Positional information server, position providing method, and computer program

0001The present invention relates to a location information server, a location providing method, and a computer program.

0002As a Web service, there is a service that acquires user information about a user of the service from a user terminal and provides the service by using the user information. Among these services, the user terminal transmits the location information of the own device to the Web server, and the Web server transmits the information related to the location information.

0003As a technique for a user terminal to obtain position information of its own device, the terminal device described in Patent Document 1 below is known. One or more applications in this terminal device request positioning data from the positioning method selection device. The positioning method selection device uses one or more positioning methods. At this time, the positioning method selection device compares the quality of the positioning data provided by a certain positioning method with the quality of the positioning required by the application, and provides the positioning data to one or more applications.

0004The position information measured by the positioning method selection device is collected in the server. The provider who provides the application can grasp the position of the user terminal by using the location information collected on the server.

<p num="0005"><patcit num="1"><text>Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-209298</text></patcit></p>

<p num="0006"> However, since the location information collected on the server is enormous, there is a problem that the handling of the location information becomes complicated. In particular, when an application provider requests location information at each timing, the location information measured by each user terminal may increase by the number of applications. In this case, there is a problem that the location information collected on the server is further increased.</p><p num="0007"> The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and provides a location information server, a location providing method, and a computer program that can improve convenience when using the location information collected in the server. That is the issue.</p>

<p num="0008">(1) One aspect of the present invention is a first receiving unit that receives position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit from a terminal device provided with a position information acquisition unit that acquires the position information, and the first reception unit. A storage unit that stores the location information received by the unit in association with information indicating whether or not the application is licensed to use the location information for each of a plurality of applications installed in the terminal device. When the server associated with the application installed in the terminal device requests the extraction of the location information satisfying the extraction condition from the location information stored in the storage unit, the location information can be used. It is a location information server including an extraction unit that extracts the location information satisfying the extraction condition among the location information associated with the information indicating that the application is licensed. (2) One aspect of the present invention is that in the location information server of (1) above, the storage unit stores information indicating a license period in which the use of location information is permitted for each application, and the extraction unit stores information indicating a license period. When the license period of the application newly installed in the terminal device is a period prior to the installation, the storage unit stores the location information corresponding to the license period of the newly installed application. It is a location information server that extracts from the location information to be stored. (3) One aspect of the present invention is based on the application startup information received from the terminal device and the licensed information for permitting the use of the location information in the location information server of either (1) or (2) above. , A location information server that determines an application that makes a start request to the location information acquisition unit among the applications installed in the terminal device. (4) One aspect of the present invention is the location information server according to any one of (1) to (3) above, in response to a request from a user for past location information stored in the storage unit. It is a location information server that sets permission or non-license for use.</p><p num="0009">(5) One aspect of the present invention is a first reception step in which the location information server receives the location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit from the terminal device provided with the location information acquisition unit for acquiring the location information. Whether or not the location information server is an application in which the use of the location information is permitted for each of a plurality of applications installed in the terminal device, with the location information received by the first reception step. The storage step of associating the indicated information and storing it in the storage unit and the location information server extracts from the location information stored in the storage unit from the server associated with the application installed in the terminal device. When there is a request to extract the location information that satisfies the condition, the location information that satisfies the extraction condition is among the location information associated with the information indicating that the application is licensed to use the location information. It is a position providing method including an extraction step for extracting.</p><p num="0010">(6) One aspect of the present invention includes a first reception function for receiving position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit from a terminal device provided with a position information acquisition unit for acquiring position information in a computer, and the above-mentioned. The location information received by the first reception function is stored in association with information indicating whether or not the application is licensed to use the location information for each of a plurality of applications installed in the terminal device. When there is a request from the storage function and the server associated with the application installed in the terminal device to extract the location information satisfying the extraction condition from the location information stored by the storage function, the location information This is a computer program for realizing an extraction function for extracting the location information satisfying the extraction condition among the location information associated with the information indicating that the application is licensed to use the above.</p>

<p num="0011"> According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the convenience when using the location information collected in the server.</p>

0012<figref num="1">It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the position providing system in one Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="2">It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the terminal apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="3">It is a block diagram which shows the other structure of the terminal apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="4">It is a block diagram which shows the other structure of the terminal apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="5">It is a flowchart which shows an example of the processing procedure performed in the terminal apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="6">It is a flowchart which shows an example of the procedure of the master determination processing performed in the terminal apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="7">It is a flowchart which shows an example of the procedure of the acquisition and transmission processing of the position information performed in the terminal apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="8">It is a figure which shows an example of the operation screen for setting the permission setting information which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="9">It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the location information server which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.</figref><figref num="10">It is a figure which shows an example of the correspondence table which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.</figref>

0013Hereinafter, the position providing system 1 of the embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

0014FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the position providing system 1 according to the embodiment. This location providing system 1 includes a plurality of terminal devices 10A, 10B, ..., 10N (hereinafter, collectively referred to as "terminal device 10"), a position information server 30, an authentication server 40, and a POI (Point). Of Interest) server 42, contractor information server 44, and application servers 50A, 50B, ..., 50N (hereinafter, collectively referred to as "application server 50").

0015The position providing system 1 transmits the position information of the terminal device 10 from the terminal device 10 to the position information server 30, and manages the received position information in the position information server 30. The location information server 30 receives the identification information (terminal ID) that identifies each terminal device 10 together with the location information. The contractor information server 44 stores user attribute information associated with the terminal ID. The terminal ID is associated with the user ID of the user who is the owner of the terminal device 10. The location information server 30 refers to the contractor information server 44, acquires the attribute information of the user corresponding to the location information received from the terminal device 10 based on the terminal ID, and manages it in association with the location information. Further, the location information server 30 stores each location information in association with information indicating whether or not the application is licensed to use the location information. As a result, the location information server 30 can manage whether or not the use of each location information is permitted for each application. The user can set permission or non-license for use of location information, permission period, etc. for each application. The setting value indicating permission or non-license set by the user is hereinafter referred to as permission setting information. The permission setting information is, for example, a setting value set for each application and is information indicating whether or not to permit the use of the location information. Further, the license setting information may include a set value or the like indicating the license period.

0016Further, the position information server 30 extracts the position information satisfying the extraction condition from the received position information. In the embodiment, the location information server 30 extracts the location information satisfying the extraction condition from the location information associated with the information indicating that the use of the location information is permitted. The location information server 30 provides the extracted location information to the POI server 42 or the application server 50. The terminal device 10 transmits the position information at an arbitrary transmission timing or at a predetermined period. The position information includes the positioning time, latitude and longitude. In the present embodiment, an example in which the position information is transmitted at the transmission timing determined in advance in the terminal device 10 will be described. However, the transmission timing of the position information of the terminal device 10 may be set by the position information server 30.

0017The location information server 30 receives and stores the location information transmitted from the terminal device 10. In this specific example, the location information server 30 accumulates location information in time series for each terminal device 10. Further, the location information server 30 stores the permission setting information indicating whether or not the application is licensed to use the location information by the user of the terminal device 10 in association with the location information. Here, the user may or may not want to notify the position information of the terminal device 10 (for example, his / her current position) to others other than himself / herself. As an example of the case where the user wants to inform another person of the location information, there is a case where the user meets with another person at a certain place or a case where he / she wants to acquire the information of a certain place. In this case, the user can provide the location information of the terminal device 10 to another person by permitting the use of the location information. Further, when the user does not want to inform others of the location information, the user can stop providing the location information by disapproving the use of the location information. In addition, the user can set permission or non-permission of use of location information for the current location information and thereafter. In addition, the user can retroactively set permission or non-permission of use of location information for past location information. That is, the setting of permission or non-permission of the use of the location information referred to here includes the meaning of approval / disapproval of the use of the new location information and the meaning of approval / disapproval of the use of the already registered location information.

0018The application referred to here is software that provides a predetermined function when installed in the terminal device 10. This application includes an application installed on the terminal device 10 and an application not installed on the terminal device 10. The above-mentioned permission setting information may be set not only for the application installed on the terminal device 10 but also for the application not installed on the terminal device 10. Further, the application includes an application authenticated by the authentication server 40 and an application not authenticated by the authentication server 40. Here, the application authenticated by the authentication server 40 is an application permitted to be used in the terminal device 10 by the authentication server 40. The application that has not been authenticated by the authentication server 40 is an application that is not permitted to be used in the terminal device 10 by the authentication server 40. The above-mentioned permission setting information is set not only for applications permitted to be used in the terminal device 10 by the authentication server 40, but also for applications not permitted to be used in the terminal device 10 by the authentication server 40. May be good.

0019The permission setting information can be set by various methods. For example, in the terminal device 10, it may be set for each application. Further, the terminal device 10 may access the location information server 30 and set it for all the applications managed by the location information server 30. As a result, the user can not only set the permission setting information for each application on the terminal device 10, but also access the location information server 30 to set the permission setting information. For example, by displaying a list of currently used applications on the terminal device 10, the user can set permission setting information for each application, each company, or each type of application while looking at the list. Further, when a new application is installed in the terminal device 10, that fact may be automatically uploaded to the location information server 30, or may be uploaded by a push instruction from the location information server 30. The location information server 30 may request the terminal device 10 to set whether or not to permit the use of location information for the newly installed application.

0020In addition, the permission setting information is not limited to the information for setting permission or non-license for the use of location information from the time it is set to the future. The permission setting information may be set retroactively from the time when it is set. For example, as the permission setting information, a permission period indicating a period for permitting the use of the location information may be set.

0021The permission setting information can be managed in various ways. For example, the terminal device 10 or the location information server 30 holds the permission setting information for which permission or non-license is determined for each application or each user ID. Further, the license setting information may be held in both the terminal device 10 and the location information server 30.

0022The location information server 30 stores the location information and the information associated with the permission setting information in its own storage unit, and when the permission setting information is set or changed by the user, the permission stored in the storage unit is stored. You may update a part of the setting information. The update includes a process of registering a set value from a state where there is no set value and a process of changing the set value to another value.

0023The location information server 30 transmits the accumulated location information to the POI server 42 and the application server 50. In the embodiment, the location information server 30 selects whether to transmit to the POI server 42 and the application server 50 or not depending on whether or not the use of the location information is permitted. Specifically, the location information server 30 transmits to the application server 50 the location information in which the use of the location information is permitted in the application provided by the application server 50 among the accumulated location information. On the contrary, the location information server 30 does not transmit the stored location information to the application server 50, which is not permitted to use the location information in the application provided by the application server 50. However, even if the application is not licensed to use the location information when the terminal device 10 acquires the location information, the license period is changed retroactively, and as a result, the use of the location information at that time is permitted. If so, the location information server 30 can send the location information to the application server 50. That is, the location information server 30 transmits the location information corresponding to the license period in which the use of the location information is permitted to the application server 50. The license period during which location information can be used can be changed at any time.

0024Here, the location information server 30 may associate the location information with the permission setting information by itself, or may acquire the location information associated with the terminal device 10 and the permission setting information from the terminal device 10. The former method is hereinafter referred to as a server linking method. The latter method is hereinafter referred to as a terminal linking method.

0025The server association method will be described. In the case of this method, the location information server 30 holds the permission setting information. Here, the license setting information includes an application ID indicating an application for which the use of location information is permitted, an application name and type, information indicating a license period for which the use of location information is permitted, and the like. The location information server 30 receives the location information from the terminal device 10. The position information server 30 refers to the permission setting information, and based on the positioning time included in the received position information, the user of the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the position information is permitted to use the position information at the positioning time. Identify the application. The location information server 30 is an application in which the use of the location information is permitted by the user of the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the location information based on the information associated with the received location information by referring to the permission setting information. May be specified. The information associated with the location information includes terminal ID, user ID, OS information, web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, environmental information, and terminal battery, which will be described later. Information such as the remaining amount is included. The location information server 30 stores the permission setting information indicating that the use of the location information by the application server 50 that provides the specified application is permitted in the storage unit in association with the location information. Of the permission setting information, the permission setting information (license) indicating that the use of the location information is permitted and the permission setting information indicating that the use of the location information is not permitted are the permission setting information (license setting information). Not licensed) and described below.

0026The terminal linking method will be described. In the case of this method, the terminal device 10 reads the permission setting information from the storage unit. When the permission setting information is stored in the location information server 30, the terminal device 10 may refer to the permission setting information of the location information server 30. The terminal device 10 refers to the permission setting information and identifies an application for which the use of the position information is permitted at the positioning time based on the positioning time included in the position information transmitted to the position information server 30. The terminal device 10 may specify an application for which the use of the location information is permitted based on the information associated with the location information transmitted to the location information server 30 with reference to the permission setting information. The terminal device 10 transmits the license setting information (license) to the location information server 30 in association with the location information. The location information server 30 associates the license setting information (license) with the location information received from the terminal device 10 and stores it in its own storage unit. The terminal device 10 may directly transmit the acquired location information to the application server 50 that provides the application for which the use of the location information is permitted.

0027The application server 50 is a server device corresponding to each of a plurality of applications. A plurality of application programs can be installed in the terminal device 10. In the present embodiment, the case where the application programs A to C are installed in the terminal device 10 will be described as an example. In this specific example, the application server 50A is a server device corresponding to the application program A. The application server 50B is a server device corresponding to the application program B. The application server 50C is a server device corresponding to the application program C. The application server 50 receives the location information from the terminal device 10 licensed to use the location information for its own application via the location information server 30. That is, among the location information stored in the location information server 30, the application server 50 is associated with the permission setting information (license) indicating that the use of the location information is permitted for the application corresponding to itself. To receive.

0028The application server 50 performs predetermined application processing using the position information of the tracked terminal device 10. The tracked position information includes the latest position or the past position of the terminal device 10 which is repeatedly updated arbitrarily or at predetermined intervals. This application process may include a process of analyzing a change in the position of the terminal device 10 and determining application information such as advertisement information suitable for the terminal device 10. The application information may be transmitted from the application server 50 to the terminal device 10, or may be transmitted from the POI server 42 to the terminal device 10. As a result, the application server 50 and the POI server 42 can cause the terminal device 10 to display an advertisement or the like suitable for the position of the terminal device 10. In the case of this example, the application information corresponds to the information based on the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit of the terminal device 10.

0029The authentication server 40 performs various authentication processes when the terminal device 10 starts communication with the location information server 30. The authentication process performed by the authentication server 40 includes, for example, a terminal authentication process, a user authentication process, or an application authentication process. Explaining specific examples of these authentication processes, in the terminal authentication process, the authentication server 40 succeeds in authentication when the terminal ID transmitted from the terminal device 10 and the terminal ID stored in advance match. Here, the terminal ID is information such as a unique symbol or number for identifying the terminal device 10. The authentication server 40 in the user authentication process succeeds in authentication when the user ID transmitted from the terminal device 10 and the user ID stored in advance match. Here, the user ID is information such as a unique symbol or number for identifying a user who uses the terminal device 10. The authentication server 40 in the application authentication process succeeds in authentication when the application ID transmitted from the terminal device 10 and the application ID stored in advance match. Here, the application ID is information such as a unique symbol or number for identifying each application program.

0030If the authentication by the authentication server 40 is successful, the authentication server 40 generates a token in the terminal device 10 and sends it to the terminal device 10. The token transmitted from the authentication server 40 is stored in the terminal device 10. As a result, the terminal device 10 enables secure communication with the location information server 30 and the application server 50. The token may be updated at any time. As a result, the terminal device 10 enables more secure communication.

0031Further, when the terminal device 10 is a mobile phone, the authentication server 40 may use an IP (Internet Protocol) address and a telephone number in the terminal authentication process. The authentication server 40 receives the IP address and the telephone number transmitted from the terminal device 10 via the location information server 30. The authentication server 40 collates the received IP address and telephone number with a valid IP address and telephone number. When the received IP address and telephone number can be collated with a valid IP address and telephone number, the authentication server 40 transmits an authentication result permitting communication to the location information server 30.

0032The POI server 42 stores POI information. The POI information includes at least information indicating the latitude and longitude of the store or the like. The POI server 42 receives a request from the terminal device 10, the location information server 30, or the application server 50. This request includes the location information of the terminal device 10. The POI server 42 searches for the POI information corresponding to the location information in response to the acceptance of this request, and returns the POI information in the vicinity of the location information. The POI information may include a location ID of a store or the like, a location name, a category, or the like. As a result, the POI server 42 can return the location ID, location name, category, etc. corresponding to the location information as the search result. Further, the POI server 42 may search the terminal device 10 using the POI information as a key. As a result, the POI server 42 can extract the terminal device 10 corresponding to the POI information and return it as a search result. For example, the POI server 42 can search for the terminal device 10 existing in a certain store and return the user ID of the terminal device 10.

0033FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the terminal device 10 according to the embodiment. The terminal device 10 includes a processing unit 12, a communication unit 14, a GPS (Global Positioning System) positioning unit 16, and a storage unit 18. The terminal device 10 is a device owned and moved by the user. The terminal device 10 may be, for example, a mobile phone or a smartphone.

0034The communication unit 14 communicates with the location information server 30. The communication unit 14 is composed of, for example, a communication IC chip. The communication unit 14 converts the position information supplied from the processing unit 12 into predetermined communication data and transmits it to the position information server 30. When the authentication server 40 authenticates the application, the location information may be associated with the application ID of the application for which the application authentication is successful. When the communication data is received from the location information server 30 or the application server 50, the communication unit 14 performs a predetermined process on the received communication data and outputs the received communication data to the processing unit 12.

0035The GPS positioning unit 16 functions as a position information acquisition unit that acquires position information. The GPS positioning unit 16 identifies the position of the own device, generates position information, and outputs the position information to the processing unit 12. At this time, the GPS positioning unit 16 receives GPS signals including the positions and times of the GPS satellites from the plurality of GPS satellites. The GPS positioning unit 16 calculates the distances between the plurality of GPS satellites and the terminal device 10, and identifies the position of the own device by triangulation calculation. The specified position and time are supplied from the GPS positioning unit 16 to the processing unit 12 as position information.

0036The GPS positioning unit 16 operates in at least two states, a sleep state and a normal operation state. Of these, the sleep state is a state in which the user is on standby without performing positioning, and consumes less power than the normal operating state. Further, the normal operation state is a state in which positioning is performed and consumes more power than the sleep state. The GPS positioning unit 16 changes the state when the processing unit 12 requests activation and the normal operation is completed. Specifically, the operating state of the GPS positioning unit 16 transitions from the sleep state to the normal operating state triggered by the activation request by the processing unit 12. Further, the operating state of the GPS positioning unit 16 transitions from the normal operating state to the sleep state, triggered by the completion of the positioning calculation. Here, the activation request is a request output by the processing unit 12 to the GPS positioning unit 16 and is a command requesting execution of a process of specifying the position of the own device and generating position information.

0037In other words, the GPS positioning unit 16 is in the sleep state during the period of waiting for the input of the activation request output from the processing unit 12. The sleep state is a state in which the device is operating with low power consumption, and is released by a start request. The GPS positioning unit 16 is activated in response to an input of an activation request from the processing unit 12. As a result, the GPS positioning unit 16 switches from the sleep state to the normal operation state. The activation request is an instruction to acquire the position information of the own device. When the GPS positioning unit 16 acquires the position information in response to the activation request and outputs it to the processing unit 12, the GPS positioning unit 16 goes to sleep after a predetermined time.

0038The position information acquisition unit that acquires the position information may acquire the position information by another method. This location information acquisition unit may acquire location information by a cell ID (mobile phone base station) method. In this cell ID method, when the terminal device 10 is a mobile phone terminal, the current location of the terminal device 10 is calculated based on the radio wave information of three or more mobile phone base stations by applying the communication function as the mobile phone terminal. .. The location information acquisition unit may acquire location information by a Wi-Fi method. The Wi-Fi method detects radio waves transmitted from wireless LAN access points around the terminal device 10, and acquires the position information of the terminal device 10 from the access point or a predetermined server based on the position information of the access point. .. Further, the position information acquisition unit may acquire the position information by the network positioning method. The network positioning method acquires position information by positioning using the cell ID method and the Wi-Fi method. In this way, the position information acquisition unit is activated from the sleep state in response to the activation request from the processing unit 12, even if the configuration uses not only the GPS positioning method but also the cell ID method or the Wi-Fi method. You can get location information. In the present embodiment, the terminal device 10 gives priority to the positioning method by the GPS positioning unit 16 over the Wi-Fi method and the cell ID method as the position information acquisition method. The terminal device 10 switches to positioning by the cell ID method or the Wi-Fi method instead of the positioning by the GPS positioning unit 16 in a situation where the GPS positioning unit 16 cannot perform positioning, for example, when the own device is indoors.

0039The processing unit 12 is a software function unit that functions by, for example, a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) executing a program stored in a memory. In addition, some or all of these functional parts may be hardware functional parts such as LSI (Large Scale Integration) and ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

0040The processing unit 12 has application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C (hereinafter, collectively referred to as "application processing unit 120"). The application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C are software function units that function when the CPU executes application programs A, B, and C. In the present embodiment, the plurality of application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C each execute arbitrary application processing. Further, in the present embodiment, an example of executing the three application programs A, B, and C will be described, but the present invention is not limited to this. The application processing unit 120 may execute two or more application programs at the same time.

0041The terminal device 10 may perform an operation for application authentication when the application programs A, B, and C are started. In this case, when the application program is started, the terminal device 10 transmits a predetermined application ID for each application program to the authentication server 40. More specifically, when the application program A is started, the terminal device 10 transmits an application ID indicating the application program A to the authentication server 40. The terminal device 10 receives the authentication result of whether or not the application authentication is permitted from the authentication server 40. The terminal device 10 permits the start of the application program only when the authentication result is "permitted".

0042The processing unit 12 can execute a plurality of application programs A, B, and C at the same time. The processing unit 12 executes the application program having the lower priority among the plurality of application programs A, B, and C in the background. Note that the application programs A, B, and C may be set to output a start request at predetermined intervals. The predetermined period may be set for each of the application programs A, B, and C. The predetermined period may be, for example, 1 minute, 10 minutes, 1 hour, or the like. In the terminal device 10 of the present embodiment, even if the application program outputs a start request, any one of the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C outputs the start request to the GPS positioning unit 16.

0043The storage unit 18 stores the location information libraries attached to each of the application programs A, B, and C. In the embodiment, the application program A is attached with the location information library A. Further, the location information library B is attached to the application program B, and the location information library C is attached to the application program C. In the following description, these location information libraries A, B, and C are collectively referred to as a location information library.

0044The location information library is software executed by the CPU of the terminal device 10. That is, in the terminal device 10, the CPU executes the position information library. As a result, the terminal device 10 constitutes the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C (hereinafter, collectively referred to simply as "position information acquisition control unit 122") as software function units. That is, the processing unit 12 has these position information acquisition control units 122 for each application.

0045The position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C output an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16. In the embodiment, the activation request is output from any one of the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C. The position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C acquire the position information generated by the GPS positioning unit 16 in response to this activation request, and output the acquired position information to the application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C. In the embodiment, the GPS positioning unit 16 outputs the generated position information to any one of the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C that output the activation request. Any one of the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C into which the position information has been input may output the position information to the other position information acquisition control units. As a result, each application processing unit 120A, 120B, 120C can use the position information generated by the GPS positioning unit 16.

0046Here, the location information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C may output the location information to the application processing unit 120 corresponding to the application licensed to use the location information based on the permission setting information. .. That is, the position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C do not output the position information to the application processing unit 120 corresponding to the application for which the use of the position information is not permitted. The position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C may refer to the permission setting information stored in the terminal device 10 or may refer to the permission setting information stored in the position information server 30.

0047Note that the application programs A, B, and C come with location information libraries A, B, and C, respectively, but not all location information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C are attached to the GPS positioning unit 16. It is not necessary to output the start request. That is, among the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, and 122C, the processing unit 12 has one position information acquisition control unit 122 that acquires the position information and makes the position information available to the application processing unit 120. It only needs to exist. The "one position information acquisition control unit 122" is realized by the position information library as a master, which will be described later. The "one location information acquisition control unit 122" may be attached as one location information library corresponding to a plurality of applications, as will be described later with reference to FIG.

0048The application processing unit 120 uses the position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16 by one position information acquisition control unit 122. "Using location information" includes using location information in the terminal device 10. The application processing unit 120 can display the position of its own device on the map based on the position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16, for example, by using the position information. Using location information includes using information based on location information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16. The information based on the position information is new information obtained by using the position information. The information based on the position information may be the information obtained by processing based on the position information in the terminal device 10, or the information obtained by processing based on the position information in the application server 50. It may be. For example, the application processing unit 120 may extract advertisement information of a store close to the position of its own device and display the advertisement information as a push advertisement. The application processing unit 120 may receive the advertisement information extracted by the application server 50 based on the location information and display the advertisement information as a push advertisement.

0049The application processing unit 120 makes available the position information acquired by one position information acquisition control unit 122. Making the position information available includes having a device other than the terminal device 10 acquire the position information and enabling a device other than the terminal device 10 to process the position information. For this purpose, the application processing unit 120 permits the use of the position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16. At this time, the application processing unit 120 asks the user whether to allow the transmission of the location information. When the user permits the transmission of the location information, the application processing unit 120 generates the permission information that permits the use of the location information. The application processing unit 120 transmits the generated permission information to the location information server 30. After receiving the permission information transmitted from the terminal device 10, the location information server 30 can accumulate the position information transmitted from the terminal device 10 thereafter and transmit it to the application server 50 or the like. As a result, the application processing unit 120 can be made to analyze the position of the terminal device 10 by using the position information by the application server 50.

0050Further, the application processing unit 120 is installed in the terminal device 10 in advance. The application processing unit 120 may be installed in the terminal device 10 as the location information library is supplied to the terminal device 10. Specifically, the application program with the location information library is downloaded at the same time and installed in the terminal device 10. As a result, the terminal device 10 can include the application processing unit 120 and the position information acquisition control unit 122.

0051The location information library is downloaded with the permission of the user. When the application program is running, the application processing unit 120 displays a screen asking whether to allow transmission of the position information of the own device. When the transmission of the location information is permitted based on the user's operation, the application processing unit 120 causes the download request of the location information library to be transmitted. The location information server 30 transmits the location information library to the terminal device 10 in response to receiving the download request. As a result, the terminal device 10 starts downloading the location information library. When the download is completed, the processing unit 12 attaches the location information library to each application program.

0052The processing unit 12 may attach the downloaded location information library to another application. The processing unit 12 duplicates the downloaded location information library and incorporates it into an application that does not come with the location information library. As a result, the processing unit 12 can attach the location information library to the application to which the location information library is not attached. The processing unit 12 may update to the latest version of the location information library instead of the old version of the location information library already incorporated in the application. As a result, the processing unit 12 can update the location information library of the application to the latest version.

0053As described above, the position information acquisition control unit 122 makes a start request to the GPS positioning unit 16. One of the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122A, 122B, 122C attached to the plurality of application processing units 120A, 120B, 120C, the position information acquisition control unit 122 makes a start request to the GPS positioning unit 16. Of the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122, one position information acquisition control unit 122 that makes an activation request is specified in advance. That is, it is specified which of the plurality of application programs A, B, and C the position information acquisition control unit 122 outputs the activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16.

0054Of the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122, the position information acquisition control unit 122 that outputs the activation request is supplied with position information from the GPS positioning unit 16. The position information acquisition control unit 122 notifies another position information acquisition control unit 122 that the position information has been supplied from the GPS positioning unit 16. The other position information acquisition control unit 122 requests the position information from the position information acquisition control unit 122 that outputs the activation request in response to the notification indicating that the position information has been supplied. The position information acquisition control unit 122 that outputs the start request outputs the position information to the other position information acquisition control unit 122 in response to the request from the other position information acquisition control unit 122. Here, the position information acquisition control unit 122 that outputs the start request is the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application specified in advance. Further, the other position information acquisition control unit 122 is a position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to an application other than the application specified in advance. That is, the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application specified in advance outputs the position information to the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the other application. As a result, the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the other application can acquire the position information generated by the GPS positioning unit 16 without making an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16.

0055Here, the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application specified in advance is also referred to as a position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. Further, the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to an application other than the application specified in advance is also referred to as a position information acquisition control unit 122 that does not have the authority of the master or a slave position information acquisition control unit 122. In other words, one position information acquisition control unit 122 that outputs an activation request has master authority over the other position information acquisition control unit 122. The other position information acquisition control unit 122 functions as a slave to the master position information acquisition control unit 122. The other position information acquisition control unit 122 does not send an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16. When the other position information acquisition control unit 122 receives the notification from the master position information acquisition control unit 122, the other position information acquisition control unit 122 requests the position information from the master position information acquisition control unit 122 and acquires the position information.

0056The storage unit 18 is a recording medium that stores various types of information. The storage unit 18 stores the position information acquired by the position information acquisition control unit 122. The storage unit 18 stores the position information in chronological order. Further, the storage unit 18 may store the permission setting information. The permission setting information may include information indicating the date and time when the use of the location information is permitted, information indicating the date and time when the use of the location information is not permitted, and the like.

0057Further, the storage unit 18 stores a position information library as a position acquisition control program for the position information acquisition control unit 122 to operate. The position acquisition control program is a program that can be read by a computer.

0058Further, the storage unit 18 stores the following information. The storage unit 18 stores the terminal ID assigned to the terminal device 10. The storage unit 18 stores a user ID assigned to the user of the terminal device 10. The storage unit 18 stores web history information regarding the access history of the web page accessed by the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the location information and the operation history of the activated web browser. The web history information includes the time when the terminal device 10 accesses a corporate advertisement or a web page such as a homepage, and the address of the accessed web page.

0059The storage unit 18 stores program execution history information related to the program executed by the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the position information. The program execution history information includes the time when the terminal device 10 executes the program and the name and type of the executed program. The program execution history information includes the time when the program is started and the time when the program is restarted from the sleep state. The program executed by the terminal device 10 includes, for example, a camera program, a mail program, a telephone program, a music playback program (which may include the name of the played music, etc.), a calculator program, and the like.

0060The storage unit 18 stores operation history information related to operations from the user received by the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the position information. The operation history information includes the time when the terminal device 10 receives the operation and the name and type of the received operation. The operations accepted by the terminal device 10 include, for example, an operation of turning on the power, an operation of turning off the power, an operation of adjusting the speaker volume, an operation of switching to the power saving mode, and the like.

0061The storage unit 18 stores charging history information indicating whether or not the terminal device 10 is in the charging mode at the position indicated by the position information. The charging history information includes the time when the terminal device 10 starts charging and the time when charging ends. Further, the charging history information may include the remaining capacity of the charging capacity of the terminal device 10 and the ratio of the remaining capacity.

0062The storage unit 18 stores posture change information indicating a change in the posture of the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the position information. The posture change information includes the time when the posture of the terminal device 10 changes. The change in the posture of the terminal device 10 is detected by an acceleration sensor or the like described later.

0063The storage unit 18 stores the environmental information acquired by the terminal device 10 at the position indicated by the position information. The environmental information includes sound information collected by the terminal device 10, communication history of short-range communication, and the like. The sound information collected by the terminal device 10 is, for example, information on audible sounds and inaudible sounds played in a store. The communication history of short-range communication includes, for example, the time of communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) and infrared rays.

0064Web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, and environmental information are generated by the processing unit 12.

0065When the position information acquisition control unit 122 transmits the position information to the position information server 30, the position information acquisition control unit 122 reads the position information stored in the storage unit 18 and outputs the position information to the communication unit 14. As a result, the position information acquisition control unit 122 causes the communication unit 14 to transmit the position information read from the storage unit 18 to the position information server 30. The position information acquisition control unit 122 may transmit all or part of the web history information, the program execution history information, the operation history information, the charging history information, the posture change information, and the environment information together with the position information.

0066Further, each time the position information acquisition control unit 122 reads the position information from the storage unit 18 and communicates with the communication unit 14, the position information transmission completion or transmission failure may be stored as a transmission history. When the position information acquisition control unit 122 cannot transmit the position information due to the influence of radio waves around the own device, for example, the position information acquisition control unit 122 stops the transmission of the position information and records the transmission history that the transmission is impossible in association with the position information. It is stored in the storage unit 18. The position information acquisition control unit 122 refers to the transmission history at the transmission timing, reads the position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16 after the previous transmission timing and the position information that cannot be transmitted from the storage unit 18, and reads the position information from the storage unit 18 to the communication unit 14. To communicate with. As a result, the position information acquisition control unit 122 can transmit the position information without omission even if a situation occurs in which the position information cannot be transmitted.

0067The position information acquisition control unit 122 associates the position information with information related to the terminal device 10 such as a user ID, a terminal ID, a terminal model name, and an OS (Operating System) type, and performs position information via the communication unit 14. It may be sent to server 30. Further, the position information acquisition control unit 122 may transmit the position information in association with the positioning method of the position information and the positioning error of the position information measured by the positioning method. Examples of the positioning method include a GPS positioning method, a cell ID method, a Wi-Fi method, and a network positioning method. Further, when the terminal device 10 exists in the Wi-Fi network, the location information acquisition control unit 122 may transmit the location information in association with the ID of the access point of the Wi-Fi network. Further, when the terminal device 10 activates the Bluetooth (registered trademark) function to communicate, the position information acquisition control unit 122 transmits the position information in association with the ID as the Bluetooth (registered trademark) terminal. May be good. In addition, permission may be set for each of the location information. Further, the location information acquisition control unit 122 may directly transmit the location information to the application server 50 without going through the location information server 30.

0068The position information acquisition control unit 122 causes the terminal device 10 to transmit the position information to the position information server 30 when a predetermined condition is met. The predetermined condition is the transmission timing determined in advance in the terminal device 10. The predetermined condition may be a predetermined period transmitted from the location information server 30. As a result, the terminal device 10 can transmit the location information to the location information server 30 at the frequency requested by the location information server 30. The predetermined condition may be the timing set by the application. For example, the terminal device 10 may position the position information according to the push instruction of the position information server 30. Further, the push instruction of the location information server 30 may be performed according to the positioning timing instructed from the application server 50 to the location information server 30. As a result, the terminal device 10 can transmit the location information to the location information server 30 at a frequency requested by the application. The predetermined condition may be a predetermined period transmitted from the application server 50 when the location information is directly transmitted to the application server 50 without going through the location information server 30. As a result, the terminal device 10 can transmit the location information to the application server 50 at the frequency requested by the application server 50.

0069Next, in a system in which the terminal association method is adopted, an example of associating the location information with information indicating whether or not the application is permitted to use the location information will be described. For example, the processing unit 12 associates the permission setting information with the location information. Not limited to the processing unit 12, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master may associate the permission setting information with the position information. The processing unit 12 refers to the license setting information and associates the application ID indicating the application for which the use of the location information is permitted by the user of the terminal device 10 with the location information acquired during the license period. The license period is, for example, a period during which the user is licensed to use the location information. The license period is set by the user for each application program. The license period is included in the license setting information.

0070As described above, the GPS positioning unit 16 positions the position information in response to the activation request output by the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. However, in the present embodiment, the processing unit 12 associates the location information with an application ID indicating all the applications for which the use of the location information is permitted when the location information is positioned. That is, the processing unit 12 associates the location information with the location information, including not only the application having the authority of the master that output the start request but also the application ID indicating the application having the authority of the slave. By receiving the location information and the permission setting information associated in this way, the location information server 30 writes the following information in the correspondence table 38T.

0071For example, suppose that the positioning interval of application A is every 5 minutes, the positioning interval of application B is 1 hour, and the positioning interval of application C is 3 hours. Here, when the application A has the master authority, the position information measured at 5-minute intervals is written in the correspondence table 38T of the position information server 30. In addition, when the use of location information is permitted in each of apps A to C, "" is displayed in the "App A", "App B", and "App C" columns of the permission setting information of the corresponding table 38T. Written. As a result, the location information server 30 can provide the location information positioned at 5-minute intervals to all of the application servers 50A to 50C of the applications A to C. In addition, the application servers 50B and 50C of the applications B and C can use the position information measured by themselves at intervals shorter than the specified positioning intervals.

0072FIG. 3 shows another configuration example of the terminal device 10. The terminal device 10 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 2, and may be configured as shown in FIG. The terminal device 10 of FIG. 3 has one position information acquisition control unit 122 for a plurality of application processing units 120A, 120B, and 120C. The position information acquisition control unit 122 is implemented as one position information library corresponding to a plurality of applications.

0073FIG. 4 shows yet another configuration example of the terminal device 10. In the terminal device 10, the position information acquisition unit 160 includes an acceleration sensor 161 in addition to the GPS positioning unit 16 described above. The physical quantity of the acceleration sensor 161 changes according to the change in the acceleration applied to the terminal device 10 which is its own device. The acceleration sensor 161 may be a semiconductor capacitance sensor. The terminal device 10 may include a gravity sensor, a gyro sensor, or a geomagnetic sensor in order to detect the behavior of its own device. In the present embodiment, it will be described that only the accelerometer 161 is provided, but these gravity sensors, gyro sensors, or geomagnetic sensors may be provided together with the accelerometer 161 or in place of the accelerometer 161.

0074The acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor 161 corresponds to the behavior of the terminal device 10. The position information acquisition unit 160 detects the movement of its own device based on the behavior detected by the acceleration sensor 161. The position information acquisition unit 160 updates the movement amount according to the detection of the movement of the own device. This movement amount is different from the actual movement amount of the terminal device 10, and is a movement amount estimated from the behavior of the terminal device 10. This movement amount is output from the position information acquisition unit 160 to the processing unit 12. As a result, the processing unit 12 can store the position information of its own device, which changes according to the amount of movement, in the storage unit 18.

0075The position information acquisition unit 160 may detect that the own device has moved based on the change in the physical quantity in the acceleration sensor 161. The position information acquisition unit 160 can have the position information acquisition control unit 122 determine the positioning timing in response to detecting that the own device has moved. For example, the position information acquisition control unit 122 can determine that it is the positioning timing when the own device is in the moving state. Further, the position information acquisition control unit 122 can determine that it is the positioning timing when the moving distance per unit time or the moving distance from the predetermined position exceeds the predetermined distance (for example, 100 meters). ..

0076Further, the position information acquisition control unit 122 may determine the positioning timing based on the identifier of the communication area in which the communication unit 14 can communicate. Examples of the identifier of this communication area include the cell ID of the base station or the access point ID in the Wi-Fi network. The position information acquisition control unit 122 can determine that the timing at which it is determined that the identifier of the communication area detected by the communication unit 14 has changed is the positioning timing.

0077Next, the operation of the terminal device 10 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for determining whether to perform the master determination process for determining the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master by the terminal device 10 configured as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the master determination process.

0078First, in step S100 of FIG. 5, the terminal device 10 determines whether or not a plurality of application programs are started at the same time by the processing unit 12. If a plurality of application programs are running, the process proceeds to step S102. If only one application program is running, the terminal device 10 repeats this determination.

0079In step S102, the processing unit 12 performs the master determination process of FIG. This master determination process will be described as being performed by the processing unit 12 of each position information acquisition control unit 122. It should be noted that this master determination process is merely an example, and it goes without saying that the position information library as a master may be determined by other processes.

0080First, in step S200 of FIG. 6, the processing unit 12 determines whether or not the current operation mode of the own device is the power saving mode. At this time, the processing unit 12 refers to the remaining battery level in the own device. The processing unit 12 determines that the power saving mode is set when the remaining battery level is equal to or less than a predetermined value. If it is in the power saving mode, the process proceeds to step S202, and if not, the process proceeds to step S204. The processing unit 12 may detect that the power saving mode is set by the user's operation.

0081In the next step S202, the processing unit 12 determines the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application program corresponding to the power saving mode to the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. At this time, the processing unit 12 may determine the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application program whose version is old as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. The processing unit 12 may determine the location information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application program that acquires less information as the location information acquisition control unit 122 that has the authority of the master. The processing unit 12 determines the position information acquisition control unit 122 other than the position information acquisition control unit 122, which has the authority of the master, as the slave position information acquisition control unit 122.

0082In step S204, the processing unit 12 detects the position information acquisition control unit 122 that matches the predetermined master determination condition. As the predetermined master determination condition, the condition for making the position information library the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master is set in advance. The predetermined master determination condition may be the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application that frequently makes an activation request to the GPS positioning unit 16 among the plurality of applications. In this case, the processing unit 12 refers to the data including the history of the startup time of the application program. The processing unit 12 detects the application with the highest number of startups. As a result, the processing unit 12 detects the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application having the largest number of startups as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate.

0083The predetermined master determination condition may be the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application that is started first among the plurality of applications. In this case, the processing unit 12 refers to the data including the history of the application startup time. The processing unit 12 detects the application having the oldest start time among the currently running applications. The position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application with the oldest start time is detected as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate.

0084The predetermined master determination condition may be a location information library whose version is the latest among a plurality of location information libraries. In this case, the processing unit 12 refers to the version information of each location information library attached to the plurality of applications. The processing unit 12 detects the location information library of the latest version information among the version information of the location information library. The processing unit 12 detects the position information acquisition control unit 122 corresponding to the position information library of the latest version information as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate.

0085In addition, other conditions may be included in the predetermined master determination condition. Even if the processing unit 12 detects the location information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application program that has the oldest installation date and time and is unlikely to be deleted as the master candidate location information acquisition control unit 122. Good. Further, the processing unit 12 may detect the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application having the largest number of types of position information to be acquired as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate. Further, the processing unit 12 may detect the position information acquisition control unit 122 attached to the application having the highest positioning frequency as the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master candidate.

0086In step S206, the processing unit 12 determines the position information acquisition control unit 122 that corresponds to the predetermined master determination condition detected in step S204 to the position information acquisition control unit 122 that has the authority of the master. The processing unit 12 determines the position information acquisition control unit 122 other than the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave. When a plurality of master candidate position information acquisition control units 122 are detected, the processing unit 12 places the position information acquisition control unit 122, which has a large number of matching the predetermined master determination conditions, with the authority of the master. It may be decided by the information acquisition control unit 122.

0087In this embodiment, the location information server 30 may determine the location information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. The location information server 30 receives from the terminal device 10 a list of information on the application being started and permission information on which the user is permitted to use the location information. The location information server 30 can refer to the received list to determine which of the applications that are permitted to use the location information and are running, and which application the location information library is attached to as the master. The location information server 30 notifies the terminal device 10 of the application to which the determined master location information library is attached. As a result, the terminal device 10 can set the location information library attached to the application determined by the location information server 30 as the master.

0088In addition, the location information server 30 permits the information of the running application and the user to use the location information from the terminal device 10 at a periodical, fixed date and time, or at the timing when the list transmitted last time is changed. You may receive a list of permission information. As a result, the location information server 30 can notify the terminal device 10 of the next master without delay even if there is a change in the permission information that the running application or the user has permitted to use the location information. .. Further, the location information server 30 may receive information indicating the remaining charge together with the location information from the terminal device 10 and give an instruction to change the master when the remaining charge falls below a predetermined capacity. ..

0089In addition, the location information server 30 comes with a location information library that serves as a master based on a list that defines the information of the running application and the permission information that the user has permitted to use the location information received from the terminal device 10. You may create a list that ranks the applications you are using. As a result, the terminal device 10 can determine the location information library attached to the application of the next rank as the master when the application to which the location information library of the master is attached is deleted.

0090As described above, the processing unit 12 can determine any of the plurality of position information acquisition control units 122 as the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master.

0091FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in which the terminal device 10 is made to acquire the position information by the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master and the acquired position information is transmitted to the position information server 30.

0092First, in step S300, the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master determines whether or not the positioning timing has been reached. The positioning timing is the timing for acquiring the position information of the own device. The positioning timing is a time interval set in the own device in advance. The positioning timing may be a time interval specified by the position information server 30.

0093In the next step S302, the position information acquisition control unit 122 of the master outputs a start request to the GPS positioning unit 16. As a result, the GPS positioning unit 16 receives the GPS signal and performs triangulation calculation to identify the position of its own device. The GPS positioning unit 16 acquires the specified position as position information. The position information acquired by the GPS positioning unit 16 is supplied to the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master. The position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master stores the supplied position information in the storage unit 18 together with the positioning time.

0094In the next step S304, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the master authority notifies the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the slave authority that the position information has been acquired in the step S302.

0095In the next step S306, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master determines whether or not a request has been received from the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave. When the request is received (step S306: YES), the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master has the position information accumulated in the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave who sent the request in step S302. Is output (step S308). The position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master outputs the position information to the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of all the slaves that output the request. After the notification in step S304, if there is no request from the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the slave and a predetermined time elapses, a timeout may occur and the process may proceed to step S310.

0096In step S310, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master determines whether or not it is the timing of transmitting the position information to the position information server 30. The position information transmission timing is when a predetermined time has elapsed from the previous transmission timing. The predetermined time is a time determined in advance in the own device. The predetermined time may be the time interval requested by the location information server 30. When it is time to transmit the location information (step S310: YES), the location information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master reads the location information that has not been transmitted to the location information server 30 from the storage unit 18, and the location information server. Send to 30 (step S312). If it is not the transmission timing, the position information acquisition control unit 122 having the authority of the master returns the process to step S300.

0097Next, the operation screen for setting the permission setting information will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen for setting the permission setting information. The operation screen may be a screen displayed on the terminal device 10 when the terminal device 10 accesses the position information server 30, and is displayed on the terminal device 10 when the terminal device 10 accesses a predetermined address. The screen may be. As shown in FIG. 8, "All application permission" B1, "Permission" B2, and "Non-license" B3 are displayed on the operation screen for setting the permission setting information. "Licensed" B2 and "Non-licensed" B3 are provided for each application. For example, the application installed in the terminal device 10 is displayed on the operation screen for setting the permission setting information. Not limited to this, the operation screen for setting the permission setting information may display an application that is not yet installed in the terminal device 10 but can be installed.

0098"All application permission" B1 is an operation unit that accepts an operation for permitting the use of location information for all applications displayed on the operation screen. When "All application permission" B1 is instructed, the setting to permit the use of the location information for all applications displayed on the operation screen for setting the permission setting information is accepted.

0099"Permission" B2 is an operation unit that accepts an operation for permitting the use of location information for the associated application. When "Permission" B2 is instructed, the setting to permit the use of location information for the associated application is accepted. "Non-licensed" B3 is an operation unit that accepts operations for not permitting the use of location information for the associated application. When "Unlicensed" B3 is instructed, the setting that the use of location information for the associated application is not permitted is accepted.

0100The application associated with "licensed" B2 and "non-licensed" B3 is an application displayed on the left side of each operation screen of "licensed" B2 and "non-licensed" B3. In the illustrated example, the use of location information is permitted for application A, and the use of location information is not permitted for apps B and C. In addition, in "license" B2 and "non-license" B3, the display mode of the set one is lighter in the character color than in the background color. On the other hand, the display mode that is not set is determined and displayed, and the color of the characters is darker than the color of the background. In addition, on the operation screen for setting permission setting information, each setting can be made for each type of information sent to the external device when permission is granted, the purpose of sending information to the external device, and the type of application. It is stated that there is something.

0101Next, the configuration of the location information server 30 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the location information server 30 according to the embodiment. The location information server 30 includes a processing unit 32, a first communication unit 34, a second communication unit 36, and a storage unit 38.

0102The first communication unit 34 includes a reception unit and a transmission unit that communicate with the terminal device 10. The first communication unit 34 receives the position information from the terminal device 10. Further, the first communication unit 34 receives the permission setting information from the terminal device 10. The second communication unit 36 includes a reception unit and a transmission unit that communicate with the application server 50. The second communication unit 36 transmits the location information to the application server 50 that provides the application for which the use of the location information is permitted by the user.

0103The storage unit 38 stores the position information and the like received from the terminal device 10. Here, an example of the correspondence table 38T stored in the storage unit 38 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of the correspondence table 38T stored in the storage unit 38. As shown in FIG. 10, the correspondence table 38T includes user ID, permission setting information, location information, web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, and posture change information. It is a table that associates with environmental information. The user ID, location information, web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, and environment information are information received from the terminal device 10. The permission setting information is information received from the terminal device 10 in the case of the terminal association method, and is information associated with the location information server 30 in the case of the server association method.

0104In the correspondence table 38T, the details of the permission setting information and the location information associated with the user ID will be described. The permission setting information includes a column for each application ID. The permission setting information may be composed of only the columns of the applications installed in the terminal device 10, or may include the columns of all the applications recognized by the location information server 30. That is, the license setting information may include a column of applications that are not installed in the terminal device 10. In each line of the permission setting information, information indicating whether or not the use is permitted by the user is stored for each location information. In the figure, the license setting information (license) is indicated by "", indicating that the user has licensed the use of the location information. The permission setting information (non-license) is indicated by "-", indicating that the use of location information is not permitted by the user. The position information includes a column indicating latitude and longitude and a column indicating positioning time.

0105The processing unit 32 is a software function unit that functions by, for example, a processor such as a CPU executing a program stored in a memory. Further, a part or all of these functional parts may be hardware functional parts such as LSI and ASIC. The processing unit 32 has an extraction unit 321 and an authentication unit 322. The authentication unit 322 determines whether or not the application server 50 that requests the location information is a legitimate application server 50. The legitimate application server 50 is a server that is permitted to acquire location information. For example, the authentication unit 322 cooperates with the authentication server 40 and determines that the application server 50 authenticated by the authentication server 40 is a legitimate application server 50. Not limited to this, the authentication unit 322 may determine whether or not the application server 50 is legitimate by executing the same processing as the authentication processing executed by the authentication server 40. The authentication of whether or not the application server is a legitimate application server 50 may be based on a combination of an ID and a password, or may be an authentication using an IP address.

0106The extraction unit 321 extracts position information satisfying the extraction conditions from the storage unit 38. The extraction conditions can be arbitrarily set by the location information server 30 or the application server 50. When set by the application server 50, the second communication unit 36 receives the information for setting the extraction condition. The extraction unit 321 extracts the position information that satisfies the extraction condition set by the information received by the second communication unit 36. The second communication unit 36 transmits the location information extracted based on the extraction conditions set by the application server 50 to the application server 50 that has transmitted the extraction conditions.

0107For example, when an application is set as an extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 extracts the position information associated with the application set as the extraction condition from the position information associated with the permission setting information (license). .. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and associates it with the application in which "" indicating that the use of the location information is permitted is written among the applications set as the extraction conditions. Extract the location information. As a result, the extraction unit 321 can extract the location information corresponding to the set application and the location information for which the use is permitted, and transmit the location information to the application server 50. Therefore, the application server 50 can acquire and display only the location information about its own application among the location information licensed by the user. Not limited to this, the extraction unit 321 may refer to the permission setting information and extract the application for which the use of the location information is permitted from the applications set as the extraction conditions. For example, the extraction unit 321 extracts the position information positioned within the period for which the use is permitted in the permission setting information based on the positioning time included in the position information in the corresponding table 38T.

0108Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the attribute information of the user associated with the user ID based on the user ID indicating the user who has licensed the use of the application set as the extraction condition, and permits the use of the set application. You may extract the attribute of the user who did. This makes it possible to extract the attributes of users who have licensed the use of a specific application.

0109For example, when the user attribute is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the user attribute information associated with the user ID, and sets the user ID of the user who satisfies the user attribute set as the extraction condition. Extract the associated position information. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 searches for the user ID associated with the set user attribute with reference to the correspondence table 38T, and the location information associated with the user ID obtained by the search. Is extracted. The user attribute information associated with the user ID may be stored in the storage unit 38 or may be stored in an external server. The user attribute information includes, for example, age, gender, preference, area of residence, area of frequent visits, and the like. As a result, the extraction unit 321 can extract the position information indicating the position where the user having the set attribute exists. Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and associates it with the permission setting information (permission) among the position information associated with the user ID of the user who satisfies the user attribute set as the extraction condition. The obtained position information may be extracted.

0110For example, when a time or period is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the positioning time included in the position information and extracts the position information positioned at the time or period set as the extraction condition. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts the position information including the positioning time that matches the set time or time. Matching the time may coincide with the set time, and includes the case of being included in a predetermined period including the set time. Matching the time means that the time is included within the set time, for example, from 12:00 to 13:00. As a result, the extraction unit 321 can extract the position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 existed at the set time or period. Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the corresponding table 38T and extracts the position information associated with the permission setting information (license) from the position information positioned at the time or period set as the extraction condition. You may. Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the user attribute information associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the position information at the set time or time, and the set time or time. The attributes of the user of the terminal device 10 that has transmitted the location information to Thereby, the attribute of the user of the terminal device 10 who transmitted the position information at a specific time or time can be extracted.

0111For example, when a place is set as an extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the map data and extracts the corresponding position information within a predetermined range including the place set as the extraction condition. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts the position information of the latitude and longitude included in the range of the predetermined radius centering on the latitude and longitude of the place set as the extraction condition. .. The location set as the extraction condition includes, for example, a station, a facility such as a landmark, a mountain, a river, the sea, or the like. The map data may be stored in the storage unit 38 or may be stored in an external server. As a result, the extraction unit 321 can extract the position information indicating the position of the terminal device 10 existing at the set place or around the set place. Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the corresponding table 38T, and among the position information corresponding to the predetermined range including the place set as the extraction condition, the position information associated with the permission setting information (license) is selected. It may be extracted. Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the attribute information of the user associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 existing at the set location, and determines the attributes of the user existing at the set location. It may be extracted. This makes it possible to extract the attributes of the user who existed in a specific location.

0112For example, when a facility category is set as an extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the map data and extracts the corresponding location information within a predetermined range including the location of the facility in the category set as the extraction condition. .. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and obtains the position information of the latitude and longitude included in the range of the predetermined radius centering on the latitude and longitude of the facilities of the category set as the extraction condition. Extract. It is assumed that there are multiple facilities in the category set as extraction conditions. The extraction unit 321 extracts the position information included in the predetermined range centered on at least one of the facilities. The categories set as the extraction conditions include, for example, restaurants, convenience stores, bookstores, parking lots, supermarkets, nurseries, schools, and the like. The facility category also includes store names, parking lot names, and the like. As a result, the extraction unit 321 can extract the position information indicating the position of the terminal device 10 existing in the facility of the set category. For example, when a convenience store is set as a category, the extraction unit 321 can extract position information indicating the position of the terminal device 10 existing in the convenience store with a different store name. Here, the extraction unit 321 is associated with the permission setting information (license) among the position information corresponding to the predetermined range including the location of the facility of the category set as the extraction condition with reference to the corresponding table 38T. The location information may be extracted. Further, the extraction unit 321 exists in the facility of the set category by referring to the attribute information of the user associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 existing in the facility of the set category. User attributes may be extracted. This makes it possible to extract the attributes of users who existed in a facility of a specific category.

0113For example, when a website is set as an extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the web history information and extracts, for example, location information indicating the position of the terminal device 10 that has accessed the website set as the extraction condition. To do. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts the location information associated with the web history information indicating the access history to the set website. As a result, the location information indicating the location of the terminal device 10 that has accessed a specific website can be extracted together with the website information. Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the corresponding table 38T, and is a terminal device that accesses the website set as the extraction condition based on the permission setting information of the application or the application server 50 for which the use of the location information is permitted. Position information indicating 10 positions may be extracted. Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the attribute information of the user associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 that has accessed the set website, and refers to the user's attribute information that has accessed the set website. Attributes may be extracted. This makes it possible to extract the attributes of users who have accessed a specific website.

0114For example, when the type or name of the program is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the program execution history information and determines the position where the terminal device 10 executes the program of the type or name set as the extraction condition. Extract the indicated position information. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts the position information associated with the program execution history information indicating the set program. As a result, it is possible to extract position information indicating the position of the terminal device 10 that has executed a specific program. Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and corresponds to the permission setting information (license) among the position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 executes the program of the type or name set as the extraction condition. The attached position information may be extracted. Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the attribute information of the user associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 that executed the set program, and sets the attributes of the user who executed the set program. It may be extracted. This makes it possible to extract the attributes of the user who executed a specific program.

0115For example, when the type or name of the operation by the user is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the operation history information, and the terminal device 10 accepts the operation of the type or name set as the extraction condition from the user. Extract the position information indicating the position. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts the position information associated with the operation history information indicating the set operation. As a result, it is possible to extract position information indicating the position where a specific operation is input to the terminal device 10. Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the corresponding table 38T, and among the position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 has received the operation of the type or name set as the extraction condition from the user, the permission setting information (license) The position information associated with may be extracted. Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the attribute information of the user associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 that has received the set operation, and sets the attribute of the user who input the set operation. It may be extracted. This makes it possible to extract the attributes of the user who input a specific operation.

0116For example, when the charging state is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the charging history information and extracts the position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 was in the charging state. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the corresponding table 38T and extracts position information including the positioning time between the time when charging starts and the time when charging ends. Thereby, the position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 is charged can be extracted. Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the corresponding table 38T and extracts the position information associated with the permission setting information (license) from the position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 is in the charged state. May be good. Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the attribute information of the user associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 in the charged state, and determines the attributes of the user of the terminal device 10 in the charged state. It may be extracted. As a result, the attributes of the charging user can be extracted.

0117For example, when the posture change is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the posture change information and extracts the position information indicating the position where the posture of the terminal device 10 has changed. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 extracts the position information associated with the posture change information with reference to the correspondence table 38T. As a result, it is possible to extract position information indicating the position where the posture of the terminal device 10 has changed. When the posture change information indicates how the posture has changed, the extraction unit 321 provides position information indicating the position where the posture of the terminal device 10 satisfies the posture change condition set as the extraction condition. It may be extracted. Further, the extraction unit 321 may determine the state of the user based on the posture change information. For example, the extraction unit 321 determines whether the user is moving or the user is running based on the time-series change indicated by the posture change information. When the user's state is set to be running as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 extracts the position information associated with the posture change information indicating that the user is running. Here, even if the extraction unit 321 refers to the corresponding table 38T and extracts the position information associated with the permission setting information (license) from the position information indicating the position where the posture of the terminal device 10 has changed. Good. Further, the extraction unit 321 extracts the attributes of the user of the terminal device 10 whose posture has changed by referring to the attribute information of the user associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID associated with the posture change information. May be good. This makes it possible to extract the attributes of the user who was moving or jogging.

0118For example, when any of the environmental conditions is set as the extraction condition, the extraction unit 321 refers to the environmental information and extracts the position information indicating the position satisfying the environmental condition set as the extraction condition. Specifically, the extraction unit 321 refers to the correspondence table 38T and extracts the position information associated with the environment information that satisfies the set environment conditions. As a result, it is possible to extract position information indicating the position of the terminal device 10 that is likely to have existed under the set environmental conditions. For example, a predetermined facility outputs an audible sound or an inaudible sound including identification information indicating a location. The terminal device 10 existing in this facility extracts identification information from the collected audible sound or inaudible sound and outputs it to the position information server 30. In this way, when it is desired to grasp the position of the facility that outputs the audible sound or the inaudible sound including the identification information indicating the location, it is set as the extraction condition that the terminal device 10 has received the identification information indicating the location. As a result, the extraction unit 321 can extract location information indicating the location of the facility that satisfies the extraction condition. Here, the extraction unit 321 refers to the corresponding table 38T, and among the position information indicating the position where the terminal device 10 has acquired the environmental information satisfying the environmental conditions set as the extraction conditions, the permission setting information (license) The associated position information may be extracted. Further, the extraction unit 321 refers to the attribute information of the user associated with the terminal ID based on the terminal ID indicating the terminal device 10 existing in the environment satisfying the environmental condition, and refers to the attribute information of the user existing in the environment satisfying the environmental condition. Attributes may be extracted. This makes it possible to extract the attributes of users who existed in the environment that satisfies the environmental conditions.

0119The extraction unit 321 may execute an analysis process for analyzing the behavior of the user who owns the terminal device 10 based on the extracted information.

0120The extraction unit 321 of the processing unit 32 is not limited to transmitting the location information to the application server 50 in response to the request from the application server 50. For example, the application server 50 may specify a future period or date and time to the location information server 30 and request location information positioned at the specified period or date and time. When the period or date and time specified by the application server 50 has elapsed, the location information server 30 extracts the position information, the user ID, and the like positioned at the specified period or date and time, and transmits them to the application server 50.

0121Next, an example of associating the location information with the permission setting information in the system in which the server association method is adopted will be described. For example, the processing unit 32 determines whether or not there is an application that permits the use of the position information positioned within the license period based on the license setting information stored in the storage unit 38. When the processing unit 32 determines that there is an application that permits the use of location information, it associates the permission setting information (license). For example, suppose that the positioning time of the location information P1 is included in the license period of application A and is not included in the license period of apps B and C. In this case, based on the permission setting information, the processing unit 32 puts "" in the application A column and "" in the application B and C columns in the permission setting information column corresponding to the position information P1 in the correspondence table 38T. -Will be written respectively. When the license period is changed in the license setting information, the processing unit 32 rewrites the license setting information in the corresponding table 38T based on the changed license setting information.

0122In the above description, an example in which the permission setting information is information indicating permission or non-permission of use of location information has been described, but the present invention is not limited. For example, the permission setting information may include information indicating whether or not to permit the use of at least one of web history information, program execution history information, operation history information, charging history information, posture change information, and environmental information. For this information as well, each user can set whether or not to permit the use. In addition, the user can also set permission or non-license for use of this information for each application. When these uses are permitted, the extraction unit 321 of the location information server 30 can extract the location information by using the information for which the use is permitted.

0123As described above, according to the location information server 30, one set of location information stored for each user without the application and the application server 50 licensed to use the location information individually storing and managing the location information. Can be commonly used by a plurality of applications and the application server 50. This makes it possible to improve the efficiency of location information management and reduce the server capacity.

0124Further, according to the location information server 30, as long as it is included in the license period for using the location information, the application and the application server 50 can use the location information within that period. As a result, it is possible to acquire information other than the position information item set by the own application and the application server 50 and information other than the positioning timing.

0125Further, according to the location information server 30, when one location information is associated with information permitted to be used by a plurality of applications, one location information is commonly used for the plurality of applications. be able to. This makes it possible to improve the efficiency of location information management and reduce the server capacity.

0126Further, the location information server 30 stores the location information acquired by the location information acquisition unit 160 based on the activation request determined according to the relationship between the plurality of applications available in the terminal device 10. That is, the position information server 30 can manage whether or not to permit the use of the position information that is positioned when the positioning timing of another application is not its own positioning timing. As a result, the application server 50 and the like can use not only the position information positioned at the positioning timing of its own application but also the position information positioned at a timing other than the positioning timing of its own application.

0127Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and design changes and the like within a range not deviating from the gist of the present invention are also included. The present invention can be implemented as, for example, a location information server.

0128Further, a computer program for realizing the functions of the terminal device 10 and the location information server 30 described above is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read into the computer system and executed. You may do so. The "computer system" referred to here may include hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices. The "computer-readable recording medium" is a writable non-volatile memory such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, or a flash memory, a portable medium such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), or a built-in computer system. A storage device such as a hard disk.

0129Furthermore, a "computer-readable recording medium" is a volatile memory inside a computer system that serves as a server or client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line (for example, DRAM (Dynamic)). It also includes those that hold the program for a certain period of time, such as Random Access Memory)). Further, the program may be transmitted from a computer system in which this program is stored in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the "transmission medium" for transmitting a program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. Further, the above program may be for realizing a part of the above-mentioned functions. Further, a so-called difference file (difference program) may be used, which can realize the above-mentioned functions in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system.

01301 ... location providing system, 10, 10A, 10B, ..., 10N ... terminal device, 12 ... processing unit, 14 ... communication unit, 16 ... GPS positioning unit, 160 .. .Location information acquisition unit, 161 ... Accelerometer, 18 ... Storage unit, 30 ... Location information server, 40 ... Authentication server, 42 ... POI server, 50, 50A, 50B, ..., 50N ... Application server, 120, 120A, 120B, 120B ... Application processing unit, 122, 122A, 122B, 122C ... Location information acquisition control unit, 32 ... Processing unit, 321 ... Extraction unit, 34 ... 1st communication unit, 36 ... 2nd communication unit, 38 ... Storage unit