Application program prediction method and mobile terminal

• US 20060156209A1
• Filed: 02/18/2004
• Published: 07/13/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Naito, Eiichi, Kudo, Takahiro, Ozawa, Jun, Matsuura, Satoshi, Yoshioka, Mototaka, Yoshida, Hideyuki
• Granted Patent: US 7,574,661 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/798
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72451 according to schedules, e.g. using calendar applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72472 wherein the items are sorted according to specific criteria, e.g. frequency of use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver

Abstract

A mobile terminal (21) that appropriately predicts an application that a user is likely to use includes: an input device (106) that selects and executes any of two or more applications; a GPS reception unit (108); a behavior pattern extraction unit (205) that creates a usage prediction rule of the application executed on the input device (106), in association with a usage location detected by the GPS reception unit (108); and an information display control unit (204) that specifies, based on the usage prediction rule, an application corresponding to the current location detected by the GPS reception unit (108), and causes a display (105) to display the specified application as a prediction result.

Claims

1. An application program prediction method by which a mobile terminal installed with two or more application programs predicts an application program that a user is likely to use, said method comprising:

an application executing step of selecting and executing one of the application programs;

a location detecting step of detecting a location where the mobile terminal exists when the application program is executed in said application executing step;

a usage history creating step of creating a usage history of the application program executed in said application executing step, in association with the location detected in said location detecting step; and

a predicting step of specifying, based on the usage history, an application program corresponding to a predetermined location and presenting the specified application program as a prediction result.

2. The application program prediction method according to claim 1,

wherein said predicting step includes:

a current location detecting step of detecting a current location of the mobile terminal;

a specifying step of specifying, based on the usage history, an application program corresponding to the current location detected in said current location detecting step; and

a presenting step of presenting the application program specified in said specifying step, as a prediction result of an application program that the user is likely to use currently.

3. The application program prediction method according to claim 2,

wherein in said usage history creating step, the usage history is created, the usage history including a name of the application program executed in said application executing step and a content for the application program inputted by a user'"'"'s operation,

in said specifying step, a content corresponding to the current location detected in said current location detecting step is further specified based on the usage history, and.

in said presenting step, the content specified in said specifying step is further presented as a content of the application program that the user is likely to use currently.

4. The application program prediction method according to claim 3,

wherein in said specifying step, an e-mail is specified as an application program corresponding to the current location detected in said current location detecting step, and

in said presenting step, a prediction result is presented, the prediction result indicating that the e-mail is specified as the application program that the user is likely to use currently.

5. The application program prediction method according to claim 4,

wherein in said specifying step, a destination of the e-mail is specified as a content corresponding to the current location detected in said current location detecting step, and

in said presenting step, the destination is presented.

6. The application program prediction method according to claim 4,

wherein in said specifying step, a template of a text of the e-mail is specified as a content corresponding to the current location detected in said current location detecting step, and

in said presenting step, the template is presented.

7. The application program prediction method according to claim 1,

wherein said predicting step includes:

a future location predicting step of predicting a future location of the mobile terminal;

a specifying step of specifying, based on the usage history, an application program corresponding to the future location predicted in said future location predicting step; and

a presenting step of presenting the application program specified in said specifying step, as a prediction result of an application program that the user is likely to use in the future.

8. The application program prediction method according to claim 7, further comprising

a movement history creating step of creating a movement history of the mobile terminal in association with a calendar attribute,

wherein in said future location predicting step, a location corresponding to a calendar attribute indicating a time later than a current time is specified based on the movement history, and the specified location is regarded as a future location of the mobile terminal.

9. The application program prediction method according to claim 8,

wherein in said usage history creating step, the usage history is created, the usage history including a name of the application program executed in said application executing step and a content for the application program inputted by a user'"'"'s operation,

in said specifying step, a content corresponding to the future location predicted in said future location predicting step is further specified based on the usage history, and

in said presenting step, the content specified in said specifying step is further presented as a content of the application program that the user is likely to use in the future.

10. The application program prediction method according to claim 9, further comprising:

a power detecting step of detecting a remaining amount of power of the mobile terminal;

a calculating step of calculating an amount of power which is to be consumed when the application program and the content specified in said specifying step are used; and

a message presenting step of presenting a message prompting to charge when the remaining amount of power detected in said power detecting step is smaller than the amount of power consumption calculated in said calculating step.

11. The application program prediction method according to claim 10, further comprising:

a sending step of sending current location information indicating a current location of the mobile terminal to a predetermined apparatus via a communication network;

an obtaining step of obtaining, from the predetermined apparatus, charging place information indicating a place where the mobile terminal can be charged, in the vicinity of the location indicated in the current location information; and

a charging place presenting step of presenting the charging place based on the charging place information obtained in said obtaining step.

12. The application program prediction method according to claim 9,

wherein the content is distribution data to be distributed via a communication network, and

said application program prediction method further comprises:

a judging step of judging whether or not the mobile terminal holds a latest version of the distribution data specified in said specifying step; and

a presenting step of presenting a message for notifying that the mobile terminal does not hold the latest version of the distribution data, when it is judged in said judging step that the mobile terminal does not hold the latest version.

13. The application program prediction method according to claim 12, further comprising:

a sending step of sending current location information indicating a current location of the mobile terminal to a predetermined apparatus via a communication network;

an obtaining step of obtaining, from the predetermined apparatus, obtainment place information indicating a data obtainment place where the mobile terminal can obtain the latest version of the distribution data, in the vicinity of the location indicated in the current location information; and

an obtainment place presenting step of presenting the data obtainment place based on the obtainment place information obtained in said obtaining step.

14. The application program prediction method according to claim 8,

wherein in said future location predicting step, a location at which the mobile terminal existed with the most frequency is specified based on the movement history, from among locations associated with the calendar attributes indicating the times later than the current time.

15. The application program prediction method according to claim 8,

wherein in said future location predicting step, a location to which the mobile terminal moved next with the most frequency, starting from the current location and the current time indicated by a current calendar attribute, is specified based on the movement history.

16. The application program prediction method according to claim 7,

wherein said future location predicting step includes:

a station specifying step of specifying a station where the mobile terminal currently exists, through communication carried out between the mobile terminal and a device placed in the station; and

a retrieving step of retrieving, from a past route search result, an arrival station corresponding to a departure station that is the station specified in said station specifying step, and

the arrival station retrieved in said retrieving step is regarded as the future location of the mobile terminal.

17. The application program prediction method according to claim 7,

wherein said future location predicting step includes:

a route specifying step of specifying a route on which the station where the mobile terminal currently exists is located, through communication carried out between the mobile terminal and a device placed in the station; and

a retrieving step of retrieving, from a past e-mail history, a station which is located on the route specified in said station specifying step, and

the station retrieved in said retrieving step is regarded as the future location of the mobile terminal.

18. The application program prediction method according to claim 1, further comprising:

a mode setting step of setting an operation mode of the mobile terminal;

a setting location detecting step of detecting a location of the mobile terminal where the operation mode is set in said mode setting step;

a setting history creating step of creating a setting history of the operation mode set in said mode setting step, in association with the location detected in said setting location detecting step; and

a mode predicting step of specifying an operation mode corresponding to a current location of the mobile terminal based on the setting history, and presenting the set operation mode as a prediction result.

19. A mobile terminal that predicts an application program that a user is likely to use from among two or more pre-installed application programs, said mobile terminal comprising:

an application execution unit operable to select and execute one of the application programs;

a location detection unit operable to detect a location where said mobile terminal exists when the application program is executed by said application execution unit;

a usage history creation unit operable to create a usage history of the application program executed by said application execution unit, in association with the location detected by said location detection unit; and

a prediction unit operable to specify an application program corresponding to a predetermined location based on the usage history, and to present the specified application program as a prediction result.

20. The mobile terminal according to claim 19,

wherein said prediction unit includes:

a current location detection unit operable to detect a current location of said mobile terminal;

a specification unit operable to specify, based on the usage history, an application program corresponding to the location detected by said current location detection unit; and

a presentation unit operable to present the application program specified by said specification unit, as a prediction result of an application program that the user is likely to use currently.

21. The mobile terminal according to claim 20,

wherein said usage history creation unit is operable to create the usage history that includes a name of the application program executed by said application execution unit and a content for the application program inputted by a user'"'"'s operation,

said specification unit is further operable to specify, based on the usage history, a content corresponding to the location detected by said current location detection unit, and

said presentation unit is further operable to present the content specified by said specification unit, as a content of the application program that the user is likely to use currently.

22. The mobile terminal according to claim 19,

wherein said prediction unit includes:

a future location prediction unit operable to predict a future location of said mobile terminal;

a specification unit operable to specify, based on the usage history, an application program corresponding to the location predicted by said future location prediction unit; and

a presentation unit operable to present the application program specified by said specification unit, as a prediction result of an application program that the user is likely to use in the future.

23. The mobile terminal according to claim 22, further comprising

a movement history creation unit operable to create a movement history of said mobile terminal in association with a calendar attribute,

wherein said future location prediction unit is operable to specify, based on the movement history, a location corresponding to a calendar attribute indicating a time later than a current time, and to regard the specified location as a future location of said mobile terminal.

24. The mobile terminal according to claim 22,

wherein said future location prediction unit includes:

a station specification unit operable to specify a station where said mobile terminal currently exists, by communicating with a device placed in the station; and

a retrieval unit operable to retrieve, from a past route search result, an arrival station corresponding to a departure station that is the station specified by said specification unit, and

said future location prediction unit is operable to regard the arrival station retrieved by said retrieval unit as the future location of said mobile terminal.

25. The mobile terminal according to claim 22,

wherein said future location prediction unit includes:

a route specification unit operable to specify a route on which the station where said mobile terminal currently exists is located, by communicating with a device placed in the station; and

a retrieval unit operable to retrieve, from a past e-mail history, a station which is located on the route specified by said route specification unit, and

said future location prediction unit is operable to regard the station retrieved by said retrieval unit as the future location of said mobile terminal.

26. The mobile terminal according to claim 19, further comprising:

a mode setting unit operable to set an operation mode of said mobile terminal;

a setting location detection unit operable to detect a location of said mobile terminal where the operation mode is set by said mode setting unit;

a setting history creation unit operable to create a setting history of the operation mode set by said mode setting unit, in association with the location detected by said location detection unit; and

a mode prediction unit operable to specify an operation mode corresponding to a current location of said mobile terminal based on the setting history, and to present the operation mode as a prediction result.

27. A program used for a mobile terminal installed with two or more application programs to predict an application program that a user is likely to use, said program causing a computer to execute:

an application executing step of selecting and executing one of the application programs;

a location detecting step of detecting a location where the mobile terminal exists when the application program is executed in said application executing step;

a usage history creating step of creating a usage history of the application program executed in said application executing step, in association with the location detected in said location detecting step; and

a predicting step of specifying, based on the usage history, an application program corresponding to a predetermined location, and presenting the specified application program as a prediction result.