Information processing device, terminal separation determination system and terminal separation determination method

• US 9,648,459 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2015
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Izumi, Yoshifumi, Yamashita, Toshio, Uetake, Yosuke
• Primary Examiner(s): HEIBER, SHANTELL LAKETA
• Application Number:
  US14/931,976
• Publication Number:
  US 20160157058A1
• Time in Patent Office: 552 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters

Abstract

An information processing device includes: a communication unit that receives positions from a plurality of terminals each capable of calculating a position indicating a latitude and a longitude; an area determination unit that makes a decision, based upon the positions received at the communication unit, as to in which of areas defined in advance based upon latitudes and longitudes thereof, the terminals are located; and a separation determination unit that calculates an extent of separation to which an area where one terminal is located and an area where another terminal is located are separated from each other, and determines whether a predetermined relationship is achieved with regard to the extent of separation between the one terminal and the other terminal.

Claims

1. A terminal separation determination system, comprising:

a plurality of terminals each including an antenna and a position calculation unit that calculates position information of a respective terminal;

a server, including a processor, a memory connected to the processor, that is connected to each of the plurality of terminals via a network,

wherein the memory stores instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to execute;

a communication unit, connected to the processor, that receives position information which indicates a latitude and a longitude of a respective terminal from the plurality of terminals, and stores a record of each terminal that indicates a terminal identification, the position information received, and a position information acquisition time point,

an area determination unit that;

processes each record stored by the communication unit in successive predetermined periods of time,

appends an area identifier to each record which identifies an area block, of a plurality of predefined area blocks, that the terminal is located based on the position information of the record, wherein each area block of the predefined area blocks are defined by a unit of longitude and a unit of latitude, and the predefined area blocks are arranged in a mesh pattern, and

appends a time point identifier to each record indicating the predetermined period of time that the area determination unit processes the record to append the area identifier,

a path crossing determination unit that;

extracts a first set of records having a time point identifier that correspond with a first predefined condition indicating a time point,

for each record in the first set of records, determine area identifiers of a predetermined number of area blocks that surround the area block of the record based on the mesh pattern of area blocks and store the area identifiers as a second set,

extract records of the first set of records that have an area identifier that matches an area identifier in the second set and store as a third set of records,

for each record in the first set of records, extract the position information of the record and the position information of each of the records within the third set of records extracted for the respective record and calculate respective distances between each record,

determine whether each respective distance is less than or equal to a predetermined distance and store the records in a fourth set,

wherein the terminals corresponding to each record in the first set exchange information with each of the terminals in the fourth set.

2. The terminal separation system according to claim 1,

wherein if a respective distance is less than or equal to a predetermined distance the terminal identification, the position information, and the position information acquisition time point are stored and the terminal identification and position information for each record in the third set are stored.

3. The terminal separation system according to claim 1, wherein the time point identifiers are the same for two or more records if the records are processed by the area determination unit with the same period of time.

4. A terminal separation determination method of a terminal separation determination system including a plurality of terminals each including an antenna and a position calculation unit that calculates position information of a respective terminal;

and a server, including a processor, a memory connected to the processor, that is connected to each of the plurality of terminals via a network, the method comprising;

receiving, by the server, position information which indicates a latitude and a longitude of a respective terminal from the plurality of terminals, and storing a record of each terminal that indicates a terminal identification, the position information received, and a position information acquisition time point,

processing, by the server, each record stored by the communication unit in successive predetermined periods of time,

appending, by the server, an area identifier to each record which identifies an area block, of a plurality of predefined area blocks, that the terminal is located based on the position information of the record, wherein each area block of the predefined area blocks are defined by a unit of longitude and a unit of latitude, and the predefined area blocks are arranged in a mesh pattern,

appending, by the server, a time point identifier to each record indicating the predetermined period of time that the area determination unit processes the record to append the area identifier,

extracting, by the server, a first set of records having a time point identifier that correspond with a first predefined condition indicating a time point,

for each record in the first set of records, determining, by the server, area identifiers of a predetermined number of area blocks that surround the area block of the record based on the mesh pattern of area blocks and store the area identifiers as a second set,

extracting, by the server, records of the first set of records that have an area identifier that matches an area identifier in the second set and store as a third set of records,

for each record in the first set of records, extracting, by the server, the position information of the record and the position information of each of the records within the third set of records extracted for the respective record and calculate respective distances between each record,

determining, by the server, whether each respective distance is less than or equal to a predetermined distance and store the records in a fourth set,

exchanging information, by each record in the first set, with each of the terminals in the fourth set.