program

Abstract

This technology reduces the processing load for determining whether a geofence is inside or outside a given area. [Solution] A program according to a first aspect of the present disclosure is a program for causing a computer to execute an information processing method, wherein the computer maintains a list that defines the timing for executing an inside / outside determination of each geofence, and the information processing method includes: obtaining the current position measured by a positioning module; executing an inside / outside determination of a target geofence set in the list to be processed at the current time according to the obtained current position; outputting information regarding the result of the inside / outside determination of the target geofence; determining the timing for the next inside / outside determination of the target geofence according to the distance between the obtained current position and the boundary of the target geofence; and registering the target geofence in the list so that the inside / outside determination of the target geofence is executed at the time of the determined timing.

Description

Technical Field

[0005]

[0001] This disclosure relates to a program.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 proposes a system that acquires the position of a user device, determines whether the device has entered a geofence based on the acquired position, and provides a warning when it is determined that the device has entered the geofence.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] One object of this disclosure is to provide a technique for reducing the processing load of determining whether a device is inside or outside a geofence.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] The program according to the first aspect of this disclosure is a program for causing a computer to execute an information processing method. The computer holds a list that defines the timing for performing the determination of whether a device is inside or outside each geofence. The information processing method includes: acquiring the current position measured by a positioning module; performing the determination of whether the device is inside or outside the target geofence that is set to be processed at the current time on the list according to the acquired current position; outputting information regarding the result of the determination of whether the device is inside or outside the target geofence; determining the timing for next performing the determination of whether the device is inside or outside the target geofence according to the distance between the acquired current position and the boundary of the target geofence; and registering the target geofence in the list so as to perform the determination of whether the device is inside or outside the target geofence at the determined timing. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to this disclosure, the processing load for determining whether an area is inside or outside a geofence can be reduced. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0007] [Figure 1] Figure 1 schematically illustrates an example of a scenario in which this disclosure applies. [Figure 2] Figure 2 schematically shows an example of the relationship between the distance between the user terminal and the boundary of the target geofence and the processing cycle for determining whether an area is inside or outside the geofence. [Figure 3] Figure 3 shows an example of the processing procedure for the user terminal of this disclosure. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0008] [1. Application Examples] Figure 1 schematically shows an example of a scenario to which this disclosure applies. User terminal 1 according to this embodiment holds a list 100 that defines the timing for performing inside / outside determination of each geofence. User terminal 1 refers to list 100 and performs inside / outside determination of the target geofence 200 that is set to be processed at the current time in the list according to the acquired current location 110. After performing the inside / outside determination, user terminal 1 outputs information regarding the result of the inside / outside determination of the target geofence 200. Furthermore, user terminal 1 performs inside / outside determination of the target geofence 200 according to the distance between the acquired current location 110 and the boundary 210 of the target geofence 200. Next, the timing for execution is determined. Then, user terminal 1 registers the target geofence 200 in list 100 so that the inside / outside determination of the target geofence 200 is performed at the determined time.

[0009] Furthermore, as another form of the program relating to the above embodiment, one aspect of this disclosure may be an information processing device that implements all or part of the above components, an information processing method, or a machine-readable storage medium that stores such a program. A machine-readable storage medium is a medium that stores information such as programs by electrical, magnetic, optical, mechanical, or chemical action.

[0010] (Geofence) The geofence 200 is an area enclosed by a virtual boundary 210. The geofence 200 may be used for any purpose. For example, the geofence 200 may be used to determine whether a target terminal is located within a specific area (inside / outside determination, described later). The shape of the geofence 200 may be determined arbitrarily. For example, the shape may include circular, elliptical, polygonal, and other shapes. For another example, the shape may be determined according to a specific geographical boundary line. The size of the geofence 200 is also not particularly limited and may be determined appropriately depending on the embodiment.

[0011] (Internal / External Determination) The inside / outside determination is a process to determine whether user terminal 1 is inside or outside the target geofence 200. In one example, user terminal 1 may use its current location 110, measured by a positioning module, for the inside / outside determination. If the current location 110 is inside the boundary 210, user terminal 1 may be determined to be inside the target geofence 200 (inside determination). If the current location 110 is outside the boundary 210, user terminal 1 may be determined to be outside the target geofence 200 (outside determination). If the current location 110 is on the boundary 210, either of the above determinations may be made. The inside / outside determination process may be executed at the timings registered in list 100.

[0012] The internal / external determination may further include determining whether the user terminal 1 is transitioning inside or outside the target geofence 200. The internal / external transition may consist of four transitions: the user terminal 1 entering the target geofence 200 from outside, exiting from inside to outside, remaining inside, or remaining outside. When determining whether an internal / external transition has occurred, the user terminal 1 may retain the result of the previous internal / external determination and make the determination by referring to the previous determination result and the current determination result.

[0013] (list) List 100 is a list in which the execution timing of arbitrary processes by the user terminal 1 is registered. The format of List 100 is not particularly limited as long as it specifies the timing for performing the determination of whether the target geofence 200 is inside or outside, and may be appropriately selected depending on the embodiment. For example, List 100 may specify only the timing for performing the determination of whether the target geofence 200 is inside or outside, or it may specify the timing for performing other processes in addition to the timing for performing the determination of whether the target geofence 200 is inside or outside.

[0014] For example, List 100 may specify the target geofences 200 for which internal / external determination will be performed for each time step. Furthermore, List 100 may contain multiple geofences, and two or more geofences may be registered as targets for internal / external determination in the same time step. The user terminal 1 may arbitrarily determine which target geofences 200 are registered in List 100.

[0015] The timing for determining whether a target geofence 200 is inside or outside can be arbitrarily determined. Furthermore, two or more timings for determining whether an area is inside or outside can be registered in List 100. For example, if two or more timings for determining whether an area is inside or outside can be registered in List 100, User Terminal 1 may specify that these determinations be performed at regular intervals. The first determination may be performed at any arbitrary timing. For example, the first determination may be registered in List 100 to be performed at the next processing time of User Terminal 1.

[0016] (Inside / outside determination based on the distance between the current position and the boundary) In addition to the process of determining whether an area is inside or outside the target area, the user terminal 1 may measure the distance between its current location 110 and the boundary 210 of the target geofence 200. This distance may be measured by any method. For example, the user terminal 1 may use the distance from its current location 110 to any point on the boundary 210 as the distance. Typically, the point on the boundary 210 used for measurement may be the point on the boundary 210 that is closest to the current location 110. Based on the measured distance, the user terminal 1 may determine the cycle of the process of determining whether an area is inside or outside the target geofence 200.

[0017] Figure 2 schematically shows an example of the relationship between the distance between user terminal 1 and the boundary 210 of the target geofence 200 and the processing cycle for determining whether the terminal is inside or outside the user's location. In this example, the processing cycle of user terminal 1 may be set shorter as the distance decreases. Conversely, the processing cycle of user terminal 1 may be set longer as the distance decreases. In the example in Figure 2, when the distance from user terminal 1 to boundary 210 is in the range of 0m to 50m, the processing cycle for determining whether the terminal is inside or outside the user's location is set to 1s. When the distance from user terminal 1 to boundary 210 is in the range of 50m to 150m, the processing cycle for determining whether the terminal is inside or outside the user's location is set to 2s. When the distance from user terminal 1 to boundary 210 is in the range of 150m to 300m, the processing cycle for determining whether the terminal is inside or outside the user's location is set to 3s. Thus, the processing cycle for determining whether the terminal is inside or outside the user's location may be set in stages according to the distance from user terminal 1 to boundary 210. However, the method for setting the processing cycle for determining whether the terminal is inside or outside the user's location is not limited to this example. For example, the cycle of the inside / outside determination process may be set continuously according to the distance from user terminal 1 to boundary 210.

[0018] (Output of information regarding the judgment result) The user terminal 1 may execute arbitrary processing according to the result of the inside / outside determination of the target geofence 200. The processing according to the result of the inside / outside determination may include executing the action when the result of the inside / outside determination meets the execution conditions of the set action. In one example, the action may be to output information regarding the inside / outside transition, approach / departure of the user terminal 1 with respect to the target geofence 200. In another example, the action may be to output advertisement information. Also, the output destination may be arbitrarily specified.

[0019] In one example, when it is determined that the user terminal 1 has entered the target geofence 200 (when the previous determination result was outside the target geofence 200 and the current determination result is inside the target geofence 200), the user terminal 1 may output advertisement information related to the target geofence 200. Also, when it is determined that the user terminal 1 has exited the target geofence 200 (when the previous determination result was inside the target geofence 200 and the current determination result is outside the target geofence 200), the user terminal 1 may stop outputting advertisement information.

[0020] In another example, when it is determined that the user terminal 1 has approached the target geofence 200 (when the measured value of the distance between the current position 110 and the boundary 210 of the target geofence 200 has become smaller from the previous time to the current time), the user terminal 1 may output advertisement information related to the target geofence 200. Also, when it is determined that the user terminal 1 has moved away from the target geofence 200 (when the measured value of the distance between the current position 110 and the boundary 210 of the target geofence 200 has become larger from the previous time to the current time), the user terminal 1 may stop outputting advertisement information.

[0021] [2 Configuration Example] As shown in FIG. 1, the user terminal 1 according to the present embodiment is a computer in which a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, a communication interface 13, an input device 14, and an output device 15 are electrically connected. The control unit 11 is a CPU (Central Processing Unit), RAM (Random Access It includes Memory, ROM (Read Only Memory), etc., and is configured to perform arbitrary information processing. The storage unit 12 may be composed of, for example, a hard disk drive, a solid-state drive, etc. In this embodiment, the storage unit 12 stores a program 81. The program 81 is a program that causes the information processing device to execute the information processing according to this embodiment. The program 81 includes a series of instructions for the information processing.

[0022] The communication interface 13 is configured to perform wired or wireless data communication over a network. The communication interface 13 may consist of, for example, a wired LAN (Local Area Network) module, a wireless LAN module, etc. In this embodiment, the user terminal 1 may use the communication interface 13 to perform data communication over a network with other computers (for example, an external server, an in-vehicle device, etc.). The input device 14 is a device for inputting, for example, a mouse, keyboard, buttons, joystick, or controls. The output device 15 is a device for outputting, for example, a display or speaker. The input device 14 and the output device 15 may be integrally configured, for example, by a touch panel display, etc.

[0023] Furthermore, regarding the specific hardware configuration of the information processing device, components can be omitted, replaced, and added as appropriate depending on the embodiment. For example, the control unit 11 may include multiple hardware processors. Hardware processors include microprocessors, FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays), DSPs (digital signal processors), and GPs. It may be composed of a U (Graphics Processing Unit), an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit), etc. The user terminal 1 may be an in-vehicle terminal.

[0024] [3 Examples of operation] Figure 3 shows an example of the processing procedure for user terminal 1 of this disclosure. The following processing procedure is an example of an information processing method executed by a computer. It is assumed that the storage unit 12 has in advance the process for determining whether the target geofence 200 is inside or outside registered in list 100.

[0025] (Steps S101~S103) In step S101, the control unit 11 obtains the current location 110 of the user terminal 1, which has been measured by the positioning module. Once the current location 110 is obtained, the control unit 11 proceeds to step S102, where it uses the current location 110 to determine whether the target geofence 200 registered in list 100 is inside or outside the terminal. In step S103, the control unit 11 outputs the determination result. The output content and destination may be determined arbitrarily. After outputting the determination result, the control unit 11 proceeds to step S104.

[0026] (Steps S104~S106) In step S104, the control unit 11 measures the distance between the current position 110 and the boundary 210 of the target geofence 200. The distance may be measured by any method. In step S105, the control unit 11 determines the timing for the next execution of the inside / outside determination of the target geofence 200 based on the measured distance. The correspondence between the distance and the execution timing (period) of the inside / outside determination may be set as appropriate. In step S106, the control unit 11 registers the determined execution timing in the list 100 (re-registering the inside / outside determination process of the target geofence 200 in the list 100). Once the re-registration of the target geofence 200 in the list 100 is complete, the control unit 11 proceeds to step S107.

[0027] In step S107, the control unit 11 determines whether the termination conditions for the series of processes (steps S101 to S106) are met. The termination conditions may be arbitrarily specified. If the termination conditions are not met, the control unit 11 returns to step S101 and executes the series of processes again. If the termination conditions are met, the control unit 11 terminates this process procedure.

[0028] The distance measurement in step S104 may be performed in parallel with the inside / outside determination process in step S102. Alternatively, the distance measurement may be performed as part of the inside / outside determination process in step S102. In this case, the processes of steps S102 and S104 may be combined into a single step S102.

[0029] [Features] In this embodiment, the user terminal 1 can control the timing of the determination of whether a target geofence 200 is inside or outside the target geofence, depending on the distance between the current location 110 and the boundary 210 of the target geofence 200. This allows for a lower processing frequency for inside / outside determination of geofences that are far from the boundary 210, and a higher processing frequency for geofences that are close to the boundary 210, thereby improving the efficiency of inside / outside determination of geofences. As a result, a reduction in the processing load of inside / outside determination by the user terminal 1 can be expected.

[0030] [4. Variant] While embodiments of this disclosure have been described in detail above, the above description is merely illustrative in all respects of this disclosure. Needless to say, various improvements or modifications can be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. The processes and means described in this disclosure can be freely combined and implemented, as long as no technical inconsistencies arise. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0031] 1. User terminal, 11. Control unit, 12. Storage unit, 13. Communication interface, 14. Input device, 15. Output device, 81 Program

Claims

[Claim 1] A program that causes a computer to execute an information processing method, The computer maintains a list that defines the timing for performing the inside / outside determination for each geofence. The aforementioned information processing method is To obtain the current location measured by the positioning module, Based on the acquired current location, perform a determination of whether the target geofence is inside or outside the current location, which is set to be processed at the current time on the list. Outputting information regarding the results of the determination of whether the target geofence is inside or outside, Based on the distance between the acquired current location and the boundary of the target geofence, the timing for the next determination of whether the target geofence is inside or outside is determined, and Register the target geofence in the list so that the determination of whether the target geofence is inside or outside is performed at the time of the determined timing. including, program.

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