JP2001195332A - Map distribution device, map reception terminal and map distribution method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily obtain the using right of map data in a map data distribution system for downloading the map data from a server to a terminal. SOLUTION: The server 102 adds the data within a term of validity to the map data and transmits them to terminal equipment 106. The terminal equipment 106 stores the map data received from the server 102 in a storage device 208. Then, at the time of using the map data, the data within a term of validity are read from the map data, whether or not the map data are usable is judged, the map data are displayed on a display device 209 in the case that they are usable, but erased from the storage device 208 in the case that they are not usable.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a technique for downloading map data, for example, vector map data from a network such as the Internet, and more particularly to a technique for giving a right to use map data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a navigation system, there has been proposed a technique for setting a use right to map data. For example, in the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-230762, the right to use map data is downloaded from a server and stored in the navigation terminal. If the right to use is stored in the navigation terminal, the navigation terminal is allowed to upgrade the map data, and if the right to use is not stored, a method for obtaining the right to use is provided. .

Here, the map data itself is a CD-R
The version upgrade data is stored in a recording medium such as an OM, and is stored in a flash memory inside the navigation terminal. Version upgrade of map data is performed by attaching a recording medium such as a CD-ROM for version upgrade to the navigation terminal.

[0004] At this time, the version upgrade data that can be read from the recording medium for version upgrade is determined by the contents of the use right downloaded from the server and stored in the flash memory of the navigation terminal, and the version upgrade data without the use right is used. Is not copied to the flash memory.

In recent years, a technique for downloading map data from a server in a car navigation system has been proposed. For example, in the technology described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-282863, the navigation terminal measures the current location by GPS or the like, transmits the measurement result to a server, and downloads a map around the current location of the terminal. I have.

[0006]

By the way, map data, especially vector map data, have the advantages that they can be easily enlarged and reduced and that map matching is possible. Therefore, when map data having such various advantages is distributed using a network as in the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-230762, there is a possibility that unauthorized copying of map data may be circulated. This is disadvantageous for data authors and the like. For this reason, it is desired to set usage rights also for map data distributed using a network.

However, in the navigation system, the technique of downloading map data from a server described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
When the technology for setting the right of use for map data described in Japanese Patent No. 230230 is applied, the following problems occur.

That is, according to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-230762, it is necessary for the server to transmit the information on the right to use the map data to the navigation terminal independently of the transmission of the map data. That is, in the navigation terminal, it is troublesome to obtain the usage right information separately from obtaining the map data.

In the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-230762, the navigation terminal stores the usage right information downloaded from the server in a flash memory built in the navigation terminal. For this reason, when the obtained map data is used by another navigation terminal, it becomes necessary for the another navigation terminal to newly obtain the information on the right to use the map data from the server.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a map data distribution system for downloading map data from a server to a terminal.
An object of the present invention is to efficiently set usage rights for map data downloaded to a terminal.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object,
According to the present invention, information on the right to use map data is added to the map data and transmitted from the map distribution server to the map receiving terminal. That is, the map distribution server is provided with a unit for adding map data and information on the right to use the map data (for example, an expiration date), and the map data to which the right to use information is added by the unit is transmitted to the map receiving terminal. . On the other hand, when using the map data obtained from the map distribution server and stored in the storage device, the map receiving terminal extracts use right information from the map data and determines whether the map data is usable. Then, the map data can be used only when it can be used (for example, when the expiration date has not passed), and when the map data cannot be used, the map data is deleted from the terminal.

[0012]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a map distribution system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

As shown, a server 102 and a provider 104 are connected to an Internet network 101. A map display terminal (hereinafter, simply referred to as a terminal) 106 can measure a current position using a signal from a GPS satellite 107, for example. Here, the terminal device 106 is mounted on the automobile 105, but can be carried around by a pedestrian. The terminal 106 is provided with a portable telephone, and can connect to the provider 104 via the telephone network 103 and access the Internet network 101. The server 102 provides vector map data in response to a request from the terminal 106.

First, the terminal 106 will be described.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the terminal 106.

The terminal 106 is connected to a server through the communication device 206.
Receive vector map data from 102. The received data is stored in the memory 201 or the external storage device 208, and is used later. As the communication device 206, for example, a mobile phone or a PHS (Personal Handy-phone System) can be used. The external storage device 208 can be attached to and detached from the main body, and can be used with the same model of the terminal device 106. As the external storage device 208, for example, a small storage medium such as a compact flash card can be used. The display control device 205 sends display data to a display device 209 mounted on the automobile 105. Audio output device 2
07 outputs a message from the terminal 106 or the server 102 by voice. The processing device 204 controls each part of the terminal device 106 in an integrated manner.

The GPS unit 202 is for grasping the position of the terminal 106, and measures the latitude and longitude of the terminal 106 based on a signal from the GPS satellite 107.

The remote controller 203 is used as an input device for the terminal device 106.

In this case, the terminal 106 is connected to the display device 2
The case where it is separated from 09 has been described, but the terminal 10
The display device 209 is connected to the terminal 10 so that the pedestrian can carry the device 6.
It may be integrated with 6. Further, instead of using the remote controller 203, an input device integrated with the terminal device 106 may be used.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the software configuration executed by the terminal 106.

In the figure, an OS 305 is for managing the entire operation of the terminal 106 and performs task management. I / O
The driver 304 is software for connecting the terminal device 106 to various connection devices such as the display device 209 and the GPS unit 202. The communication driver 303 is software for the terminal device 106 to perform data communication using the communication device 206. These pieces of software are stored in, for example, the memory 201, and are executed by the processing device 204 when the terminal 106 is started.

The browser 302 is software for browsing contents on the Internet. For example, it is stored in the memory 201 and is executed by the processing device 204 when the terminal device 106 is started, or in response to a user instruction input via the remote controller 203. Plugin 301
Is to add a function to the browser 302, and processes information in a format that cannot be processed by the browser 302, for example. Various types of plug-ins 301 can be prepared according to information to be downloaded. The plug-in 301 is stored in the memory 201, for example, and the browser 302
Is executed by the processing device 204 in accordance with the instruction from.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing functions realized by the software shown in FIG.

When a request for map data is received from the user via the remote controller 203, the browser 302 activates the plug-in 301.

The plug-in 301 has a control unit 401, a map data storage unit 402, a drawing library 404, a route calculation / drawing unit 405, and an expiration date determining unit 406.

The control unit 401 obtains the current location information from the GPS unit 202, creates a map data transmission request including the user information stored in advance in the memory 201 or the like, and passes the request to the browser 301. The browser 301 sends the received map data transmission request to the communication driver 303. The communication driver 303 transmits the map data transmission request to the server 102 using the communication device 206. In response, the server 102 transmits the requested map data to the terminal device 106. This map data is received by the communication device 206, and is connected to the plug-in via the communication driver 303 and the browser 302.
Sent to 301.

Upon receiving the map data, the control unit 401 stores the map data in the external storage device 208 functioning as the map data storage unit 402. It is convenient that the map data is stored as one file per mesh, and the file name is, for example, a mesh code. At the same time,
The map data is passed to the map data drawing unit 403.

The map data drawing section 403 draws the received map data and displays the map on the display device 209. Here, a drawing library 404 is used for map drawing in the map data drawing unit 403. The drawing library 404 may be drawing software itself used in a car navigation system already on the market.

The route calculation / rendering unit 405 receives a signal from the terminal 106
The recommended route to the destination set by the user using the remote controller 203 is calculated. When the calculation of the recommended route is completed, the route is drawn using the drawing library 404, and the route is superimposed on the map displayed on the display device 209.

The terminal 106 can display a map using the map data stored in the map data storage unit 402.
In addition, expiration date information for limiting the use period is added to the map data. When using the map data, the expiration date determination unit 406 extracts the expiration date information added to the map data. Then, it is checked whether or not the current date and time is within the validity period.
Notify one. If the result of the determination by the expiration date determination unit 406 is within the expiration date, the control unit 401 passes the map data to the map data drawing unit 403 to draw the map. On the other hand, if the determination result is out of the validity period, the map data is made unusable by deleting it from the map data storage unit 402 or the like.

In the above description, the route calculation is performed by the terminal
Although the processing is performed in 106, this may be performed in the server 102. In this case, the control unit 401
02, the destination information set by the user using the remote controller 203, and a route search request including the user information are created. The route search request is transmitted to the communication device 206 via the browser 302 and the communication driver 303. To the server 102. Here, as the destination information, for example, the telephone number of the destination and the information of the location can be used. The server 102 calculates a recommended route between the designated destination and the current location of the terminal 106, and transmits the route data to the terminal 106 together with the map data. Upon receiving the data from the communication device 206 via the communication driver 303 and the browser 302, the plug-in 301 separates the data into map data and route data, and respectively separates the map data drawing unit 403 and the route calculation / drawing unit 405. To draw a map and route.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of terminal 106.

First, when transmitting the map data transmission request to the server 102, the control unit 401 obtains the current location measured by the GPS unit 202 (step S501). Then, the obtained information on the current location is converted into a mesh code (step S502), and the corresponding map data (map data of the mesh including the current location) is used using this mesh code.
It is determined whether or not is stored in the map data storage unit 402 (step S503). If it is stored, it requests the expiration date determination unit 406 to perform an expiration date determination process (this will be described later) (step S504). As a result, if it is determined that the expiration date is not exceeded, the control unit 401 reads the map data from the map data storage unit 402 and passes it to the map data drawing unit 403 to draw a map (step S508). ). On the other hand, if it is determined that the information regarding the expiration date is out of date or the expiration date is not appropriate (for example, the expiration date is not set), a dialog box indicating that the map is to be deleted is displayed on the display device 209 (step (S506) Then, the map data is deleted from the map data storage unit 402 (step S507).

Here, the dialog box may be, for example, as shown in FIG. When the user selects the confirmation button 902 using the remote controller 203, the dialog box 901 disappears, and thereafter, the map data is deleted.

In the above processing, if the map data of the mesh including the current location is not stored in the map data storage unit 402 (No in step S503), or is stored in the map data storage unit 402. Since the expiration date of the map data has passed (No in step S505), the map data is stored in the map data storage unit 40.
If the data has been deleted from step 2 (step S507), the map data must be downloaded from the server 102 in order to display the map data.

If the expiration date of the map data stored in the map data storage unit 402 has not expired (Yes in step S505), the map data is displayed on the display device 209. However, if the latest version of the map data exists in the server 102, the user may want to download the latest version of the map data from the server 102 and display it.

Then, the control unit 401 displays a dialog box on the display device 209 (step S509). 7 and 8 show examples of this dialog box.

A dialog box 601 shown in FIG. 7 shows a display example when it is determined in step S505 that the expiration date of the map data stored in the map data storage unit 402 has not expired. In this case, the dialog box 601 is displayed over the map displayed in step S508. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S503 that the map data of the mesh including the current location is not stored in the map data storage unit 402, or in step S505, the dialog box 701 illustrated in FIG. 5 shows a display example when it is determined that the expiration date of the map data stored in. In this case, only the dialog box 701 is displayed on the display device 209.

Each of the dialog boxes shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 asks the user whether or not to download map data. The user selects “Yes” if the user wants to download the map data, and selects “No” if he does not want to download the map data (step S510). When “Yes” is selected, the control unit 401 executes a map download process (this will be described later) (step S511), and ends the process. On the other hand, if “No” is selected, the process ends without doing anything.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the expiration date determination processing in step S504 shown in FIG.

When requested by the control unit 401 to perform the expiration date determination processing of the map data, the expiration date determination unit 406 reads the map data from the map data storage unit 402 and reads the expiration date added to the map data. Is read (step S801). Then, it is determined whether or not the current date and time is within the expiration date (step S802). Then, as a result of the determination, “out of the validity period” is output if it is out of the validity period (step S803), and “inside the validity period” is output if it is within the validity period (step S804).

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the map download processing in step S511 shown in FIG.

First, the control unit 401 checks the free space of the external storage device 208 functioning as the map data storage unit 402 before downloading the map data (step S100).
1). It is determined whether there is sufficient capacity to download the map data (step S1002). If there is no capacity, map deletion processing (this will be described later) is executed to secure the capacity (step S1003).

If the result of the map erasure processing is “do not download” (step S 1004), a dialog box 1201 shown in FIG. 11 is displayed, and the user waits for the user to select the confirmation button 1202 using the remote controller 203. The process ends. On the other hand, the result of the map deletion process is "download"
If it is (step S1004), the process returns to step S1001 again to check the free space of the external storage device 208.

If it is determined in step S1002 that the capacity is sufficient, the control unit 401
Generates a map data transmission request including the current location information measured in step 2 and user information stored in advance in the memory 201 or the like, and transmits the request from the communication device 206 to the server 102 via the browser 302 and the communication driver 303 ( Step S1
005). Then, it waits for the map data to be sent (step S1006), and stores the received map data in the external storage device 208 functioning as the map data storage unit 402 (step 1007).

Next, the control unit 401 passes the map data to the map data drawing unit 403 to draw a map (step S1008). Then, a dialog box 1101 shown in FIG. 12 is superimposed on the map displayed on the display device 209 to inform the user that the map data has been downloaded,
If the user selects the confirmation button 1102, the process ends.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining the map erasing process in step S1003 shown in FIG.

When the control unit 401 confirms that the free space of the external storage device 208 functioning as the map data storage unit 402 is insufficient, it displays a dialog box as shown in FIG. S1301) The next process is determined by the user. The contents of the processing include stopping the download of the map data, erasing the map data stored in the external storage device 208, and deleting the map data from the external storage device 208.
There is a replacement. A stop button 1401, a delete button 1402, and an exchange button 1403 shown in FIG. 14 are assigned to each process. The user uses the remote control 203 to
Either one can be selected.

Next, the control unit 401 determines the content of the selection by the user (step S1302), and if the cancel button 1402 is selected, the processing result is “do not download”.
Is output (step S1306), and the disk exchange button 1403 is output.
Is selected, the user exchanges the external storage device 208 (step S1305), and then outputs "download" as the processing result (step S1307).
Also, if the map deletion button 1402 is selected, FIG.
As shown in (1), a list 1501 of map data stored in the external storage device 208 is displayed (step S1303).

Here, the map data list 1501 displays the mesh code of the map data and the landmarks included therein. The user can select the map data to be deleted from the list 1501 using the remote controller 203. When detecting that the user has selected the enter button 1502, the control unit 401 deletes the map data selected by the user in the list 1501 from the external storage device 208 (step S1304). On the other hand, when detecting that the user has selected the return button 1503, the display returns to the dialog 1404 display screen shown in FIG. After erasing the map data, the control unit 401 outputs “download” as a processing result (step S1307).

The terminal 106 has been described above.

Next, the server 201 will be described.

The server 201 has a general configuration including, for example, a CPU, a memory, an external storage device such as a hard disk, and a communication device for communicating with other devices via a network such as the Internet. (For example, a personal computer).

FIG. 16 is a functional block diagram of the server 102.

The functional blocks shown in FIG. 16 are stored in an external storage device such as a hard disk in advance, and are loaded on a memory by a CPU and executed, thereby being constructed on a computer.

In the figure, a communication driver 1601 manages communication with the terminal 106 and receives a map data transmission request transmitted from the terminal 106.

The control section 1602 controls each section of the server 102 in an integrated manner.

Specifically, the control unit 1602 is a communication driver
The map data transmission request is received from 1601 and the user information included in the request is passed to the authentication unit 1607. The authentication unit 1607
With reference to the member information database (DB) 1606, it is checked whether or not the user information is registered as a member. And
If a member is registered, the location information included in the map data transmission request received from the communication driver 1601 is converted into a mesh code, and the mesh code and the user information included in the request are exchanged with the charging control unit 1603 and the expiration date. Additional part
Pass to 1604. Also, the member information corresponding to this user information is read from the member information DB 1606, and the HTML conversion unit 1605
Pass to.

The billing control unit 1603 gives the control unit 1602 a user specified by the user information received from the control unit 1602.
Charge processing for map data specified by the received mesh code (this processing will be described later)
Execute

The expiration date adding unit 1604 reads map data corresponding to the mesh code received from the control unit 1602 from the map database (DB) 1608, adds expiration date information to the map data, and transmits the map data for transmission. Generate The expiration date may be set, for example, six months after the current date and time. After generating the transmission map data, the expiration date adding unit 1604 converts the transmission map data into an HTML conversion unit.
Pass to 1605.

Here, the mesh code will be described.

The map handled by the server 102 is managed, for example, by dividing the whole of Japan into several rectangular areas.
The region is called a mesh. Each mesh is assigned a unique code. It is called a mesh code. Since the range of the map included in each mesh is unique to each mesh, if the latitude / longitude is known, the mesh code including the latitude / longitude can be specified. If the mesh code is known, a map can be searched from the map DB 408 using the mesh code as a key.

The HTML conversion unit 1605 includes an expiration date adding unit 16
The map data received from 04 is converted into HTML data. Here, conversion to HTML data means that a file of this map data is designated as an attribute of an HTML <EMBED> tag, and data including the attribute is created. The <EMBED> tag is a tag for activating the plug-in 301 on the terminal device 106. However, this assumes that the terminal device 106 processes the map data with the plug-in 301. If the browser 302 has a map data processing function, there is no need to activate the plug-in 301, and thus it may be specified as, for example, an attribute of the <IMG> tag.

The HTML conversion unit 1605 includes a control unit 1602
Is checked to see if the user who transmitted the map data transmission request is a receiving member of the map data with advertisement, and if so, reads out the advertisement data from the advertisement database (DB) 1609. , This is HT
Add to ML data. The HTML data is transmitted to the terminal 106 via the communication driver 401.

Next, the processing in the charging control unit 1605 will be described.
An example will be described.

In the charging process in this embodiment, if the map data has the same mesh code, the map fee for the second and subsequent downloads is free, and if the map data with the advertisement is downloaded, the map fee is free from the beginning. And In other words, in the present embodiment, when downloading the map data without advertisement, the user is charged only when the map data of the mesh code is downloaded for the first time.

When the map data of the same mesh code is downloaded twice or more times, the second and subsequent map charges become free, which means that the map charges are not the price of the map itself but the map. It can be said that it is a charge only for rights. Of course, even if the map data has the same mesh code, a map fee may be collected every time the map data is downloaded.

When downloading map data with advertisements, the data size becomes larger than that of map data without advertisements, and it takes a long time to download. Also, advertisements are not always downloaded by the user. Therefore, it is preferable to provide a user who downloads the map data with advertisement with some merits. Thus, in the present embodiment, when downloading map data with an advertisement, the map fee is free.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for explaining the processing in charging control section 1605.

First, the charging control unit 1605 obtains user information and a mesh code from the control unit 1602 (step S1).
701). Next, the user specified by the user information
It is checked whether the map data specified by the mesh code has been downloaded before (step S1702). The information is stored in the member information DB 1606 and can be determined by referring to the information. If you have downloaded before, the billing information remains the same. On the other hand, if the user has not downloaded before, it is checked whether or not the user specified by the user information is a member of the map download with advertisement (step S170).
3). This can also be determined by referring to the member information DB 1606. If it is a member of the map download with the advertisement, the billing information is left as it is, and only when the member is not the member, the map fee of the map data specified by the mesh code is added to the member information DB 1606, and the member is specified by the mesh code. Register that you have downloaded map data (step
S1704).

Next, the transmission map data generated by the expiration date adding section 1604 will be described.

FIG. 18 shows an example of the format of the transmission map data generated by the expiration date adding section 1604. Here, an example of the format of the transmission map data relating to the map data corresponding to one mesh code is shown.

As shown in the figure, the map data for transmission is composed of, for example, a header section and a data section. The header portion includes a display position X1801, a display position Y1802, a road data flag 1803, an expiration date offset 1804, and an expiration date size of 18.
05, map data offset 1806, map data size 180
7, a landmark offset 1808, and a landmark size 1809. The data portion includes an expiration date 1810, map data 1811, and landmark data 1812.

In the data section, the data of the expiration date set by the expiration date adding section 1604 is stored as the expiration date 1810. The map data 1811 stores map data to be transmitted together with the mesh code. The landmark data 1812 stores data on all the landmarks included in the map data stored in the map data 1811.

In the header portion, the display position X1801
The display position Y1802 stores X-coordinate and Y-coordinate data indicating the display position of the map data on the display screen of the display device 209, respectively. Usually, the origin (0,0) may be specified as the data of the X coordinate and the Y coordinate.

A road data flag 1803 stores a flag indicating the type of road data. For example, server 102
In the case where the map data handled in (1) is map data used in a car navigation system, the road data includes types such as display road data and route calculation road data. The road data flag 1803 stores a flag indicating which type of data the road data corresponds to.

The expiration date offset 1804 stores data indicating the position of the expiration date 1810 in the transmission map data. The expiration date size 1805 stores data indicating the size of the expiration date data stored in the expiration date 1810.

[0079] The map data offset 1806 stores data indicating the position of the map data 1811 in the map data for transmission. For map data size 1807, map data 18
Data indicating the size of the map data stored in 11 is stored.

The landmark offset 1808 contains landmark data 1812 in the transmission map data.
Is stored. Landmark size
In 1809, data indicating the size of the data relating to the landmark stored in the landmark data 1812 is stored.

The server 102 has been described above.

Lastly, the terminal 106
The display example of the map data with the advertisement downloaded in FIG.

FIG. 19 shows terminal 1 transmitted from server 102.
It is a figure showing the example of a display of the map data with an advertisement downloaded to 06. In this example, the display screen is divided vertically
A map is displayed in the upper part, and an advertisement 1901 is displayed in the lower part. In addition,
A screen configuration other than the display screen illustrated in FIG. 19 may be used as long as the screen configuration can be described in HTML.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described.

According to this embodiment, the data indicating the expiration date of the map data is added to the vector map data requested by the terminal 106, and the vector map data is downloaded from the server 102 to the terminal 106. Therefore, the user of the terminal device 106 performs a procedure different from the download of the map data,
Since there is no need to obtain information on the expiration date of the map data, it is possible to reduce the user's labor.

In the present embodiment, the map data to which the information of the expiration date has been added is stored in the external storage device 208 detachable from the terminal 106. Therefore, since the map data and the expiration date of the map data are stored in the same storage medium, the map data can be similarly used in another terminal 106 of the same model as the terminal 106 that downloaded the map data. Become.

Further, in this embodiment, the terminal 106
When displaying the map data to be downloaded, check the expiration date added to the map data, and display the map data only if the expiration date has not passed, if it has passed, Then, the map data is deleted from the terminal 106. By doing so, even if the map data is illegally copied, it can no longer be used if the expiration date of the map data has passed, so the damage caused by the illegal copy will spread. Can be prevented.

In addition, in the present embodiment, in the charging process in the server 102, if the download of certain map data to the terminal 106 is the second or subsequent download to the user of the terminal 106, The data map fee is set free. In this way, in combination with the above-mentioned restriction on the use of map data due to the expiration date, it is possible to prevent unauthorized copying efficiently and continuously permit the use of map data by a legitimate user. Therefore, a map distribution system that is attractive to both the map data provider and the user can be constructed.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the invention.

For example, in the above embodiment, the server 10
Although the case where vector map data is used as the map data downloaded from 2 to the portable device 106 has been described, other map data may be downloaded.

Further, in the above embodiment, the information on the right to use the map data to be added to the map data is:
The expiration date of the map data is added, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, user information (for example, a password) of the terminal 106 to be transmitted may be used as the information on the usage right. And terminal
On the 106 side, the user information added to the map data is compared with the user information pre-stored in the memory 201 of the terminal 106 or received from the user via the remote controller 203, and can be used only when they match. In the above embodiment, the same processing as in the case of "expiration date" is performed, and if they do not match, it is acknowledged that use is impossible, and in the above embodiment, it is recognized as "out of expiration date" The same processing as that in the case where it is performed may be performed.

[0092]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In a map data distribution system that downloads map data from a server to a terminal, a use right can be efficiently set for the map data downloaded to the terminal.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a map distribution system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of a terminal 106 shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a software configuration diagram executed by a terminal device 106 shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a terminal 106 shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of terminal 106 shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a dialog displayed on the display device 209 in the female step S506 shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a dialog displayed on the display device 209 in step S509 shown in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a dialog displayed on the display device 209 in step S509 shown in FIG.

FIG. 9 shows step S504 (expiration date determination processing) shown in FIG.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the processing in FIG.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the processing in step S511 (map download processing) shown in FIG. 5;

11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a dialog (in the case of download suspension) displayed on the display device 209 in S1009 illustrated in FIG.

12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a dialog (in the case of download execution) displayed on the display device 209 in S1009 illustrated in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explaining the processing in step S1003 (map erasure processing) shown in FIG.

14 is a diagram showing an example of a dialog displayed on the display device 209 in step S1301 shown in FIG.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a list of map data stored in the external storage device 208 and displayed on the display device 209 in step S1303 shown in FIG.

FIG. 16 is a functional block diagram of a server 102 shown in FIG.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart for explaining the processing in charging control section 1603 shown in FIG. 16;

18 is a diagram for explaining a format of transmission map data generated by an expiration date adding unit 1604 shown in FIG.

19 is a diagram showing an example of map data with advertisement displayed on the terminal 106. FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 ... Internet network 102 ... Server 103 ... Telephone network 104 ... Provider 105 ... Automobile 106 ... Terminal 107 ... GPS satellite 202 ... GPS unit 203 ... Remote control 206 ... Mobile phone 209 ... Display device

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) 9A001 (72) Inventor Shigeru Matsuo 7-1-1, Omikamachi, Hitachi City, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi Research, Ltd. In-house (72) Inventor Katsuaki Tanaka 7-1-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside Hitachi, Ltd.Hitachi Research Laboratories (72) Inventor Kozo Nakamura 7-1-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Co., Ltd. Within Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi Research Laboratory (72) Inventor Yoshinori Endo 7-1-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi Research Laboratory Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Michio Morioka 7-1-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture (72) Inventor Yoshitaka Sumitomo 2-6-35 Hironodai, Zama City, Kanagawa Prefecture V-Informatics F-term (reference) 2C032 HB05 HB08 HB11 HB22 HB25 HC08 HC11 HC15 HC27 HD16 2F029 AA02 AA07 AB07 AC02 AC06 AC14 AC18 5B075 ND07 PQ02 PQ05 UU13 5B089 GA11 JA33 JB03 JB22 KB15 KB13KB13KB13KB13KB11B JJ77 KK56

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A map distribution device for distributing map data to a terminal, wherein the map data requested to be transmitted from the terminal is added with information on the right to use the map data, and is transmitted to the terminal. A map distribution device comprising: 2. The map distribution device according to claim 1, further comprising a charging unit for charging the user of the terminal that transmitted the map data, wherein the adding unit is configured to charge the map transmitted to the user. When the same map data as the data has been transmitted to the user in the past, the map distribution apparatus does not charge the user for the map data. 3. The map distribution device according to claim 2, wherein the user of the terminal requesting the transmission of the map data confirms whether or not the user is permitted to add the advertisement data to the map data. Further comprising a confirmation unit for notifying a result to the addition unit and the charging unit, wherein the addition unit receives the result from the confirmation unit,
When indicating that the addition of the advertisement data to the map data is permitted, the advertisement data is further added to the map data to which the information regarding the usage right is added, and the map data is transmitted to the terminal. The result received from the means
A map distribution apparatus characterized in that when indicating that addition of advertisement data to map data is permitted, the user is not charged for the map data. 4. A map receiving terminal for receiving map data distributed by the map distribution device according to claim 1, 2 and 3, and storing the map data in a storage device, wherein the map reception terminal displays the map data stored in the storage device. When displaying on the device, extract information on the usage right from the map data, determine whether the map data is usable,
A map receiving terminal displaying the map data on the display device only when the determination result is usable. 5. The map receiving terminal according to claim 4, wherein it is determined whether or not the same map data as the map data determined to be usable is newly downloaded from the map distribution device. And displaying a message for transmitting the map data to the map distribution device when a download instruction is received from a user while displaying a message for performing the download on the display device. 6. The map receiving terminal according to claim 5, wherein before transmitting the request for transmitting the map data to the map distribution device, the free space of the storage device is confirmed, and the free space is insufficient. Displays a message on the display device for selecting one of at least one of stop of download, replacement of the storage device, and erasure of the map data stored in the storage device. A map receiving terminal that performs a process according to the content selected by the user. 7. A map receiving terminal for receiving map data distributed by the map distribution device according to claim 1, 2 and storing the map data in a storage device, and displaying the map data stored in the storage device. When displaying on the device, extract information on the usage right from the map data, determine whether the map data is usable,
When the determination result is unusable, the map data is deleted from the storage device without displaying the map data on the display device. 8. The map receiving terminal according to claim 7, wherein a message is displayed on said display device before said map data is deleted from said storage device. 9. The map receiving terminal according to claim 7, wherein the map data identical to the map data for which the determination result is determined to be unusable is newly downloaded from the map distribution device. A map receiving terminal for displaying, on the display device, a message for confirming the request, and transmitting a map data transmission request to the map distribution device when a download instruction is received from a user. 10. The map receiving terminal according to claim 9, wherein a free space of said storage device is confirmed before transmitting said map data transmission request to said map distribution device, and said free space is insufficient. Displays a message on the display device for selecting one of at least one of stop of download, replacement of the storage device, and erasure of the map data stored in the storage device. A map receiving terminal that performs a process according to the content selected by the user. 11. The method of claim 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or 1.
0. The map receiving terminal according to claim 0, wherein the storage device is configured to be detachable from a map receiving terminal body. 12. A map distribution method for distributing map data requested to be transmitted from a terminal to the terminal, the map data being requested to be transmitted from the terminal by adding information relating to the right to use the map data. A transmitting step of transmitting to the terminal; and a charging step of charging a user of the terminal that has transmitted the map data. The charging step includes the step of transmitting map data that is the same as the map data transmitted to the user in the past. A map distribution method characterized in that when transmitted to the user, the user is not charged for the map data. 13. The map distribution method according to claim 12, wherein prior to the transmitting step and the charging step, the user of the terminal requesting the transmission of the map data is permitted to add the advertisement data to the map data. Further comprising a confirmation step of confirming whether or not the information has been transmitted. If the result of the confirmation step indicates that the addition of the advertisement data to the map data is permitted, When the advertisement data is further added to the added map data and transmitted to the terminal, and the billing step indicates that the result of the confirmation step indicates that the advertisement data is added to the map data, A map distribution method, wherein the user is not charged for the map data.