JP2011081840A - Guide information providing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently provide a user with useful information when the user carries out a schedule registered in advance. <P>SOLUTION: An information providing sever 200 collects information related to the schedule registered in advance from a Web server 400 and the like to store it while considering temporal constraint on the schedule. When the user carries out the schedule, the sever provides the user with a route to his or her destination and guide information collected in advance. The server controls whether to provide information in consideration of a current position of the user, a time left to the next schedule, and the like. Furthermore, after the information is provided, the server checks whether the user takes an action in accordance with the provided information, and determines whether the user needs the provided information. When it is determined that the user does not need it, the server provides the user with the other information. Through the determination processing and the like, the user is efficiently provided with useful information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a guide information providing system that collects information related to a schedule registered in advance and provides the information as guide information.

  A route guidance system for guiding a route to a destination designated by a user is widely used. In recent years, proposals have been made not only for guiding routes but also for providing useful information when moving along routes. For example, Patent Document 1 provides information on where to obtain business books when the user is commuting, and provides information about where to obtain books related to hobbies when he is at leisure. A system for providing information is disclosed. Patent document 2 analyzes the user's preference by a method such as totaling the stores registered by the user for each genre, and if the user searches for a destination, the store according to the user's preference. The system which introduces is disclosed. Patent Document 3 is intended for a car navigation system, and is useful based on the situation of the vehicle and the like, for example, guiding a route to a gas station normally used by a user when the remaining amount of fuel in the vehicle decreases. A system for presenting information is disclosed.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-144551 JP 2004-37292 A JP 2005-339279 A

  However, the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 have been mainly aimed at improving the convenience of the system by providing information according to the user's request when the user wants some information. Although the technology of Patent Document 3 automatically provides information, it determines the timing at which information is requested based on a typical situation such as a decrease in the amount of fuel remaining in the vehicle. It was only when we wanted it that we collected and provided the necessary information. As described above, in the related art, whether the provided information is useful information for the user is determined from the viewpoint of whether the user's request is met.

  The user may act according to a preset schedule. This schedule includes a schedule that is repeated on a daily basis, such as commuting and attending school, and a schedule that is different from the daily basis, such as a business trip. When the schedule is determined in advance, the destination to move and the time to arrive are determined, and thus the route for movement is useful information for the user. Various kinds of information that can be used while moving on this route can also be useful information. However, while moving according to the schedule, the range of action is limited by the next destination and arrival time, so there is a limit to the information that can be used. Information provided without considering the limits that can be used cannot be useful information even if the user's preference or purpose is met. In the prior art, it has not been possible to provide information in consideration of restrictions when executing such a schedule. The present invention has been made in view of this problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide useful information that takes into account restrictions when executing a schedule when a user acts according to the schedule. .

  The present invention can be configured as a guide information providing system that collects information related to a schedule registered in advance and provides the information as guide information. The guide information can be provided using a device that can be referred to by the user when the schedule is executed, such as a mobile phone, a car navigation device, a notebook computer, and a PDA. The guide information providing system may be configured to operate stand-alone using these devices, or may be configured by connecting a terminal using these devices and a server or the like via a network.

  The guide information providing system refers to a schedule registered in advance and collects information related to the schedule from a predetermined information source. The schedule includes time and destination. Information indicating the purpose of movement, such as other information, a meeting, and leisure, may be included in the schedule. The information may be collected from, for example, a DVD or other recording medium installed in the guide information providing system, or may be collected via a network. The information source is not necessarily configured as a part of the guide information providing system. For example, a Web server connected to the Internet may be used as the information source.

  The guide information providing system selects information to be provided to the user from the collected information in consideration of the time and destination specified in the schedule, and provides the selected information to the user as guide information. For example, an aspect in which only information relating to a point within a predetermined distance with respect to a travel route to the next destination is selected, and an aspect in which only information relating to a point within a range that can reach the destination at a specified time is selected. Can be taken. In addition, when providing information about a meal place, information may be selected in consideration of whether or not the time zone for moving to the destination is during a meal. In addition, when there is little time to the next schedule, in order to reduce the risk of delaying the schedule, information on points far from the destination is excluded, and information on points sufficiently close to the destination is selected. You may do it.

  As described above, according to the present invention, information related to the schedule can be collected in advance. Accordingly, since it is not necessary to collect information in real time, a wide variety of useful information can be collected by accessing various information sources. Further, since information suitable for the user's schedule is selected from the collected information and provided, information that is difficult for the user to use due to restrictions on the schedule can be eliminated. Therefore, it is possible to efficiently provide useful information to the user.

  In the present invention, since information is collected according to a schedule registered in advance, it is also possible to collect sufficient information in advance of the time when the schedule is moved to execution. Even if the guide information providing system is composed of a server and a terminal, if the information accumulated in the server is transferred to the terminal at the time of starting execution of the schedule, subsequent communication is not performed thereafter. Guide information can be provided. Therefore, according to the present invention, there is an advantage that guide information can be effectively used even when the communication environment is relatively bad.

  The guide information providing apparatus may be able to acquire the current position of the user. In this case, information to be provided may be further selected based on the acquired current position and current time. By doing so, it is possible to provide information reflecting the deviation between the movement status of the user and the schedule registered in advance. For example, if the user's movement is behind schedule and the time to reach the next destination has become shorter, only the information that can be used even in the delayed situation will be further narrowed down and guided. Information can be provided. Also, if the time margin increases, such as when the user moves earlier than scheduled or when the next schedule is canceled, the information that was once excluded from the collected information is useful information It may be possible to provide as guide information by re-evaluating. The same applies when the route the user is moving from is shifted from the route scheduled in the schedule. In such a case, for example, information incorporated in the guide information because it is close to the planned route can be deleted from the guide information. Also, information that has been excluded from the guide information because it is far from the planned route can be provided as guide information by re-evaluating it as useful information.

  The guide information providing system may collect information by classifying information into a predetermined genre. The genre of classification can be arbitrarily set. For example, a large category such as shopping or a restaurant may be used as a genre, or a subdivided category such as “clothes”, “Japanese clothes”, “sailor clothes”, or “underwear” may be used as a genre. At this time, the guide information providing system can select information while avoiding genre information related to information already provided as guide information. By doing so, it is possible to avoid repeatedly providing similar information to the user, and it is possible to efficiently provide useful information.

  The guide information providing system may refer to a predetermined map database, search for a travel route according to the schedule, and provide guide information indicating the travel route on the map. At this time, it is preferable to display the moving route and the guide information together with the schedule on the display unit. The entire schedule may be displayed, or only a part of the schedule including the next schedule may be displayed. By displaying the schedule together in this way, the user can utilize the movement route and the guide information while being aware of his / her schedule. In the above example, when the guide information providing system is composed of a server and a terminal, the terminal functions as a display unit. Therefore, the server may generate output data to be displayed on the terminal and transmit it to the terminal.

  When the guide information providing system can acquire the current position of the user, the travel route described above may be searched, and a detour route that moves from the current position to a point corresponding to the guide information may be searched. In this case, it is preferable to show both the travel route and the detour route on the map. For example, when providing information such as sights, shops, restaurants, etc. that are slightly off the moving route as guide information, the directions from the current position are provided as a detour route. In this aspect, since the travel route and the detour are provided together, the user can decide whether or not to stop at the location where the information is provided based on the detour distance for detour and the like.

  As described above, in the aspect of providing the movement route and the detour route, it is determined whether or not the user is moving along the detour route based on the current position, and when it is determined that the user has deviated from the detour route, the detour route is determined. It is preferable to stop providing guide information corresponding to. The fact that the vehicle is moving away from the detour route means that the user has decided not to detour, and the display of the detour route is erased. By doing so, it is not necessary for the user to input the necessity of the guide information each time the guide information is provided, so that the convenience of the system can be improved. In this aspect, provision of information is stopped only for information corresponding to the displayed detour route, and new information may be provided as guide information.

  In the present invention, the guide information may include information to be output by voice (hereinafter referred to as “voice guide information”). For example, there may be mentioned a mode of reading out a sight-seeing guide or the like, or outputting a sound advertisement of a store or restaurant. The information that can be provided to the user may include general-purpose information that is output by voice regardless of the schedule. Examples of general information include news, weather forecasts, and advertisements. Music may be included. The voice guide information needs to be output when it is close to a point such as a famous place or store, so its output timing is limited by the schedule, whereas general-purpose information is not limited by the schedule, Output is possible at timing. The guide information providing system can estimate a margin time until the time when voice output of guide information is started based on the current position and schedule of the user. The guide information providing system preferably selects general-purpose information to be output based on the surplus time thus estimated. As an example, it is possible to refer to the time required to output each general-purpose information and to select general-purpose information that can be output within the above-described margin time. When there are a plurality of such general-purpose information, priority may be given to information having a long required time. In this way, by selecting the general information to be output in consideration of the time to output the guide information and the time required for the general information, the blank time when the guide information is not output is used to improve the efficiency. General-purpose information can be provided.

  As described above, the present invention may be configured as a stand-alone system, or may be configured by connecting a server and a client via a network. In the latter aspect, for example, the server refers to a user profile storing a schedule registered in advance and information that can be used to determine the usefulness of the information for the user, and relates to the schedule and the user profile. The function of collecting information from a predetermined information source can be shared. The user profile can be, for example, a database storing information such as user hobbies, preferences, and family structures. By referring to the user profile, the server can collect information in a range related to the user's hobbies and the like.

  The client shares the function of acquiring at least a part of the collected information from the server and providing it as guide information. Since the server normally has sufficient information collection, information storage, and information processing capabilities, according to the above-described configuration, it is possible to collect useful information without restrictions due to these capabilities. In this aspect, the client does not need to acquire all the collected information, but may acquire only a part. If only information that can be used effectively is selected and acquired from the information collected by the various selection methods described above, guide information can be provided efficiently. In this aspect, the client may acquire information from the server prior to schedule execution. This makes it possible to effectively use the collected information regardless of the communication environment between the server and the client.

  The present invention does not necessarily have all the various features described above, and may be configured by omitting some or combining them appropriately. In addition to the above-described guide information providing system, the present invention can also be configured as a guide information providing method for providing guide information by a computer. Moreover, it can also be comprised as a computer program for implement | achieving provision of this guide information, or can be comprised as a recording medium which recorded at least one part of this computer program. In this case, as a recording medium, a flexible disk, a CD-ROM, a magneto-optical disk, an IC card, a ROM cartridge, a punch card, a printed matter on which a code such as a barcode is printed, an internal storage device of a computer (RAM, ROM, etc. Various types of computer-readable media such as a memory) and an external storage device can be used.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the guide information provision system as an Example. It is explanatory drawing which shows the data structure of the personal profile 201 and my box 203. FIG. It is a flowchart of the control processing in a guide information provision system. It is a flowchart of a schedule registration / change process. It is a flowchart of an information collection process. It is a flowchart of an information box maintenance process. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of a display screen at the time of a schedule guide process. It is a flowchart of a schedule guide process. It is a flowchart of a guide information presentation process. It is a flowchart of a general-purpose information output process. It is explanatory drawing which shows the provision example of the guide information in a modification. It is a flowchart of the schedule guide process in a modification.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order.
A. System configuration:
B. data structure:
C. Control processing for providing guide information:
C1. Schedule registration / change processing:
C2. Information box maintenance processing:
C3. Schedule guide processing:
D. Variation:

A. System configuration:
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a guide information providing system as an embodiment. The guide information providing system is a system that collects information related to a schedule registered in advance, and provides information that can be effectively utilized by the user from the collected information together with the travel route when the user executes the schedule. . In this specification, the collected information is called schedule-related information, and the collected information selected as information to be provided to the user is called guide information.

  The guide information providing system of the embodiment is configured by connecting an information providing server 200 (hereinafter also simply referred to as “server”) and terminals 100 [1] and 100 [2] via the Internet INT. In the example in the figure, the terminal 100 [1] is a mobile phone, and the terminal 100 [2] is a car navigation device. In addition, various portable devices such as notebook PCs and PDAs can be used as the terminal. In the following description, both may be collectively referred to simply as the terminal 100. The terminal 100 is required to have a communication function with the Internet INT in order to obtain guide information provided from the information providing server 200, but access to the Internet INT is always secured during execution of the schedule. There is no need. In the example of the figure, an example in which the Internet INT is applied is shown, but a limited network such as an intranet may be used instead of the Internet INT.

  As described above, the guide information providing system is configured with the server 200 and the terminal 100 as the center, but in addition to this, the personal computer 300 and many Web servers 400 [1] and 400 [2] can be included. The personal computer 300 is a device for registering a schedule in the server 200 and managing information collected in advance according to the schedule. In this embodiment, these functions are realized by a Web page provided from the server 200. Therefore, in order to realize the above-described function, the personal computer 300 only needs to have a browser. The above-described functions can also be realized by the terminal 100. In this sense, the personal computer 300 can also be called a type of the terminal 100, but functions such as schedule registration can also be realized by a device that cannot be carried such as a desktop personal computer. Separately shown.

  Web servers 400 [1] and 400 [2] (hereinafter, both may be collectively referred to as Web server 400) are servers that provide various types of information through Web sites on the Internet. In the figure, the Web server 400 [1] provides tourism information, and the Web server 400 [2] provides gourmet information. The provided information is not limited to these, and includes a wide variety of information such as shopping information and administrative information. The Web server 400 need not be a server specialized for the guide information providing system. However, if the server is affiliated with the guide information providing system, a more convenient system can be constructed. For example, the information collection efficiency of the present system can be improved by providing information according to a prescribed format by the Web server 400. Further, by making it possible to include unique parameters in the information, it is possible to control the use mode of information in the guide information providing system from the Web server 400 side.

  In the figure, functional blocks of the information providing server 200 for providing a function as a guide information providing system are also shown. In the present embodiment, these functional blocks are realized in software by installing a computer program configured with a CGI (Common Gateway Interface) or the like for realizing these functions in the information providing server 200. At least a part of the functional blocks in the figure can also be configured in hardware by a circuit such as an ASIC.

  The server 200 includes four databases shown in the figure. As will be described later, the personal profile 201 stores user identification information such as a user ID, name, and date of birth, information such as user hobbies and preferences, and customization information related to screens and audio output. The profile management unit 240 controls reading and writing of the personal profile 201.

  The general information DB 202 stores general information provided to the user by the guide information providing system. General-purpose information refers to information that can be provided regardless of the schedule, and includes news, weather forecasts, various advertisements, and the like. Music may be included. My box 203 stores a schedule registered by the user and information collected by server 200 regarding this schedule (hereinafter referred to as “schedule related information”). The contents of My Box 203 will also be described later.

  The map DB 204 is a database used for route search and guidance to a destination determined based on a schedule, road network data representing roads as a set of nodes and links, drawing data for displaying a map, Is stored. In this embodiment, the server 200 provides guide information by using the function blocks described below while utilizing these databases. Road network data should include network data for vehicles that can be used when traveling by vehicle, network data for pedestrians that can be used when walking, network data for transportation that can be used when using transportation, etc. Can do.

  The communication unit 210 has a function of controlling information exchange via the Internet INT. The information collection unit 250 has a function of storing information obtained via the communication unit 120 in the general-purpose information DB 202 or the My Box 203, or conversely reading out information from these databases. As an example, the information collection unit 250 exchanges information with the personal computer 300, and updates, reads, etc. the schedule in the My Box according to the designation from the user. Further, the information collection unit 250 accesses the Web server 400 to collect general information such as news and advertisements to be stored in the general information DB 202, and collects information to be stored in the My Box 203, that is, schedule related information. To do.

  The information provision control unit 230 refers to the personal profile 201, the general-purpose information DB 202, and the my box 203, and selects guide information to be provided to the user during execution of the schedule. The processing content for selection will be described later. With the function of the information provision control unit 230, the server 200 can provide information highly useful to the user. The route guidance unit 260 searches for a moving route when moving according to the schedule registered in the My Box 203 and a detour route for moving to each point obtained from the schedule related information. The route search can be realized by referring to the road network data in the map DB 204 and applying a known method such as the Dijkstra method. The route guidance unit 260 also displays a map based on the drawing data and displays a travel route and a detour route on the map when the schedule is executed.

  The output data generation unit 220 generates display data to be displayed on the terminal 100 based on data provided from the information provision control unit 230 and the route guide unit 260. In this embodiment, display data is generated using HTML and XML so that a wide variety of terminals 100 can be used. The output data generation unit 220 includes various screens required for the guide information providing system, such as a screen for providing guide information and the like, a screen for registering and managing a schedule, and a menu screen for selecting an operation. Generate display data.

  The functional blocks provided in the terminal 100 [1] are also illustrated in the figure. The terminal 100 [2] has a similar configuration. In the terminal 100, each functional block shown in the figure operates under the management of the main control unit 110. In this embodiment, these functional blocks are configured in software by a program for realizing the function as the terminal 100, but may be configured in hardware.

  The communication unit 120 controls transmission / reception of information via the Internet INT. The command input unit 130 inputs various commands such as selection of a menu, start of guidance, and selection of information to be displayed according to a user operation. The display control unit 150 has a function of performing screen display according to data from the information providing server 200. In this embodiment, it is provided by a browser. A GPS (Global Positioning System) 140 detects the current position of the user. The current position is transmitted to the server 200 and used for display control of guide information and route guidance.

  What is shown here is only an example of a guide information providing system. Each functional block shown in FIG. 1 is not necessarily provided in the information providing server 200 or the terminal 100, and may be realized by cooperation of a plurality of servers by distributed processing.

B. data structure:
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the data structure of the personal profile 201 and the my box 203. The contents of the personal profile 201 are shown on the left side, and the contents of the My Box 203 are shown on the right side. The personal profile 201 is a database for managing users of the guide information providing system and also a database for providing information that can be utilized when selecting information useful for the user. As shown in the figure, personal profile 201 stores personal identification information such as user ID, name, date of birth, sex, and family composition. In the example in the figure, an example in which “USR001” is stored as the user ID is shown. Although the example of storing the number of people such as “wife, one daughter, and one son” is shown as the family structure, the age, hobbies, preferences, and the like of each person may be stored. The more detailed the family structure, the more useful the information collected and selected. For example, when providing guide information when going out for leisure with a family, useful information differs depending on whether the daughter is an elementary school student or a high school girl.

  The personal profile 201 also stores information such as user hobbies and preferences. This information is also used for collecting schedule-related information and selecting guide information. As shown in the figure, it is possible to provide useful information to the user in a manner such as giving priority to ramen shops when providing restaurant information by grasping preferences such as ramen preference Become. The same applies to hobbies. In the example of the figure, preference and hobbies are illustrated, but in addition to this, various information that can be used for collection and selection of guide information, such as occupation, usage record of guide information, and the like can be included.

  The personal profile 201 may further store option information. In the example of the figure, customization information related to information provision is illustrated. The screen color means selection of the background color of the information providing screen. The voice means the type of reading voice at the time of voice output (hereinafter referred to as “voice type”). In this embodiment, the user's favorite voice type is selected from a plurality of types of voice types registered in advance. “FVOICE1” stored in the voice is a registered female voice identification code. When the server 200 outputs the guide information or the like by voice, the voice output data reflecting the voice identification code may be generated and transmitted to the terminal 100.

  My box 203 stores a schedule registered by the user and information collected by server 200 regarding this schedule (hereinafter referred to as “schedule related information”). My box 203 and personal profile 201 are associated with each other by a user ID. In the schedule, the date, time zone, location, schedule contents, and the like are registered. In the example shown in the figure, there is a schedule of “Meeting at company Z from 13:00” on March 1st, and there is no particular schedule of travel between 10:00 and 13:00. I understand that. Further, in the example on March 2, it is understood that a schedule of “customer from 11:00 to 12:00” is included, and a schedule of “lunch after 12:00 to 13:00” is included.

  In the information box, schedule related information is registered. This information and the schedule are associated with each other by “Related ID”. The information shown in the example in the figure has a related ID of “INFO1”, and the related ID of “INFO1” is added to the travel time in the March 1 schedule. It can be seen that the information can be used during the day's movement. A lot of schedule related information is registered in the information box. The related ID may be unique to each piece of information or may be unique to a schedule item. For example, consider a case where there are a plurality of schedule related information related to “move” on March 1 in the example of the figure. According to the former example, since individual pieces of related IDs are attached to all of the information, a plurality of related IDs are registered for “movement” in the schedule. According to the latter example, the schedule-related information is assigned the related ID “INFO1” attached to “move”. Which mode is adopted can be arbitrarily selected. In the case of adopting the former mode, by setting a related ID in a form including a common “INFO1” like “INFO1 ***”, it is possible to easily determine the correspondence with “movement”. Also good.

  Various information shown in the figure is stored in each schedule related information. “Path” represents a storage location of information. A directory or a file name in the server 200 may be used, or a URL of information stored in the Web server 400 may be used. The “priority” represents the priority when providing it as guide information. As will be described later, by using the priority, it is possible to avoid that similar information is repeatedly provided or to preferentially provide information that reflects user preferences. “NORMAL” means normal priority. The “priority” may be a numerical value indicating the level of priority. “Name” stores a name representing schedule-related information such as a store name, a name of a famous place, and a place name. “Location” stores latitude and longitude representing a point related to schedule-related information such as the location of a store, the location of a famous place, and the like. When collecting schedule-related information with reference to the Web server 400, the latitude and longitude may not be specified even if the address can be specified. In such a case, the “location” may be registered as an address. In this embodiment, in order to simplify the processing when providing guide information, “location” is stored in a unified format of latitude and longitude. When the latitude and longitude cannot be collected directly, the server 200 searches the latitude and longitude by referring to the map DB 204 based on the address.

  “Voice” is a voice identification code at the time of outputting voice output data. Similar to the information registered in the personal profile 201, it is information for specifying the voice type registered in the server 200 in advance. This voice identification code is stored when the voice identification code is embedded in the information provided on the website. In this way, the information provider can control the voice type used in the guide information providing system simply by embedding a voice identification code in a part of the information provided by the user through the website. Is possible. For example, in the example of the figure, the store owner of “XX ramen” can provide advertisements and guidance for his / her store with his / her favorite voice.

  The “required time” represents a time margin required when acting according to the schedule related information. For example, in the case of a ramen shop, the time from ordering ramen to finishing eating can be set as the required time. In the case of popular ramen shops, average waiting time may be considered. The required time may be embedded in the information by the information provider, or the server 200 sets an average value according to the type of store, sights, popularity, etc. given by the schedule related information. You may make it do.

  “Provision history” records a history of schedule-related information provided to the terminal 100. In the example shown in the figure, this information is provided to the terminal 100 [1] on March 1, 2006. By referring to the provision history, the server 200 can avoid the same information being repeatedly provided to the user. The provision history may include a history of whether or not the user has used this information.

  The data structure described above is only an example. Both the personal profile 201 and the my box 203 do not need to store all the data shown in the figure, and some items may be omitted. Further, data other than the items shown in the figure may be included. The data storage format is not limited to the example shown in the figure, and various formats can be adopted.

C. Control processing for providing guide information:
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of control processing in the guide information providing system. This corresponds to a main routine executed by the server 200. When the process is started, the server 200 accepts a login from the user (step S10), presents a menu screen, and inputs an instruction from the user (step S12). An example of the menu screen MENU is shown in the figure. In this example, four menus of “1. Schedule registration / change”, “2. Information box maintenance”, “3. Schedule guide”, and “4. Personal profile management” are provided. In response to the selection instruction from the user (step S14), the server executes a process corresponding to each menu.

  When “1. schedule registration / change” is selected, the server 200 performs schedule registration / change processing (step S100). This is a process for registering a schedule in the My Box 203 or changing a registered schedule. Either the terminal 100 or the personal computer 300 can be used, but the personal computer 300 is preferable in terms of operability. Details of the schedule registration / change process will be described later.

  When “2. Information box maintenance” is selected, the server 200 performs information box maintenance processing (step S200). This is a process for adding, changing, and deleting schedule related information accumulated in the My Box 203. Either the terminal 100 or the personal computer 300 can be used, but the personal computer 300 is preferable in terms of operability. Details of the schedule registration / change process will be described later.

  When “3. schedule guide” is selected, the server 200 performs a schedule guide process (step S300). This is a process for guiding a travel route according to the schedule and providing guide information when the schedule is executed. Since it is a process of providing guidance and information provision while the user is moving, the portable terminal 100 is used.

  When “4. Personal profile management” is selected, the server 200 performs personal profile management processing (step S400). This is a process for registering, changing, and deleting the personal profile 201. Either the terminal 100 or the personal computer 300 can be used, but the personal computer 300 is preferable in terms of operability. In this process, the server 200 displays the contents of the personal profile 201 (see FIG. 2) on the user's personal computer 300 and the like, and when the user inputs each item, the personal profile 201 is updated with the contents.

C1. Schedule registration / change processing:
FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the schedule registration / change process. This is a process corresponding to step S100 of the main routine (FIG. 3). As described above, in this process, the terminal 100 can be used. However, for the sake of convenience of explanation, the following description will be made assuming that the personal computer 300 is used.

  When this process is started, the server 200 reads an existing schedule from the my box 203 (step S102). If the schedule is unregistered, the process of step S102 is terminated with substantially nothing being read. Then, the server 200 displays the read schedule on the screen of the personal computer 300, and inputs a schedule editing command based on the user's operation (step S104).

  An example of the schedule edit screen is shown in the figure. The personal computer 300 displays a schedule screen W1 for the designated day. The already registered schedule is displayed on this screen W1. In the example in the figure, the schedule “Meeting at company Z from 13:00” has already been registered. When the user operates the mouse or keyboard of the personal computer 300 to designate any time zone in the screen W1, a sub window W2 for inputting a schedule is displayed. When a time slot in which a schedule has already been registered is clicked, the registered schedule contents are displayed in the sub-window W2. The user can register the date and time, title, location, member, other memos, and the like using this sub-window. Further, whether or not to collect schedule related information can be switched (ON / OFF). When the information collection is turned on, the server 200 assigns a related ID that associates the schedule with the schedule related information. The example in the figure shows a state in which “INFO1” is assigned as the related ID. The editing of the schedule is not limited to the illustrated screen, and various known editing screens can be used.

  In the figure, an example is shown in which the user specifies whether to collect schedule related information. It may not be necessary to specify ON / OFF of information collection. For example, when a schedule is registered, the server 200 may automatically set information collection to ON for the free time immediately before that. In addition, information collection may be performed for all time zones without performing such setting. For example, for a time zone in which a schedule is registered, information corresponding to the schedule may be collected, and for free time, information that can be used effectively while moving to the next schedule may be collected.

  When the editing of the schedule is completed, the server 200 stores the editing result in the my box 203 and updates the schedule (step S106). Then, an information collecting process, that is, a process for collecting schedule related information is executed (step S110).

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the information collection process. In this process, the server 200 reads a schedule from the My Box 203 and extracts a schedule to be collected information, that is, a target schedule (Step S112). In this embodiment, as described above, a schedule for which information collection is set to “ON” is extracted.

  For this target schedule, the server 200 sets the location of the immediately preceding schedule as the start position, and sets the location immediately after the target schedule as the end position (step S114). Then, a route search from the start position to the end position is performed (step S116). The route search can be performed with reference to the road network data in the map DB 204. Here, since schedules before and after the target schedule are given, it is necessary to search for a movement method that does not interfere with the schedule. That is, the start position must be departed at the end time of the immediately preceding schedule, and the end position must be reached at the start time of the immediately following schedule. Such a route may be searched under the condition that the required time is the shortest. When using the Dijkstra method, a route search may be performed so that the cost reflecting the time required for passing through each link is minimized. Various conditions can be considered for the route search. For example, each route may be obtained by variously changing the moving means such as when using a vehicle, walking, or using a transportation facility. When walking, a route that avoids hills and stairs may be searched by attaching a high cost value to hills and stairs. Similarly, by reflecting the user's request in the cost, it is possible to perform a route search considering various requests.

  In this embodiment, the target schedule may be scheduled to be unmovable. For example, the case where the collection of schedule related information is ON for the schedule “conference” is applicable. The processing in step S116 may be omitted for such a schedule that cannot be moved.

  Next, the server 200 reads data relating to user preferences and hobbies from the personal profile 201 (step S118). Then, information is collected from the Web server based on the information taken in above (step S120). This information collection is performed under the following conditions because the purpose is to provide useful information to the user. First, the condition is that the information matches or resembles the user's preference and hobby. For example, when the user has a preference of “Ramen lover”, guidance information on “Ramen shop” may be collected as matching information. Further, as similar information, information on noodle shops such as “Chinese restaurant”, soba shop and udon shop may be collected. The same applies to hobbies. When collecting information, the member composition accompanying the schedule may be considered. For example, in the case of family leisure, it is possible to consider the family structure, family member preferences, hobbies, and the like. In the case of a business trip, it is possible to consider the tastes and hobbies of colleagues at the company.

  The second condition is that information is collected in a spatial range in time for the schedule immediately after. For example, no matter how popular the ramen restaurant is, it cannot be used for information about stores that are so far away that the next schedule is not met. This condition can be determined by various methods. For example, the determination may be made by a simple method such as information about a place within a predetermined distance from the route searched in step S116. The “predetermined distance” in this case can be set in consideration of a margin time to the next schedule, a distance to the next destination, and a user's moving speed. As another aspect, the route search in step S116 may be performed using a place corresponding to the schedule related information as a transit point, and it may be determined whether or not it is in time for the next schedule.

  When information matching the above conditions is obtained, the server 200 attaches the related ID attached to the target schedule to the information and stores it in the information box (step S122). The server 200 repeatedly executes the information collecting process as appropriate, thereby collecting schedule related information for all schedules to which related IDs are attached and strives to collect as much schedule related information as possible for each schedule. For example, the information collection process may be repeatedly executed until a certain number of pieces of information are collected for all schedules.

  In the above description, the case where the information collection processing is performed when the schedule is registered / changed is shown. The information collection process can also be executed at other timings. For example, until the schedule is executed, the schedule may be periodically executed regardless of whether or not the schedule is registered / changed. By repeatedly executing in this way, more information and newer information can be collected.

C2. Information box maintenance processing:
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the information box maintenance process. This process corresponds to step S200 of the main routine. This process is a process for the user to confirm the schedule related information collected by the server 200 before executing the schedule, and to delete unnecessary information. As described above, in this process, the terminal 100 can be used. However, for the sake of convenience of explanation, the following description will be made assuming that the personal computer 300 is used.

  When the process is started, the server 200 receives a schedule for displaying schedule-related information from the user, that is, designation of a target schedule (step S202). When the user designates the target schedule using the personal computer 300, the server 200 refers to the information box of the my box 203 and reads information with the related ID assigned to the target schedule (step S204).

  The server 200 displays the read result on the personal computer 300 and accepts editing of schedule related information (step S206). The example of the edit screen displayed on the personal computer 300 is shown in the figure. In this example, as indicated by an arrow on the left side of the screen, a travel route according to the schedule is displayed on the map. An item of schedule related information is displayed in the lower right, and a location corresponding to this item is displayed on the map. In the example in the figure, information a “XX ramen”, information b “ΔΔ champon”, and information c “** udon” are obtained as schedule related information. In the map on the left, the positions of the stores corresponding to the respective information are displayed with the symbols a to c. Here, an example of a store has been shown, but the same applies to famous places and the like. The registered schedule is displayed on the upper right.

  In the illustrated editing screen, as described above, the user can grasp the positional relationship between the point corresponding to the schedule related information (hereinafter referred to as “setting place”) and the moving route by the map, and at the same time, the schedule screen on the upper right. Can grasp the time margin until the next schedule. Further, when each item is clicked on the lower right screen, detailed information may be displayed. The user lists these pieces of information and determines whether schedule-related information is necessary. For example, if it is determined that the information a “XX ramen” is unnecessary because the store is far away, check the information a check box in the lower right area of the screen and click the “delete” button. .

  When the editing result is input, the server 200 updates the contents of the information box accordingly (step S208), and ends the information box maintenance process. In the embodiment, the method of deleting information is exemplified, but the information collected by the user himself / herself may be added. For example, the user can input a path or URL of information on the editing screen shown in step S206, and in step S208, the server 200 may acquire information and store it in the information box according to this.

C3. Schedule guide processing:
When it is time to execute the schedule, the user instructs the schedule guide on the menu screen MENU (see FIG. 3). In response to this instruction, the server 200 provides the terminal 100 with support information when the user executes the schedule, that is, a route to the destination and other useful information. In the following, first, specific processing contents in the schedule / guide processing will be described using a display screen example of the terminal 100, and then a flowchart for realizing this processing will be shown.

  As described above, at the time of starting the schedule, the server 200 has accumulated all the information necessary for the schedule guide. Therefore, the user can execute schedule / guide processing without performing communication with the server 200 by downloading these pieces of information to the terminal 100 at once. However, in the following description, it is assumed that the terminal 100 is in an environment where communication with the server 200 is possible as appropriate. This is because by communicating with the server 200 during the schedule guide, there is an advantage that the content of the information to be provided can be flexibly changed according to the current state of the user.

  FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen at the time of schedule / guide processing. FIG. 7A shows a screen that is moving toward the next destination. On this screen, a map and a travel route are displayed on the left side, a schedule is displayed on the upper right, and guide information is presented on the lower right. In the present embodiment, a screen configuration similar to the screen at the time of the information box maintenance process (FIG. 6) is adopted. However, in the information box / maintenance process, a list of schedule-related information is displayed in the lower right, whereas in the schedule / guide process, any selected information is presented. Hereinafter, of the schedule related information, the information selected to be presented to the user is referred to as “guide information”.

  A point PP in FIG. 7A represents the current position of the user. The solid arrow represents the travel route to the next scheduled destination. The hatched points a, b, and c in the figure represent the locations of schedule related information near the current position. The server 200 selects the point c closest to the current position PP from among these, and displays detailed information on the lower right of the screen as guide information. In addition, a detour route from the current position PP to the point c is displayed on the map on the left side as indicated by a broken line arrow. The user can list the contents of the travel route, the detour route, the schedule, and the guide information on this display screen. The user can determine whether to visit the point c provided by the guide information by comprehensively considering these pieces of information.

  FIG. 7B is an example of a display screen when the user decides to visit the point c. In this embodiment, when the user starts to travel along the detour route for a certain distance or for a certain time, the server 200 determines that the user intends to visit the point c, and the server 200 in FIG. Display the screen. Instead of the method of determining according to the movement status of the user or together with such a determination method, the user may operate the terminal 100 to instruct the server 200 to visit the point c. In the screen of FIG. 7B, a detour route is displayed as indicated by a solid arrow in the drawing. The previous travel route disappears, and after visiting the point c, the route to the destination is searched again and displayed. If the terminal 100 is in an environment where communication with the server 200 is not possible, the route cannot be re-searched, and the previous movement route may be displayed as it is.

  In the example of the figure, it is assumed that the schedule related information ac is information of a common genre such as “noodle shop”. When the user decides to visit the point c, the server 200 further determines that there is no need to provide similar information as guide information. Therefore, the provision of information a and c, which are common genre information, is stopped. As a result, in the embodiment of FIG. 7B, the points a and b are switched to display in a state where hatching is deleted. You may make it switch after waiting until a user arrives at the point c. Alternatively, once the user starts to proceed to the point c, the hatching display may be restored again when the visit to the point c is interrupted after being deleted once.

  FIG. 7C is a display screen example when the user does not visit the point c. In this embodiment, the server 200 determines that the user does not intend to visit the point c when the user does not take the detour route and starts to proceed for a certain distance or for a certain time along the moving route. The screen of FIG. 7C is displayed. In this screen, the detour route to the point c is erased, and the point c is switched to a display without hatching. Also, the display of the guide information column is deleted. The points a and b are displayed as hatched as they are. However, since the current position PP is still passing from the points a and b, the detour route and the guide information are not presented.

  As described above, in the schedule / guide processing, the server 200 presents guide information according to the current position of the user, and determines whether or not to adopt the presented guide information according to the progress of the user, thereby guiding the guide information. Switch. This makes it possible to provide useful information without requiring a complicated operation from the user.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the schedule / guide processing. This process corresponds to step S300 of the main routine. When this process is started, the server 200 reads schedule data and a route search result (step S302). Then, the current position and current time of the user are input (step S304), and it is determined whether or not the schedule currently being executed is the target schedule (step S306). When the target schedule is being executed, the server 200 executes guide information presentation processing and general-purpose information output processing (steps S310 and S330). The guide information presentation process is a process of selecting guide information to be provided to the user from the schedule related information accumulated in the My Box. The general-purpose information output process is a process of selecting general-purpose information to be output from a general-purpose information such as news and advertisements using a blank time zone in which there is no guide information to be output (step S330). The contents of each process will be shown later. If the target schedule is not being executed (step S306), the server 200 skips the guide information presentation process and the general-purpose information output process, and proceeds to the next process.

  Based on the above processing, the server 200 also guides the travel route to the terminal 100 and outputs guide information and general-purpose information (step S350). The route guidance is performed by presenting a map, a current position, and a moving route on the screen of the terminal 100 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, the guide information displays a point corresponding to the guide information on the map, displays a detour route to that point, and displays the content of the guide information at the lower right of the screen. The general information can be displayed in the guide information area at the lower right of the screen. If the guide information and general-purpose information include audio data, the server 200 also outputs the audio. The voice output uses the voice type designated by the user in the personal profile 201 (see FIG. 2) or the voice type designated by the information provider through the website. The latter is preferred over the former. The server 200 repeatedly executes the above processing until the user completes the schedule or until the user instructs the end of the schedule guide processing (step S352).

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the guide information presentation process. This process corresponds to step S310 of the schedule / guide process. In this process, the server 200 extracts, from the information box, guide information whose point corresponding to the schedule related information (hereinafter referred to as “setting place”) is closest to the current position (step S311). When extracting the guide information, various factors may be considered in addition to the distance relationship with the current position. For example, as previously shown in FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, the presentation history is recorded in the schedule related information. In step S311, the server 200 may select guide information from information not presented to the user with reference to the presentation history. By doing so, for example, even when the terminal used by the user is changed during the schedule / guide processing, it is possible to avoid the presented information being repeatedly presented.

  As another aspect, a user's preference and hobby may be considered. In this way, when a plurality of schedule related information is collected in the vicinity of the current position, it is possible to preferentially select information that matches the user's preference and hobby. You may consider hobbies and preferences of not only the user but also the accompanying person. Moreover, you may consider the content of a time slot | zone and the next schedule. For example, it is preferable to select the guide information excluding the restaurant information when it is out of the meal time zone, and it is preferable to select the restaurant information preferentially in the case of the meal time zone. When the next schedule is work, it may be possible to adopt a mode in which information about a coffee shop is preferentially guided over a tavern.

  Next, the server 200 searches for a detour route from the current position to the set place (step S312). Further, with reference to the schedule data, a margin time from the current time to the next schedule is obtained, and it is determined whether or not the required time (see FIG. 2) registered in the guide information is within an allowable range (step S313). In this determination, it is necessary to consider the time required to move to the set point in addition to the registered required time. That is, it is necessary to have a relationship of “required time <margin time−travel time”. The travel time can be estimated by various methods. For example, the travel time may be estimated according to the distance from the current location to the set location or the distance from the travel route to the set location. The travel time may be obtained based on the detour route obtained in step S312 and the moving speed of the user.

  When it is determined that the required time is within the allowable range (step S313), the server 200 next determines the positional relationship between the current position of the user, the movement route, and the detour route (step S314). Since it is determined that the guide information extracted at this point is presented to the user, the server 200 records the presentation time, the information of the terminal that presented the information, and the like in the guide information presentation history.

  At first, when guide information is presented, there is a case where the movement route and the detour route are not branched. In such a case, that is, when the current position corresponds to either the moving route or the detour route, the server 200 cannot determine whether or not the user is going to use the presented guide information. The guide information presentation process is terminated. In this case, since the data of the detour route is not deleted, both the travel route and the detour route are displayed on the guidance screen (step S350 in FIG. 8).

  On the other hand, when the current position is not on the moving route but on the detour route, the user is determined to move according to the presented guide information as described in FIG. 7B. . Accordingly, the server 200 performs a reroute process for the movement route (step S315). That is, the route from the set point indicated by the guide information to the next scheduled destination is searched, and this is replaced with the previous travel route and presented to the user. If the user has not yet visited the set place (step S316), the guide information presentation process is terminated. On the other hand, after the user visits the set location (step S316), the guide information of the same genre as the set location is deleted (step S317). As a result, it is possible to avoid the information of the same genre being repeatedly provided to the user as the points a and b are switched to the display without hatching in FIG. 7B. Even in the case of information of the same genre, the processing in step S317 may be omitted in accordance with the user's designation or the like, considering that there is a user who desires it repeatedly.

  If the current position is not on the detour (step S314), the server 200 determines that guide information corresponding to the detour route is unnecessary, and deletes this guide information (step S318). As a result, as shown in FIG. 7C, the point c, which is the guide information setting location, is switched to the display without hatching, that is, the point irrelevant to the guide information. Also, the detour route for this point is deleted. Even when it is determined in step S313 that the required time exceeds the allowable range, the server 200 performs the above process (step S318).

  In the guide information presentation process of the embodiment, an example is shown in which guide information is deleted in steps S317 and S318. The guide information may be completely deleted from the information box, or the “priority” data in the information box may be rewritten to “delete”. In the latter case, the server 200 only needs to extract the guide information except for the information with “deleted”. In the latter mode, although the guide information is apparently deleted, there is an advantage that it can be easily used again by rewriting the data of “priority”. Further, instead of deleting the guide information or the like, a process for reducing the priority of the guide information may be performed. In this case, for example, the server 200 may provide guide information with a low priority only when guide information to be provided to the user cannot be obtained from information with a high priority.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the general-purpose information output process. This process corresponds to step S330 of the schedule / guide process. Here, it is assumed that the general-purpose information is accompanied by audio output. The server 200 first determines whether audio information is being output (step S331). This is because there is no necessity or possibility of outputting general-purpose information accompanied by voice during voice information output. The audio information may be guide information or general-purpose information.

  When the audio information is not output (step S331), the server 200 acquires an information list from the general information DB 202 (step S332). An example of the information list is shown in the figure. In this example, news 1, news 2, advertisement 1 and the like are registered, and the time required to output each voice is recorded.

  Next, the server 200 extracts guide information including audio data from the information box (step S333). Then, based on the current position, the set location of the guide information, and the moving speed, a margin time until the audio data of the guide information is output is estimated (step S334). When the guide information setting location is on the moving route, first, the distance from the current position to the setting location is obtained, and this is divided by the moving speed, so that a margin time until voice output can be obtained. When the guide information setting location deviates from the travel route, a point closest to the set location on the travel route may be obtained, and a margin time may be obtained based on the distance from the current position to this point. A point where guide information should be output may be set on the movement route in advance.

  The server 200 selects general-purpose information to be output based on the following conditions based on the margin time thus obtained (step S335). According to the condition 1, the server 200 gives priority to information that is provided to the user a minimum number of times. Since the general-purpose information is information such as news and advertisements, it can be repeatedly provided to the user. However, it is preferable that the general-purpose information is provided on an average without any deviation in the number of times of provision. By preferentially selecting information with the minimum number of times to be provided to the user, it is possible to suppress bias when providing general-purpose information. According to the condition 1, for example, when the number of times of providing news 1 is 0, the number of times of providing news 2 and advertisement 1 is 1 or more, news 1 has priority. When all the general-purpose information is provided at the same number of times, the information is selected according to other conditions without dominance by the number of times.

  According to the condition 2, the server 200 selects information whose general-purpose information audio output time is less than the margin time. By doing so, it is possible to output the general information so that it falls within the blank time until the voice output of the guide information starts without any trouble such as the end of the general information being cut off. Condition 2 may be handled as an indispensable condition when selecting information, or may be handled as a condition for simply determining the priority of selection. According to the latter example, when there is no general-purpose information that can be accommodated within the margin time, the general-purpose information is selected without considering the condition 2. As a result, the general-purpose information is output with the end being cut off. Will be.

  Under condition 3, the server 200 selects the one that satisfies the conditions 1 and 2 and has the longest audio output time. That is, the condition 3 is a narrowing condition that is applied when there are a plurality of pieces of output information corresponding to the conditions 1 and 2. The longest one is selected in consideration of the fact that the longer the output time, the lower the possibility of output within the margin time. By selecting under this condition, it is possible to mitigate the decrease in the number of times of output of general information with a long audio output time.

  Conditions 1 to 3 for selecting general-purpose information are not limited to the above example, and various settings are possible. Some of the conditions described above may be omitted, or other conditions may be added.

  According to the guide information providing system of the embodiment described above, when the schedule is registered, the server 200 automatically collects information related to the schedule, so that the burden of information collection by the user can be reduced. In addition, since there are fewer time restrictions on information collection compared to information collection during schedule execution, the server 200 has an advantage that useful and latest information can be collected over a wide range. In this process, the guide information providing system collects information that can be used by the user within the time constraints of the schedule, so that it is avoided that unnecessary information that cannot be used is provided to the user. Can be provided. Furthermore, the guide information providing system of the embodiment can select and provide highly useful information to the user according to the current position of the user from the information thus collected. Utilization can be promoted.

D. Variation:
In the embodiment, an example in which information collected before the execution of the schedule is used has been shown. The guide information providing system may collect information in parallel during the schedule and guide processing. Hereinafter, as a modification, a processing example in the case where information collection is performed in parallel will be described.

  FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of providing guide information in a modified example. The case where a user moves with a vehicle was illustrated. A car navigation device mounted on the vehicle functions as the terminal 100.

  In the example of the figure, it is assumed that a schedule for moving from point A to point E is registered in the server 200. The server 200 acquires guide information C and guide information D according to this schedule. In this example, the guide information D is exemplified as four types prepared according to the four seasons. In such a case, the server 200 may acquire all season information, or may acquire only season information corresponding to the schedule. The guide information C and D are information such as sights slightly away from the moving route. In the modification, these pieces of information are stored in association with points C and D on the movement route. By doing so, the guide information C and D only have to be flowed when the user reaches the points C and D. Therefore, there is an advantage that the timing for providing the guide information can be determined relatively easily. A point associated with guide information as a place to provide information in this way is hereinafter referred to as an “information providing position”.

  When the user departs, the information downloaded to the server 200 is downloaded. The car navigation device as the terminal 100 provides route guidance based on this information, and provides the collected guide information to the user when the user reaches the C point and the D point. In addition, the terminal 100 acquires real-time information as needed. Real-time information is meaningful information if it is obtained at the time of schedule execution. In the example of the figure, an example of acquiring traffic jam information of the section B is shown. The terminal 100 provides the acquired real-time information to the user as appropriate.

  FIG. 12 is a flowchart of the schedule / guide processing in the modification. This is a process executed by the terminal 100. When this process is started, the terminal 100 downloads schedule data, route search results, and guide information from the server 200 (step S500). Then, the current position and time are input (step S502), and real-time information is acquired (step S504). The acquisition timing of the real-time information is not limited to the illustrated example, and various timings can be adopted.

  When the terminal 100 has reached the information providing position (step S506), the terminal 100 provides guide information and real time information (step S508). In the case of real-time information, it may be provided at the time of acquisition. The terminal 100 repeatedly executes the above processing until the destination is reached (step S510).

  According to the schedule / guide process of the modified example, the guide information collected in advance by the server 200 and the real-time information can be used together. Since the guide information collected in advance is downloaded in a lump, even if the terminal 100 cannot communicate with the server 200, it can be provided to the user without any trouble. On the other hand, information that is known only at the time of schedule execution such as traffic jam information can be acquired as real-time information, so that information that cannot be collected in advance can be supplemented, and more useful information is provided to the user. It becomes possible. Further, since only real-time information is required for communication, there is an advantage that the communication load is reduced.

  In the modification, the information collected by the server 200 is downloaded at the time of departure. However, as in the embodiment, it is also possible to adopt a configuration in which guide information is appropriately acquired from the server 200 during movement. In the case of adopting such a configuration, the server 200 may obtain real-time information and then provide it to the terminal 100. As described above, in the configuration via the server 200, since the necessity of information can be determined by the server 200, more complicated processing than when processing by the terminal 100 can be applied, and more useful information can be efficiently used. There is an advantage that can be provided to the user.

  Further, when the terminal has a sufficient storage capacity and processing speed, such as when a car navigation device is used as a terminal as in a modification, the terminal may be provided with a map DB, a route guidance unit, and an information provision control unit. Good. By doing so, there is an advantage that the communication load with the server can be reduced.

  As mentioned above, although the various Example of this invention was described, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to these Examples, and can take a various structure in the range which does not deviate from the meaning.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Terminal, 110 ... Main control part, 120 ... Communication part, 130 ... Command input part, 140 ... GPS, 150 ... Display control part, 200 ... Information provision server 201 ... personal profile, 202 ... general-purpose information DB, 203 ... my box, 204 ... map DB, 220 ... output data generation unit, 230 ... information provision control unit, 240 .. Profile management unit, 250... Information collection unit, 260... Route guidance unit, 300.

The present invention relates to a server that collects information related to a schedule registered in advance and provides the information as guide information, and a guide information providing system including the server .

The invention of claim 1 is an information providing server that is connected to a user terminal so as to be communicable and provides guide information collected from a Web server to the terminal, and means for registering a schedule including at least time and place information of the user Means for extracting the target schedule specified by the user from the registered schedule, means for searching for a route from the departure point on the schedule to the destination on the schedule based on the extracted target schedule, and the searched route And a means for collecting guide information to be provided to the terminal from a Web server.
The invention of claim 2 is a guide information providing system comprising the information providing server according to claim 1 and the terminal, wherein the terminal provides the route information searched from the information providing server together with the information providing server. A guide information providing system comprising: means for reading the collected guide information; and means for displaying a location corresponding to the read guide information on the searched route.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the guide information system according to the second aspect, the guide information provided to the terminal in relation to the route is information classified for each predetermined genre. And a means for allocating information classified for each genre to the schedule and storing the information in association with the route obtained as a result of the route search.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the guide information providing system according to the second or third aspect, wherein the information providing server considers a moving speed of the user in a route search from the departure place to the destination on the schedule. The guide information providing system is characterized in that a route search is performed for a plurality of routes within a location range in time for the schedule at the destination.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the guide information providing system according to any one of the second to fourth aspects, the information providing server is based on departure position information on the schedule in which the target schedule is designated. The guide information providing system is characterized in that the location of the guide information closest to the departure position is selected, and the terminal displays the detailed information of the guide information.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the guide information providing system according to the fifth aspect, when the location of the guide information closest to the current position on the schedule is not on the searched route, the information providing server The guide information providing system is characterized in that a side trip route to a location is searched and the terminal displays the side trip route.
The guide information can be provided using a device that can be referred to by the user when the schedule is executed, such as a mobile phone, a car navigation device, a notebook computer, and a PDA. The guide information providing system may be configured to operate stand-alone using these devices, or may be configured by connecting a terminal using these devices and a server or the like via a network.

Claims (1)

A guide information providing system that collects information related to a pre-registered schedule and provides it as guide information,
An information collection unit that refers to a pre-registered schedule including a time and a destination and collects information related to the schedule from a predetermined information source;
An information provision control unit that selects information to be provided to a user from among the collected information in consideration of the time and destination, and provides the selected information as the guide information;
A current position acquisition unit that acquires the current position of the user, and the guide information includes information to be output by voice,
The information collecting unit further holds general-purpose information that can be output as a voice regardless of the schedule,
The information provision control unit estimates a margin time until the time to start outputting the guide information to be output based on the current position and the schedule, and outputs the general information to be output based on the estimated margin time Guide information providing system for selecting information.

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