Information provision device, information provision method, and information provision program

Abstract

The present invention provides an information-providing device that can recognize information about facilities, etc., that the user is completely unaware of, by associating it with a location determined by the user. [Solution] The system includes an interface 1 that acquires location information of a location determined by the user and acquires POI information 81 that characterizes features associated with that location based on the acquired location information; an interface 3 that transmits the acquired POI information 81 to a server device SV that records posted information sent by third parties other than the user; and a processing unit 5 that acquires and displays posted information when posted information related to the transmitted POI information 81 is extracted from the posted information recorded in the server device SV and transmitted.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This application belongs to the technical field of information providing apparatuses, information providing methods, and information providing programs. More specifically, it belongs to the technical field of information providing apparatuses and information providing methods that perform processes for providing information to users, and programs for such information providing apparatuses.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, portable information processing apparatuses such as so-called smartphones and tablet-type terminal devices have become widespread, and it has also become common for users to obtain various types of information while away from home using such information processing apparatuses.

[0003] Here, when using the above information processing apparatus, there may be a case where it is desired to obtain information related to the vicinity of the current location, such as events that are popular or being talked about at the current location, or unexpected information. In this case, for example, so-called POI (Point Of Interest) information or the like indicating the current location is set as a search condition, and such information is requested from an external server apparatus that manages the above-described information. More specifically, for example, a request including the above search condition is transmitted to a server apparatus related to a so-called Social Networking Service (hereinafter simply referred to as an "SNS server apparatus") where posting information for users to communicate with each other is exchanged, and it is conceivable to obtain the above-described information from the SNS server apparatus.

[0004] However, in this case, if the user does not know in the first place what facilities are around the current location, it is impossible to obtain various types of information related to the vicinity of the current location from the SNS server apparatus. That is, when the existence of the facility is not known, the search condition indicating the facility itself cannot be included in the above request, so information on such a facility cannot be obtained.

[0005] The following Patent Document 1 is a prior art document that discloses technology to solve these problems. The technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 manages information on facilities, etc. that are pre-associated with the name information of facilities, etc. that exist in the vicinity of the current location (referred to as "landmark information" in Patent Document 1) in a database. The system is configured to obtain information on facilities, etc. in the vicinity of the current location by inputting the name information converted from the location information. In addition, the types of facilities, etc. that the user is interested in are pre-set in the SNS server device, and the system is configured to obtain information on facilities, etc. that are set as the type of interest by inputting the name information mentioned above. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2010-54484 [Overview of the Initiative] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0007] However, the technology described in Patent Document 1 above has the following problems.

[0008] First, there is the problem that only information about a limited number of facilities, etc., that are pre-linked to the above-mentioned name information can be obtained. Furthermore, there is the problem that only information related to the types of interests that have been pre-set can be obtained. As a result of these problems, if you want to obtain any unexpected information at your current location, it is impossible.

[0009] Therefore, this application was made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and one example of the problems is to provide an information provision device, an information provision method, and a program for said information provision device that can recognize information about facilities, etc., that the user is not aware of at all, in correspondence with a location determined by the user. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] To solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 1 comprises: a location acquisition means for acquiring location information of a point determined by a user; a transmission means for transmitting location name information corresponding to a well-known location among location name information corresponding to the name of a location related to the location information to an external device on which provided information provided by multiple persons is recorded; and a presentation means for acquiring related information which is provided information related to the transmitted location name information from the external device and presenting at least a part of the related information to the user.

[0011] To solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 8 is an information provision method performed in an information provision device comprising a location acquisition means, a transmission means, and a presentation means, comprising: a location acquisition step of acquiring location information of a point determined by a user using the location acquisition means; a transmission step of transmitting, using the transmission means, location name information corresponding to a famous location among location name information corresponding to the name of a location related to the location information to an external device on which provided information provided by multiple persons is recorded; and a presentation step of acquiring related information which is provided information related to the transmitted location name information from the external device, and presenting at least a part of the related information to the user using the presentation means.

[0012] To solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 9 enables the computer to function as: a location acquisition means for acquiring location information of a point determined by a user; a transmission means for transmitting location name information corresponding to famous locations, among location name information corresponding to the names of locations associated with the location information, to an external device on which provided information from multiple parties is recorded; and a presentation means for acquiring related information, which is provided information related to the transmitted location name information, from the external device and presenting at least a portion of the related information to the user. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0013] [Figure 1] This is a block diagram showing the outline configuration of the information processing device according to the embodiment. [Figure 2] This is a block diagram showing the outline configuration of the navigation device according to the first embodiment. [Figure 3] This figure illustrates the contents of the recording unit according to the first embodiment, where (a) is an example of the contents of POI information and (b) is an example of the contents of genre information. [Figure 4] This is a flowchart showing the information provision process related to the first embodiment. [Figure 5] This figure shows an example of a display according to the first embodiment. [Figure 6] This is a block diagram showing the outline configuration of the navigation device according to the second embodiment. [Figure 7] This figure illustrates the contents of POI information related to the second embodiment. [Figure 8] This is a flowchart showing the overall information provision process according to the second embodiment. [Figure 9] This is a flowchart showing the extraction process of POI information according to the second embodiment. [Figure 10] This is a block diagram showing the outline configuration of the navigation device according to the third embodiment. [Figure 11] The diagram illustrates the contents of POI information according to the third embodiment, where (a) is a diagram illustrating the contents of location information according to the third embodiment, and (b) is a diagram illustrating the contents of POI information according to the third embodiment. [Figure 12] This is a flowchart showing the overall information provision process according to the third embodiment. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0014] Next, an embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to Figure 1. Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the schematic configuration of the information processing device according to the embodiment.

[0015] As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus S according to the embodiment includes a first acquisition unit 1, a second acquisition unit 2, a transmission unit 3, a third acquisition unit 4, and a presentation unit 5. At this time, the transmission unit 3 and the third acquisition unit 4 are connected to an external network system NW via wired or wireless means. The network system NW records third-party information transmitted from a third party other than the user of the information processing apparatus S.

[0016] In this configuration, the first acquisition unit 1 acquires the position information of the location determined by the user. The "location" at this time includes, for example, the current position of the user himself / herself, or a position arbitrarily set by the user other than the current position.

[0017] On the other hand, the second acquisition unit 2 acquires feature information of a ground object that characterizes the ground object related to the location determined by the user based on the position information acquired by the first acquisition unit 1. The "ground object" at this time refers to various ground objects represented on a map with, for example, so-called annotation displays, such as facilities, intersections, or administrative divisions near the above-mentioned location.

[0018] Then, the transmission unit 3 transmits the ground object feature information acquired by the second acquisition unit 2 to the network system NW.

[0019] As a result, when the third acquisition unit 4 extracts and receives the related information related to the ground object feature information transmitted by the transmission unit 3 from the third-party information recorded in the network system NW, the third acquisition unit 4 acquires the received related information.

[0020] Then, the presentation unit 5 presents the related information acquired by the third acquisition unit 4 to the user.

[0021] As described above, according to the operation of the information processing device S according to the embodiment, feature information based on the location of a point determined by the user is transmitted to a network system where third-party information is recorded. When related information related to the transmitted feature information is extracted from the third-party information and transmitted, the related information is acquired and presented to the user. Therefore, since related information related to the feature information based on the location of a point determined by the user is extracted, acquired, and presented from third-party information transmitted by a third party other than the user, the user can recognize related information about features, for example, that they are not aware of at all, by associating it with the location they have determined. [Examples]

[0022] Next, specific embodiments corresponding to the embodiments described above will be explained with reference to Figures 2 to 12. Each embodiment described below is an example in which the embodiments are applied to guidance processing in a navigation device mounted on a vehicle that guides the movement of that vehicle, or to guidance processing performed in a terminal device such as a smartphone that is carried by a user and moves around. In the following description, the user carrying the terminal device and the vehicle will be simply referred to as "vehicle, etc."

[0023] (I) First Example First, a first embodiment according to the embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 2 to 5. Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the general configuration of the navigation device according to the first embodiment, and Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating the recorded contents in the recording unit according to the first embodiment. Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the information provision process according to the first embodiment, and Figure 5 is a diagram showing an example of the display according to the first embodiment. In Figure 2, the same component number as the component in the information processing device S according to the embodiment shown in Figure 1 is used for each component in the embodiment.

[0024] As shown in Figure 2, the navigation device S according to the first embodiment, which corresponds to an example of the information processing device S according to the embodiment, is connected to the server device SV, which is the SNS server device, via a network NW such as the Internet.

[0025] In this configuration, the server device SV is configured as an SNS server device as described above, and records so-called posted information, including text messages from third parties other than users of the navigation device S according to the first embodiment. More specifically, the server device SV manages posted information from a large number of users, including the aforementioned third parties, who use the SNS related to the server device SV, including, for example, the body of the text message, the username of the poster attached to the body, the posting date and time, and location information (latitude / longitude). Furthermore, this posted information is freely posted by each of the aforementioned third-party users (posters) about, for example, stores, facilities, or famous places (historical sites, etc.) that they have visited. Therefore, this posted information includes a wide range of diverse information that users of the navigation device S would not know, associated with the locations on the map where the stores, etc., are located. In the navigation device S according to the first embodiment, this posted information can be obtained via the network NW. Note that one navigation device S may be connected to multiple server devices SV via the network NW, and configured to obtain the above posted information individually from these multiple server devices SV.

[0026] On the other hand, the navigation device S according to the first embodiment, which can be connected to the server device SV via a network NW, comprises an interface 1 corresponding to an example of the first acquisition means 1 and an example of the second acquisition means 2 according to the embodiment, an interface 3 corresponding to an example of the transmission means 3 and an example of the third acquisition means 4 according to the embodiment, a processing unit 5 consisting of a CPU, RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), etc., and corresponding to an example of the display means 5 according to the embodiment, an operation unit 6 consisting of operation buttons or a remote control, a sensor unit 7 consisting of a self-contained sensor such as an acceleration sensor, a GPS sensor, and a VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) (registered trademark) sensor for collecting traffic congestion information, etc., a recording unit 8 consisting of a hard disk, etc., which non-volatilely records a database including map data, etc., corresponding to a map, etc., that is displayed when guiding the movement of the vehicle, etc., and a display 9 consisting of a liquid crystal display, etc. In addition to the map data, etc., the recording unit 8 also records navigation data, such as voice data, which is necessary for guiding the movement of the vehicle, etc., and location information according to the first embodiment, which will be described later, as non-volatile information.

[0027] Furthermore, the processing unit 5 includes a position calculation unit 50, a search condition setting unit 51, an information acquisition unit 52, an information extraction unit 53, a display content selection unit 54, and a display information control unit 55. At this time, the position calculation unit 50, the search condition setting unit 51, the information acquisition unit 52, the information extraction unit 53, the display content selection unit 54, and the display information control unit 55 may each be composed of so-called hardware logic circuits, or they may be functionally realized by the CPU in the processing unit 5 reading and executing a program corresponding to the flowchart showing the information provision process according to the first embodiment described later. Also, the recording unit 8 corresponds to an example of a "storage means," an example of an "output means," and an example of a "feature feature information storage means" according to the present application, respectively, and the interface 1 corresponds to an example of a "fourth acquisition means" and an example of a "fifth acquisition means" according to the present application, respectively. Furthermore, the operation unit 6 corresponds to an example of a "designation means," an example of a "display number setting means," and an example of a "determination means" according to the present application, respectively, and the processing unit 5 corresponds to an example of a "presentation control means" and an example of a "display control means" according to the present application, respectively. Moreover, the display 9 corresponds to an example of a "display means" according to the present application, and the sensor unit 7 is an example of a "position detection means" according to the present application.

[0028] Meanwhile, in addition to the navigation data mentioned above, the recording unit 8 non-volatilely records location information 80 related to the first embodiment shown in Figure 2, POI information 81 related to the first embodiment, and genre information 82 related to the first embodiment. In this case, location information 80 is non-volatilely recorded in association with the addresses of prefectures, cities, towns, and villages as administrative divisions, and data indicating the latitude / longitude of the location corresponding to that address. As exemplified in Figure 3(a), POI information 81 is non-volatilely recorded data indicating the name and address of facilities or features (i.e., POIs) that are the subject of characteristics at a certain location. Furthermore, as exemplified in Figure 3(b), genre information 82 is recorded in association with genre items for classifying and retrieving the content of posted information recorded in the server device SV, and related words corresponding to each genre. More specifically, as genre information 82, related words that may be included in the above posted information, such as "soba," "udon," "pasta," "curry," "coffee shop," and "cafe," are classified into the genre "food" and recorded non-volatilely. Similarly, related words that may be included in the above-mentioned posts, such as "happy," "beautiful," "delicious," and "cool," are categorized under the "impressions" genre and recorded non-volatilely.

[0029] In the above configuration, Interface 1 controls the exchange of data between the Processing Unit 5 and the Recording Unit 8 under the control of the Processing Unit 5. Interface 3 also controls the exchange of data between the Information Acquisition Unit 52 of the Processing Unit 5 and the Network NW under the control of the Processing Unit 5. Furthermore, the Sensor Unit 7 generates current location data indicating the current location of the navigation device S itself (in other words, the current location of the vehicle on which the navigation device S is installed) and traffic congestion data, etc., using the above-mentioned autonomous sensors, GPS sensors, VICS sensors, etc., and outputs them to the Processing Unit 5.

[0030] Meanwhile, the position calculation unit 50 of the processing unit 5 calculates the current position of the navigation device S based on the current position data from the sensor unit 7. This current position is expressed, for example, by latitude / longitude. The position calculation unit 50 then generates position information indicating the current position represented by the latitude / longitude and outputs it to the search condition setting unit 51.

[0031] As a result, the search condition setting unit 51 of the processing unit 5 sets the POI information that is characteristic of the current location based on the calculated location information as a search condition for searching the posted information recorded in the server device SV. At this time, the search condition setting unit 51 sets the search conditions while exchanging address data recorded as location information 80, and name data and address data recorded as POI information 81, with the recording unit 8.

[0032] As a result, the information acquisition unit 52 of the processing unit 5 uses the POI information set in the search condition setting unit 51 as search conditions and acquires the post information corresponding to the search conditions from the server device SV that records the post information. In this case, the information acquisition unit 52 is equipped with a communication function to exchange data with the server device SV via the network NW.

[0033] Next, the information extraction unit 53 of the processing unit 5 performs text analysis on the posted information, which includes the POI information used as the search condition, obtained from the server device SV by the information acquisition unit 52, and extracts posted information that includes the relevant terms set by the user using the navigation device S.

[0034] Meanwhile, the display content selection unit 54 of the processing unit 5 selects the display content, including the number, order, and portion of the posted information extracted by the information extraction unit 53, to match the display range of the information on the display 9. Finally, the display information control unit 55 of the processing unit 5 displays the display content selected by the display content selection unit 54 on the display 9. At this time, the display information control unit 55 can also change the display content according to the settings of the user of the navigation device S.

[0035] Next, the information provision process according to the first embodiment will be explained in more detail using Figures 4 and 5.

[0036] As shown in Figure 4, in the information provision process according to the first embodiment, first the position calculation unit 50 calculates the current position of the navigation device S based on the current position data from the sensor unit 7, generates position information indicating this position in terms of latitude / longitude, and outputs it to the search condition setting unit 51, which the processing unit 5's search condition setting unit 51 acquires (step S1). The search condition setting unit 51 then retrieves the address of the point corresponding to the latitude / longitude of the acquired position information from the point information 80 (step S2). At this time, the search condition setting unit 51 may use existing technology to convert from latitude / longitude to address.

[0037] Next, the search condition setting unit 51 retrieves POI information corresponding to the address read from the location information 80 from the POI information 81 (step S3). The search condition setting unit 51 then sets the POI information 81 corresponding to the address corresponding to the current location of the navigation device S calculated by the process in step S1 as a search condition for the posted information recorded in the server device SV, and outputs the POI information 81 to the information acquisition unit 52. Through the processes in steps S1 to S3, for example, if the address corresponding to the latitude / longitude of the current location of the navigation device S is "Kashimada, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture", then "Shin-Kawasaki Station" and "Kashimada Overpass" corresponding to that address will be set as search conditions from the POI information 81 exemplified in Figure 3(a). Note that the setting of POI information 81 as a search condition by the search condition setting unit 51 may be configured to be done at any time depending on the situation. Alternatively, the system may be configured to periodically change (update) the POI information 81 as a search condition in response to changes in the current location due to the movement of the navigation device S.

[0038] Next, the information acquisition unit 52 connects to the server device SV via the network NW (step S4). The information acquisition unit 52 then sends a request to the server device SV to acquire posted information, including the POI information 81 that was set as a search condition in the process of step S3 (step S5). As a result, the information acquisition unit 52 receives the posted information corresponding to the POI information 81 as a search condition from the server device SV that sent the POI information 81, and outputs it to the information extraction unit 53 (step S6).

[0039] In this case, communication with the server device SV can be performed using a wireless network compliant with, for example, WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). Alternatively, it may be performed via a wireless LAN (Local Area Network). Furthermore, if so-called account information, such as a user's name and password, is required for communication with the server device SV, the account information entered by, for example, the operation unit 6 is temporarily stored, and this is then transmitted to the server device SV by the information acquisition unit 52.

[0040] Furthermore, when acquiring the above-mentioned posting information from multiple server devices SV, the information acquisition unit 52 may be configured to connect to, for example, three server devices SV, "A," "B," and "C," simultaneously or sequentially, and acquire posting information corresponding to the above-mentioned search conditions from each. Moreover, the acquisition of posting information by the information acquisition unit 52 can be performed at any time depending on the situation. For example, it may be configured to automatically acquire posting information when the above-mentioned search conditions change.

[0041] Next, the information extraction unit 53, which has output post information corresponding to the POI information 81 as a search condition, performs text analysis on the output post information (post information including the POI information 81 as a search condition). Based on the results of the text analysis, the information extraction unit 53 classifies the post information output from the information acquisition unit 52 into predetermined genres (step S7), and determines whether the genre of post information to be displayed (see Figure 3(b)) has been specified in advance by the user of the navigation device S, for example, using the operation unit 6 (step S8). If the genre is specified in the determination in step S8 (step S8; YES), the information extraction unit 53 proceeds to the processing in step S11, which will be described later. On the other hand, if the genre is not specified in the determination in step S8 (step S8; NO), the information extraction unit 53 displays, for example, a predetermined number of genre names (Figure 3(b)) on the display 9 in the form of a selection (step S9), and then, if the displayed name is selected by operation, for example, the operation unit 6, it acquires the name of the specified genre (step S10). The information extraction unit 53 then extracts post information containing relevant terms for the genre specified by the user from the outputted post information and outputs it to the display content selection unit 54 (step S11). More specifically, for example, if the genre set by the user of the navigation device S using the operation unit 6 is "food", then post information containing relevant terms for the "food" item in the genre information 82 is extracted.

[0042] In this case, the information extraction unit 53 may determine the content to be extracted based on the results of text analysis of the posted information without setting a genre. For example, if the text analysis of the acquired posted information reveals that many of them contain the word "fireworks," they may be classified / extracted as posts containing "fireworks" and output to the display content selection unit 54.

[0043] Next, the display content selection unit 54 of the processing unit 5 determines whether the number of display range frames (see Figure 5 below) on the display 9 (in other words, the number of posted information) has been specified in advance by the user of the navigation device S, for example, using the operation unit 6 (step S12). If the number is specified in the determination in step S12 (step S12; YES), the display content selection unit 54 proceeds to the process of step S15 described below. On the other hand, if the number is not specified in the determination in step S12 (step S12; NO), the display content selection unit 54 displays a selection screen on the display 9 for specifying the number of display range frames (step S13), and then, if the number of display range frames is specified on the displayed selection screen, for example by operation by the operation unit 6, it obtains the number of the specified display range frames (step S14).

[0044] Next, the display content selection unit 54 selects the number of posts to display, their order, specific parts, etc., output from the information extraction unit 53 to match the specified number of display range frames and outputs them to the display information control unit 55 (step S15). More specifically, for example, if the number of specified display range frames (i.e., the number of posts displayed using the display 9) is n (n is a natural number), and the extracted posts from the information extraction unit 53 are to be displayed one per frame, the extracted posts are selected as a group of n.

[0045] In this case, for example, based on the information indicating the posting date and time included in each post, the display order may be selected in batches of n posts, starting with the oldest posting date and time. Furthermore, the display amount and timing of each post may be configured to change according to the situation. For example, the navigation device S may be configured to determine whether it is moving or not based on the location information output from the location calculation unit 50, and if it is moving, only the genre-related words included in the post information may be displayed as part of that post information, while if it is stopped, the entire text of the post information may be displayed.

[0046] Next, the display information control unit 55 acquires the post information selected by the display content selection unit 54 (step S16), and then displays the acquired post information within the display range frame on the display 9 (step S17). As a result of this display, for example as illustrated in Figure 5, different post information of the genre specified by the user of the navigation device S is displayed in each of the five display range frames 90. In this case, the display information control unit 55 may switch between the display range frames 90 every n frames, or automatically scroll and switch between the n frames. Alternatively, for example, the system may be configured so that the scroll is rewound by user operation using the operation unit 6, allowing the user to view previously displayed content again.

[0047] Subsequently, the processing unit 5 determines whether or not to terminate the information provision process according to the first embodiment by determining, for example, whether or not the power to the navigation device S has been turned off (step S18). If the determination in step S18 is not to terminate the information provision process according to the first embodiment (step S18; NO), the processing unit 5 returns to step S1 and continues the information provision process. On the other hand, if the determination in step S18 is to terminate the information provision process (step S18; YES), the processing unit 5 terminates the information provision process.

[0048] As explained above, according to the information provision process of the first embodiment, POI information 81 based on the user's current location in the navigation device S is transmitted to the server device SV, which records posted information from third parties other than the user. When posted information related to the transmitted POI information 81 is extracted and transmitted from the server device SV, the posted information is received and displayed on the display 9. Therefore, since posted information related to the POI information 81 based on the user's current location is extracted, acquired, and displayed from the posted information of third parties other than the user, the user can recognize posted information, for example, about facilities, that they are not aware of, by relating it to their current location. In this case, instead of the user's current location, the system may be configured to acquire and display posted information from the server device SV using POI information 81 based on a specific point other than the user's current location, which the user has determined, for example, using the operation unit 6, because they want to see various posted information. In this case, since POI information 81 based on the location of the point determined by the user is used, it is possible to display posted information, for example, about facilities, that is related to the location of the point determined by the user and that the user is not aware of.

[0049] Furthermore, since posts corresponding to the specified genre are displayed, the system can accurately show users the posts they desire, categorized by genre.

[0050] Furthermore, by using a display area frame of 90 to separate and display the post information, the post information can be displayed in an easy-to-understand manner.

[0051] Furthermore, since it is equipped with a sensor unit 7 that detects the user's current location, it can display posted information related to the user's current location, such as information about a facility, which the user may not be aware of at all.

[0052] Furthermore, since the necessary POI information 81 is obtained from the POI information 81 recorded in the recording unit 8, a complete navigation device S can display posted information, such as facility-related information, that the user may not be aware of at all.

[0053] (II) Second Example Next, a second embodiment, which is another embodiment of the embodiment, will be described with reference to Figures 6 to 9. Figure 6 is a block diagram showing the general configuration of the navigation device according to the second embodiment, and Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating the contents of POI information according to the second embodiment. Figure 8 is a flowchart showing the overall information provision process according to the second embodiment, and Figure 9 is a flowchart showing the POI information extraction process according to the second embodiment. In Figure 6, the same component number is used for each component of the embodiment corresponding to each component of the information processing device S according to the embodiment shown in Figure 1. Also in Figure 6, the same component number is used for components that are the same as those of the navigation device S according to the first embodiment shown in Figure 2, and detailed explanations are omitted. Furthermore, in Figure 8, the same step number is used for processes that are the same as those of the information provision process according to the first embodiment shown in Figure 4, and detailed explanations are omitted.

[0054] In the information provision process according to the first embodiment described above, the search condition setting unit 51 is configured to set POI information recorded in the recording unit 8 as POI information 81 as search conditions without assigning any priority. In contrast, in the information provision process according to the second embodiment described below, the POI information used as a search condition is generally well-known POI information. That is, in the information provision process according to the second embodiment, the POI information recorded in the recording unit 8 that was actually included in the posted information obtained from the server device SV (for example, name data about a facility) is determined to be POI information about a "famous" facility at that location, and that POI information is used as a search condition as POI information that represents the characteristics of a location desired by the user of the navigation device S. As a result, by obtaining and displaying posted information containing POI information about generally well-known (i.e., famous) facilities from the server device SV, various information related to the location of the user of the navigation device S is displayed.

[0055] In other words, in the navigation device S2 according to the second embodiment, as shown in Figure 6, the POI information recorded in the recording unit 8 is referred to as POI information 85. In this case, as illustrated in Figure 7, the POI information 85 additionally includes data indicating whether the facility is "famous" or not, compared to the POI information 81 according to the first embodiment. In the following explanation, the data indicating whether or not it is famous will be simply referred to as "famous data". This famous data is described as "○" if it is famous and "×" if it is not famous. If the determination of whether or not it is famous has not been made, it is described as "Null", for example.

[0056] The search condition setting unit 51 of the processing unit 5 in the second embodiment sets POI information for famous facilities, etc. that are characteristic of the current location, based on the location information calculated by the location calculation unit 50, as search conditions for searching the posted information recorded in the server device SV. At this time, the search condition setting unit 51 sets the search conditions while exchanging address data recorded as location information 80 in the recording unit 8, as well as name data, address data, and the famous facility data recorded as POI information 85, with the recording unit 8.

[0057] As a result, the information acquisition unit 52 uses the POI information set in the search condition setting unit 51 as search conditions and acquires post information corresponding to those search conditions from the server device SV that records the post information.

[0058] The information extraction unit 53 then performs text analysis on the posted information, including the address, obtained from the server device SV by the information acquisition unit 52. It also refers to the POI information 85 recorded in the recording unit 8 and determines whether the facility or other entity of the POI information 85 is well-known at the current location by checking whether the POI information 85 used as a search condition is included in the posted information. In addition, the information extraction unit 53 performs text analysis on the posted information that includes the POI information used as a search condition, and also refers to the genre information 82 recorded in the recording unit 8 to extract posted information that includes the relevant terms set by the user using the navigation device S.

[0059] Note that, with respect to the components of the navigation device S2 according to the second embodiment, other than the search condition setting unit 51, information acquisition unit 52, and information extraction unit 53, they have the same functions as the corresponding components of the navigation device S according to the first embodiment, so a detailed explanation will be omitted.

[0060] Next, the information provision process according to the second embodiment will be explained in more detail using Figures 8 and 9.

[0061] As shown in Figure 8, the information provision process according to the second embodiment first involves the position calculation unit 50 and the search condition setting unit 51 performing steps S1 and S2, which are the same as those performed in the information provision process according to the first embodiment.

[0062] Next, the search condition setting unit 51 sets the famous POI information 85 corresponding to the latitude / longitude location calculated by the process in step S1 as a search condition for the posted information obtained from the server device SV. That is, the search condition setting unit 51 determines whether or not the POI information corresponding to the address read from the location information 80 is famous in the POI information 85 (i.e., whether or not the POI information at that time has "○" or "×" described as famous data in the POI information 85) (step S20). If, in the determination in step S20, the POI information corresponding to the address read from the location information 80 is famous in the POI information 85 (step S20; YES), then the search condition setting unit 51 retrieves from the POI information 81 the POI information that corresponds to the address read from the location information 80 by the process in step S2 and was determined to be famous in the determination in step S20 (i.e., had "○" described as famous data) (step S22). Subsequently, the processing unit 5, including the search condition setting unit 51, performs the same steps S4 to S18 as the information provision processing according to the first embodiment for the POI information 85 read by the processing in step S22. More specifically, for example, if the address of the point corresponding to the latitude / longitude of the current location is "Kashimada, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture", then "Shin-Kawasaki Station", which has "○" as famous data in the POI information 85 corresponding to that point, is set as the search condition, and then the same steps S4 to S18 as the information provision processing according to the first embodiment are performed.

[0063] On the other hand, in the determination in step S20, if the determination of whether the POI information corresponding to the address read from the location information 80 is famous or not has not been made in the POI information 85, and the famous data is blank ("Null") (step S20; NO), the processing unit 5, including the search condition setting unit 51, separately executes a process to extract famous POI information corresponding to the address read from the location information 80 by the process in step S2 (step S21). After that, the search condition setting unit 51 executes the process in step S22, and further the processing unit 5 executes the processes in steps S4 to S18, which are the same as the information provision process in the first embodiment, for the read famous POI information.

[0064] Next, the process of extracting POI information related to step S21 described above will be explained in more detail using Figure 9.

[0065] The process in step S21 first involves the search condition setting unit 51 acquiring the address of the latitude / longitude location calculated in step S1 and setting it as a search condition (step S210). Next, the information acquisition unit 52 connects to the server device SV via the network NW (step S211). The information acquisition unit 52 then sends a request to the server device SV to acquire posted information including the address set as a search condition in step S210 (step S212). As a result, the information acquisition unit 52 receives the posted information corresponding to the address set as a search condition from the server device SV that sent the acquisition request and outputs it to the information extraction unit 53 (step S213). Next, the information extraction unit 53 acquires the POI information 85 of the address set as a search condition (i.e., POI information 85 where the famous data is "Null") from the recording unit 8 (step S214). Subsequently, the information extraction unit 53 analyzes the posted information output from the information acquisition unit 52 as text and determines whether the name of the facility, etc., of the POI information 85 acquired from the recording unit 8 is included in the posted information (step S215). If, in the determination in step S215, the name of the facility, etc., of the POI information 85 acquired from the recording unit 8 is included in the posted information (step S215; YES), the information extraction unit 53 rewrites the famous data of the POI information 85 from "Null" to "○" (step S216) and proceeds to the process of step S3 shown in Figure 8. On the other hand, if, in the determination in step S215, the name of the facility, etc., of the POI information 85 acquired from the recording unit 8 is not included in the posted information (step S215; NO), the information extraction unit 53 rewrites the famous data of the POI information 85 from "Null" to "×" (i.e., not "famous") (step S217) and proceeds to the process of step S22 shown in Figure 8.

[0066] In the series of processes in step S21, referring to Figure 7, for example, if the address of the location corresponding to the latitude / longitude of the current location is "Shin-Kawasaki, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture", then "Shin-Kawasaki" is set as the search condition for the relevant location (see step S210), and post information containing "Shin-Kawasaki" is obtained from the server device SV (see steps S211 to S213). Then, the obtained post information is text-analyzed, and if the name of the facility etc. corresponding to the relevant location "Shin-Kawasaki" is included but "Central Suite Shin-Kawasaki" is not, the famous data for "Shin-Kawasaki Twin Tower" is rewritten from "Null" to "○", and further, the famous data for "Central Suite Shin-Kawasaki" is rewritten from "Null" to "×" (see steps S216 and S217).

[0067] Furthermore, regarding the POI information 85 illustrated in Figure 7, if there are no well-known facilities (POIs) at the location of the facility specified as a search criterion (i.e., all the well-known data in the POI information 85 for that location is "×"), the address of the location calculated by the position calculation unit 50 using latitude / longitude can be set as a search criterion in the search criterion setting unit 51, and the posted information including the address of the current location can be obtained from the server device SV and displayed as posted information related to that location. In addition, the well-known data in the POI information 85 may be updated at any time depending on the situation. For example, if a predetermined period has elapsed since the date and time the well-known data was set, the well-known determination process related to steps S20 and S21 may be performed again to change the content. Furthermore, the setting of POI information as a search criterion may be done at any time depending on the situation. For example, the POI information as a search criterion may be changed periodically in accordance with changes in the current location of the navigation device S.

[0068] As explained above, according to the information provision processing of the second embodiment, in addition to the effects of the information provision processing of the first embodiment, famous data is recorded as POI information 85, and only POI information 85 whose names were included in the posted information (i.e., famous) is indicated by the famous data is sent to the server device SV as a search condition. Therefore, by sending POI information included in the posted information as a search condition, a wider range of posted information related to the location determined by the user can be obtained and displayed.

[0069] (III) Third Example Finally, a third embodiment, which is yet another embodiment of the embodiment, will be described with reference to Figures 10 to 12. Figure 10 is a block diagram showing the general configuration of the navigation device according to the third embodiment, Figure 11 is a diagram illustrating the contents of POI information according to the third embodiment, and Figure 12 is a flowchart showing the overall information provision process according to the third embodiment. In Figure 10, the same component number is used for each component of the embodiment corresponding to each component of the information processing device S according to the embodiment shown in Figure 1. Also in Figure 10, the same component number is used for components that are the same as those of the navigation device S according to the first embodiment shown in Figure 2, and detailed explanations are omitted. Furthermore, in Figure 12, the same step number is used for processes that are the same as those of the information provision process according to the first embodiment shown in Figure 4, and detailed explanations are omitted.

[0070] In the information provision process according to the third embodiment described below, unlike the information provision process according to the first embodiment described above, POI information about facilities, etc., that are easier to understand is used as POI information used as search conditions. That is, in the information provision process according to the third embodiment, the POI information recorded in the recording unit 8 includes the "characteristics" of the location where the facility, etc., is located and the "characteristics" of the facility, etc., as a POI recorded in the recording unit 8. Specifically, for example, the "characteristics" of a location such as "residential area," "commercial area," or "factory area" are recorded in the location information in advance as location characteristic data, and the "characteristics" of facilities, etc., such as "station," "bridge," "commercial building," "residential building," or "factory" are recorded in the POI information in advance as POI characteristic data. Then, at the user's request, for example, facilities, etc., that have characteristics strongly related to the characteristics of the current location, in other words, facilities, etc., that "align with" or "blend in" with the characteristics of the current location, are selected as POIs. Alternatively, facilities with characteristics that are not strongly related to the characteristics of the location, in other words, facilities that do not "align" with the characteristics of the current location, or facilities that are "unique" to that location, can be selected as POIs. By setting POI information for easily understandable facilities as search criteria and retrieving and displaying posted information containing that POI information from the server device SV, for example, it becomes possible to retrieve posted information containing facilities that blend in with the current location or are unique to the current location, thereby displaying various information related to the location of the user of the navigation device S.

[0071] In other words, in the navigation device S3 according to the third embodiment, as shown in Figure 10, the location information recorded in the recording unit 8 is designated as location information 86, and the POI information is designated as POI information 87. In this case, as illustrated in Figure 11(a), the location information 86 additionally includes the location characteristic data that indicates the characteristics of the location, in addition to the POI information 81 according to the first embodiment. Also, as illustrated in Figure 11(b), the POI information 87 additionally includes the POI characteristic data that indicates the characteristics of the facility, etc., of the POI information, in addition to the POI information 81 according to the first embodiment.

[0072] Then, the search condition setting unit 51 of the processing unit 5 according to the third embodiment selects POI information 87 for facilities etc. that are easy to understand at the current location, based on the strength of the relationship between the characteristics of the current location as point information 86 and the characteristics of the POI information 87, and sets that POI information 86 as a search condition for the posted information. At this time, the search condition setting unit 51 sets the search condition while exchanging address data and the point characteristic data recorded as point information 86 in the recording unit 8, as well as name data, address data and the POI characteristic data recorded as POI information 87, with the recording unit 8.

[0073] Furthermore, since the components of the navigation device S3 according to the third embodiment, other than the search condition setting unit 51, have the same functions as the components of the navigation device S according to the first embodiment, a detailed explanation will be omitted.

[0074] Next, the information provision process according to the third embodiment will be explained in more detail using Figure 12.

[0075] As shown in Figure 12, the information provision process according to the third embodiment first involves the position calculation unit 50 and the search condition setting unit 51 performing steps S1 and S2, which are the same as the information provision process according to the first embodiment.

[0076] Next, the search condition setting unit 51 determines the strength of the relationship between the latitude / longitude location calculated by the process in step S1 and the characteristics of facilities, etc., corresponding to the address of that location, using a word similarity analysis method such as the so-called "thesaurus analysis method" (step S25). Next, the search condition setting unit 51 determines whether the strength / weakness of the relationship between the characteristics of the location and the posted information to be displayed has been specified in advance by the user of the navigation device S, for example, using the operation unit 6 (step S26). If the strength / weakness is specified in the determination in step S26 (step S26; YES), the search condition setting unit 51 proceeds to the process in step S29, which will be described later. On the other hand, if the strength / weakness is not specified in the determination in step S26 (step S26; NO), the search condition setting unit 51 displays, for example, a specification screen on the display 9 for specifying the strength / weakness of the relationship (step S27), and then obtains the strength / weakness of the relationship specified using the displayed specification screen (step S28).

[0077] Next, the search condition setting unit 51 determines, based on the specified strength / weakness of relevance, whether or not it is specified to display post information that includes POI information with a strong characteristic relevance to the location (step S29). If, in the determination in step S29, it is specified to display post information that includes POI information with a strong relevance (step S29; YES), the search condition setting unit 51 refers to the POI information 87 and obtains the POI information 87 that has been determined to have a strong relevance to the characteristics of that location (see step S25) (step S31), and performs the same processing as in steps S4 to S18 for the POI information 87 as in the information provision processing according to the first embodiment. On the other hand, if the determination in step S29 specifies that posted information containing the POI information with weak relevance should be displayed (step S29; NO), the search condition setting unit 51 refers to the POI information 87 and obtains the POI information 87 that has been determined to have a weak relevance to the characteristics of that location (see step S25) (step S30), and performs the same processing as in steps S4 to S18 for the information provision processing in the first embodiment with respect to the POI information 87. At this time, if, for example, the location corresponding to the latitude / longitude of the current location is "Shin-Kawasaki, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture", the search condition setting unit 51 refers to the POI information 87 and determines that the characteristics of that location are "residential area", and further, the characteristics of the POI information 87 for the facilities, etc. of the corresponding location are "commercial building" or "residential building" (see Figure 11(b)). Here, if the user of the navigation device S has specified "strong" for the relevance of characteristics (see step S29; YES), the search condition setting unit 51 sets the POI information 87 of "Central Suite Shinkawasaki," which has a strong relevance to "residential area" and possesses the easily recognizable characteristics of a "residential building" that blend in with the location, as a search condition and executes the same process as steps S4 to S18 in the information provision process according to the first embodiment. On the other hand, if the user has specified "weak" for the relevance of characteristics (see step S29; NO), the search condition setting unit 51 sets the "Shinkawasaki Twin Tower," which has a weak relevance to "residential area" and possesses the easily recognizable characteristics of a "commercial building" that are unique to the location, as a search condition and executes the same process as steps S4 to S18 in the information provision process according to the first embodiment.

[0078] Here, the strength of the relationship between the characteristics of the location information 86 and the characteristics of the POI (Point of Interest) as POI information 87 (facilities) may be predetermined as either "strong" or "weak." Furthermore, POIs with facilities that are neither strongly nor weakly related and are commonplace can be excluded. More specifically, for example, a POI with the characteristics of a "road," such as "Prefectural Road No. ○×," can be excluded because it is a POI that also exists in "residential areas" and "commercial areas."

[0079] As explained above, according to the information provision process of the third embodiment, in addition to the effects of the information provision process of the first embodiment, location characteristic data is recorded as location information 86, and POI characteristic data is recorded as POI information 87. Then, based on the location characteristic data and POI characteristic data, only the POI information 87 related to the location characteristic data and the POI characteristic data is sent to the server device SV as search conditions. As a result, a wider range of posted information related to the location determined by the user can be obtained and displayed based on the POI information 87 related to the location characteristic data and the POI characteristic data.

[0080] In the embodiments described above, the cases in which the embodiments are applied to the information provision processing in the navigation device S have been explained. However, the embodiments can also be applied to the display processing of posted information about locations on a terminal device carried by the user.

[0081] Furthermore, while the embodiments described above were applied to devices that display acquired posted information, they can also be applied to devices that, for example, announce the content of the posted information using voice.

[0082] Furthermore, in the embodiments described above, the embodiments were applied to a navigation device S that includes both a sensor unit 7 and a recording unit 8. However, the embodiments may also be applied to other devices, such as an information processing device that acquires necessary POI information via a network system, where, for example, POI information related to each embodiment is recorded on a network system such as the Internet. Moreover, the embodiments may also be applied to an information processing device that acquires necessary current location data from a separate sensor unit.

[0083] Furthermore, it is also possible to record programs corresponding to the flowcharts shown in Figures 4, 8, or 12, respectively, on a recording medium such as an optical disc or hard disk, or to acquire and record them via a network such as the Internet, and then read and execute them on a general-purpose microcomputer, thereby making the microcomputer function as the processing unit 5 according to each embodiment. [Explanation of symbols]

[0084] 1. First acquisition means (interface) 2 Second acquisition method 3. Transmission means (interface) 4 Third acquisition method 5. Presentation means (processing unit) 6 Control section 7. Retrieval Section 8. Records Section 9 displays 50 Position calculation section 51 Search Criteria Setting Section 52 Information Acquisition Department 53 Information extraction part 54 Display Content Selection Section 55 Display Information Control Unit Location information for locations 80 and 86. 81, 85, 87 POI information 82 Genre Information 90 Display range frame S Information Processing Device (Navigation Device) S2, S3 Navigation System NW Network System SV Server Equipment

Claims

[Claim 1] A location acquisition means that acquires location information of a point determined by the user, A transmission means for transmitting, among the feature name information corresponding to the name of a feature associated with the location information, the feature name information corresponding to a well-known feature, to an external device on which information provided by multiple parties is recorded. A presentation means that obtains related information, which is the provided information related to the transmitted geographical name information, from the external device and presents at least a portion of the related information to the user, An information providing device characterized by being equipped with the following features.

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