Activity management system, activity management device, and activity management method

Abstract

To construct a sustainable crime prevention system which can protect privacy of people with less budget, even in a country which is hard to keep an appropriate budget, and in poor countries such as some rising countries.SOLUTION: An activity management device of the present invention includes: an activist information registration unit which registers information regarding activists; an activity amount acquisition unit which acquires, on the basis of position information regarding the activists, a prescribed activity amount regarding an activist in a prescribed area containing the position; an activity amount recording unit which records information regarding the acquired prescribed activity amount regarding the activist; a request receiving unit which receives a request of information regarding a prescribed activity in the prescribed area; an activist information extraction unit which extracts, on the basis of the activity amount regarding the requested area, information regarding the activist having worked in the area, from the information regarding the registered activists; and an activist information transmission unit which transmits information regarding the extracted activist.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an activity management device, an activity information acquisition device, an activity management method, an activity information acquisition method, an activity management system, and a program that visualize the activity status of activities such as crime prevention patrols, cleaning activities, volunteer activities, etc. The present invention also relates to an information management device, an information management method, an information management system, and a program that manage the status of predetermined activities for each area. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, there has been progress in utilizing images captured by in-vehicle cameras such as dashcams for crime prevention, etc. For example, prior art document 1 discloses an image recording system and an image recording method that, when an incident occurs, can collect images captured by chance around the location of the incident on the date and time of the incident from images captured by dashcams installed in citizens' vehicles and provide the images to a requester such as the police.

[0003] According to this invention, when a kidnapping incident occurs, for example, dashcam footage from a vehicle that happened to be traveling within a few kilometers of the kidnapping site within one hour before or after the kidnapping can be quickly obtained via the network, which can lead to the rescue of the victim and the swift arrest of the culprit. [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-060477 DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The invention disclosed in the above-mentioned prior art document is an invention that makes it possible to position a drive recorder that happens to be present at "that time" and "that place" as a "mobile security camera" in society by specifying the location, date and time after the fact.

[0005] However, in order to recover footage after the fact using this method, it is necessary to have a large number of vehicles equipped with "mobile security cameras" driving around the city, creating a situation in which patrol activities are essentially being carried out.

[0006] In order to get local businesses and citizens to patrol beyond their daily work and lives, appropriate incentives must be designed. Without sufficient incentives, it becomes difficult to secure the number of operating vehicles, making it difficult to realize citizen-participation-based community crime prevention.

[0007] In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to build a sustainable crime prevention system that can protect the privacy of citizens with a small budget, even in countries such as Japan where it is difficult to secure an appropriate budget, or in poor countries such as some emerging countries. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] An activity management system according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises an activity participant information registration unit that registers information about an active participant; an activity amount acquisition unit that acquires a predetermined activity amount for the active participant in a predetermined area including the location based on location information about the active participant; an activity amount recording unit that records the acquired information about the predetermined activity amount for the active participant; a requested area activity participant information extraction unit that extracts information about an active participant who was active in a requested area based on the activity amount for the area from the information about the registered active participants; and an activity participant information display unit that displays the extracted information about the active participant.

[0009] In addition, an activity management device according to one embodiment of the present invention includes an activity participant information registration unit that registers information about an active person; an activity amount acquisition unit that acquires a predetermined activity amount for the active person in a predetermined area including the location based on location information about the active person; an activity amount recording unit that records the acquired information about the predetermined activity amount for the active person; a request receiving unit that receives a request for information about a predetermined activity in the predetermined area; an activity participant information extraction unit that extracts information about an active person who was active in the area based on the activity amount for the requested area from the information about the registered active person; and an activity participant information transmission unit that transmits the extracted information about the active person. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the present invention, for example, information about an individual who has engaged in crime prevention activities such as crime prevention patrols can be displayed in association with the area in which the activity was carried out, so that even if sufficient monetary compensation is not paid for the crime prevention activity, it is possible to create what is called a CSR effect for a company and satisfy what is called the desire for recognition and social needs of the general public. Therefore, an incentive is given for engaging in crime prevention activities, and the number of people cooperating in crime prevention activities can be secured. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a system configuration diagram showing the configuration of an activity management system according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an activity management system according to a first embodiment. [Figure 3] 10 is an example of information about an active participant registered by an active participant information registration unit. [Figure 4] 10 is an example of a management table for managing information about devices. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an activity amount management table for managing the activity amount of an active person. [Figure 6]FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an activity management system according to a second embodiment. [Figure 7] 10 is an example of activity participant registration request information. [Figure 8] 10 is an example of activity location information indicating the activity location of an active person to be received. [Figure 9] 10 is an example of a management table for recording activity location information indicating the activity location of an active person. [Figure 10] 10 is an example of an activity status request that requests information about the activity status of a specified area. [Figure 11] 10 is an example of activity status information to be transmitted. [Figure 12] 10 is an example of an activity status request input screen. [Figure 13] 10 is an example of an activity status screen showing the activity status in a requested area. [Figure 14] 10 is an example of a flowchart showing the flow of an activity amount acquisition process. [Figure 15] 10 is an example of a flowchart showing the flow of an activity status information generation process. [Figure 16] 10 is an example of an activity status request input screen with map magnification reduced. [Figure 17] FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an activity management system according to a fourth embodiment. [Figure 18] 10 is an example of an activity status request input screen. [Figure 19] 13 is an example of an activity status request in the fourth embodiment. [Figure 20] 10 is an example of activity status information. [Figure 21] 10 is an example of an activity status screen showing the activity status in a requested area. [Figure 22] FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an activity management system according to a fifth embodiment. [Figure 23] 1 is an example of an activity report for a predetermined activity. [Figure 24] FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an activity management system according to a sixth embodiment. [Figure 25]10 is an example of activity status information to be transmitted. [Figure 26] 10 is an example of an activity status screen showing the activity status in a requested area. [Figure 27] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of a process for extracting active participants. [Figure 28] 10 is an example of a correspondence table between map magnifications and required area levels. [Figure 29] 10 is an example of an activity amount management table recorded in an area information database unit. [Figure 30] FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an activity status management system according to an eighth embodiment. [Figure 31] 10 is an example of a management table for managing the amount of activity for each area. [Figure 32] This is an example of an activity report at the 4th mesh level. [Figure 33] This is an example of an activity report at the tertiary mesh level. [Figure 34] FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an activity status management system according to a tenth embodiment. [Figure 35] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of each device included in the present invention. [Figure 36] FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an activity status management system according to another embodiment. [Figure 37] 10 is an example of a device management table of an active person for which an activity management level is set. [Figure 38] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of an activity amount calculation process using an activity management level. [Figure 39] 10 is an example of location coordinate information indicating the active location of a device in a certain area. [Figure 40] FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of an active person extraction process using an activity management level. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, components with the same reference numerals have the same or similar configurations. [First embodiment]

[0013] FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing the configuration of an activity management system 1000 according to the first embodiment. In this embodiment, the activity to be managed will be described as a crime prevention patrol. However, the activities targeted by the present invention are not limited to crime prevention activities, and can be applied to various volunteer activities that do not involve sufficient monetary compensation, such as cleaning activities and traffic control activities. Here, since the targeted activities are specifically crime prevention activities, the activity management system 1000 may be described as a crime prevention activity management system 1000 or a crime prevention patrol management system 1000.

[0014] The crime prevention activity management system 1000 is a system for managing the status of crime prevention activities being carried out by ordinary citizens and companies, and is composed of a vehicle 100, a crime prevention activity management device 300, a crime prevention activity participation registration device 500, and a crime prevention activity status viewing device 700.

[0015] In this embodiment, the target activities will be mainly crime prevention activities such as patrols, but as mentioned above, the present invention is not limited to crime prevention, and can be applied to various activities carried out in each area, such as weather monitoring activities, city cleaning activities, road patrol monitoring activities, etc. Therefore, in this specification, the crime prevention activity management system 1000 may be referred to as the activity management system 1000 or the information management system 1000, the crime prevention activity management device 300 may be referred to as the activity management device 300 or the information management device 300, the crime prevention activity participation registration device 500 may be referred to as the activity participation registration device 500 or the information registration device 500 or the activity participant registration device 500, and the crime prevention activity status viewing device 700 may be referred to as the activity status viewing device 700 or the information viewing device 700.

[0016] Furthermore, the vehicle 100 used by activity participants when carrying out activities such as patrols is a device that acquires at least location information, and is therefore sometimes referred to as a crime prevention activity location information acquisition device 100, a location information acquisition device 100, or simply an information acquisition device 100. The vehicle 100 itself may be equipped with a function to acquire location information from a GPS or the like as an information acquisition device, or an information acquisition device such as a drive recorder mounted on the vehicle may be equipped with a function to acquire location information.

[0017] 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the activity management system 1000 according to Embodiment 1. The activity management system 1000 includes an activity participant information registration unit 1010, an activity amount acquisition unit 1020, an activity amount recording unit 1030, a requested area activity participant information extraction unit 1040, and an activity participant information display unit 1050.

[0018] The participant information registration unit 1010 registers information about participants who are engaged in a target activity. If the target activity is a crime prevention patrol, information about the companies and individuals who are engaged in the crime prevention activity is registered. Also, for example, if the target activity is volunteer cleaning, information about the companies and individuals who are participants in the volunteer activity is registered. In this way, the participant information registration unit 1010 registers information about users who are engaged in a specified activity or organizations to which the users belong as participant information. Here, "user" refers to a person who uses this system. Therefore, in this specification, "participant" can be read as "user" as appropriate. The user information registration unit 1010 performs a process of registering information about users who are engaged in a specified activity.

[0019] Fig. 3 shows information about active participants registered by the active participant information registration unit 1010. In the active participant information shown in Fig. 3, an active participant ID that uniquely identifies each active participant, an active participant name that is the display name of the active participant, a category to which the active participant belongs, an introduction, a link, and a path that stores an icon (logo or thumbnail) are registered in an associated state. In the example of Fig. 3, a total activity distance that indicates the total distance traveled in activities up to that point, and a total activity time that indicates the total time spent on the activity are also recorded in association with each other.

[0020] FIG. 4 is an example of a device management table that manages information about devices used by the active person managed in the active person management table shown in FIG. 3 when performing predetermined activities such as crime prevention patrols. The device referred to here may be a drive recorder, a drive recorder application, or even the vehicle itself used for patrol. In the device management table illustrated in FIG. 4, a device ID that uniquely identifies each device, an active person ID that identifies the active person who uses or owns the device for the predetermined activity, device type information indicating the type (category) of each device, the device name, and the registration date are registered in association with each other. In this specification, information about the active person is described as including information about devices owned by the company (organization) or individual.

[0021] The activity amount acquisition unit 1020 acquires a predetermined activity amount for an active person in a predetermined area including the position based on the position information for the active person registered in the active person information registration unit 1010. For example, the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 calculates the activity amount for each area of ​​a city, town, or village for each predetermined period, such as one hour, for each active person who was active in the area, thereby acquiring the activity amount for each area for the predetermined period.

[0022] Here, the activity amount may be an activity distance, that is, a distance traveled during a security patrol, etc. For example, the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 acquires information related to distance as the activity amount based on a plurality of pieces of position information related to the active person.

[0023] Furthermore, the activity amount may be the activity time, i.e., the time spent on security patrol, etc. For example, the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 acquires information related to time as the activity amount based on the date and time when each of a plurality of pieces of location information related to the active person was acquired.

[0024] Alternatively, the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 may be configured to calculate the activity distance and activity time for a predetermined area including the location based on multiple pieces of location information about the active person, and to acquire the activity amount for each area by combining the calculated activity distance and activity time with a predetermined coefficient based on the vehicle used (car, patrol car, blue patrol car, bicycle, etc.).

[0025] The activity amount acquisition unit 1020 may acquire activity amounts for each administrative district area such as a city, town, or village, or may acquire activity amounts for each mesh area such as a JIS mesh or an H3 hectagon mesh. In the latter case, the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 acquires a predetermined activity amount for an active person in a mesh area of ​​a predetermined level that includes the position of the active person, based on the position information of the active person. In this case, the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 may acquire activity amounts for meshes of multiple levels (stages), such as second-order mesh, third-order mesh, and fourth-order mesh, or may acquire only the activity amount for the fourth-order mesh that has the smallest area of ​​the target meshes. The smallest mesh may also be a fifth-order mesh or a sixth-order mesh.

[0026] The activity amount recording section 1030 records information on a predetermined activity amount related to the active person acquired by the activity amount acquisition section 1020. Fig. 5 shows an example of an activity amount management table that manages the activity amount for each active person for each activity period and each activity area, which is recorded by the activity amount recording section 1030. In the activity amount management table illustrated in Fig. 5, an activity amount ID that is uniquely assigned to each piece of activity amount data, an active person ID that identifies the active person who performed the activity, a device ID (vehicle ID) that identifies the device 100 (including the vehicle) that the active person is using when performing the activity, an area ID that uniquely identifies the area where the activity is performed, an activity distance that is the activity amount, and information on the date and time of the activity are recorded in association with each other.

[0027] For example, based on a request from a user who wants to know the amount of crime prevention activity in a specified area, the requested area activity participant information extraction unit 1040 extracts information about participants who have been active in the requested area from information about registered participants based on the amount of activity in the requested area. The requested area activity participant information extraction unit 1040 extracts a predetermined number of participants in descending order of activity in the requested area, and extracts information such as the participants' names and thumbnails (logos and icons) by referring to the participant management table. In this specification, the requested area activity participant information extraction unit 1040 may be simply referred to as the activity participant information extraction unit 1040.

[0028] The participant information display unit 1050 performs processing to display information about participants in the requested area that has been extracted by the participant information extraction unit 1040. The participant information display unit 1050 may display the names and thumbnails (logos and icons) of the extracted participants in a list format, or may display thumbnails of the extracted participants on a map.

[0029] As described above, according to the activity management system of the first embodiment, the amount of activity related to activities such as crime prevention patrols is managed for each area, and information about the people who were active in the requested area is displayed based on the amount of activity at the request of the user. Therefore, it is expected that companies or individuals who contribute to the community by performing volunteer activities or other activities will catch the attention of people who are interested in the community, which will result in a PR effect, and the system can provide an incentive to perform such activities even if they are unpaid activities without monetary compensation. [Second embodiment]

[0030] The activity management system according to the second embodiment is characterized in that an activity management device that manages each active person receives location information of each active person and calculates the amount of activity. The following description will be made with reference to the drawings. However, some of the parts that have already been described will be omitted. This also applies to the following embodiments.

[0031] 6 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an activity management system 1000 according to Embodiment 2. In the activity management system 1000, the activity vehicle 100 includes at least an activity location information acquisition unit 110 and an activity location information transmission unit 120, the activity management device 300 includes an activity location information reception unit 310, an activity location information recording unit 320, an activity participant information registration unit 1010, an activity amount acquisition unit 1020, an activity amount recording unit 1030, an activity status request reception unit 330, an activity status information generation unit 340, and an activity status information transmission unit 350, the activity participant information registration device 500 includes an activity participant registration request input unit 511 and an activity participant registration request transmission unit 512, and the activity status viewing device 700 includes an activity participant information request transmission unit 710, an activity participant information reception unit 720, and an activity participant information display unit 1050.

[0032] The activist registration request input unit 511 accepts input of information required for registration as an activist from a user who wishes to newly participate in a predetermined activity such as a crime prevention patrol, for example, via an activist registration form displayed on the screen. The activist registration request input unit 511 accepts information such as the name, address, category, and thumbnail such as an icon or logo of the person wishing to register as an activist as activist registration request information. The person wishing to register as an activist may be an individual, or may be an organization such as a company or group.

[0033] The activity person registration request sending unit 512 sends the activity person registration request information input by the activity person registration request input unit 511 to the activity person management device 300 to request registration as an activity person. Fig. 7 shows an example of the activity person registration request that is sent. The information illustrated in Fig. 7 includes the name (display name) of the activity person requesting registration, category information indicating whether the activity person is an individual, a company, or an organization, second category information indicating the type (industry) of the company, such as a taxi company, a transportation company, or a home care provider, an introductory text to promote the activity, a URL link to direct users to the activity person (company), thumbnail image data such as an icon or logo of the activity person (company), etc. The activity person registration request may also include an email address, a login password, an address, the name of a representative, etc.

[0034] The activity location information acquisition unit 110 acquires information about the activity location of a registered activity participant when they are performing a target activity. If the target activity is a crime prevention patrol, the activity location information acquisition unit 110 acquires coordinate information consisting of latitude and longitude indicating the current location during patrol as activity location information using a GPS or the like.

[0035] The activity location information sending unit 120 sends activity location information indicating the location where a predetermined activity, such as a crime prevention patrol, is being performed, acquired by the activity location information acquisition unit 110, to the activity management device 300. FIG. 8 is an example of activity location information sent by the activity location information sending unit 110. The activity location information shown in FIG. 8 includes an ID that identifies the person performing the activity and location information during the activity. As shown in FIG. 8, multiple pieces of location information during an activity, such as a crime prevention patrol, may be sent together, or new location information may be sent each time it is acquired.

[0036] 8, the case has been described where each piece of location information includes latitude and longitude coordinate information and information regarding the date and time when the location information was acquired, but it may also include information regarding speed, altitude, and direction. Furthermore, if the active person uses multiple information acquisition devices 100, it may also include a device ID that identifies the information acquisition device 100 used for the activity.

[0037] The activity participant registration request receiving unit 1011 receives an activity participant registration request including information such as the activity participant's name, category, icon, etc., as shown in Fig. 7. The activity participant information database registration unit 1012 registers the information for requesting registration as an activity participant received by the activity participant registration request receiving unit 1011 in a database such as an RDMBS (Relational Database Management System) together with an activity participant ID that uniquely identifies the activity participant. For example, the activity participant information database registration unit 1012 performs activity participant registration by newly recording the various information included in the activity participant registration request received by the activity participant registration request receiving unit 1011 in an activity participant management table shown in Fig. 3.

[0038] In this way, the activist information registration unit 1010 registers information about a user who performs a predetermined activity or an organization to which the user belongs as activist information. If the activist is an individual user, the activist may register his or her own information as activist information, or if the user who performs the registration is an employee of an organization such as a company, the organization to which the user belongs may be registered as the activist information. The organization may be, for example, an organization such as a neighborhood association or a crime prevention association.

[0039] Whether to register the user or the organization to which the user belongs as the activist depends on what information is desired to be released as an activist in each area. If the user wishes to utilize this as a type of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity, the employee user will register the logo of the company to which he or she belongs as activist information and promote the CSR activities of the company. It is preferable that the activist information registration unit 1010 registers at least the logo, icon, or thumbnail of the user or the organization to which the user belongs who is engaged in a predetermined activity such as a crime prevention patrol as activist information, so that the activity can be promoted on the activity status viewing device 700.

[0040] The activity location information receiving unit 310 receives activity location information such as that shown in Fig. 8, which is sent from the information acquisition device 100 that the active person uses when engaging in activities such as crime prevention patrols. The activity location information recording unit 320 stores the information indicating the activity location of each active person received by the activity location information receiving unit 310 in a database or the like, setting a TTL (Time to Live) or the like, for a certain period of time.

[0041] Fig. 9 is an example of location information recorded by the activity location information recording unit 320. In the location information management table illustrated in Fig. 9, an active person ID that identifies each active person, the activity location where the active person is active (coordinate information consisting of latitude and longitude), and the date and time when the active person was active at the activity location, i.e., the date and time when the coordinate information of the activity location was acquired, are recorded in an associated state.

[0042] The activity amount acquisition unit 1020 acquires the activity amount of each active person for each area including the position of the active person at each predetermined time based on the position information of the active person recorded in the activity position information recording unit 320. The activity amount acquisition unit 1020 includes an area-specific activity distance calculation unit 1021 and an area-specific activity time calculation unit 1022.

[0043] The area-specific activity distance calculation unit 1021 reads, for each area, location information for each device of the active person acquired during a target period, and calculates the activity distance for that area during that target period by summing the coordinate differences between the read multiple pieces of location information. The area-specific activity time calculation unit 1022 reads, for each area, location information for each device of the active person acquired during that target period, and calculates the activity time for that area during that target period by summing the differences between the acquisition dates and times for the read multiple pieces of location information. The activity amount acquisition unit 1020 may acquire the calculated activity distance or activity time for each area as the activity amount, or may acquire a value calculated by multiplying the activity distance or activity time by a coefficient corresponding to the type of device used for the activity as the activity amount.

[0044] The area-specific activity distance calculation unit 1021 and area-specific activity time calculation unit 1022 may be configured to calculate the activity distance and activity time for each regional mesh of a predetermined level (stage).

[0045] The activity amount recording unit 1030 records information about the activity amount of the active person for each area acquired by the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 in a database or the like. For example, the activity amount recording unit 1030 records the activity distance, which is the activity amount, for each vehicle (device) used by the active person for a predetermined activity, for each activity area, and for each activity date and time, as illustrated in Fig. 5. In addition, the activity amount recording unit 1030 may record the activity amount by updating the total activity distance and total activity time by adding the sums of the activity distance and activity time for each device of the active person calculated for the current period to the values ​​of the total activity distance and total activity time stored in the active person information management table illustrated in Fig. 3.

[0046] Because the activity amount recording unit 1030 continuously generates activity amounts based on the activities of active individuals, it is preferable that the activity amount recording unit 1030, which records the activity amount for each active individual and device for each area where activity was performed for each predetermined period, delete past activity amounts after a certain period, such as one month or one year. However, losing all past activity records may lead to a decrease in the motivation of the active individual. Therefore, information such as the total activity amount (activity distance and activity time) for each active individual or for each device used by the active individual is recorded separately as active individual information. Note that the activity amount may be configured to be totaled only for users who have specified settings, such as premium user settings.

[0047] The activity status request receiving unit 330 receives an activity status request requesting information about the activity status in a specified area. FIG. 10 shows an example of the received activity status request. The activity status request shown in FIG. 10 includes an area ID that identifies the requested area and requested period information that specifies the requested period. Note that the activity status request may include multiple area IDs, or may include the ID of a single specified area. Furthermore, the requested period information may not be included. In this case, it is preferable that a value such as the last hour or the last day, which is set as a default value, is specified on the activity management device 300 side. Note that the activity status includes information about the person performing the activity in the requested area, and therefore, in this specification, the activity status request may be referred to as a requested area person information request.

[0048] The activity status information generation unit 340 generates activity status information indicating a predetermined activity status for the requested area based on the activity status request received by the activity status request reception unit 330. The activity status information generation unit 340 includes an active person information extraction unit 1040 and an activity level calculation unit 341.

[0049] The active person information extraction unit 1040 extracts a predetermined number of active people in the requested area based on the activity amount for each active person in each area recorded in the activity amount recording unit 1030, and performs a process of extracting predetermined information for the active people.

[0050] The activity level calculation unit 341 calculates information about the activity level in the requested area. For example, if the type of activity is a crime prevention patrol, the crime prevention level in the area is calculated based on the number of active persons and the amount of activity extracted by the active person information extraction unit 1040.

[0051] The activity status generating section 340 generates activity status information including information on the active person extracted by the active person information extracting section 1040 and information on the activity level calculated by the activity level calculating section 341 .

[0052] The activity status information transmitting unit 350 transmits the activity status information generated by the activity status information generating unit 340 to the requesting activity status viewing device 700. Fig. 11 is an example of the activity status information transmitted by the activity status information transmitting unit 350. The activity status information illustrated in Fig. 11 includes an area ID indicating the requested area, activity level information indicating the activity level in the area, and information about the person who was active in the area. The information about the person who was active includes information such as an active person ID that uniquely identifies the person who was active, the display name of the person who was active, the type of the person who was active, the URL of the thumbnail (icon / logo) of the person who was active, and information about the activity distance and activity time that indicate the amount of activity in the area, which are each extracted and included in the activity status information.

[0053] The activity status request input unit 710 receives input of information about the target area from a user who wishes to view an activity status. For example, the activity status request input unit 710 displays an activity status request input screen as shown in FIG. 12, and accepts area input by having the user enter the area code of the requested area into an input form 710a or by having the user select the location of the requested area on a map. In the example of FIG. 12, a mesh polygon 710b of the area selected on the map is overlaid on a map 710c. In this state, the activity status request is executed by pressing an execute button 710d.

[0054] The activity status request sending unit 720 sends to the activity management device 300 an activity status request as illustrated in FIG. 10, which includes information regarding the specified area input by the user who wishes to view the activity status using the activity status request input unit 710.

[0055] The activity status information receiving unit 730 receives activity status information indicating the activity status for the area requested by the activity status request sending unit 720. The activity status information shown in Fig. 11 includes an area ID that identifies the requested area, as well as information about the person who was active in the area and information about the activity level.

[0056] The activity status information display unit 740 performs processing to display on a screen information included in the activity status information received by the activity status information receiving unit 730. The activity status information display unit 740 includes an activity level display unit 741 and an active person information display unit 1040, the activity level display unit 741 displays information on the activity level in the requested area, and the active person information display unit 1040 displays information included in the activity status information about the active person who was active in the requested area.

[0057] Fig. 13 is an example of an activity status screen displayed by the activity status information display unit 740. In the example of Fig. 13, an area polygon 740b indicating the location of the requested area is overlaid on a map 740c, and an area ID 740a identifying the area, information 1040a-1040d about multiple people who were active in the area, and activity level information 741a are displayed on the screen.

[0058] Next, a process flow in the activity management system according to the second embodiment will be described. Fig. 14 is a flowchart showing the process flow of activity amount acquisition. In step S10201, the activity amount acquisition section 1020 determines whether it is time to calculate the activity amount. For example, a batch process that calculates the activity amount every 5 minutes or every hour using a timer process is registered in advance, and it is determined whether it is time to perform the process.

[0059] If the determination result in step S10201 shows that it is not yet time to perform the calculation process for the activity amount, the process is terminated. On the other hand, if it is time to perform the calculation process for the activity amount, in S10202, a list of devices of active people that have transmitted location information during the period covered by the current calculation is obtained. For example, if the calculation timing for the activity amount is every hour, the calculation period is the hour from one hour before the previous calculation to the present, and a list of devices that performed activities during that one hour is extracted based on the location information recorded in the activity location information recording unit 320.

[0060] In step S10203, the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 selects one device from the list of devices acquired in step S10202, and performs a process of reading out a list of location information for the device for the target period from the location information recorded in the activity location information recording unit 320.

[0061] In step S10204, the activity amount acquisition section 1020 performs a process of classifying the position information read out in step S10203 for each predetermined area. For example, the activity amount calculation section 1020 classifies the position information for each reference area mesh of the fourth level.

[0062] Here, the reference regional mesh is a mesh that divides an area into tightly packed areas based on latitude and longitude, and the one standardized by the JIS standard can be used. The area of ​​each mesh is divided into four orders depending on its size, and the range of each mesh can be calculated using a predetermined formula.

[0063] In step S10204, the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 selects southwest and northeast location information based on the multiple location information of a certain device read in step S10203, acquires a fourth-order mesh that overlaps with the area defined by this location information, and classifies the location information by mesh area.

[0064] In step S10205, the activity amount acquiring unit 1020 performs a process of calculating the activity distance and activity time of the device in each mesh area based on the location information included in that area classified in step S10204. For example, the activity amount acquiring unit 1020 arranges multiple pieces of location information included in a certain area in chronological order, and calculates the activity amount distance by summing the differences between adjacent coordinates, and calculates the activity time by calculating the difference between the times when location information was acquired.

[0065] If the location information crosses over into the next area, the virtual location information may be interpolated along the boundary line of the mesh, and the activity distance and activity time may be calculated by combining the virtual location information and the adjacent location information, or the activity distance and activity time may be calculated by discarding the information about the boundary part. This is because location information is usually acquired at intervals of a few seconds, and discarding the boundary part can be considered as an error.

[0066] Furthermore, it is conceivable that an active person may move from an area to an adjacent area and then return to the area. In this case, linking the first half of an activity in an area with the second half of an activity in that area may result in an incorrect calculation of the activity distance and activity time. Therefore, the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 may be configured to calculate the activity distance and activity time of the device in that area as the activity amount by calculating the activity distance and activity time from adjacent location information acquired within one minute of each other, for example, and adding them up.

[0067] In step S10206, the activity amount recording section 1030 performs processing to store the activity distance and activity time of the predetermined device in the predetermined area for the predetermined period calculated in step S10205 in the database as the amount of activity.

[0068] In step S10207, the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 performs a process of determining whether there are any other areas in which the currently targeted device has been active, that is, whether there are any other areas in which the activity amount has not yet been calculated, for the areas whose location information has been classified in step S10204.

[0069] If the result of the determination in step S10207 is that there are other areas for which the activity amount has not yet been calculated for the device being determined, the process returns to step S10205, where another area is selected and the activity amount calculation process continues.On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step S10207 is that the activity amount has been calculated for all areas for the device being determined, the process in step S10208 determines whether there are any devices for which the activity amount has not yet been calculated among the devices of the active person read out in step S10202.

[0070] If the result of this determination process shows that there is a device for which the activity amount has not yet been calculated, the process returns to step S10203, another device is selected, and the process continues. On the other hand, if the result of this determination shows that the calculation of the activity amount has been completed for all devices read out in step S10202, the process of acquiring the activity distance and activity time for each active person during the target period is performed in step S10209.

[0071] For example, suppose that a certain person X used three devices, a, b, and c, to carry out activities during this target period, with device a traveling 3.2 km for 6.5 minutes in area A and 4.4 km for 5.2 minutes in area B, device b traveling 2.1 km for 3.5 minutes in area D, and device c traveling 8.8 km for 19.7 minutes in area B. In this case, person X used these three devices (vehicles) to travel a total of 18.5 km and 34.9 minutes.

[0072] In step S10210, the activity amount recording unit 1030 performs processing to add the activity distance and activity time currently acquired by the activity amount acquisition unit 120 in step S10209 to the total activity distance and total activity time up to now of the active person X, and update the active person information management table. Completion of the processing of steps S10201 to S10210 completes the activity amount acquisition processing for the current timing, and the unit waits until the next timing to acquire an activity amount.

[0073] Next, the flow of the activity status information generation process will be described with reference to FIG.

[0074] In step S3401, the activity status information generation unit 340 performs processing to determine whether an activity status request has been received by the activity status request reception unit 330. If the result of this determination is that an activity status request has not been received, the processing ends and the unit waits until an activity status request is received.

[0075] If, as a result of the determination, an activity status request requesting information regarding activity status in a specified area is received, in step S3402, the activity participant information extraction unit 1040 refers to the activity amount management table recorded in the activity amount recording unit 1030 and performs a process of obtaining the activity amount for the specified period in the area specified in the activity status request.

[0076] For example, if the area for which activity status is requested in an activity status request is the area specified by area ID 20533915, the activity participant information extraction unit 1040 obtains the activity amount (activity distance and activity time) for each active participant by grouping the sum (SUM) of the activity amounts for devices that performed activity in area ID 20533915 from the activity amounts for each device recorded by the activity amount recording unit 1030 for each area and period, using the active participant ID, and extracts a predetermined number of active participants by sorting the activity amounts in descending order.

[0077] In this way, in step S3402, the active person information extraction unit 1040 performs a process of extracting information about a predetermined number of active people in the requested area in descending order of activity volume. The information about the active people may include the icon (thumbnail / logo) and display name of the active person, and information about the active distance and activity time in the area for the relevant period.

[0078] In step S3403, the activity level calculation unit 341 performs a process of calculating information related to the activity level for the requested area from the total activity amount. In step S3402, a predetermined number of active persons who were active in the requested area during the target period were extracted in descending order of activity amount as active persons to be displayed. In step S3403, the activity level for the requested area is calculated from the total activity amount of the active persons who were active in the requested area during the target period. If the target activity is a crime prevention activity, the activity level can be interpreted as a crime prevention level, a crime prevention patrol level, or the like. Therefore, in this specification, the activity level calculation unit 341 may be referred to as a crime prevention level calculation unit.

[0079] For example, the crime prevention level calculation unit 341 compares the amount of activity in other areas with the amount of activity in the currently requested area, calculates a deviation value, and then calculates the crime prevention level for that area. For example, assuming that crime prevention levels are divided into 10 levels from 1 to 10, with 1 being danger and 10 being safety, the crime prevention level is calculated as follows: if the deviation value is 50, i.e., the average amount of activity, the crime prevention level is 5, and if the deviation value of the activity amount is 80 or more, the crime prevention level is 10.

[0080] In addition, since the activity distance and activity time corresponding to the amount of activity increase as the area of ​​the target area increases, the crime prevention level calculation unit 341 is preferably configured to determine the amount of activity per unit area based on the area of ​​the target area, and calculate the crime prevention level based on the amount of activity per unit area.

[0081] In step S3404, the activity status information generation unit 340 determines whether extraction of information about active persons and calculation of activity levels have been completed for all requested areas. If the result of this determination indicates that processing has not yet been completed for any areas, processing continues by returning to step S3402. On the other hand, if extraction of information about active persons and calculation of activity levels have been completed for all requested areas, in step S3405 the activity status information transmission unit 350 performs processing to transmit the information acquired through the above series of steps as activity status information to the requesting activity status viewing device 700.

[0082] As described above, in the activity management system 1000 according to the second embodiment, the activity management device 300 manages the location information of the device (vehicle) of each person performing each activity, and calculates and records the amount of activity for each area based on the location information. This configuration makes it possible to generate and display activity status information for a requested area based on the activity amount of each person performing an activity in that area.

[0083] [Embodiment 3] As shown in the example of FIG. 16, when an area is specified with the map magnification lowered compared to the case of FIG. 12, the requested area becomes smaller relative to the map if the mesh level is fixed. When the map magnification is lowered, viewers are likely to want to check the activity status of a wider area, but the activity management system described in embodiment 2 did not adequately address this desire. The activity management system of embodiment 3 aims to make it possible to display activity status for areas at multiple levels. The configuration of embodiment 3 is the same as the configuration shown in FIG. 6.

[0084] When a predetermined operation such as a tap or click on a predetermined position on the map is input, the activity status request input unit 710 inputs an area including the tapped or clicked position as the requested area. At this time, the activity status request input unit 710 inputs a mesh area of ​​a predetermined level as the area for which the activity status is requested, based on the magnification of the map being displayed when the predetermined operation was performed.

[0085] For example, if the map display magnification is 1 to 8, the corresponding level is the second-order mesh, if it is 9 to 12, the corresponding level is the third-order mesh, and if it is 13 or higher, the corresponding level is the fourth-order mesh. In other words, if the magnification of the displayed map is 10 and a specified operation is input on the map, the third-order mesh including the position where the operation was input is input as the requested area. The activity status request sending unit 720 obtains the mesh code corresponding to the mesh of the input level and sends an activity status request including the obtained mesh code.

[0086] The first-level mesh code can be calculated as a four-digit number by multiplying the latitude of the southernmost point of the entered block by 1.5 and arranging the two-digit number obtained by subtracting 100 from the longitude of the westernmost point. The second-level mesh can be calculated by dividing this first-level mesh into 64 8x8 squares and adding the vertical and horizontal numbers to the first-level mesh code. The third-level mesh can be calculated by dividing it further into 10x10 squares and adding the vertical and horizontal values, and the fourth-level mesh can be calculated by dividing it further into four.

[0087] The activity amount acquisition unit 1020 calculates the activity amount for each fourth-order mesh, which is the smallest management unit, and the activity amount recording unit 1030 records the activity amount for each area of ​​the fourth-order mesh. At this time, if the level of the area specified in the activity status request received by the activity status request receiving unit 330 is second or third order rather than fourth order, the active person information extraction unit 1040 calculates the activity amount for each active person at that level by adding up the activity amounts of multiple meshes included in the requested area, and extracts information about the active people in descending order of activity amount.

[0088] This configuration makes it possible to dynamically change the level of the requested area depending on the magnification of the displayed map, and extract and display information about people active in the area at that level.

[0089] [Embodiment 4] In the third embodiment, a mesh area of ​​a predetermined level is described as a requested area and is transmitted as part of an activity status request. However, many ordinary viewers do not know the mesh code conversion formula, and may find it difficult to input mesh codes using a character input format. In addition, viewers may have a stronger desire to view activity status in terms of administrative districts or municipalities, such as Tokyo, Koganei City, or Kajino Town, rather than mechanical mesh areas. Therefore, the fourth embodiment is characterized by the ability to specify areas in the form of administrative districts, i.e., municipalities, which are familiar to humans. This will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0090] Fig. 17 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an activity status management system 1000 according to embodiment 4. In the example of Fig. 17, the activity status request input unit 710 includes a requested place name input unit 711, a requested date and time information input unit 712, a map magnification acquisition unit 713, and a requested position coordinate input unit 714, and the activity status information display unit 740 includes a requested area polygon display unit 742 and a requested area name display unit 743.

[0091] Fig. 18 is an example of an input screen displayed by the activity status request input unit 710. In the example of Fig. 18, an input form 710e for a target date and time and a map magnification 710f are newly displayed on the activity status request input screen. In addition, a marker 710g is displayed at the position where a long tap or click operation was performed on the map.

[0092] The activity status request input unit 710 inputs information about the area to be requested and information about the target date and time from a user who wishes to view the activity status. The requested place name input unit 711 inputs the name of the prefecture or city / town / village that is the target area for which the activity status is requested as information about the target area. The requested date and time information input unit 712 inputs information indicating the target date and time range by preparing a calendar-style input form as information about the target date and time for which the activity status is requested. The map magnification acquisition unit 713 acquires information about the magnification of the map displayed on the screen. The requested location coordinate input unit 714 inputs the location coordinates included in the target area as the requested location coordinates by tapping or clicking on the map.

[0093] The activity status request sending unit 720 sends the various information input in the activity status request input unit 710 as an activity status request. Fig. 19 is an example of an activity status request in embodiment 4. In the example of Fig. 19, the request includes the name of the prefecture or city / town / village of the requested activity status input in the requested place name input unit 711, information on the target date and time of the requested activity status input in the requested date and time information input unit 712, information on the map magnification input in the map magnification acquisition unit 713, and coordinate information for identifying the prefecture or city / town / village of the requested activity status input in the requested position coordinate input unit 714.

[0094] In addition, if the prefecture name or city / town / village name is included, the map magnification and requested location coordinates do not have to be included, and conversely, if the map magnification and requested location coordinates are included, the prefecture name or city / town / village name does not have to be included.

[0095] In the above example, the map magnification is used as information to identify the level desired by the user (whether prefecture, city, town, village, or block), but this is not limited to this and information regarding the boundaries of the map currently being displayed may be used instead. In this case, the activity status request input unit 710 may be provided with a map boundary information acquisition unit instead of the map magnification acquisition unit 713, and the map boundary information acquisition unit may acquire information regarding the southwest coordinates and northeast coordinates of the map currently being displayed as map boundary information, and this map boundary information may be included in the activity status request.

[0096] The activity status information receiving unit 730 receives activity status information including polygon information indicating the boundaries of the requested prefecture or municipal administrative area, a target date and time range, information on the people who were active within the area during that date and time range, and information on activity levels. Figure 20 shows an example of the activity status information. The information includes an area code (administrative division code) uniquely assigned to the target administrative area, the name of the target administrative area, the target date and time range, a polygon indicating the boundaries of the target area, information on activity levels, and information on the people who were active in the target area.

[0097] A requested area polygon display unit 742 overlays a polygon of the target area (requested area) included in the received activity status information on a map. A requested area name display unit 743 displays the name of the requested administrative area, such as prefecture or city / town / village, on the screen.

[0098] Fig. 21 is an example of a screen displayed by the activity status display unit 740. In the example of Fig. 21, the names of administrative districts (city, town, and village names) that are the target area, the target date and time range of the activity status, information about multiple active people who were active in the target area and date and time in descending order of activity volume, and a map with an overlaid polygon of the target area are displayed.

[0099] The activity status management device 300 is newly equipped with an area information database unit 360. The area information database unit 360 records, in a database for each administrative district, the names of administrative district areas such as prefectures and cities, towns, and villages, administrative district codes that uniquely identify the administrative district areas, and polygon information that indicates the boundaries (ranges) of the administrative district areas.

[0100] The activity amount acquisition unit 1030 calculates activity amounts such as activity distance and activity time for each active person in each area based on the location information for each active person recorded in the activity location information recording unit 320, by identifying each administrative district area containing the location information based on the polygon data recorded in the area information database recording unit 360 for each specified period.

[0101] The activity status information generating unit 340 further includes an area ID acquiring unit 342 , an area polygon information acquiring unit 343 , and an area name acquiring unit 344 .

[0102] When the activity status request receiving unit 330 receives information about the requested area name or the coordinates of the requested area, the activity status information generating unit 340 performs processing to read information about the requested area from among the areas recorded in the area information database unit 360. The area ID obtaining unit 342 obtains an area ID that uniquely identifies the requested area, and the area polygon information obtaining unit 343 obtains the administrative district area of ​​the requested coordinates based on the map magnification. For example, when the map magnification is small, polygons indicating the boundaries of administrative district areas at the prefecture level are obtained, and when the magnification is large, polygons indicating the boundaries of district areas such as cities, towns, villages, and beyond are obtained.

[0103] As described above, the activity status management system of this embodiment 4 manages activity levels for each administrative district area, extracts information about the activity participants from the activity levels in the requested area, and displays it in association with the requested area. This makes it possible to confirm the actual state of crime prevention activities at the administrative district level, and also provides an opportunity for the activity participants to promote CSR crime prevention.

[0104] [Embodiment 5] In the activity management system according to the first embodiment, location information of vehicles engaged in predetermined activities, such as crime prevention patrols, is centrally collected in an activity management device, and the amount of activity in each area is calculated based on the location information. Meanwhile, some businesses and individuals participating in the activities may not want to share their own or their own location information with others due to concerns about confidential business practices or privacy. In this case, some people may be interested in and want to participate in CSR activities such as crime prevention patrols, but may be unable to participate in the activities due to conflicts with their company's information sharing policies, making it difficult to increase the number of participants. The activity management system according to the fifth embodiment is characterized by enabling activities managed by the activity management system to be carried out and used for promotional purposes without disclosing detailed location information to others.

[0105] Fig. 22 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an activity management system according to embodiment 5. In Fig. 22, a vehicle (information acquisition device) 100 used by an active person when carrying out a predetermined activity such as a crime prevention patrol includes an activity location information recording unit 130, an activity notification method setting unit 140, an activity amount acquisition unit 150, an activity report generation unit 160, and an activity report transmission unit 170.

[0106] The activity location information recording unit 130 records the location information acquired by the activity location information acquiring unit 110 during an activity such as crime prevention patrol driving.

[0107] The activity notification method setting unit 140 performs settings related to the method for notifying the activity to the activity management device 300. Specifically, the setting is performed as to whether to use a method in which the device 300 calculates the activity amount from the location information by transmitting the location information to the device 300, or a method in which the information acquisition device 100 calculates the activity amount and notifies the activity amount.

[0108] The activity amount acquiring unit 150 performs a process of acquiring an activity amount of a predetermined activity performed by an active person using the device 100 for each area including the position, for each predetermined period, based on the position information recorded in the activity position information recording unit 130. The activity amount acquiring unit 150 includes an area-specific activity distance calculating unit 151 and an area-specific activity time calculating unit 152.

[0109] The area-specific activity distance calculation unit 151 reads out the location information recorded in the activity location information recording unit 130 for each predetermined area during each target period, and calculates the activity distance for that area during that target period by summing up the coordinate differences between the multiple pieces of location information that have been read out. Similarly, the area-specific activity time calculation unit 152 reads out the location information recorded in the activity location information recording unit 130 for each predetermined area during each target period, and calculates the activity time for that area during that target period by summing up the differences between the acquisition dates and times for the multiple pieces of location information that have been read out.

[0110] The area-specific activity distance calculation unit 151 and the area-specific activity time calculation unit 152 may be configured to calculate the activity distance and activity time for each regional mesh of a predetermined level (stage).

[0111] The activity report generating unit 160 generates an activity report including the activity amount acquired by the activity amount acquiring unit 150. The generated activity report is presented to the active person on a display unit (not shown) as needed. The activity report generating unit 160 may generate the activity report when an activity such as a crime prevention patrol ends, or may generate the report every hour, which is the activity management period.

[0112] The activity report sending unit 170 sends the activity report generated by the activity report generating unit 160 to the activity status management device 300. Fig. 23 is an example of an activity report sent by the activity report sending unit 170. In Fig. 23, in addition to IDs that respectively identify the active person and the vehicle 100 that is the device used by the active person, the activity details include the activity distance and activity time acquired by the activity amount acquiring unit 150 for each activity management period and each area.

[0113] In the example of Figure 23, the unit of management time for activities is one hour, and it shows that a crime prevention patrol was conducted across two management times, from 10:00 to 12:00 on May 10th, and that between 10:00 and 11:00, a patrol of 3.9 km was conducted for 8.6 minutes in the area identified by area ID: 2033913. Similarly, it shows that a crime prevention patrol was conducted across two areas during the management time, from 11:00 to 12:00.

[0114] In the activity status management device 300, the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 includes an activity report receiving unit 1023. The activity report receiving unit 1023 acquires the activity amount by receiving an activity report indicating the activity details of an active person who performed a predetermined activity. The activity amount acquisition unit 1020 acquires the activity amount of the active person who performed a predetermined activity by receiving an activity report such as the area where the predetermined activity was performed and information on the activity amount such as the activity distance and activity time in that area, as shown in FIG.

[0115] The activity amount acquisition unit 1020 can acquire and manage each activity amount by combining two methods: a method of acquiring the activity amount related to the active person by calculating the activity amount in an area including the position based on the position information recorded in the activity position information recording unit 320, and a method of acquiring the activity amount by receiving information including the activity amount in the area where the activity was performed. In this specification, the area-specific activity distance calculation unit 1021 and the area-specific activity time calculation unit 1022 may be collectively referred to as an area-specific activity amount calculation unit or simply an activity amount calculation unit.

[0116] As described above, in the activity status management system according to the fifth embodiment, the activity amount can be acquired in two ways: a method in which the edge terminal calculates the activity amount according to a predetermined algorithm based on the activity location and notifies the activity amount, and a method in which location information is transmitted to the server side and the activity amount for each area of ​​each active person is calculated using the same algorithm using the location information. With this configuration, even a user who does not want to transmit location information can be notified of the activity amount in each area where they performed activities during a predetermined period and displayed as an active person.

[0117] Note that while there is no room for fraud when the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 calculates the activity amount, there is a high risk of fraud being committed against the processing algorithm of the vehicle-side activity amount acquisition unit 150. Therefore, even for the same activity content, the activity amount calculation unit 1020 may adopt an algorithm that calculates a larger activity amount. Note that, for the device 100 that notifies the activity amount, if the activity amount calculation unit 1020 also calculates the activity amount, the same processing will be performed twice. Therefore, it is preferable that the activity status management device 300 side does not manage this and set the activity notification method setting unit 140 to adopt one of the methods.

[0118] To prevent duplicate activity amounts from being registered for activities performed with the same device due to some mistake, it is recommended to set a composite primary key of the device ID, activity management period, and activity area ID so that the activity amount is recorded by the activity amount recording unit 1030. In this case, when the same data is about to be registered, processing may be designed to ignore the data that is to be registered later, or to replace it.

[0119] As described above, the activity amount management device according to this embodiment includes two activity amount acquisition units: a first activity amount acquisition unit that acquires an activity amount of an active person by calculating an activity amount based on previously received location information of the active person who has performed a certain activity, and a second activity amount acquisition unit that acquires an activity amount by receiving a notification of the activity amount. By using multiple acquisition methods in this way, management tailored to the actual situation of the active person is possible.

[0120] [Embodiment 6] In the fifth embodiment, in order to take into consideration privacy and the like regarding the location of an active person, the activity amount of the active person is calculated for each area on the information acquisition device side of the active person performing the activity. On the other hand, if the area is an administrative district area as in the fourth embodiment, the information acquisition device needs to store a database of each administrative district, such as prefectures and cities, towns, and villages, and the polygons indicating their boundaries. However, this data becomes large in volume, and there is a problem that it is difficult to store it on each information acquisition device. On the other hand, as described in the fourth embodiment, viewers have a need to check the active person by administrative unit. The sixth embodiment aims to provide an activity status management system that can meet the needs of both those performing the activity and those who want to know the activity status.

[0121] Fig. 24 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the activity status management system according to embodiment 6. In Fig. 24, the activity amount acquisition section 150 on the information acquisition device 100 side and the activity amount acquisition section 1020 on the activity status management device 300 side each acquire the activity amount for each area and for each activity time period using the same method, for example, a regional mesh whose area range is determined by a predetermined calculation formula.

[0122] The activity status request receiving unit 330 receives an activity status request including location coordinates indicating the location where viewing is requested and map magnification, and the activity status information generating unit 340 identifies the requested administrative district area from the location coordinates, etc., and extracts information about the active person who is active in the administrative district area based on the activity amount acquired by the activity amount acquiring unit 1020.

[0123] The activity status information generating unit 340 includes an administrative district area specifying unit 345 , a corresponding mesh specifying unit 346 , and an area polygon information acquiring unit 343 .

[0124] The administrative district area specification unit 345 executes a process of specifying the administrative district area containing the position coordinates as the requested area based on the position coordinates included in the activity status request received by the activity status request receiving unit 330, by searching using polygon data of each prefecture and city, town, or village recorded in the area information database unit 360. At this time, it is preferable to specify whether the requested area is the prefecture containing the position coordinates, the city, town, or village, or a town or district below it, based on information about the map magnification and map boundary also included in the activity status request.

[0125] The administrative district area identification unit 345 performs processing to acquire a predetermined area including the location coordinates included in the activity status request from among areas divided by administrative districts, which is a first type of area classification method. Therefore, in this specification, the administrative district area identification unit may be referred to as a corresponding administrative district area acquisition unit, or simply as an administrative district area acquisition unit, a first type area information acquisition unit, etc. The information acquired by the first type area information acquisition unit may include, in addition to a polygon indicating the boundary of the area, information on the administrative district area name such as the name of a prefecture or city, town, or village, and information on the area's area.

[0126] The corresponding mesh identification unit 346 performs a process to identify the mesh corresponding to the identified administrative district area. For example, if the identified administrative district area is Chiba City, the corresponding mesh identification unit 346 acquires a list of meshes at a predetermined level that overlap with Chiba City.

[0127] The corresponding mesh identification unit 346 acquires information about areas that are divided into categories different from administrative district areas, such as regional meshes. Therefore, in this specification, the corresponding mesh identification unit may be referred to as a corresponding mesh information acquisition unit, or simply a corresponding mesh code acquisition unit, a second-type area information acquisition unit, etc.

[0128] At this time, the corresponding mesh identification unit 346 may identify a mesh contained within the requested administrative district area as a mesh corresponding to the administrative district area, or may identify a mesh that has even a partial overlap as a mesh corresponding to the administrative district area.

[0129] The active person information extraction unit 1040 extracts information about the active person who was active in each of the mesh list corresponding to the requested administrative district area identified by the relevant mesh identification unit 346.

[0130] The activity status information transmitting unit 350 transmits activity status information including polygon information indicating the boundary of the requested administrative district area, mesh codes of the meshes corresponding to the administrative district area, and information about the people who engaged in the specified activity in the meshes corresponding to the administrative district area. Figure 25 is an example of the activity status information. In the example of Figure 25, the requested administrative district area is Koganei City, a city or town in Tokyo, and polygon information consisting of multiple coordinates indicating the boundary of Koganei City and a list of mesh codes identifying multiple meshes that overlap the administrative district area are included along with information about the people who engaged in the activity in the administrative district area.

[0131] In the activity status viewing device 700, the activity status information receiving unit 730 receives activity status information including boundary information consisting of multiple coordinates indicating the boundaries of the administrative district area illustrated in Figure 25, and mesh code information indicating multiple meshes overlapping the administrative district area.

[0132] In the activity status information display section 740, the requested area polygon display section 742 overlays on a map polygons indicating boundaries of administrative district areas included in today's activity information and polygons indicating meshes that overlap the administrative district areas.

[0133] 26 is a diagram showing the activity status for a requested area displayed on the screen by the activity status information display unit 740. The administrative district area requested by the user is Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, and a polygon 742b indicating the boundary of the administrative district area is overlaid on the map. In addition, panel polygons indicating the areas of 10 meshes 742g that overlap the administrative district area are overlaid on the map.

[0134] Although the user requested the administrative district area of ​​Chiba City, Chiba Prefecture, the actual activity volume is managed on a mesh-by-mesh basis, so the people who were active within the range of the 10 meshes 742g corresponding to the administrative district area are extracted in order of the highest total activity volume, and some of these people are displayed together on the screen as activity person information 1040a, 1040b.

[0135] Next, a series of steps from receiving a request for an activity status to extracting an active person will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

[0136] In step S3302, the activity status request receiving unit 330 receives an activity status request including at least location coordinates for specifying the requested area. In step S3304, the administrative district area identifying unit 345 identifies the requested administrative district area by referring to the area information stored in the area information database unit 360, based on the location coordinates included in the activity status request received in step S3302.

[0137] In step S3304, the administrative district area identification unit 345 may be configured to refer to the correspondence table illustrated in FIG. 28 based on the map magnification included in the activity status request received in step S3302 to identify which level of administrative district area is being sought, and then identify the administrative district area of ​​the identified level from the specified position coordinates.

[0138] Although the case where the received activity status request includes a map magnification has been described, the method of identifying the requested administrative division level is not limited to this, and it may also be identified based on map boundary information that indicates the boundaries of the map displayed on the requesting side. If the difference in latitude or longitude between map boundaries is 1 or more, it may be interpreted as a request for activity person information at the prefecture level, and if it is between 0.1 and less than 1, it may be interpreted as a request for activity person information at the city, town, or village level to identify the administrative area.

[0139] Alternatively, the requested administrative district level designation number may be included in the activity status request. In this case, the activity status viewing device may also have a table similar to that shown in Fig. 28, and when transmitting an activity status request, administrative district level information indicating the level of the requested administrative district may be obtained from the map magnification or map boundary of the currently displayed map, and the activity information request transmission unit 720 may include the administrative district level information in the activity status request and transmit the activity information request. Since all of this information is information for specifying the requested area level, it may be referred to as area level specification related information in this specification.

[0140] That is, in step S3304, the administrative district area identification unit 345 performs a process of identifying, based on the area level identification related information and location coordinate information contained in the activity status request received in step S3302, an administrative district area of ​​the level required by the area level identification related information from among the administrative district areas including the location coordinates, as the requested administrative district area.

[0141] In step S3306, the corresponding mesh acquisition unit 346 performs processing to acquire a list of meshes corresponding to the administrative district area identified in step S3304. Specifically, in step S3306, the corresponding mesh acquisition unit 346 performs processing to acquire a list of meshes at a predetermined level that overlap with the polygon, using polygon information indicating the boundary of the administrative district area identified in step S3304.

[0142] In step S3308, the activity participant information extraction unit 1040 performs a process of extracting, in descending order of activity amount, participants who were active in the multiple meshes acquired in step S3306 during the period for which activity status information is requested. For example, if the activity amount recording unit 1030 manages the activity amount of each participant for each mesh and for each target date and time for managing activity, as illustrated in Fig. 5, the activity participant information extraction unit 1040 narrows down the target activity range from the table in Fig. 5 using the mesh code of the mesh acquired in step S3306 and the requested period, groups the participants by activity amount ID, calculates the sum of the activity amounts, and sorts the participants by the largest sum, thereby enabling the extraction of a certain number of participants who were active within the mesh range associated with the specified administrative district area in descending order of activity amount.

[0143] In step S3310, the activity status information generation unit 340 performs a process of generating activity status information including information about the administrative district area identified in step S3304, information about the mesh corresponding to the administrative district area obtained in step S3306, and information about the active person extracted in step S3308.

[0144] In step S3312, the activity status information transmitting section 350 transmits the generated activity status information. In step S3314, on the activity status display device 700 side, the activity status information receiving section 730 performs processing to receive the activity status information transmitted from the activity status management device 300 side in step S3312.

[0145] In step S3316, the activity status information display unit 740 displays on the screen predetermined information such as the display name, thumbnail, and activity distance of the active person included in the activity status information received in step S3314, a polygon indicating the requested administrative district area, and a polygon indicating the mesh list corresponding to the administrative district area.

[0146] As described above, the activity status management system according to the sixth embodiment includes a first-type area information acquisition unit that acquires information about a first-type area based on location coordinates included in a requested area and level information identifying the level of the requested area; a second-type area information acquisition unit that acquires information about a second-type area corresponding to the first-type area; and an activity participant information extraction unit that extracts information about an active participant based on a predetermined activity amount associated with each of the second-type areas. The first-type areas are zoned areas predefined by the government, and polygon information indicating their boundaries is acquired from an area information database or an external service. In comparison with the first-type areas, the second-type areas are areas that can be calculated using a predetermined calculation formula, such as a regional mesh, and satisfy a predetermined relationship, such as overlapping with the first-type area. The second-type areas can be calculated without a database indicating their boundaries, allowing the activity amount to be calculated for each area on the information acquisition device.

[0147] Furthermore, because there is a discrepancy between administrative district areas (the first type of area) and the multiple second type areas corresponding to those administrative district areas, strictly speaking there will be a discrepancy at the edges with respect to the amount of activity performed in the first type of area, but this is within the acceptable range because even if activity levels are extracted using the administrative district area polygons, discrepancies will remain at the boundaries.Instead, by using two types of areas, it is possible to check the amount of activity for each administrative district area at that point by entering a specified operation such as clicking or long tapping at a specified location on the map, and participants can also contribute to activities without sharing their exact location information.

[0148] [Embodiment 7] In the above-described sixth embodiment, the activity status information generation unit acquires an administrative district area of ​​the corresponding level from among administrative district areas including the location coordinates based on the level information included in the received request. At this time, if the location coordinates are the location of Tokyo Station, if the level information is 1, "Tokyo" will be acquired as the requested administrative district area; if the level information is 2, "Chiyoda-ku" will be acquired, which corresponds to the city, town, or village including the coordinates of Tokyo Station; and if the level information is 3, "Marunouchi" will be acquired, which indicates the town or district including the coordinates of Tokyo Station.

[0149] In this case, to display the amount of activity in "Marunouchi," it is preferable that the mesh that becomes the second-class area information be a fourth-order mesh, etc. This is because with a second-order or third-order mesh, the discrepancy between the actual state of the "Marunouchi" area and the area that is the combination of the meshes becomes too large.

[0150] On the other hand, to display activities in "Tokyo," it is preferable that the mesh that becomes the second-class area information is a second-order mesh, etc. This is because in a fourth-order mesh, there are too many meshes in Tokyo, which causes problems such as a large amount of communication returning to the front end and heavy processing.

[0151] The seventh embodiment is characterized in that a list of meshes at an appropriate level is returned based on the area level requested by the user who is requesting the activity status.

[0152] The activity status request receiving unit 330 receives an activity status request that includes at least the location coordinates included in the requested area and level information regarding the level of the requested area. The level information may be map magnification, information regarding the display range of the map such as the map boundary coordinates, or specific information such as prefecture, city, town, village, or area.

[0153] Based on the received location coordinates and level information, the first type area information acquisition unit acquires, from among the areas of the first type classification, an area of ​​a level specified based on the level information (such as a prefecture or city, town, or village) that includes the location coordinates as a first type area for which an activity status is requested, and acquires information such as the name and polygon information indicating the boundary of the area. Also, the second type area information acquisition unit acquires an area of ​​a second type classification that corresponds to the area acquired by the first type area information acquisition unit. At this time, the second type area information acquisition unit acquires, as a second type area for which an activity status is requested, an area of ​​a level specified based on the received level information (such as a second mesh or a fourth mesh) that overlaps (including within) the polygon of the area acquired by the first type area information acquisition unit, and acquires an ID or code that identifies the area, a polygon indicating the boundary, etc.

[0154] The activity status information display unit of the activity status display device displays polygons of the first type areas at a predetermined level and polygons of the second type areas at that level or a level corresponding to the first type areas on a map in an overlaid manner. At this time, it is preferable to display the polygons of the first type areas above the polygons of the second type areas.

[0155] In this way, in order for the second type area information acquisition unit to acquire areas of the requested area level and for the activity participant information extraction unit to extract a list of participants based on the activity amounts in the areas, it is necessary to acquire the activity amount for each area at the minimum level for each area. If the activity amount for each area at the minimum level is acquired and recorded, when the activity amount at a higher level becomes necessary, the activity amount for the higher level area can be found by taking the sum of the activity amounts of the smaller areas included in the higher level area.

[0156] However, since it is wasteful to combine and calculate the activity amount every time an activity status request is made, it is better to configure the system so that when the activity amount for each area is obtained in advance, the activity amount for each level is obtained and recorded in the activity amount recording unit.

[0157] 29 is an example of an activity amount management table recorded in the area information database unit. In the example of FIG. 29, the device with device ID 3245 is active at area level 4 (fourth-order mesh) level in two areas with mesh codes 20534125 and 20534130, and the activity amounts in each area are stored in the rows of activity amount IDs 029 and 030. In this embodiment, the area with mesh code 205341, which is the third-order mesh that is the upper mesh of the two mesh areas, also has an activity amount of 2.0 km, which is the total of these lower meshes, stored in activity amount ID 031.

[0158] In this way, by recording the activity amount according to each mesh level, it is possible to simply read the activity amount recorded at that level from the table according to the level requested in the activity status request, thereby eliminating the need to re-calculate the activity amount each time a request is made.

[0159] As described above, the activity status management device according to the seventh embodiment includes an activity status request receiving unit that receives an activity status request including at least coordinate information included in a requested area and level information indicating the level of the requested area, an area information acquiring unit that acquires boundary information (polygon information consisting of multiple coordinates) indicating the boundary of an area of ​​the requested level that includes the coordinate information based on the activity status request received by the receiving unit, and an activity participant information extracting unit that extracts predetermined information about an activity participant who is active in the acquired area. With this configuration, area information according to the area level can be returned to the requestor and displayed.

[0160] In this case, it is preferable to manage two types of areas: administrative district areas and regional mesh areas. That is, the area information acquisition unit acquires boundary information for a first type area corresponding to the requested level, including coordinate information, and acquires information on a second type area corresponding to the first type area and commanding the second type area corresponding to the level. Activity status information including the acquired first type area information and second type area information is returned to the requestor and displayed on the screen.

[0161] In this case, when extracting an active person based on the amount of activity in a type 2 area of ​​the corresponding level, it is possible to obtain the amount of activity by adding up the amount of activity in the smallest level having an area smaller than the level in question each time a request is made, but it is also advisable to calculate and record the amount of activity in areas of other levels in advance when calculating the amount of activity in the area of ​​the smallest level.

[0162] In this way, the activity amount acquisition unit according to the seventh embodiment acquires, for each area of ​​a plurality of levels in a predetermined area classification, the activity amount of each person who has been active in the area for each management period, and the area information database unit records the activity amount of each area acquired for each level.

[0163] [Embodiment 8] In the activity status management system described in embodiment 5, even for companies that do not want to disclose detailed location information of commercial vehicles participating in crime prevention patrol activities, etc., due to trade secrets, the vehicle can calculate the amount of activity for each area, and then notify and register the amount of activity for each area, thereby making it possible to promote the company as a crime prevention patrol that watches over the area without disclosing location information.

[0164] On the other hand, some companies may not want to disclose even a specific area. For example, a company that transports cash may not want to disclose detailed location information due to the risk of being robbed, and may not want to disclose a small area. For example, with a 4th-order mesh, the area can be narrowed down to a range of a few hundred meters, so even at this level, there are cases where a company does not want to disclose the time of day and the area where its vehicles were traveling.

[0165] In such cases, there is a problem that, although they would like to contribute to local crime prevention, they are unable to participate in crime prevention patrol activities due to the above-mentioned risks. Therefore, the activity status management system according to the eighth embodiment aims to provide a system that takes the privacy of participants into greater consideration by allowing them to select the level of activity to be notified. This will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0166] 30 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an activity status management system according to the embodiment 8. In the example of FIG.

[0167] The activity report level setting unit 180 sets the level of activity amount for each area to be transmitted for the information on the activity amount in each area transmitted by the activity report transmitting unit 170. For example, when the setting in the activity report level setting unit 180 is "4", the activity report transmitting unit 170 transmits an activity report including information on the activity amount acquired in units of fourth-order meshes. On the other hand, when the setting is "2", the activity report transmitting unit 170 transmits an activity report including information on the activity amount acquired in units of second-order meshes.

[0168] The activity amount acquisition unit 150 acquires activity amounts for each fourth-order mesh, which is the smallest common unit, and when the activity report generation unit 160 generates an activity report, it converts the amount into an area-level report set by the activity report level setting unit 180 before generating the activity report. The activity report transmission unit 170 reports the activity amount at the area level set by the activity report level setting unit 180.

[0169] FIG. 31 shows the amount of activity for each area for a device with a device ID of 3232 during a certain activity management period (between 10:00 and 11:00 on May 10, 2024). In this case, if the activity report level set by the activity report level setting unit 180 is 4, the activity report reporting the activity details for each area during a predetermined period transmitted by the activity report transmission unit 170 will look like FIG. 32. In FIG. 32, the amount of activity is summarized for each fourth-order mesh level. In the example of FIG. 32, at the fourth-order mesh level, activity is performed across four areas, and the activity distance and activity time indicating the amount of activity in each area are included in association with the mesh code (area ID) that identifies the area.

[0170] Fig. 33 is an example of an activity report that reports the activity details for each area during a predetermined period, transmitted by the report transmission unit 170, when the report level is 3, assuming that the same activity shown in Fig. 31 was performed. Compared to the case of Fig. 32, the amount of activity is reported for each area, with the total being calculated for each 3rd order mesh area.

[0171] In the activity status management device 300, the activity amount acquisition section 1020 receives activity reports with different levels for the area, and the activity amount recording section 1030 records the activity amount at the level included in the received activity report. The activity amount acquisition section 1020 also calculates the activity amount at an area level that is higher than the activity amount at the level included in the received activity report, and records the activity amount at that level for each area.

[0172] For example, in the case of an activity report at the fourth mesh level as illustrated in Fig. 31, the activity amount recording unit 1030 records the activity amount for each area at the fourth mesh level, the activity amount calculation unit of the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 acquires the activity amount for each area at the third mesh and second mesh levels, and the activity amount recording unit 1030 also records the calculated activity amounts at the third and second mesh levels. Thus, the activity amount recording unit 1030 records and manages the activity amounts for each area from the second to fourth mesh levels.

[0173] On the other hand, in the case of an activity report at the third mesh level as shown in Fig. 32, the activity amount recording unit 1030 records the activity amount for each area at the third mesh level, the activity amount calculation unit of the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 acquires the activity amount for each area at the second mesh level, and the activity amount recording unit 1030 also records the activity amount at the second mesh level. Thus, the activity amount recording unit 1030 records and manages the activity amounts at the second to third mesh levels for each area.

[0174] In this case, because activity data at the 4th-order mesh resolution is not recorded or managed, for example, when extracting activity data based on the 4th-order mesh corresponding to a narrow administrative area such as a district, the active user of the device in question will not be extracted. On the other hand, when the map is zoomed down and a list of active users at the city / town / village level is required to be extracted, the activity data at the 3rd-order mesh level corresponding to the city / town / village level is recorded and managed, so the active user of the device in question may also be extracted as an active user in that area.

[0175] As mentioned above, because activity data can be reported at the mesh level, i.e., by setting the area resolution, people in large administrative districts such as prefectures have the opportunity to be extracted as target activities, but in areas below the municipal level such as towns and districts, activity data at the 4th mesh level, which is the resolution corresponding to the administrative district area, is not notified and so they will not be extracted. Therefore, in such small areas, it is possible to prevent your own activities from being known to others.

[0176] [Embodiment 9] As described above, the activity status management device of the present invention comprises an activity participant information registration unit that registers specified information about the activity participant (such as display name, thumbnail, company website link, promotional text, etc.); an activity amount acquisition unit that acquires specified activity amounts about the activity participant in a specified area including the location based on location information about the activity participant, more specifically, the location coordinates of an information acquisition device (including a vehicle) that the activity participant is using while performing the specified activity (for example, if the activity is a crime prevention patrol, the patrol distance or patrol time, or an amount obtained by a specified calculation from these values); an activity amount recording unit that records information about the specified activity amount about the activity participant; and an activity participant information extraction unit that extracts information about the activity participant who was active in the requested area from the information about the registered activity participant based on the activity amount about the area.

[0177] In this case, the participant information extraction unit is configured to extract a predetermined number of participants who were engaged in a specified activity in the requested area in order of the amount of activity they performed, and to extract information about the participants such as their names (display names) and thumbnails (logos or icons). This is advantageous because it is expected that each participant will increase their activities in order to increase exposure.

[0178] In this case, the activity amount acquisition unit may be configured to acquire information about distance as the activity amount based on multiple pieces of location information about the active person. For example, if the activity is a crime prevention patrol, an active person who has performed a crime prevention patrol over a longer distance can be said to be contributing more to crime prevention in the local area. Furthermore, the activity amount acquisition unit may be configured to acquire information about time as the activity amount based on the date and time at which each of the multiple pieces of location information was acquired. This is because an active person who has performed a crime prevention patrol for a longer period of time can be said to be contributing more to crime prevention in the local area.

[0179] However, in this case, opinions differ as to whether priority should be given to participant A, who conducted crime prevention patrol activities over a longer distance, or participant B, who conducted crime prevention patrol activities for a longer period of time. Therefore, the activity amount acquisition unit may acquire, as the activity amount, a value calculated based on a predetermined formula from the activity distance and activity time. In other words, the activity amount acquisition unit may be configured to acquire a predetermined activity amount based on the activity distance and activity time for a predetermined area including a plurality of location information related to the participant, enabling more flexible operation. Furthermore, the calculation formula for calculating this activity amount may be configured to dynamically apply different calculation formulas depending on the region (rural or urban), time of day (daytime or nighttime), day of the week (weekday or holiday), etc. This is because the quality of activity required differs depending on these circumstances.

[0180] A third party who wishes to know the activity status of a specified activity such as a security patrol managed by the activity status management device is provided with an activity status request sending unit that sends an activity status request including location coordinates included in the requested area, an activity status information receiving unit that receives activity status information including at least information about an active person who was engaged in the specified activity in the specified area (requested area), and an active person information display unit that displays information about an active person who was engaged in the specified activity in the specified area included in the received activity status information.

[0181] By adopting this structure, information about participants in activities such as crime prevention patrols is more likely to be seen by local residents, etc., which provides incentives to participate in activities even in the absence of direct monetary rewards, such as improved corporate image, increased sales due to PR effects, and satisfaction of the desire for recognition and social needs through praise from others.

[0182] It is even more preferable if the activity status request sending unit is configured to send an activity status request that includes information about the level (stage) of the requested area in addition to the location coordinates included in the requested area. The information about the level of the area for which the activity status information is requested may be information indicating the map magnification, information indicating the boundaries of the displayed map, such as southwest and northeast location coordinates, the distance between these two coordinates, or numerical information indicating the size of the area.

[0183] Note that the method for specifying the requested area is not limited to this, and may be an ID (mesh code) that identifies the area, or a prefecture name, city, town, or village name that indicates an administrative district area. In this way, the activity status request sending unit receives an activity status request that includes information that identifies the requested area. Also, instead of location coordinates input on the terminal, a mesh code may be obtained on the terminal side from the location coordinates, and the mesh code may be included in the activity status request. In other words, it is preferable that the activity status request sending unit is configured to receive an activity status request that includes at least information about locations that overlap with the requested area.

[0184] Preferably, the activity request information sending unit is configured to return to the requesting terminal activity request information including polygon information indicating the boundary of the area in addition to information about the person who performed the specified activity in the area specified based on the activity status request, and the activity status information display unit on the requesting terminal is configured to overlay a polygon panel indicating the requested area on a map based on the polygon information included in the activity request information. With this configuration, it is possible to display the area on the map as a polygon while displaying a list of the person who performed the activity in that area, making it easier to grasp the activity status at a glance.

[0185] Furthermore, it is desirable that the activity status information also include information on the amount of activity of each participant, i.e., the distance and time of activity. By displaying this information together, viewers can see how actively each participant is contributing to local crime prevention patrols, etc., which can result in increased PR effectiveness.

[0186] It is preferable that the activity status request include information about the date and time for which the activity status is requested. For example, when an incident occurs, police may need to know what kind of activists were conducting crime prevention patrols in the area at the time and date of the incident from the perspective of criminal investigation. Being able to check the activity status by specifying the date and time of the activity is expected to improve the arrest rate. If the date and time are not specified, the activists who were active on that day may be extracted as a default, or the activists who were active in the last 24 hours may be extracted. In this way, the activist information extraction unit may be configured to extract information about the activists who were active in the area at the requested date and time (time range) and in the requested area (location range) based on the activity level of each activist in the area at the requested date and time (time range).

[0187] When requesting activity status for a specific area by specifying a date and time (for example, a date and time range such as 12:00 to 16:00 on May 10th), authority may be managed so that only users who have been granted authority in advance can search with that date and time. This is because the need to know activity status by specifying a specific date and time is thought to be limited to police investigating crimes and victims of theft, etc.

[0188] In addition, in the activity management device, the activity amount acquisition unit can acquire the activity amount for each area of ​​each active person by calculating it itself within the device, or by receiving the activity amount for each area calculated outside the device.

[0189] In the former case, an activity location information receiving unit receives activity location information transmitted from the information acquisition device 100 used by the active person during activities such as crime prevention patrols, and an activity location information recording unit records the information indicating the activity location of each active person received by the activity location information receiving unit in a database, etc. In this state, the recorded activity locations of each active person are classified by area at predetermined time intervals using batch processing, etc., and the movement distance and movement time for each area are calculated by taking the coordinates of the location information and the difference in the acquisition interval, thereby obtaining values ​​of activity amounts such as activity distance and activity time for the active person in a predetermined area including the position.

[0190] In the latter case, an activity report receiving unit is provided that receives an activity report indicating the activity details of an individual who has performed a specified activity, such as a crime prevention patrol, and the activity amount acquisition unit acquires the activity amount of the individual who performed the specified activity by extracting information regarding the activity amount from the received activity report, which includes information on the area in which the specified activity was performed and the activity amount such as the activity distance and activity time in that area.

[0191] In either case, the activity level of each active person is obtained for each area and each management time range using the same algorithm. Based on this activity level, a predetermined number of active people are extracted in descending order of activity level, and information such as the display name, thumbnail, activity distance, and activity time of the active people is sent to the requesting device and displayed in association with the requested area.

[0192] Furthermore, it is preferable that the area unit for managing the activity amount and the area unit for the request are configured differently, as this increases the flexibility of the system. For example, the activity status request receiving unit receives an activity status request including information about a location that overlaps with the requested area. The area here refers to an area defined by a first type of division, and its boundary is represented by polygon data, i.e., a set of multiple position coordinates. It is even more preferable to include an area information database unit that manages these first type areas. The area information database unit includes at least an identifier for identifying each area (such as an ID, number, or code uniquely assigned to each area) and polygon data indicating its boundary (an array of coordinates located at the boundary with adjacent areas).

[0193] When an activity status request is received that includes coordinate points located inside a first-type (first classification) area whose range is specified by polygon data, the first-type area information acquisition unit acquires information about the first-type area that has the coordinate points inside by a GIS search, etc. The acquired information may be an ID that identifies the area, polygon information that indicates the boundary, the regional name given to the area, etc.

[0194] Furthermore, if the type 1 areas have a hierarchical structure, it is even more preferable that the activity status request include level information that specifies which layer (level) of area is being requested. The activity status request receiving unit receives an activity status request that includes at least information about a location that overlaps with the requested area and information about the requested level, and the type 1 area information acquiring unit acquires information about areas classified by the type 1 classification that overlap with the location included in the activity status request and that correspond to the level, by referring to information indicating each area and its boundaries recorded in the area information database unit.

[0195] Representative examples of the first type areas include prefectures, cities, towns, and villages, and at lower levels, administrative district areas such as town names, district names, and blocks that divide areas. At each level, the range of each area is defined by polygon data. In this case, the first type area information acquisition unit is sometimes called an administrative district area information acquisition unit, and acquires information about the requested administrative district area based on the received activity status request. The system can be configured in this way.

[0196] Meanwhile, in the activity amount acquisition unit that acquires and manages the activity amount of each active person by area, the area unit may be a Type 1 area, which is a Type 1 classification, or a Type 2 area, which is a Type 2 classification different from the Type 1 classification. Since the boundaries of each Type 1 area are identified by polygon data, if the information acquisition device calculates the activity amount itself, the information acquisition device must also record polygon information indicating the boundaries of each area. However, while this is not a significant problem at the level of only 47 prefectures, storing polygon data indicating the boundaries of over 1,700 cities, towns, and villages, as well as towns and regions located at lower levels, can lead to problems such as increased costs for the information processing device.

[0197] Therefore, it is preferable that the second type areas divided by the second type of division are areas whose boundaries can be determined by a predetermined calculation formula based on an area code, etc. In this case, the activity amount acquisition unit is configured to calculate the activity amount of the active person based on the activity position within each second type area whose boundaries can be determined by the predetermined calculation formula.

[0198] It is preferable that the second type of area also be hierarchically structured. In this case, if the activity amount is acquired and recorded for each wider area level, it will be impossible to grasp the activity amount of each active person at a finer area-by-area resolution. Therefore, it is preferable that the activity amount acquisition unit acquires the activity amount for each area at each level (level) based on the location information when the active person performed a predetermined activity. In this case, the activity amount recording unit records and manages the activity amount acquired for each area at each second type of level in a database or the like.

[0199] However, if the activity amount for each area at the level of a small area is acquired, the activity amount for each area at the level of a larger area can be calculated by summing up the activity amounts. Therefore, it is also possible to configure the system to acquire and manage the activity amount at the smallest area level among the multiple levels to be managed.

[0200] The second type of area can be an area such as a regional mesh. Each regional mesh is identified by a mesh code that is uniquely assigned to each area at multiple levels (secondary mesh, tertiary mesh, quaternary mesh, etc.), and the area range can be determined from each mesh code based on a predetermined calculation formula.

[0201] In addition, when the activity amount calculation unit acquires the activity amount by calculating the activity amount for each area based on the position information of the active person, the activity amount calculation unit may be configured to calculate the activity amount for each area where the activity was performed for each of a plurality of hierarchical levels, and the activity amount receiving unit may be configured to receive information on the activity amount for each area in the smallest hierarchical level among the plurality of hierarchical levels. In this case, the activity amount acquisition unit may be configured to calculate the activity amounts for areas in other hierarchical levels based on the activity amount for each area in the hierarchical level received by the activity amount receiving unit, and the activity amount database unit may be configured to record and manage the calculated activity amounts.

[0202] As described above, the method for acquiring the activity amount for each area preferably includes a first acquisition method that receives and records location information of an active person during an activity, calculates the activity amount in the area including the location information for multiple area levels, and records and manages the activity amount of each active person for each area, area level, and activity period. Furthermore, it is even more preferable to include a second acquisition method that acquires the activity amount for each area by receiving the activity amount for each area where an activity was performed at a predetermined area level during a predetermined activity period.

[0203] The first acquisition method is calculated from location information, so it is assumed that the location information will be sent to the administrator, whereas the second acquisition method allows activity amounts to be reported at a disclosable hierarchical level. In this case, it is even better if the activity amounts in areas larger than the area at that hierarchical level are calculated based on the activity amounts for each area at that hierarchical level, and then recorded and managed.

[0204] For example, for active person A, whose activity amount is managed using a first activity amount acquisition method, the activity amount is calculated and recorded for each area where the activity was performed at multiple area levels 2, 3, and 4 based on location information. On the other hand, when active person B, whose activity amount is managed using a second activity amount acquisition method, transmits the activity amount for each area at area level 3, the activity management device calculates, records, and manages the activity amount for each area where active person B performed the activity at area level 2, which has a larger area range than area level 3, based on the activity amount for each area at area level 3 that was received for active person B.

[0205] Therefore, the amount of activity for participant A is recorded and managed in each of area levels 2, 3, and 4, and the amount of activity for participant B is recorded and managed in area levels 2 and 3. In this case, if activity status in area level 4 is requested, participant B will not be extracted, and information on participant A will be extracted. On the other hand, if the requested area level becomes 3 by reducing the map, the participant information extraction unit will extract a predetermined number of participants who have performed activities in the area of ​​the requested level from among the participants recorded and managed in the activity amount recording unit, in order of the amount of activity.

[0206] [Embodiment 10] When conducting crime prevention patrols, rather than simply driving around in a vehicle, capturing video footage while driving and then extracting video footage from around the time of the incident in the vicinity of the crime scene after the fact in the event of an incident, thus patrolling as a "mobile security camera," can be extremely effective from a crime prevention perspective. Therefore, in the activity management system according to the tenth embodiment, each information acquisition device is characterized by having the ability to capture video footage and share necessary video footage with relevant organizations in addition to location information during crime prevention patrols. This will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0207] FIG. 34 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the activity status management system according to the tenth embodiment. 34, the information acquisition device 100 includes an image capturing unit 1110, an image recording unit 1120, an image request receiving unit 1130, a requested image extracting unit 1140, and a requested image transmitting unit 1150.

[0208] The image capturing unit 1110 captures images while performing a predetermined activity such as a security patrol. The image capturing unit 1110 is preferably configured to capture video of the activity, but may also capture images using a method such as time-lapse still image capture. When the captured image is a video, the image capturing unit 1110 may be referred to as a video capturing unit 1110.

[0209] The image recording unit 1120 records images captured by the image capturing unit 1110 during a predetermined activity in association with the activity location acquired by the activity location information acquisition unit 110. The activity location is the same as the image capture location, and the image recording unit 1120 is preferably configured to record images captured over a certain period of time in association with the image capture date and time and the image capture location. In other words, the activity location of a security patrol or the like acquired by the activity location information acquisition unit 110 can be referred to as the image capture location. Therefore, the activity location information acquisition unit 110 can be read as the image capture location information acquisition unit 110, and the activity location information transmission unit 120 can be read as the image capture location information transmission unit 120 that transmits the image capture location information indicating the image capture location.

[0210] The image request receiving unit 1130 receives an image request for sending an image captured under predetermined shooting conditions. The image request received by the image request receiving unit 1130 preferably includes information about the shooting location of the requested image, information about the shooting date and time, information about the shooting speed, information about the shooting direction, etc.

[0211] The requested image extraction unit 1140 performs a process of extracting images that satisfy the shooting conditions, such as the shooting location and shooting date and time, requested in the received image request from among the images recorded in the image recording unit 1120, based on the shooting location of the image recorded in the shooting location information recording unit 130.

[0212] The image transmission setting unit 1150 sets whether to transmit the extracted image. For example, the image transmission setting unit 1150 may set whether to transmit the extracted image automatically, only when connected to a predetermined line, or only when requested by a predetermined requester such as the police.

[0213] The requested image sending unit 1160 performs processing to send images that are permitted to be sent by the image transmission setting unit 1150 out of the images extracted by the requested image extraction unit 1140 .

[0214] In FIG. 34, the activity status display device 700 comprises an image request input unit 750 , an image request sending unit 760 , an image receiving unit 770 , and an image display unit 780 .

[0215] The image request input unit 750 inputs information to a person who is performing a predetermined activity while taking images, requesting the transmission of images that satisfy predetermined shooting conditions. The image request input unit 750 may specify information that identifies the area displayed in the activity status information display unit 740 as the shooting area of ​​the requested image, or may specify information regarding the shooting location of the requested image by specifying a rectangular or circular range on a map. The image request transmission unit 760 transmits an image request requesting the transmission of the image inputted in the image request input unit 750.

[0216] The image receiving unit 770 performs processing to receive images transmitted based on an image request transmitted from the image request transmitting unit 760. The image display unit 780 performs processing to display images captured within the requested location range. At this time, the image display unit 780 may display an icon at the image capture position on a map, and may perform processing to play the video when a predetermined operation such as clicking on the icon is performed.

[0217] The activity management device 300 includes an activity level setting unit 1310, an activity request receiving unit 1320, an active person searching unit 1330, an image request sending unit 1340, an image receiving unit 1350, an image recording unit 1360, an image sending unit 1370, and a reward distribution unit 1380.

[0218] The activity level setting unit 1310 sets the activity level of each active person. For example, if the activity is a crime prevention activity, the effect will differ between a crime prevention patrol by bicycle, a crime prevention patrol by car, and a crime prevention patrol in a blue patrol car. The effect will also differ between a crime prevention patrol while taking still images and a crime prevention patrol while taking video. Therefore, the activity level setting unit 1310 sets an activity level for each active person, indicating the level of activity they should perform. Even for the same active person, some vehicles may take video and others may not, depending on the type of vehicle. Therefore, it would be even better if the activity level setting unit 1310 could set an activity level for each device (vehicle) used by the active person.

[0219] The image request receiving unit 1320 performs a process of receiving an image request for requesting transmission of an image that satisfies predetermined shooting conditions. The active person searching unit 1330 performs a process of searching for an active person who may have taken the requested image or the information acquisition device 100 used by the active person, based on the activity location information of the active person recorded in the activity location information recording unit 320 and the activity amount of the active person for each activity area recorded in the activity amount recording unit 1030.

[0220] In the information acquisition device 100 that transmits the activity location, the activity location is recorded in the activity location information recording unit 320, whereas in the information acquisition device 100 that calculates the activity amount and transmits the activity amount as an activity report, the detailed activity location is not recorded on the activity management device 300 side, but is recorded as the activity amount for each activity area. Therefore, the active person search unit 1330 extracts, as the active person who is the target of the image transmission request, an active person who was active in an area that overlaps with the shooting position for which an image is requested.

[0221] The image request sending unit 1340 sends an image transmission request requesting the transmission of images that satisfy the requested photographing conditions to the active person found by the search in the active person searching unit 1330. The image receiving unit 1350 receives the images transmitted based on the image transmission request, and the image recording unit 1360 records the received images on a recording medium.

[0222] The image sending unit 1370 performs a process of sending requested images from among the images received by the image receiving unit 1350 to the activity status display device 700 that made the request. The reward distribution unit 1380 performs a process of granting a predetermined reward to the active person who sent the image. The reward may be reflected as an activity amount. That is, the activity amount acquisition unit 1020 may acquire the activity amount of each active person so that a value obtained by multiplying a predetermined coefficient for an active person who has set up the setting to be able to send images compared to an active person who does not, or may reward an active person who has sent an image by additionally granting a predetermined activity amount.

[0223] As described above, the activity management system according to the tenth embodiment includes an image capturing unit that captures images of a person performing a predetermined activity, and an image transmitting unit that transmits images that satisfy predetermined capturing conditions from the captured images. The activity amount acquiring unit 1020 may be configured to assign a larger activity amount to an active person who is performing an activity while capturing images or an active person who has set up the system to be able to transmit captured images, compared to an active person who does not. By preferentially extracting active people in descending order of the activity amount, it is possible to realize a system in which active people who have contributed more to crime prevention activities, etc., are more likely to be noticed.

[0224] As described in the above embodiments, the present invention will be explained again. The activity management device of the present invention includes an activity participant information registration unit that registers information about an active person; an activity amount acquisition unit that acquires a predetermined activity amount for the active person in a predetermined area including the location of the active person based on location information about the active person; an activity amount recording unit that records information about the predetermined activity amount for the active person; an activity participant information extraction unit that extracts information about an active person who was active in a requested area based on the activity amount for the requested area from the information about the registered active person; and an activity participant information transmission unit that transmits the extracted information about the active person. The activity participant information transmission unit may include a program that executes a process to display the transmitted information on the destination activity status display device. Therefore, the activity participant information transmission unit may be referred to as an activity participant information display processing unit. The activity participant information display processing unit performs a process to display the extracted information about the active person on a screen.

[0225] Here, the activity amount acquisition unit may be configured to acquire the activity amount by calculating a predetermined activity amount based on an activity distance or activity time in a predetermined area including the location based on a plurality of pieces of location information related to the active person, because in activities such as crime prevention patrols, the travel distance and travel time are directly linked to the degree of contribution to local crime prevention.

[0226] Furthermore, it would be even better if the activity amount acquisition unit includes a configuration that acquires the activity amount by receiving information regarding the activity amount of a specified activity performed by an active person in a specified area during a specified period, in addition to the method of calculating the activity amount for each area from the received location information of each active person.

[0227] The activity management system includes the activity management device and an information acquisition device that transmits the amount of activity performed to the activity management device, and the information acquisition device preferably includes a setting unit that sets information related to the level of the area for transmitting the activity amount, and an activity amount transmission unit that transmits the activity amount in the area of ​​the set level. The ability to switch between transmitting (notifying) the activity amount at mesh level 2 resolution and transmitting the activity amount at mesh level 4 resolution through settings allows the active person to participate in activities while protecting their own privacy.

[0228] In this case, it is even more preferable if the activity amount acquisition unit receives information on the amount of activity of a predetermined activity performed in a predetermined area at the set level, thereby acquiring the amount of activity in the area at that level, and then combines the activity amounts in the areas at that level to acquire the amount of activity in a wider area at that level. That is, when an activity amount is reported at mesh level 4, the activity amount of the person performing the activity at mesh level 3 or mesh level 2, which corresponds to a larger area, is calculated by summing the activity amounts at multiple mesh level 4s included in mesh level 3. The same applies to mesh level 2.

[0229] It is possible that some participants may not wish to disclose their activity status in a small area, even if it is acceptable to transmit their location information to the activity management system. Therefore, a level setting unit may be provided that sets the disclosure level of the activity status, and the participant information extraction unit may extract the participant information based on the activity amount after determining whether or not to extract the participant based on the set level. That is, a new activity management level setting unit may be provided that sets the level at which activities are managed, and the activity amount acquisition unit may acquire the activity amount for each area of ​​the set level.

[0230] However, if activity notification is made at mesh level 3, it is possible to calculate the activity at mesh level 4, but it is not possible to calculate the activity amount of each activity at mesh level 4. In such a case, if the viewer's request is for activity status at mesh level 4, the person will not be included in the extraction target, but on the other hand, it is possible to highly protect the privacy of the person who is active.

[0231] Furthermore, it is even better if the activity status request receiving unit receives an activity status request that includes at least information regarding a location that overlaps with the requested area and information regarding the requested level, and further includes an area information acquisition unit that acquires information regarding an area that overlaps with the location included in the activity status request and corresponds to the level.

[0232] Even if an activity status request is received in a form that includes information on specified location coordinates, by identifying the area that includes the location coordinates, it is possible to proceed to the process of generating information regarding the activity status for that area.

[0233] Furthermore, with regard to the first area classification, it is even more preferable to further include an area information recording unit that records area information including polygon information indicating the boundaries of each area at multiple levels, and the area information acquisition unit acquires multiple polygon information indicating the boundaries of the area at the requested level as the area information. The area information recording unit is the above-mentioned area information database unit, and records polygon information represented by an array of multiple coordinates indicating the boundaries in association with an area code or the like that uniquely identifies the area. With this configuration, the activity participant information display unit can overlay polygons indicating the area on a map in addition to information about the activity participants who were active in the requested area, making it easier for the requester to visually identify the target area.

[0234] Furthermore, it is even more preferable if the activity amount acquisition unit acquires the activity amount of each active person for each area in a second area classification different from the first area classification, the area information acquisition unit acquires an area in the second area classification (referred to as a second type area) that corresponds to the requested area in the first area classification (referred to as a first type area), and the active person information extraction unit is configured to extract information about the active person who was active in the area (first type area) based on the activity amount related to the acquired area in the second area classification (second type area).

[0235] It is preferable that the type 2 area corresponding to the type 1 area is an area of ​​the type 2 area that overlaps with the type 1 area. Also, if a system is built by mixing type 1 and type 2 areas, there will be a discrepancy between the boundaries of the type 1 area and the type 2 area, but this can be considered within the margin of error. This is because for many services, it is sufficient to be able to grasp the approximate amount of activity depending on the type of activity.

[0236] To minimize the discrepancy in the boundaries, it is advisable to match the level of the second-class area to the level of the first-class area. For example, if the level of the first-class area is that of a prefecture's administrative district, the level of the mesh that is the second-class area should be associated with the second-class mesh, and if the level of the first-class area is that of a city, town, or village, the level of the mesh that is the second-class area should be associated with the third-class mesh.

[0237] Although the above description has been given of a case in which the level of the type 2 area is matched to the level of the type 1 area, this is not limited to this. The active person information extraction unit may select the level of the type 2 area based on the area of ​​the requested type 1 area, etc. This is because Hokkaido and Tokyo, even though they are prefectures of the same level, have different sizes, and Higashihiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and Tokyo are similar in area, even though they are different levels. Therefore, a type 2 area of ​​the corresponding level may be obtained based on the area of ​​the target area, and the activity levels in the obtained multiple type 2 areas may be summed up, and a predetermined number of active people may be extracted in descending order of activity level.

[0238] Additionally, the above-described embodiment is merely one aspect of the present invention, and modifications may be made as appropriate without departing from the essence of the invention. For example, the above-described embodiments may be combined and implemented. Furthermore, businesses and individuals who install fixed security cameras may be managed as participants contributing to local crime prevention by declaring the location of the fixed security cameras. Furthermore, the system may be equipped with a function to acquire information on the location and time of crime occurrence and display it on a map, or to perform analysis such as crime prediction based on the crime occurrence status and crime prevention activity status.

[0239] Furthermore, it is preferable that the various functions constituting the above-described activity management system be configured to be realized by the cooperation of hardware and programs. FIG. 35 shows an example of the hardware configuration of each device included in the activity management system. Each of the above-described devices, such as the information acquisition device, activity management device, activity participant registration device, and activity status viewing device, has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10a corresponding to a calculation unit, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 10b corresponding to a storage unit, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 10c corresponding to a storage unit, a communication unit 10d, an input unit 10e, and a display unit 10f. Each of these components is connected via a bus so that data can be transmitted and received between them. Note that the configuration shown in FIG. 33 is an example, and the device may have other components or may not have some of these components.

[0240] The CPU 10a is an example of a processor, and is a control unit that controls the execution of programs stored in the RAM 10b or the ROM 10c and performs data calculations and processing. The CPU 10a is, for example, a calculation unit that executes each process of each embodiment described below. The CPU 10a receives various data from the input unit 10e and the communication unit 10d, and displays the calculation results of the data on the display unit 10f or stores them in the RAM 10b.

[0241] The RAM 10b is a rewritable storage device and may be implemented, for example, by a semiconductor memory device. The RAM 10b may store programs executed by the CPU 10a, acceleration data and angular velocity data processed in each embodiment, condition information, images, and the like. Note that these are merely examples, and the RAM 10b may store other data, or may not store some of the data.

[0242] The ROM 10c is a memory from which data can be read and may be configured, for example, with a semiconductor memory element. The ROM 10c may store, for example, a program for evaluating whether the vehicle is being driven safely based on driving data acquired from each vehicle, or data that is not rewritable.

[0243] The communication unit 10d is an interface for establishing a communication connection between devices. The communication unit 10d may be connected to a communication network such as the Internet. For example, acceleration data is transmitted and received via the communication unit 10d.

[0244] The input unit 10e receives data input from a user, and may include, for example, a keyboard, a pointing device, and a touch panel.

[0245] The display unit 10f visually displays the results of calculations performed by the CPU 10a and may be configured with an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), an organic EL display, etc. For example, the display of characters and images related to notices and warnings, and other work to be introduced, are performed via the display unit 10f.

[0246] The program for executing the above-described processing may be provided by being stored in a non-transitory storage medium readable by a computer, such as RAM 10b or ROM 10c, or may be provided via a communication network connected by communication unit 10d.

[0247] For example, the program executed on the activity status viewing device 700 side shown in FIG. 26 may be pre-installed as an application, or may be delivered as a script program from the activity management device 300 to the activity status viewing device 700 via a communication network each time the browser is launched, and executed on the browser to draw a map and display information about each active participant.

[0248] In each device constituting the activity management system 1000, the CPU 10a executes a program to realize various operations described below. Note that these physical configurations are merely examples and do not necessarily have to be independent configurations. For example, these devices may be equipped with an LSI (Large-Scale Integration) that integrates the CPU 10a with RAM 10b and ROM 10c. Furthermore, an information processing device that evaluates safety based on a large amount of detected acceleration data may be equipped with a GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) or ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit).

[0249] Furthermore, the present invention is even more advantageous when it includes an activity management level setting unit 1390, as shown in Fig. 36. The activity management level setting unit 1390 sets the level at which each active person's activity is managed. The activity management level setting unit 1390 includes an activity management level setting information receiving unit 1391 and an activity management level setting recording unit 1392.

[0250] The activity management level setting information receiving unit 1391 receives activity management level setting information, which is information regarding the level at which activities are managed, from each active person registered in the active person information registration unit 1010. As mentioned above, some active people do not want to disclose their activity area at a fine resolution, and managing activity amounts at a fine resolution can increase the load on the system. Therefore, the activity management level setting information receiving unit 1391 receives information from each active person for setting the management level at which their own activities are managed.

[0251] For example, from the viewpoint of system load, paid users may be able to manage their activity amounts at the level of fifth-order mesh or sixth-order mesh. The activity management level setting information recording unit 1392 records the activity management level setting information received by the activity management level setting information receiving unit 1391.

[0252] Figure 37 is an example of a device management table that also records the activity management level setting information. The device management table in Figure 37 records the activity management level in comparison with the device management table in Figure 4. The activity management level may be set for each device in the device management table, or may be set for each activity participant in the activity participant management table described in Figure 3.

[0253] However, since the resolution at which location information can be disclosed may differ for each vehicle even for the same activist, it would be more preferable to be able to set it on a device-by-device basis, as this would increase flexibility. For example, if the activist is a local government, it may have no problem disclosing to citizens the time and area in which its vehicles, such as garbage trucks and blue police cars, were traveling at a high location resolution, but it may be desirable to lower the resolution of the location disclosed for mayor's or governor's vehicles for security reasons.

[0254] There are two methods for controlling the activity management level of each active person using the set activity management level: one is to manage it at the time of acquiring the activity amount, and the other is to manage it at the time of extracting the active person in the requested area.

[0255] Figure 38 is a flowchart showing the flow of the process for acquiring activity amounts in the former case. Changes have been made to steps S10204 and S10205 compared to the case in Figure 14. In step S10204 in Figure 38, the activity amount acquisition section 1020 refers to the activity management level of the device of the active person recorded in the activity management level setting information recording section 1392, and performs a process of classifying the location information for the target period of a certain device read out in step S10203 into areas of a level corresponding to the activity management level.

[0256] For example, in Figure 37, of the three devices owned by the active person with the active person ID 4812, for the devices with device IDs 3247 and 3248, which have the activity management level set to 4, the location information is classified into areas for each 4th mesh, while for the device with device ID 3249, the location information is classified into areas for each 3rd mesh.

[0257] In step S10205, the activity amount acquisition unit performs a process of calculating the activity distance and activity time from multiple pieces of location information included in a mesh of a level corresponding to the activity management level into which the location information was classified in step S10204.

[0258] In this case, the location information of devices with device IDs 3247 and 3248 is classified into more meshes with smaller areas, while the location information of device with device ID 3249 is grouped into a mesh with a larger area and contains a lot of location information.

[0259] In step S10205, it is preferable to classify position information that is a certain distance or more away or a certain time or more away as different runs and calculate the activity distance and activity time.

[0260] For example, as shown in Figure 39, the activity location of a certain device (ID: 3247) in a certain mesh area of ​​a certain active person (ID: 4812) includes six location coordinates: A, B, C, X, Y, and Z. In this case, location coordinate data for A, B, and C is obtained every 10 seconds, and location coordinate data for X, Y, and Z is obtained approximately 40 minutes apart. As an example of such a case, the behavior of a housewife who goes shopping at a supermarket located at coordinates (latitude 35.570, longitude 139.26), shops for 40 minutes, and then gets in her car again to go home would be as follows.

[0261] In this case, although there was no activity between 12:10:58 and 12:52:42, simply taking the sum of the differences in the acquisition dates and times would result in it being determined that activity also occurred during this period. Therefore, for example, location information classified into a specified area can be grouped by location information that is not separated by a specified time interval or a specified distance (coordinate difference), the activity level for each group can be calculated based on the grouped location coordinates, and the activity level for each group can be summed to determine the activity level of the active person (device) in that area.

[0262] In the example of Figure 39, A, B, and C are classified into Group 1 and X, Y, and Z into Group 2 based on the time interval between data of adjacent acquisition dates and times. For Group 1, the activity amount acquisition unit calculates the difference between A and B and the difference between B and C, thereby acquiring the activity time as 20 seconds and the activity distance as the distance calculated by multiplying (the value obtained by multiplying 0.01 squared + the root of 0.02 squared by a predetermined coefficient) and (the value obtained by multiplying 0.01 squared + the root of 0.03 squared by a predetermined coefficient) as the activity amount. Similarly, the activity amount is calculated for Group 2, and by adding the activity amounts of Group 1 and Group 2 together, the total activity time is calculated as 40 seconds and the activity distance is calculated as 320 m using the above formula.

[0263] In this way, the amount of activity is calculated for each area according to the activity management level using the location information contained in that area. For the above device, six location coordinates were contained in one area, but for the device with device ID 3249, activity levels are calculated for each 3rd order mesh, which has a larger area, so generally one area contains not six but tens or even hundreds of location coordinate data, and these location coordinates are grouped into coordinates that are at regular time intervals or close to each other to calculate activity levels.

[0264] In the above example, the calculation of activity amount is explained based on the activity management level, but this is not limited to this. The calculation of activity amount itself may be performed using the smallest unit, the fourth-order mesh, and when extracting an active person based on an activity status request, it may be determined whether or not to extract the active person based on the activity management level.

[0265] Figure 40 is a flowchart showing the process flow for extracting active participants taking into consideration the activity management level set by the active participants. The process flow in Figure 40 differs from the process flow shown in Figure 15 in that step S3402 is more advanced.

[0266] In step S3402 shown in Figure 40, when extracting an active person who was active in an area of ​​the level requested in the activity status request, the activity amount acquisition unit performs a process of extracting an active person who meets the conditions of the active person management level by referring to the activity management level set by the active person.

[0267] For example, suppose the requested area level included in the activity status request is 4, and in the example shown in Fig. 37, participants with IDs 379 and 675 are each engaged in activities in the requested areas. In this case, the activity management level for participant ID 379 is set to 3, and therefore the activity amount is recorded and managed at the fourth-order mesh level in the activity amount information recording unit. However, since this activity amount management level does not match the conditions for the requested level, participant ID 379 is not extracted by this request, and only participant ID 675 is extracted and sent to the requester as participant information.

[0268] Here, if the requester reduces the magnification of the displayed map and the requested area level becomes 3, the activity person with activity person ID 379 also meets the activity management level conditions, so the activity person will be extracted and their information will be sent to the activity status display device that made the request.

[0269] In this way, the system may further include an activity participant management level setting unit that sets the level for managing the activities of each activity participant, and the activity amount acquisition unit may be configured to calculate the activity amount in an area of ​​a level based on this management level, and the activity participant information extraction unit may be configured to extract, from among the activity participants who were active in an area of ​​a level included in the activity status request, activity participants who meet the conditions of the management level set in the activity participant management level setting unit as activity participants to be displayed.

[0270] In addition, areas to be managed by an active person and areas not to be managed may be set. For example, for an active person who is active in Honshu, there is little need to manage activities in Kyushu that he or she took on a business trip. Therefore, an activity management area setting unit is provided that sets areas to be managed for the activities of the active person, and when the activity amount acquisition unit acquires the activity amount of each active person, it performs processing to calculate the activity amount for the areas included in the set activity management area. This configuration may be used.

[0271] In addition, time periods to be managed by an active person and time periods not to be managed may be set. For example, for a company or organization whose working hours are 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, it may be convenient to manage only activities performed during this time period. In this case, an activity management period setting unit (activity management time period setting unit) may be further provided that sets the time period for which activities performed by an active person are to be managed, and when the activity amount acquisition unit acquires the activity amount of each active person, it performs processing to calculate the activity amount for activities performed during the set activity management time period. This configuration may also be used.

[0272] The present invention can also take the following forms. (Appendix 1) an activist information registration unit that registers information about activists; an activity amount acquisition unit that acquires a predetermined activity amount for the active person in a predetermined area including the position based on position information for the active person; an activity amount recording unit that records information about a predetermined activity amount related to the active person; an activity participant information extraction unit that extracts information about an activity participant who has been active in a requested area based on an activity amount related to the area from the information about the registered activity participants; an active participant information display unit that displays information about the extracted active participant; An activity management system comprising: (Appendix 2) The participant information extraction unit extracts information related to at least the display name and logo or thumbnail of the participant who was active in the area. 1. An activity management system as described in Appendix 1. (Appendix 3) the activity amount acquisition unit acquires information about distance as the activity amount based on a plurality of pieces of position information about the active person; 3. The activity management system of claim 1 or 2. (Appendix 4) the activity amount acquisition unit acquires, as the activity amount, information related to time based on dates and times at which the plurality of pieces of location information are acquired, 4. The activity management system according to any one of claims 1 to 3. (Appendix 5) the activity amount acquisition unit acquires the activity amount by calculating a predetermined activity amount based on an activity distance or an activity time in a predetermined area including the position, based on a plurality of position information related to the active person. 5. The activity management system according to any one of claims 1 to 4. (Appendix 6) the activity amount acquisition unit acquires the activity amount by receiving information about an activity amount of a predetermined activity performed by the active person in a predetermined area for a predetermined period of time. 6. The activity management system according to any one of appendices 1 to 5. (Appendix 7) the activity participant information extraction unit extracts, from the information about the registered activity participants, information about the activity participants who were active in the area on the requested date and time based on the activity amount of each activity participant in the requested area on the requested date and time; 7. The activity management system according to any one of claims 1 to 6. (Appendix 8) The system further includes an active person information transmitting unit that transmits area information including information about the active person who was active in the area related to the extracted request and polygon information indicating the boundary of the area. 8. The activity management system of any one of appendices 1 to 7. (Appendix 9) The activity status request receiving unit receives an activity status request including at least information about a position overlapping with a requested area (coordinate information about a position inside the requested area), and a first type area information acquiring unit acquires information about the requested administrative district area based on the received activity status request. 9. The activity management system of any one of appendices 1 to 8. (Appendix 10) The activity status request receiving unit receives an activity status request including at least information about a position overlapping with a requested area (coordinate information about a position inside the requested area) and information about a requested level, and the first type area information acquiring unit acquires information about an administrative district area that is overlapped with a position included in the activity status request and corresponds to the level. 10. The activity management system of any one of appendices 1 to 9. (Appendix 11) The activity management system of claim 10, wherein the information about the level is information about the magnification of the map. (Appendix 12) the activity amount acquisition unit acquires an activity amount for each second divided area different from the administrative district area based on the location information; the activity amount recording unit records the activity amount for each of the second divided areas; the active person information extraction unit extracts information about the active person in descending order of activity amount based on the activity amount in a second divided area corresponding to the administrative district area acquired based on the received activity status request; 12. The activity management system of claim 10 or 11. (Appendix 13) The second divided area is a regional mesh. The activity management system of claim 12. [Explanation of symbols]

[0273] 100 Information acquisition device (vehicle) 110 Activity location information acquisition unit 120 Activity location information transmission unit 130 Activity location information recording unit 140 Activity notification method setting section 150 Activity data acquisition department 151 Area-specific activity distance calculation unit 152 Area-specific activity time calculation section 160 Activity Report Generation Unit 170 Activity Report Transmission Department 180 Activity Report Level Setting Department 300 Activity management device (activity status management device, information management device) 310 Activity location information receiving unit 320 Activity Location Information Recording Unit 330 Activity Status Request Reception Unit 340 Activity status information generation unit 341 Activity Level Calculation Unit 342 Area ID Acquisition Unit 343 Area polygon information acquisition unit 344 Area Name Acquisition Unit 345 Administrative district area identification unit (administrative district area acquisition unit, first-class area information acquisition unit) 346 Applicable mesh identification unit (applicable mesh area acquisition unit, second type area information acquisition unit) 350 Activity Status Information Transmission Department 360 Area Information Recording Unit (Area Information Database Unit) 500 Activity Registration Device 510 Activity Registration Request Section 511 Activity registration request input section 512 Activity registration request transmission unit 700 Activity Status Display Device 710 Activity status request input section 710a Area Code Entry Form 710b Request Area 710c Map 710d Request execution button 710e Request date and time input form 710f map magnification 710g Required position coordinate marker 711 Requested place name input section 712 Request date and time information input section 713 Map Magnification Acquisition Unit 714 Requested position coordinate input section 720 Activity Status Request Transmission Unit 730 Activity Status Information Reception Department 740 Activity status information display section 741 Activity level display 741a Activity Level 742 Request Area Polygon Display 742a Map 742b Requested area polygon (administrative division area) 742c Required area polygon (mesh area) 743 Request area name display section 743a Target area (request area) 743b Target date and time (request date and time) 750 Image request sending unit 770 Image receiving unit 780 Image display unit 900 Image Ordering Device 1000 Activity management system (activity status management system, information management system) 1010 Activity Registration Department 1011 Activity registration request receiving unit 1012 Activity Information Database Registration Department 1020 Activity data acquisition department 1021 Area-specific activity distance calculation unit 1022 Area-specific activity time calculation unit 1023 Activity Report Reception Department 1030 Activity Recording Unit 1040 Activity person information extraction unit (request area activity person information extraction unit) 1040a Activity information 1050 Activity information display section 1110 Image capture unit 1120 Image recording unit 1130 is the Ozu request receiving unit 1140 Requested image extraction unit 1150 Image transmission setting section 1160 Image transmission unit 1310 Activity Level Setting Unit 1320 Image request receiving unit 1330 Activity Search Department 1340 Image request sending unit 1350 Image receiving unit 1360 Image Recording Unit 1370 Image transmission unit 1380 Remuneration Distribution Department

Claims

1. an activist information registration unit that registers information about activists; an activity amount acquisition unit that acquires a predetermined activity amount for the active person in a predetermined area including the position based on position information for the active person; an activity amount recording unit that records information about a predetermined activity amount related to the active person; an activity participant information extraction unit that extracts information about an activity participant who has been active in a requested area based on an activity amount related to the area from the information about the registered activity participants; an activity participant information sending unit that sends information about the extracted activity participants; An activity management device comprising:

2. an activity position information receiving unit that receives information about the position coordinates of the active person during the activity; An activity position information recording unit that records the received information about the position coordinates of the active person during the activity, the activity amount acquisition unit acquires the activity amount by calculating a predetermined activity amount based on an activity distance or an activity time for a predetermined area including the position, based on the recorded position coordinates of the active person during the activity. The activity management device according to claim 1 .

3. the activity amount acquisition unit acquires the activity amount by receiving information about an activity amount of a predetermined activity performed by the active person in a predetermined area for a predetermined period of time. The activity management device according to claim 1 .

4. the activity amount acquisition unit receives information about an activity amount of a predetermined activity performed in a predetermined area at a predetermined level, thereby acquiring an activity amount in the area of ​​the level, and combines the activity amounts in the areas of the level to acquire an activity amount in an area of ​​a wider level; The activity management device according to claim 3 .

5. the activity status request receiving unit receives an activity status request including at least information on a position overlapping with a requested area and information on a requested level, and further includes an area information acquiring unit that acquires information on an area that overlaps with the position included in the activity status request and corresponds to the level; The activity management device according to claim 1 .

6. further comprising an area information recording unit configured to record area information including polygon information indicating boundaries of each area at a plurality of levels with respect to the first area classification; the area information acquisition unit acquires polygon information indicating a boundary of an area at a requested level as the area information; the active person information transmitting unit transmits polygon information indicating the boundary of the area in addition to information on the active person who was active in the area of ​​the requested level; The activity management device according to claim 5 .

7. the activity amount acquisition unit acquires an activity amount of each active person for each area in a second area classification different from the first area classification; the area information acquisition unit acquires an area in a second area classification corresponding to the requested area in the first area classification, the activity person information extraction unit extracts information about an activity person who has been active in the area based on the activity amount related to the area in the second area classification obtained; 7. An activity management device according to claim 6.

8. an activist information registration unit that registers information about activists; an activity amount acquisition unit that acquires a predetermined activity amount for the active person in a predetermined area including the position based on position information for the active person; an activity amount recording unit that records information about a predetermined activity amount related to the active person; an activity participant information extraction unit that extracts information about an activity participant who has been active in a requested area based on an activity amount related to the area from the information about the registered activity participants; an active participant information display unit that displays information about the extracted active participant; An activity management system comprising:

9. a setting unit that sets information related to the level of an area where the amount of activity is to be transmitted; an activity amount transmitting unit that transmits the activity amount in the area of ​​the set level; the activity amount acquisition unit receives information about an activity amount of a predetermined activity performed in a predetermined area at the set level, thereby acquiring an activity amount in the area of ​​the level, and combines the activity amounts in the areas of the level to acquire an activity amount in an area of ​​a wider level; The activity management system of claim 8 .

10. further comprising an area information recording unit configured to record area information including polygon information indicating boundaries of each area at a plurality of levels with respect to the first area classification; the area information acquisition unit acquires, as the area information, a plurality of polygon information pieces indicating boundaries of an area at a requested level; the participant information display unit overlays a polygon representing the area on a map in addition to information about the participants who were active in the requested area. The activity management system of claim 9 .

11. the activity amount acquisition unit acquires an activity amount of each active person for each area in a second area classification different from the first area classification; the area information acquisition unit acquires an area in a second area classification corresponding to the requested area in the first area classification, the activity person information extraction unit extracts information about an activity person who has been active in the area based on the activity amount related to the area in the second area classification obtained; the participant information display unit overlays on a map a polygon representing the requested area and an area of ​​a second area classification corresponding to the requested area, in addition to information about the participant who was active in the requested area; The activity management system of claim 10.

12. an activist information registration step for registering information about activists; an activity amount acquisition step of acquiring a predetermined activity amount related to the active person in a predetermined area including the position based on position information related to the active person; an activity amount recording step of recording information about a predetermined activity amount related to the active person; an activity person information extraction step of extracting information about an activity person who has been active in the requested area based on an activity amount related to the area from the information about the registered activity persons; an activity participant information display step of displaying information about the extracted activity participants; An activity management method comprising:

13. The method further includes an activity management level setting step for setting a level for managing activities, The activity amount acquisition step acquires an activity amount in an area of ​​the set level based on the activity management level set in the activity management level setting step. The activity management method according to claim 12.

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