JP7312589B2 - Communication system, communication method, and communication device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a communication system, communication method, and communication device.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in movie theaters and the like, it is often the case that a visitor designates in advance the position of his or her seat.

JP 2014-175011 A

However, since the movie theater gets dark before the movie is shown, it may be difficult to see the plate or the like on which the seats are written, and it may be difficult for the audience to move to the designated seats.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and proposes a communication system, a communication method, and a communication device that facilitate movement to a target position.

A communication system according to an embodiment includes a communication device, a plurality of seat-side transmission terminals that communicate with the communication device, and a plurality of user-side transmission terminals that communicate with the communication device.前記通信装置は、複数の座席が配置された所定の領域において、複数の座席の各々に対応する位置に設けられた複数の前記座席側送信端末の各々から、当該座席側送信端末をそれぞれ識別する第１の識別情報を、無線通信を介して受信する第１の受信処理部と、前記第１の受信処理部が前記第１の識別情報を受信した際の第１の信号強度を取得する第１の取得部と、前記第１の信号強度に基づいて、前記座席側送信端末の位置情報を算出する第１の算出部と、複数の利用者がそれぞれ備えている複数の前記利用者側送信端末の各々から、当該利用者側送信端末をそれぞれ識別する第２の識別情報を、無線通信を介して受信する第２の受信処理部と、前記第２の受信処理部が前記第２の識別情報を受信した際の第２の信号強度を取得する第２の取得部と、前記第２の信号強度に基づいて、前記利用者側送信端末の位置情報を算出する第２の算出部と、前記座席側送信端末の位置情報と、前記利用者側送信端末の位置情報と、の間の距離に基づいて、所定の処理として、前記距離が所定の範囲内の場合に、前記座席の各々に設けられた前記座席側送信端末が有する表示部を点灯させる指示を出力する処理部と、を備える。

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a seat guidance system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a seat layout of a movie theater according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the software configuration of each device that constitutes the seat guidance system in the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by the display processing unit of the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the installation procedure of the seat guidance system of the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the operation procedure of the seat guidance system of the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure up to registration of information on visitors in the seat guidance system of the first embodiment. FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure for guiding a visitor to a target seat in the seat guidance system of the first embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram exemplifying a seat layout of a modified movie theater. FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing the procedure until a visitor finds another visitor who has strayed in the seat guidance system of the second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by the display processing unit of the second embodiment.

Hereinafter, a communication system, a communication method, and a communication device according to embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The communication system, communication method, and communication device of the embodiments described below are applied to a seat guidance system in which a visitor is guided to a target seat based on a tag carried by the visitor in a movie theater. Note that the place to be guided to the target seat is not limited to the movie theater, and may be any place as long as it is a predetermined area where seats are installed, such as a concert hall or a wedding hall.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a seat guidance system 1 according to the first embodiment. The seat guidance system 1 according to the first embodiment includes a plurality of person tags 10, a plurality of seat area tags 20, gateways 30A to 30F (hereinafter, the configuration common to each of the gateways 30A to 30F is also referred to as gateway 30), an access point 40, a cloud server 50, a public network 60, a base station 70, and a mobile communication terminal 80.

The people tag 10 is carried by a visitor who has entered the movie theater. The person tag 10 functions as a user-side transmission terminal that transmits a person tag ID that identifies a visitor. For example, the personal tag 10 is attached to a neck strap or the like, and is carried by the visitor hanging from the neck. Also, the personal tag 10 may be integrated into a card or the like and carried by the user.

A plurality of seat area tags 20 are provided at positions corresponding to the seats. The seat area tag 20 functions as a seat-side transmitting terminal that transmits a seat area tag ID for identifying a seat.

The seat area tag 20 identifies the seat area tag 20, in other words, outputs a transmission signal including a seat area tag ID for identifying the seat provided with the seat area tag 20 at regular intervals (for example, once before the start of business for one day) as radio waves. As a transmission signal transmitted by the seat area tag 20 of the present embodiment, for example, a BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy) communication function may be used, but any communication method may be used as long as it is a wireless communication function.

The seat area tag 20 includes an LED lighting portion 21. - 特許庁Therefore, the seat area tag 20 can be lit according to the lighting instruction from the gateway 30 .

The human tag 10 outputs a transmission signal including a human tag ID for identifying the human tag 10, in other words, for identifying the visitor carrying the human tag 10, as radio waves at regular intervals (for example, one second). For example, the BLE communication function may be used as the transmission signal transmitted by the human tag 10 of the present embodiment, but any communication method may be used as long as it is a wireless communication function.

A two-dimensional barcode is attached to the human tag 10 of the present embodiment. This two-dimensional barcode stores a person tag ID that identifies the person tag 10 and an area tag ID that indicates the target seat of the visitor to whom the person tag 10 is passed. Thus, in this embodiment, the person tag 10 corresponding to the intended seat is handed over to the visitor at the reception of the movie theater.

The gateways 30A to 30F have a Wi-Fi communication function and a BLE communication function, and function as communication relay devices. When the gateways 30A to 30F receive a transmission signal from the human tag 10 or the seat area tag 20 using the BLE communication function, the gateways 30A to 30F use the Wi-Fi communication function to transmit information about the received human tag 10 or the seat area tag 20 to the access point 40. A plurality of gateways 30A-30F are arranged at different predetermined positions in the movie theater.

When the gateways 30A to 30F receive a signal from the person tag 10 or the seat area tag 20, the gateway 30A to 30F acquires the signal strength of the signal.

Then, the gateways 30A to 30F associate the human tag ID received from the human tag 10 with the signal strength when the signal is received from the human tag 10 and the gateway ID indicating the own device, and transmit it to the cloud server 50 via the access point 40.

FIG. 2 is a diagram exemplifying the seating layout of a movie theater according to this embodiment. In the example shown in FIG. 2, a seat area tag 20 is provided for each seat arranged in a movie theater. The seat area tag 20 is attached, for example, to a predetermined area of the armrest of the seat.

As shown in FIG. 2, the gateways 30A-30F are installed at predetermined positions within the movie theater. A plurality of gateways 30 receive area tag IDs transmitted from seat area tags 20 provided for each seat. Each of the multiple gateways 30 acquires the signal strength and transmits the signal strength of the received area tag ID to the cloud server 50 . As a result, the cloud server 50 can calculate the position information of the seat using a three-point positioning method or the like based on the signal strength and area tag ID transmitted from each of the plurality of gateways 30 .

The cloud server 50 can calculate the location information of the visitor carrying the human tag 10 based on the signal strength and the human tag ID transmitted from each of the plurality of gateways 30 by a similar method.

Further, in the present embodiment, in the case of the target seat 201 of the visitor, when the visitor is included in the predetermined range 202 from the target seat 201, the LED lighting section 21 of the seat area tag 20 provided at the target seat 201 lights up. This allows the visitor to specify the desired seat 201 even if the inside of the movie theater is dark.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the software configuration of each device that constitutes the seat guidance system 1 in this embodiment.

The seat guidance system 1 includes gateways 30A and 30B, an access point 40, a cloud server 50, and a mobile communication terminal 80.

The gateways 30A and 30B are provided with a tag communication processing section 431, an intensity acquisition section 432, and an AP communication processing section 433. In the example shown in FIG. 4, the gateway 30A receives a radio signal from the person tag 10, and the gateway 30B receives a radio signal from the seat area tag 20. Gateways 30A to 30F can receive radio signals from both the person tag 10 and the seat area tag 20.

The tag communication processing unit 431 of the gateway 30B performs wireless communication with the person tag 10 and the seat area tag 20 using the BLE function.

For example, the tag communication processing unit 431 of the gateway 30B functions as a reception processing unit that receives, using the BLE function, an area tag ID that identifies the seat area tag 20 from the seat area tag 20 provided at the position corresponding to the seat in a movie theater where a plurality of seats are arranged. In this embodiment, the area tag ID is received from each of the seat area tags 20 provided on each of a plurality of seats, but this embodiment is not limited to the method of providing each of the seats with the seat area tag 20.

The intensity acquisition unit 432 of the gateway 30B acquires the signal intensity when the tag communication processing unit 431 receives the area tag ID.

The AP communication processing unit 433 performs wireless communication with the access point 40 using the Wi-Fi function.

For example, the AP communication processing unit 433 of the gateway 30B wirelessly transmits the area tag ID that identifies the seat area tag 20, the signal strength when the area tag ID is received, and the gateway ID that identifies the gateway 30B to the access point 40 using the Wi-Fi function.

Furthermore, when the AP communication processing unit 433 of the gateway 30B receives an instruction to light the LED lighting unit 21 together with the area tag ID from the cloud server 50 via the access point 40, the tag communication processing unit 431 transmits an instruction to light the LED lighting unit 21 to the seat area tag 20 identified by the area tag ID.

The configuration for the gateway 30B to receive the radio signal from the seat area tag 20 has been described above. Next, the configuration for the gateway 30A to receive the radio signal from the human tag 10 will be described.

The tag communication processing unit 431 of the gateway 30A functions as a reception processing unit that receives, via wireless communication, the person tag ID that identifies the person tag 10 from the person tag 10 that the visitor has.

The intensity acquisition unit 432 of the gateway 30A acquires the signal intensity when the tag communication processing unit 431 receives the human tag ID.

The AP communication processing unit 433 of the gateway 30B transmits the human tag ID that identifies the human tag 10, the signal strength when the human tag ID is received, and the gateway ID that identifies the gateway 30A to the access point 40 using the Wi-Fi function.

The access point 40 includes a gateway communication processing section 441 and a server communication processing section 442 .

The gateway communication processing unit 441 receives, from the gateway 30, an area tag ID that identifies the seat area tag 20, a signal strength when the area tag ID is received, and a gateway ID that identifies the gateway 30B using the Wi-Fi function.

Then, the server communication processing unit 442 transmits the area tag ID that identifies the seat area tag 20, the signal strength when the area tag ID is received, and the gateway ID that identifies the gateway 30B to the cloud server 50 via the public network 60.

In addition, the gateway communication processing unit 441 uses the Wi-Fi function to receive the human tag ID that identifies the human tag 10, the signal strength when the human tag ID is received, and the gateway ID that identifies the gateway 30A from the gateway 30.

Then, the server communication processing unit 442 transmits the human tag ID that identifies the human tag 10, the signal strength when the human tag ID is received, and the gateway ID that identifies the gateway 30A to the cloud server 50 via the public network 60.

The cloud server 50 includes an AP communication processing unit 451, a seat position calculation unit 452, a visitor position calculation unit 453, a processing unit 454, a mobile side communication processing unit 455, a visitor information DB 456, a seat information DB 457, and a gateway DB 458.

The gateway DB 458 stores, for each gateway 30, a gateway ID that identifies the gateway 30 and location information that indicates the location where the gateway 30 is provided, in association with each other.

The AP communication processing unit 451 receives from the server communication processing unit 442 the area tag ID for identifying the seat area tag 20, the signal strength when the area tag ID is received, and the gateway ID for identifying the gateway 30B.

In this embodiment, when the signal strength of the same area tag ID is received from a plurality of gateways 30, the seat position calculation unit 452 calculates the position information of the seat area tag 20 identified by the area tag ID, in other words, the position information of the seat provided with the seat area tag 20, based on the gateway DB 458 and the signal strength when each of the plurality of gateways 30 receives the area tag ID.

The seat information DB 457 stores the area tag ID and the position information calculated by the seat position calculator 452 in association with each other. In the present embodiment, since the area tag ID for identifying the seat area tag 20 is transmitted infrequently, the position information calculated by the seat position calculation unit 452 is stored in the seat information DB 457, and is used when calculating the distance to the human tag 10.

The AP communication processing unit 451 receives, from a plurality of gateways 30, the person tag ID for identifying the person tag 10, the signal strength when the person tag ID is received, and the gateway ID for identifying the gateway 30A.

In this embodiment, when the signal intensity of the same person tag ID is received from a plurality of gateways 30, the visitor position calculation unit 453 calculates the position information of the person tag 10 identified by the person tag ID, in other words, the position information of the visitor carrying the person tag 10, based on the gateway DB 458 and the signal strength when each of the plurality of gateways 30 receives the person tag ID.

The processing unit 454 performs predetermined processing based on the distance between the positional information of the seat provided with the seat area tag 20 and the positional information of the visitor carrying the person tag 10 . As a predetermined process, the processing unit 454 of the present embodiment transmits an instruction to light the LED lighting unit 21 of the seat area tag 20 provided in each seat via the AP communication processing unit 451 when the distance between the position of the seat provided with the seat area tag 20 and the position of the visitor carrying the person tag 10 is within a predetermined range.

In this embodiment, the predetermined processing executed by the processing unit 454 is not limited to an instruction to turn on the LED lighting unit 21, and for example, an instruction to vibrate the human tag 10 may be transmitted.

The mobile-side communication processing unit 455 communicates with the mobile communication terminal 80 via the base station 70 .

For example, the mobile-side communication processing unit 455 receives an area tag ID for identifying the seat area tag 20 provided on the seat targeted by the visitor and a person tag ID for identifying the person tag 10 provided by the visitor from the mobile communication terminal 80 carried by the visitor. In this case, it is registered in the visitor information DB 456 as information about the visitor.

The visitor information DB 456 stores information about visitors. The visitor information DB 456 of this embodiment associates and stores the address of the mobile communication terminal 80, the person tag ID transmitted by the mobile communication terminal 80, and the area tag ID transmitted by the mobile communication terminal 80.

A mobile side communication processing part 455 reads the position information indicated by the seat area tag 20 provided on the target seat of the visitor from the seat information DB 457, and transmits the position information of the seat area tag 20 provided on the target seat to the mobile communication terminal 80 carried by the visitor.

Then, when the visitor position calculation part 453 calculates the position information of the visitor carrying the person tag 10, the portable side communication processing part 455 refers to the visitor information DB 456 and transmits the position information of the person tag 10 carried by the visitor to the portable communication terminal 80 carried by the visitor.

Furthermore, as a predetermined process, the processing unit 454 may transmit an instruction to vibrate the mobile communication terminal 80 via the mobile side communication processing unit 455 when the distance between the position of the seat provided with the seat area tag 20 and the position of the visitor carrying the person tag 10 is within a predetermined range.

The mobile communication terminal 80 includes an imaging section 481 and a location information application 482 .

The mobile communication terminal 80 of the present embodiment can capture an image of, for example, a two-dimensional barcode provided on the personal tag 10 by including the imaging unit 481 .

The mobile communication terminal 80 may be, for example, a smartphone carried by the visitor, a tablet terminal, or the like. The visitor installs the location information application 482 on the portable communication terminal 80 in advance. This implements the following configuration.

The location information application 482 includes a communication processing section 483 , an acquisition section 484 and a display processing section 485 . Further, the location information application 482 may store in advance the map information of the movie theater where the visitor exists, or may receive the map information of the movie theater from the cloud server 50 .

An acquisition unit 484 acquires the person tag ID of the person tag 10 carried by the visitor and the area tag ID of the seat area tag 20 provided on the intended seat of the visitor from the two-dimensional barcode imaged by the imaging unit 481.例文帳に追加In this embodiment, an example of acquiring the person tag ID and the area tag ID from the two-dimensional barcode will be described, but the acquisition destination is not limited, and any method may be used for acquisition.

The communication processing unit 483 wirelessly communicates with the cloud server 50 via the base station 70 . For example, the communication processing unit 483 wirelessly transmits the person tag ID and the area tag ID acquired by the acquiring unit 484 to the cloud server 50 .

Then, the communication processing unit 483 receives the position information of the person tag 10 indicated by the person tag ID and the position information of the seat area tag 20 indicated by the area tag ID from the cloud server 50 .

The display processing unit 485 displays the position information of the people tag 10 and the position information of the seat area tag 20 on the position information map of the movie theater.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by the display processing unit 485 of this embodiment. In FIG. 4 , a person's position icon 901 according to the position information of the person's tag 10 is displayed on the display screen 900 of the mobile communication terminal 80 . Furthermore, the display mode (for example, color) of the target seat 902 indicated by the position information of the seat area tag 20 is made different from the other seats. This allows the visitor to grasp the position of the target seat.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the installation procedure of the seat guidance system 1 of this embodiment.

First, the administrator prepares as many people tags 10 and seat area tags 20 as there are seats in the movie theater (S501).

Then, by using the information processing device for setting, the information processing device associates the person tag ID indicating the person tag 10 with the seat area tag ID indicating the seat area tag 20, and registers them in the visitor information DB 456 of the cloud server 50 (S502). In addition, instead of registering the correspondence relationship in the cloud server 50, the administrator may simply attach a two-dimensional barcode containing information in which the person tag ID and the area tag ID are associated with each other to the person tag 10. - 特許庁

Furthermore, the manager installs the seat area tag 20 for each arbitrary area (S503). In this embodiment, a seat area tag 20 is installed for each seat as an arbitrary area.

The administrator then installs the gateway 30 in the movie theater (S504). Furthermore, by using the information processing device for setting, the information processing device associates the gateway ID that identifies the installed gateway 30 with the positional coordinates of the gateway 30, and registers them in the gateway DB 458 of the cloud server 50 (S505).

Furthermore, the administrator confirms whether or not the access point 40 can communicate with the gateway 30 and the cloud server 50 (S506).

By performing the installation procedure described above, the seat guidance system 1 is realized in the movie theater. Thus, in this embodiment, it is possible to construct a system that guides visitors to their intended seats without registering position information for each seat.

Next, an operation procedure from when a visitor arrives at the movie theater to when the screening is finished will be described. FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the operation procedure of the seat guidance system 1 of this embodiment.

First, when a visitor designates a target seat, the seat guidance system 1 delivers the person tag 10 for guiding the visitor to the target seat at the reception (S601).

Next, in the seat guidance system 1, the processing is switched depending on whether or not the portable communication terminal 80 of the visitor has the location information application 482 (S602).

If the mobile communication terminal 80 has the location information application 482 (S602: Yes), the acquisition unit 484 of the location information application 482 reads the two-dimensional barcode attached to the person tag 10 from the imaging unit 481, and acquires the person tag ID of the person tag 10 and the area tag ID indicating the destination seat (S603).

Then, the communication processing unit 483 of the position information application 482 transmits the person tag ID of the person tag 10 and the area tag ID indicating the target seat to the cloud server 50 (S604). The transmission information including the person tag ID and the area tag ID transmitted to the cloud server 50 stores the address of the mobile communication terminal 80 that is the transmission source. As a result, the cloud server 50 associates the person tag ID, the area tag ID, and the address of the mobile communication terminal 80 and registers them in the visitor information DB 456 .

The cloud server 50 transmits position information based on each of the received person tag ID and area tag ID to the mobile communication terminal 80 (S605).

Then, the display processing unit 485 of the position information application 482 of the mobile communication terminal 80 displays a position information map indicating the positions of the visitors and the positions of the intended seats based on the received position information (S606).

The visitor starts moving to the target seat while checking the position information map (S607).

On the other hand, if the portable communication terminal 80 of the visitor does not have the location information application 482 (S602: No), the visitor checks the seating arrangement posted in the hall (S608) and starts moving to the target seat (S609).

Then, when the visitor (person tag 10) approaches within a predetermined range from (the seat area tag 20 of) the target seat, the cloud server 50 lights the LED lighting part 21 of the seat area tag 20 of the target seat (S610). As a result, the visitor can find the target seat and move to the target seat (S611). After the screening ends (S612), the seat guidance system 1 collects the people tags 10 from the visitors at the exit (S613).

In this embodiment, the above-described operation procedure allows the visitor to easily move to the intended seat.

Next, processing performed when the mobile communication terminal 80 has the location information application 482 will be described. FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure up to registration of information on visitors in the seat guidance system 1 of this embodiment. In the example shown in FIG. 7, it is assumed that the visitor received the personal tag 10 at the reception.

The imaging unit 481 of the mobile communication terminal 80 is attached to the person tag 10 . A two-dimensional barcode is imaged (S701).

Then, the acquiring unit 484 of the position information application 482 of the mobile communication terminal 80 acquires the person tag ID indicating the received person tag 10 and the area tag ID identifying the target seat of the visitor from the two-dimensional barcode (S702).

Then, the communication processing unit 483 of the mobile communication terminal 80 transmits the person tag ID and the area tag ID to the cloud server 50 (S703).

The processing unit 454 of the cloud server 50 registers the personal tag ID and the area tag ID received from the mobile communication terminal 80 in association with the address of the mobile communication terminal 80 (S704).

Position information can be provided to the mobile communication terminal 80 by performing the above-described processing.

Next, the processing for guiding the visitor to the intended seat after the processing shown in FIG. 7 will be described. FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure for guiding a visitor to a target seat in the seat guidance system 1 of this embodiment.

The tag communication processing unit 431 of the gateway 30 receives the area tag ID from each of the seat area tags 20 by wireless communication (S801). The strength acquisition unit 432 of the gateway 30 acquires the signal strength when received in S801 (S802).

Then, the AP communication processing unit 433 of the gateway 30 wirelessly transmits the gateway ID, the area tag ID, and the signal strength that identify the own device to the access point 40 (S803).

The server communication processing unit 442 of the access point 40 transmits the received gateway ID, area tag ID, and signal strength to the cloud server 50 (S804).

The seat position calculation unit 452 of the cloud server 50 calculates the position information of the seat indicated by the area tag ID based on the signal strength of the gateway ID and the area tag ID received from the plurality of gateways 30 via the access point 40 and the gateway DB 458 (S805).

Then, the seat position calculator 452 registers the calculated seat position information in the seat information DB 457 in association with the area tag ID (S806).

The processing shown in S801 to S806 may be executed infrequently when the seat position is not changed. In this embodiment, the processes shown in S801 to S806 are performed, for example, at least once a day before the movie theater starts. The processes after S811 are performed, for example, at intervals at which the human tag 10 transmits a wireless signal, for example, at intervals of 1 second.

The tag communication processing unit 431 of the gateway 30 receives the personal tag ID from each of the personal tags 10 by wireless communication (S811). The strength acquisition unit 432 of the gateway 30 acquires the signal strength when received in S811 (S812).

Then, the AP communication processing unit 433 of the gateway 30 wirelessly transmits the gateway ID for identifying its own device, the person tag ID, and the signal strength to the access point 40 (S813).

The server communication processing unit 442 of the access point 40 transmits the received gateway ID, human tag ID, and signal strength to the cloud server 50 (S814).

The visitor position calculation unit 453 of the cloud server 50 calculates the position information of the visitor carrying the person tag 10 indicated by the person tag ID based on the signal strength of the gateway ID and the person tag ID received from the plurality of gateways 30 via the access point 40 and the gateway DB 458 (S815).

Then, the mobile-side communication processing unit 455 of the cloud server 50 transmits the location information of the visitor carrying the personal tag 10 and the location information of the area tag ID associated with the personal tag ID in the visitor information DB 456 to the mobile communication terminal 80 (S816).

Then, the processing unit 454 determines whether the position information of the visitor carrying the person tag ID and the position information of the target seat indicated by the area tag ID associated with the person tag ID are within a predetermined distance (S817). The processing described below is performed when it is determined that the range is within a predetermined range. Note that if it is not determined to be within the predetermined range, the processing of S818 to S821 is not performed.

When the processing unit 454 determines that the position information of the visitor and the position information of the target seat are within a predetermined distance, the processing unit 454 transmits an instruction to light up the LED lighting unit 21 of the seat area tag 20 indicated by the area tag ID to the access point 40 via the AP communication processing unit 451 (S818). Then, the gateway communication processing unit 441 of the access point 40 transmits the received instruction to turn on to the gateway 30 (S819). The tag communication processing unit 431 of the gateway 30 uses the BLE function to transmit an instruction to turn on the LED lighting unit 21 to the seating area tag 20 indicated by the area tag ID (S820).

The seat area tag 20 lights the LED lighting unit 21 when receiving the instruction to light the LED lighting unit 21 (S821).

In the present embodiment, an example of lighting the LED lighting unit 21 as the predetermined processing has been described, but the predetermined processing is not limited, and any method can be used as long as it can notify the visitors that they are approaching the target seat. For example, the processing unit 454 of the cloud server 50 may transmit an instruction to vibrate the mobile communication terminal 80 via the mobile communication processing unit 455 as a predetermined process.

In this embodiment, there is no limitation on the color of the LED lighting section 21 to be lit. However, when the cloud server 50 transmits an instruction to turn on the LED lighting units 21 of the seat area tag 20, the cloud server 50 may adjust so that the colors of the LED lighting units 21 of adjacent seats are not the same. In this case, the cloud server 50 may notify the mobile communication terminal 80 of the color of the LED lighting section 21 of the intended seat.

In the seat guidance system 1 of the present embodiment, by performing the above-described processing, the location information map is displayed on the visitor's portable side communication processing unit 455, and the LED lighting unit 21 of the seat area tag 20 is lit, thereby facilitating movement of the visitor to the target seat.

(Modification 1 of the first embodiment)
In the embodiment described above, an example in which the seat area tag 20 is provided for each seat has been described. However, the embodiment described above is not limited to an example in which the seat area tag 20 is provided for each seat. Therefore, in Modification 1 of the first embodiment, an example in which a seat area tag 20 is provided for each predetermined area will be described.

FIG. 9 is a diagram exemplifying the seat layout of a movie theater according to this modification. In the example shown in FIG. 3, a seat tag is provided for each seat group composed of a plurality of seats. In the example shown in FIG. 3, seat area tags 20A to 20I are provided for each area delimited by dotted lines. The seat area tags 20A to 20I are provided near the center of the area delimited by dotted lines.

Also in this modified example, the area tag ID of the seat area tag 20 for each seat group composed of a plurality of seats is associated with the person tag ID of the person tag 10 whose target seat is the seat included in the seat group. A target seat is set in the tag ID for person of the tag 10 for person.

In this modification, each seat is provided with an LED lighting section that can be lit in response to an instruction from the gateway 30 .

Then, the tag communication processing unit 431 of the gateways 30A to 30F receives, via wireless communication, the area tag ID from each of the seat area tags 20A to 20I provided for each seat group composed of a plurality of seats. Accordingly, the cloud server 50 can calculate position information for each seat group composed of a plurality of seats.

The processing unit 454 of the cloud server 50 outputs an instruction to turn on the display unit provided for each seat based on the distance between the position of the seat area tag 20 provided for each seat group and the position of the person tag 10.

Specifically, a processing part 454 of the cloud server 50 determines whether or not a visitor having a seat included in the seat group as a target seat has entered a predetermined area where the seat group exists based on the position information of the person tag 10 carried by the visitor and the position information of each seat group composed of a plurality of seats.

Then, when it is determined that a visitor whose target seat is a seat included in the seat group enters a predetermined area where the seat group exists, the processing section 454 transmits an instruction to light up an LED lighting section provided for the target seat of the visitor via the access point 40 and the gateway 30. - 特許庁

In this modified example, by performing the above-described processing, it is possible to obtain the effect that it is easy to guide visitors to their intended seats, as in the first embodiment.

(Second embodiment)
In the first embodiment, the case where there is only one visitor has been described. However, in the case of families, etc., a plurality of visitors may come to the movie theater as a group. Therefore, in the second embodiment, a case where a plurality of visitors come to the movie theater as a group will be described. Note that the seat guidance system 1 of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted.

In the seat guidance system 1 of the second embodiment, when a plurality of visitors arrive, the plurality of visitors receive the person tags 10 for the plurality of visitors from the reception. Then, one of the plurality of visitors reads the two-dimensional barcodes from the personal tags 10 of the plurality of visitors to the mobile communication terminal 80 . According to the processing, the location information application 482 of the mobile communication terminal 80 transmits to the cloud server 50 the plurality of person tag IDs and the plurality of area tag IDs acquired from each of the plurality of read two-dimensional barcodes.

As a result, the mobile-side communication processing unit 455 of the cloud server 50 receives, from the mobile communication terminal 80, a plurality of person tag IDs that identify each of the person tags 10 provided to each of the plurality of visitors, and an area tag ID that identifies the target seats of the plurality of visitors.

Then, the visitor position calculation unit 453 of the cloud server 50 calculates the position information of the visitor carrying the person tag 10 based on the signal strength when the person tag ID is received and the position information of the gateway 30 that received the person tag ID.

Then, the mobile-side communication processing unit 455 of the cloud server 50 transmits to the mobile communication terminal 80 a plurality of pieces of position information indicating the positions of individual tag IDs possessed by a plurality of visitors.

Thereby, the positions of the plurality of visitors and the positions of the plurality of target seats corresponding to the plurality of visitors are displayed on the mobile communication terminal 80 . Then, even if you get lost among a plurality of visitors, you can know where they are. A specific processing procedure will be described below.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing the procedure until a visitor finds another visitor who has strayed in the seat guidance system 1 of this embodiment.

First, the acquisition unit 484 of the position information application 482 acquires a plurality of area tag IDs and person tag IDs by reading two-dimensional barcodes from the imaging unit 481 by the number of person tags 10 received (S1001).

Then, the communication processing unit 483 of the position information application 482 transmits the acquired plurality of area tag IDs and person tag IDs to the cloud server 50 (S1002). Thereby, a plurality of area tag IDs and person tag IDs are associated with the address of the mobile communication terminal 80 .

Then, the visitor judges whether or not another visitor has strayed (S1003). If it is determined that the visitor is not separated from other visitors (S1003: No), the same processing as in the first embodiment is performed, and the description thereof is omitted.

On the other hand, if the visitor determines that another visitor has left (S1003: Yes), the visitor operates the mobile communication terminal 80 to display the location information application 482 (S1004).

The cloud server 50 calculates the position information of the human tag based on the signal strength of the human tag ID received from the gateway 30 . Also, the position information for each seat is stored in the seat information DB 457 .

Therefore, the mobile-side communication processing unit 455 of the cloud server 50 transmits the location information based on each of the plurality of person tag IDs and the plurality of area tag IDs received to the mobile communication terminal 80 (S1005).

Then, the display processing unit 485 of the location information application 482 of the mobile communication terminal 80 displays the location information map based on the location information based on each of the received plurality of person tag IDs and the plurality of area tag IDs (S1006).

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by the display processing unit 485 of this embodiment. In FIG. 11, on the display screen 1100 of the mobile communication terminal 80, person position icons 1101, 1102, and 1103 are displayed according to the position information of the plurality of person tags 10. FIG. Furthermore, target seats 1111, 1112, and 1113 of a plurality of visitors are displayed in a different color from the other seats.

In the example shown in FIG. 11, the positional relationship between the person's position icons 1101 and 1102 and the person's position icon 1103 can be grasped. This allows the visitor to know where the other visitors are.

Returning to FIG. 10, the visitor moves while checking the positional information map (S1007), and finds another target user (S1008).

In this embodiment, by performing the above-described processing procedure, even if one is separated from other visitors, the position of the other visitors can be confirmed, so that it is possible to easily reunite with the other visitors.

While several embodiments of the invention have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof.

1 seat guidance system 10 person tag 20 seat area tag 21 LED lighting unit 30 gateway 40 access point 50 cloud server 80 mobile communication terminal 431 tag communication processing unit 432 intensity acquisition unit 433 AP communication processing unit 441 gateway communication processing unit 442 server communication processing unit 451 AP communication processing unit 452 seat position calculation unit 453 visitor position calculation unit 4 54 processing unit 455 mobile-side communication processing unit 456 visitor information DB
457 Seat information DB
458 Gateway DB
481 imaging unit 482 location information application 483 communication processing unit 484 acquisition unit 485 display processing unit

Claims (8)

A communication system comprising a communication device, a plurality of seat-side transmission terminals communicating with the communication device, and a plurality of user-side transmission terminals communicating with the communication device,
The communication device
a first reception processing unit that receives, via wireless communication, first identification information identifying each of the seat-side transmission terminals from each of the plurality of seat-side transmission terminals provided at positions corresponding to each of the plurality of seats in a predetermined area where a plurality of seats are arranged;
a first acquisition unit that acquires a first signal strength when the first reception processing unit receives the first identification information;
a first calculator that calculates location information of the seat-side transmitting terminal based on the first signal strength;
a second reception processing unit that receives, via wireless communication, second identification information that identifies a user- side transmission terminal, from each of the plurality of user-side transmission terminals provided by a plurality of users;
a second acquisition unit that acquires a second signal strength when the second reception processing unit receives the second identification information;
a second calculation unit that calculates location information of the user-side transmission terminal based on the second signal strength;
a processing unit for outputting an instruction to turn on a display unit of the seat-side transmission terminal provided at each of the seats, as a predetermined process based on the distance between the position information of the seat-side transmission terminal and the position information of the user-side transmission terminal, when the distance is within a predetermined range;
communication system. The first reception processing unit receives, via wireless communication, the first identification information from the seat-side transmission terminal provided for each seat group composed of a plurality of seats,
A communication system according to claim 1. The processing unit outputs an instruction to turn on a display unit provided in each of the seats as the predetermined processing based on the distance between the position information of the seat-side transmission terminal and the position information of the user-side transmission terminal.
A communication system according to claim 2 . a third reception processing unit for receiving, from a mobile communication device carried by a user, said first identification information identifying a seat-side transmission terminal provided at a position corresponding to a seat targeted by said user, and second identification information identifying said user-side transmission terminal provided by said user;
4. A communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , further comprising. a third transmission processing unit configured to transmit position information of the seat-side transmission terminal identified by the first identification information and position information of the user-side transmission terminal identified by the second identification information to the portable communication device,
5. The communication system of claim 4 , further comprising. the third reception processing unit receives, from the portable communication device, a plurality of pieces of second identification information identifying each of the user-side transmission terminals provided by each of the plurality of users;
The third transmission processing unit transmits to the mobile communication device a plurality of pieces of location information indicating the locations of the user-side transmission terminals of the plurality of users.
A communication system according to claim 5 . A communication method performed by a communication device , comprising:
a first reception processing step of receiving, via wireless communication, first identification information identifying each of the seat-side transmission terminals from each of the plurality of seat-side transmission terminals provided at positions corresponding to the plurality of seats in a predetermined area in which the plurality of seats are arranged;
a first acquisition step of acquiring a first signal strength when the first identification information is received in the first reception processing step ;
a first calculation step of calculating location information of the seat-side transmitting terminal based on the first signal strength;
a second reception processing step of receiving, via wireless communication, second identification information for identifying a user-side transmission terminal from each of a plurality of user-side transmission terminals provided by a plurality of users;
a second acquisition step of acquiring a second signal strength when the second identification information is received in the second reception processing step ;
a second calculating step of calculating location information of the user-side transmitting terminal based on the second signal strength;
Based on the distance between the positional information of the seat-side transmission terminal and the positional information of the user-side transmission terminal, a processing step of outputting an instruction to turn on a display unit of the seat-side transmission terminal provided at each of the seats, as predetermined processing, when the distance is within a predetermined range;
communication methods, including a first reception processing unit that receives, via wireless communication, first identification information that identifies each of the seat-side transmission terminals from each of the plurality of seat-side transmission terminals provided at positions corresponding to the plurality of seats in a predetermined area where the plurality of seats are arranged;
a first acquisition unit that acquires a first signal strength when the first reception processing unit receives the first identification information;
a first calculator that calculates location information of the seat-side transmitting terminal based on the first signal strength;
a second reception processing unit that receives, via wireless communication, second identification information that identifies a user-side transmission terminal from each of a plurality of user-side transmission terminals provided by a plurality of users;
a second acquisition unit that acquires a second signal strength when the second reception processing unit receives the second identification information;
a second calculation unit that calculates location information of the user-side transmission terminal based on the second signal strength;
a processing unit for outputting an instruction to turn on a display unit of the seat-side transmission terminal provided at each of the seats, as a predetermined process based on the distance between the position information of the seat-side transmission terminal and the position information of the user-side transmission terminal, when the distance is within a predetermined range;
A communication device comprising:

Images