as the index for the geographic area and wherein the degree of wireless communication traffic is a ratio of a smallest correlation output for a scrambling code to a highest correlation output for another scrambling code in code division multiple access (CDMA) communication.

12. An information processing method comprising:

receiving, from a wireless communication apparatus, designation information designating an area for which an index indicating human congestion in the area is to be determined; and

in response to receiving the designation information;

determining a degree of wireless communication traffic in the area; and

evaluating the degree of wireless communication traffic in the area to produce the index indicating human congestion in the area,

wherein a ratio of a degree of current wireless communication traffic to the degree of wireless communication traffic in the past in the area is determined as the index for the area and wherein the degree of wireless communication traffic is a ratio of a smallest correlation output for a scrambling code to a highest correlation output for another scrambling code in code division multiple access (CDMA) communication.