Target Search System

Abstract

To provide a technology for searching for a target using a communication terminal and a transmitter attached to the target.SOLUTION: A target search system 10 comprises a management server 50 capable of communicating with a communication terminal 90, a receiver 210 capable of receiving a signal from a transmitter 32, a communication terminal utilization type search unit for searching for a walker or a victim as an example of a target using a positioning function of the communication terminal 90 on condition that a connection between the communication terminal 90 and the management server 50 is established, and a transmitter utilization type search unit for searching for the target using the signal of the transmitter 32 on condition that a connection between the transmitter 32 and the receiver 210 is established.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a technology for determining whether a pedestrian's walking state is abnormal, a technology for guiding a pedestrian while walking using the pedestrian's communication terminal, a technology for searching for a person in distress, a technology for detecting a target, and a technology for detecting a person in distress. search The present invention relates to a technology for providing assistance to a pedestrian who becomes distressed while walking by a companion using a communication terminal of the companion. [Background technology]

[0002] Techniques have already been proposed for guiding pedestrians while they are walking by using a communication terminal of the pedestrian and transmitters installed along the walking route.

[0003] As an example of this type of technology, Patent Document 1 describes a mountain climbing information relay system. In this system, multiple short-range wireless communication devices (transmitter + receiver) are arranged along a mountain climbing route. A mountain climbing server receives route information from a user terminal, and based on that, each short-range wireless communication device transmits necessary update information to the user terminal. The mountain climbing server transmits the update information over a long distance to each short-range wireless communication device via the user terminal. Each short-range wireless communication device receives the update information from the user terminal, and based on that, updates the information to be transmitted to the user terminal.

[0004] Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses a technology in which multiple wireless tags (transmitters) are placed on students' routes to school, each student is equipped with a portable reader (portable terminal with reading function) that can receive signals from each wireless tag at short distances, and the portable reader tracks the actual movement routes of each student.

[0005] Patent Document 3 discloses a patient abnormality notification system. This system includes a portable transmitter worn by each patient, multiple receivers installed at multiple locations in the ward, and a centralized monitoring device installed at the nurse's station on each floor. The transmitter is equipped with an acceleration sensor, which determines whether or not an abnormality has occurred in the patient's physical condition, and if an abnormality is determined to exist, transmits this to the centralized monitoring device via the receiver. The receiver has a receiving unit that receives a signal from the transmitter, and a transmitting unit that transmits the received signal to the centralized monitoring device. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0006] [Patent Document 1] JP 2018-22454 A [Patent Document 2] JP 2008-209965 A [Patent Document 3] JP 2008-047097 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0007] In recent years, mountain climbing has been gaining attention as a leisure and sport, and the number of people climbing has been increasing. Among climbers, there are both experienced and inexperienced climbers. Furthermore, when climbing an unfamiliar mountain, not only inexperienced climbers, but even experienced climbers may experience a psychological phenomenon called normalcy bias in a situation where some kind of damage is expected, which may lead to an unexpected accident such as getting lost (for example, a pedestrian deviating from the normal route).

[0008] However, with the conventional technology described above, the climber, who may be in a psychologically panicked state, is forced to make the decisions of whether he or she is lost, whether there is a risk of getting lost, what actions to take to avoid getting lost, and whether or not he or she is actually lost.

[0009] As a result, this conventional technology cannot assist a climber in calmly determining whether or not he or she has gotten lost before getting into an accident, cannot assist a climber in calmly determining whether or not there is a risk of getting into an accident, and cannot assist a climber in appropriately choosing actions to avoid getting into an accident if there is a risk of getting into an accident.

[0010] The problem of route deviation, where pedestrians deviate from the normal route, can occur in activities other than mountain climbing, for example, in environments where pedestrians are likely to lose their sense of direction, such as natural environments such as forests and grasslands, when walking along unfamiliar tour paths in a factory, or when children, elderly people, or other pedestrians who are inexperienced and walk along school routes or walking paths.

[0011] Therefore, there is a demand for a pedestrian abnormality judgment technology that detects when a pedestrian's walking state is abnormal while walking and conveys the result to the pedestrian to warn him / her.

[0012] There is also a demand for a drone-based search technology that uses drones to search for pedestrians who become distressed while walking, by switching the communication method available to the drone depending on the communication conditions of the pedestrian's communication device, thereby ensuring communication with the pedestrian and searching for the pedestrian.

[0013] There is also a demand for a companion-dispatch type rescue technology that enables a pedestrian who becomes distressed while walking to be rescued by the pedestrian's companion, while ensuring the companion's safety and enabling the companion to be dispatched to the scene.

[0014] There is also a demand for a junction-based guidance technology that installs multiple transmitters discretely along a walking route to guide pedestrians while they walk, thereby providing pedestrians with useful guidance information while reducing the number of transmitters that need to be installed. [Means for solving the problem]

[0015] <Pedestrian abnormality detection technology>

[0016] In order to solve the problem of providing a pedestrian abnormality determination technique, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pedestrian guidance system that guides a pedestrian while walking, comprising: A plurality of guide transmitters are installed discretely and in series along the walking route, and each guide transmitter transmits an identification signal representing a unique transmitter ID; A user terminal which is a communication terminal of a pedestrian and is capable of receiving an identification signal from each guide transmitter by a short-distance wireless communication method; a management server capable of communicating with the user terminal; Including, The user terminal or the management server, The user terminal includes a walking state determination unit that determines whether or not there is an abnormality in the walking state of a pedestrian based on a receiving state of an identification signal from each guide transmitter, The user terminal, a warning unit that issues a warning to the pedestrian when the walking state determination unit determines that the pedestrian's walking state is abnormal; a confirmation button display unit that continues to display a confirmation button, which is operated by a pedestrian when the pedestrian confirms the warning, on a screen until the pedestrian operates the confirmation button; Including, The user terminal or the management server, an emergency situation determination unit that determines that the pedestrian may be in an emergency situation when the confirmation button is not operated by the pedestrian even when the continuous display time of the confirmation button exceeds a predetermined time limit; a memory in which other pedestrians accompanying the pedestrian are registered; an emergency information transmission unit that transmits emergency information to communication terminals of other pedestrians registered in the memory when the emergency determination unit determines that the pedestrian may be in an emergency; A pedestrian guidance system including:

[0017] This pedestrian guidance system is characterized by a step-by-step abnormality judgment on the presence or absence of abnormality in walking conditions, rescue support linked to the severity level of the abnormality in walking conditions ("seriousness level-linked rescue support"), and mutual communication with accompanying persons. Each feature is described in detail below.

[0018] 1. Graded abnormality detection

[0019] (1) First stage abnormality judgment: judgment of abnormality of mild serious level Based on the signal from the guide transmitter, the system determines whether there is anything abnormal with the pedestrian's walking condition, and if it determines that there is an abnormality (a minor abnormality), it issues a warning to the pedestrian via the communication terminal.

[0020] (2) Second stage abnormality judgment: Serious level abnormality judgment If the pedestrian does not notice the warning, it is determined that the pedestrian may be in an emergency situation (serious abnormality determination).

[0021] Specifically, if the confirmation button is not operated by the pedestrian even after the continuous display time of the confirmation button on the screen of the pedestrian's communication terminal exceeds a predetermined time limit, it is determined that the pedestrian may be in an emergency situation.

[0022] 2. Emergency response level-based rescue support

[0023] (1) When a minor abnormality is detected When a minor abnormality is detected, the warning is issued to encourage the pedestrian to correct his or her behavior.

[0024] (2) When a severe abnormality is detected When a serious abnormality is judged, since the pedestrian may be in such a serious situation that he or she is physically unable to move, the system notifies the communication terminals of other accompanying persons, rather than the pedestrian himself or herself, that the pedestrian may be in an emergency, and encourages the other accompanying persons to carry out rescue operations.

[0025] 3. Mutual contact among accompanying persons

[0026] When a serious abnormality is determined, the user terminal or the management server notifies the pedestrian's communication terminal but the accompanying person's communication terminal, shares with the accompanying person the possibility that the pedestrian is in an emergency, and encourages the accompanying person to take rescue action.

[0030] <Drone-based search technology>

[0031] In order to solve the problem of wanting to provide a drone-dispatch search technology, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pedestrian guidance system that guides a pedestrian while walking, comprising: A plurality of guide transmitters are installed discretely and in series along the walking route, and each guide transmitter transmits an identification signal representing a unique transmitter ID; A pedestrian transmitter attached to a pedestrian, which transmits an identification signal representing a unique transmitter ID; A user terminal which is a communication terminal of a pedestrian and is capable of receiving an identification signal from each guide transmitter by a short-distance wireless communication method; An unmanned drone is equipped with an airborne relay base station for the user terminal and a receiver capable of receiving an identification signal from the pedestrian transmitter; a management server capable of communicating with the user terminal; Including, The user terminal or the management server, The user terminal includes a walking state determination unit that determines whether or not there is an abnormality in the walking state of a pedestrian based on a receiving state of an identification signal from each guide transmitter, The user terminal, a warning unit that issues a warning to the pedestrian when the walking state determination unit determines that the pedestrian's walking state is abnormal; a confirmation button display unit that continues to display a confirmation button, which is operated by a pedestrian when the pedestrian confirms the warning, on a screen until the pedestrian operates the confirmation button; Including, the user terminal or the management server includes an emergency situation determination unit that determines that a pedestrian may be in an emergency situation when the confirmation button is not operated by a pedestrian even when a continuous display time of the confirmation button exceeds a predetermined time limit, A pedestrian guidance system is provided in which, when the emergency situation determination unit determines that a pedestrian may be in an emergency situation, the management server selectively executes a communication terminal-based search mode in which the positioning function and communication function of the user terminal are used to search for pedestrians, provided that a connection is established between the user terminal and the management server, and a transmitter-based search mode in which the location authentication function and communication function of the pedestrian transmitter are used to search for pedestrians, provided that a connection is established between the pedestrian transmitter and the receiver mounted on the drone.

[0032] This pedestrian guidance system is characterized by its drone search function that uses a drone, a pedestrian transmitter, and the pedestrian's communication device. The features are described in detail below.

[0033] According to this drone search technology, when a severe abnormality is detected as described above, the management server acts as a command center to remotely direct a search using drones, pedestrian transmitters, and the pedestrian's communication device in order to search for pedestrians.

[0034] Specifically, when the management server determines that a serious abnormality has occurred, A communication terminal-based search mode in which, on the condition that a connection is established between the user terminal and the management server, the positioning function and communication function of the user terminal are used to search for pedestrians; - A transmitter-based search mode that searches for pedestrians using the location authentication and communication functions of the pedestrian transmitter, provided that a connection is established between the pedestrian transmitter and the receiver mounted on the drone. Selectively execute.

[0035] <Companion dispatch type rescue technology>

[0036] In order to solve the problem of providing a companion dispatch type rescue technique, according to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a victim rescue system for rescuing a pedestrian who may be lost while walking, comprising: A user terminal which is a communication terminal of the pedestrian; A plurality of companion terminals which are communication terminals used by a plurality of companions of the pedestrian, respectively; a management server capable of communicating with the user terminal and the plurality of companion terminals; an environment server in communication with the management server, the environment server transmitting to the management server environment information representative of environments within a geographic area designated by the management server; Including, The user terminal, a victim determination unit that determines whether or not the pedestrian is likely to be a victim based on a measurement result by a sensor mounted on the user terminal and / or a reception result from an external device of the user terminal; The management server includes: an individual risk calculation unit that, when it is determined that the pedestrian may be a victim, receives accompanying person information related to each accompanying person from each accompanying person terminal, and calculates, for each accompanying person, an individual risk when each accompanying person is dispatched to the location of the victim to rescue the victim based on the received accompanying person information; an environmental risk calculation unit that, when it is determined that the pedestrian may be a person in distress, receives the environmental information from the environmental server, and calculates an environmental risk when any accompanying person is dispatched to the location of the person in distress based on the received environmental information; a rescuer selection unit that selects, from among the plurality of accompanying persons, a person whose calculated individual risk does not exceed a first reference value as a rescuer; A rescue permission unit that allows any of the accompanying persons to be dispatched to the location of the person in distress when the calculated environmental risk does not exceed a second reference value; a rescue request unit that transmits, when it is permitted to dispatch any one of the accompanying persons to the location of the victim, information regarding the location of the victim and a message for requesting rescue of the victim to the accompanying person terminal of the selected rescuer; A victim rescue system including the following is provided.

[0039] <Branch-mounted guidance technology>

[0040] In order to solve the problem of providing a branch point-installed guidance technology, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pedestrian guidance system that guides a pedestrian along a walking route having a plurality of branch points while the pedestrian is walking, comprising: a plurality of transmitters respectively installed at the plurality of branch points, each of which transmits an identification signal representing a unique transmitter ID; A user terminal which is a communication terminal of a pedestrian and is capable of receiving signals from each transmitter by a short-range wireless method; A management server capable of communicating with the user terminal; Including, The user terminal, a junction location specifying unit which, when receiving an identification signal from any of the transmitters, converts the identification signal into a transmitter ID, and converts the transmitter ID into a junction ID in accordance with a predetermined relationship between the transmitter ID and a junction ID that is stored in a memory, thereby specifying the geographical location of the current junction; a map data receiving unit for receiving map data from the management server; a partial map data display unit that displays, among the received map data, partial map data covering the geographical position of the identified branch point on a screen of the user terminal together with a mark indicating a correct route for reaching a destination designated by the pedestrian; A pedestrian guidance system including:

[0041] An example of the partial map data display unit is configured to, when the user terminal starts receiving an identification signal from any one of the transmitters, start displaying partial map data corresponding to an installation position of the any one of the transmitters.

[0042] Another example of the partial map data display unit is such that, when the user terminal finishes receiving an identification signal from any one of the transmitters, the display of the partial map data corresponding to the installation position of that one of the transmitters is finished.

[0043] Another example of the partial map data display unit is configured such that, when the user terminal starts receiving an identification signal from any of the transmitters, it starts displaying partial map data corresponding to the installation position of that one of the transmitters, and, when the user terminal stops receiving the identification signal from any of the transmitters, it stops displaying the partial map data corresponding to the installation position of that one of the transmitters.

[0049] The present invention provides the following embodiments. Each embodiment is divided into clauses, each clause is numbered, and other clause numbers are cited as necessary. This is to facilitate understanding of some of the technical features that the present invention may employ and their combinations, and should not be construed as limiting the technical features and combinations that the present invention may employ to the following embodiments. In other words, it should be construed that technical features that are not described in the following embodiments but are described in this specification may be appropriately extracted and employed as technical features of the present invention.

[0050] Furthermore, describing each section in a form that refers to the number of other sections does not necessarily mean that the technical features described in each section are prevented from being separated and made independent from the technical features described in other sections, and it should be interpreted that the technical features described in each section can be made independent as appropriate depending on their nature.

[0051] (1) A pedestrian guidance system that guides pedestrians while walking, comprising: A plurality of transmitters are installed discretely and in series along a walking route, each transmitter transmitting an identification signal representing a unique transmitter ID; A communication terminal for each pedestrian that can receive an identification signal from each transmitter using a short-range wireless communication method. Including, Each pedestrian's communication device a reference transmitter determination unit that, when receiving an identification signal from any one of the transmitters, determines the one of the transmitters as a reference transmitter from which the passage of a pedestrian has been confirmed; a target transmitter determination unit that, after determining the reference transmitter, determines, as a target transmitter, one of the plurality of transmitters that is located next to the reference transmitter in the walking route by referring to mapping data that indicates the order in which the plurality of transmitters are arranged along a walking route that has been previously assigned to the walking route; a walking condition determination unit that determines that there is an abnormality in the walking condition of the pedestrian when no identification signal is received from the target transmitter even after a predetermined time limit has elapsed since the time when the identification signal was received from the reference transmitter; a warning unit that conveys the result of the judgment to pedestrians and warns them; Including, A pedestrian guidance system in which the reference transmitter determination unit and the target transmitter determination unit are each executed iteratively.

[0052] (2) A pedestrian guidance system that guides pedestrians while walking, comprising: A plurality of transmitters are installed discretely and in series along a walking route, each transmitter transmitting an identification signal representing a unique transmitter ID; A communication terminal for each pedestrian that can receive an identification signal from each transmitter using a short-range wireless communication method. A management server capable of communicating with the communication terminals of each pedestrian; Including, The management server is a reference transmitter determination unit that, when a communication terminal of each pedestrian receives an identification signal from any one of the transmitters, determines the one of the transmitters as a reference transmitter from which the passage of the pedestrian has been confirmed; a target transmitter determination unit that, after determining the reference transmitter, determines, as a target transmitter, one of the plurality of transmitters that is located next to the reference transmitter in the walking route by referring to mapping data that indicates the order in which the plurality of transmitters are arranged along a walking route that has been previously assigned to the walking route; a walking state determination unit that determines that there is an abnormality in the walking state of each pedestrian if the communication terminal of each pedestrian does not receive an identification signal from the target transmitter even after a predetermined time limit has elapsed since the communication terminal of each pedestrian received an identification signal from the reference transmitter; a transmitting unit that transmits the determination result to a communication terminal of the pedestrian; Including, A pedestrian guidance system in which the reference transmitter determination unit and the target transmitter determination unit are each executed iteratively.

[0053] (3) A pedestrian guidance system as described in (1) or (2), wherein the predetermined time limit has a variable length depending on at least one of the distance between the reference transmitter and the target transmitter on the walking route, the altitude difference, the gradient, and the type of road surface (paved road, gravel road, muddy road, cliff road, wide road, narrow road, etc.).

[0054] (4) A pedestrian guidance system according to any one of (1) to (3), wherein the result of the determination that the walking condition is abnormal is conveyed to the pedestrian visually, audibly and / or tactilely.

[0055] (5) A pedestrian guidance system according to any one of (1) to (4), wherein the abnormality in the walking condition includes at least one of the possibility that the pedestrian has become lost and the possibility that the pedestrian has deviated from the walking route.

[0056] (6) The communication terminal further comprises: A pedestrian guidance system as described in any one of (1) to (5) including a display unit that, when an identification signal is received from any one of the transmitters, displays a map, the current location, and the installation location of any one of the transmitters in an overlaid state on the screen of the communication terminal.

[0057] (7) A pedestrian guidance system as described in any one of (1) to (6), wherein the walking route includes at least one of mountain paths, forest roads, sightseeing paths within a facility, school routes, walking trails, and cycling courses, each of which has a set walking route.

[0058] (8) A program for causing a computer to function as a communication terminal according to any one of (1) to (7).

[0059] Throughout this specification, the term "program" may be interpreted to mean, for example, but not limited to, a combination of instructions that are executed by a computer to perform a function, and may also include not only such a combination of instructions, but also the files and data that are processed in accordance with each instruction.

[0060] Furthermore, this program may be executed by a computer alone to achieve the intended purpose, or may be executed by a computer together with other programs to achieve the intended purpose, but is not limited thereto. In the latter case, the program according to this section may be, but is not limited to, one that mainly consists of data.

[0061] (9) A program for causing a computer to function as the management server according to any one of (1) to (7).

[0062] (10) A recording medium having the program described in (8) or (9) recorded thereon in a computer-readable manner.

[0063] Throughout this specification, the term "recording medium" may be interpreted to mean various types of recording medium, including, but not limited to, magnetic recording media such as floppy disks, optical recording media such as CDs and CD-ROMs, magneto-optical recording media such as MOs, and non-removable storage media such as ROMs.

[0064] (11) A pedestrian guidance method for guiding a pedestrian while walking, comprising: The method comprises: A plurality of transmitters are installed discretely and in series along a walking route, each transmitter transmitting an identification signal representing a unique transmitter ID; A communication terminal for each pedestrian that can receive an identification signal from each transmitter using a short-range wireless communication method. This is carried out using The pedestrian guidance method includes: a reference transmitter determination step of determining, when each pedestrian's communication terminal receives an identification signal from any one of the transmitters, the one of the transmitters as a reference transmitter; a target transmitter determination step of determining, after the reference transmitter has been determined, a transmitter that is located next to the reference transmitter in the walking route among the plurality of transmitters as a target transmitter by referring to mapping data that indicates the order in which the plurality of transmitters are arranged along the walking route that has been pre-assigned to the walking route; a lost state determination step of determining that the pedestrian may be lost if the communication terminal of each pedestrian does not receive an identification signal from the target transmitter even after a predetermined time limit has elapsed since the communication terminal of each pedestrian received an identification signal from the reference transmitter; a warning process for informing pedestrians of the result of the judgment and warning them; Including, A pedestrian guidance method in which the reference transmitter determination step and the target transmitter determination step are each executed iteratively. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0069] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a system diagram conceptually showing the hardware configuration of a mountain trail guide system according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0070] [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing an example of a layout when multiple guide transmitters in the hiking trail guidance system shown in FIG. 1 are installed on a hiking trail in a mountain area, showing multiple guide transmitters installed in a row along the hiking trail.

[0071] [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing two adjacent guide transmitters out of the multiple guide transmitters shown in FIG.

[0072] [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the guide transmitter and the climber transmitter shown in FIG. 2, both of which have a common configuration.

[0073] [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the portable terminal of the mountain climber shown in FIG.

[0074] [Figure 6] FIG. 6(a) is a graph showing an example of a normal walking state scenario in which a mobile terminal receives a signal from an adjacent transmitter B before the time limit has elapsed from the time the mobile terminal received a signal from transmitter A in the mountain trail guidance system shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 6(b) is a graph showing an example of an abnormal walking state scenario in which the same mobile terminal does not receive a signal from an adjacent transmitter B even after the time limit has elapsed from the time the mobile terminal received a signal from transmitter A in the mountain trail guidance system.

[0075] [Figure 7] Figure 7 is a table conceptually showing mapping data that correlates the predetermined relationship between the transmitter ID of each guide transmitter and the position of each guide transmitter on the map, the order in which multiple guide transmitters are lined up along the walking route of a mountain trail, and the time limit.

[0076] [Figure 8] FIG. 8(a) is a graph showing an example of a gradual change in altitude between two adjacent points on the hiking trail shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 8(b) is a graph showing an example of a sudden change in altitude between the two points, FIG. 8(c) is a graph showing, as an example, how the length of the reference time S increases according to the distance d between the two points in a scenario in which the time limit is represented by the product of a reference time S and a correction coefficient k, and FIG. 8(d) is a graph showing, as an example, how the correction coefficient k increases according to the difference in altitude Δh between the two points.

[0077] [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram illustrating the management server shown in FIG.

[0078] [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a flowchart conceptually showing a number of programs for explaining the software configuration of the mountain trail guidance system shown in FIG.

[0079] [Figure 11] FIG. 11(a) is a plan view illustrating an example of a first page displayed on the screen of the mobile terminal shown in FIG. 1 for assisting the user in entering data to distinguish whether to climb or descend the mountain, FIG. 11(b) is a plan view illustrating an example of a second page displayed on the screen for warning the user if he or she may have become lost, and FIG. 11(c) is a plan view illustrating an example of a third page displayed on the screen for explaining to the user the processing being executed by the management server after the warning has been given to the user.

[0080] [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a system diagram conceptually showing a main part of a hardware configuration of a victim rescue system according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

[0081] [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is a flowchart conceptually showing a plurality of programs for explaining the software configuration of the victim rescue system shown in FIG.

[0082] [Figure 14] FIG. 14 is a perspective view conceptually illustrating an installation layout of a plurality of transmitters in a mountain trail guidance system according to the third illustrative embodiment of the present invention.

[0083] [Figure 15]FIG. 15 is a plan view showing an example image displayed on the screen of a communication terminal of a climber in the mountain trail guidance system shown in FIG.

[0084] [Figure 16] FIG. 16 is a diagram conceptually showing the contents of the map database in the memory of the management server in the mountain trail guidance system shown in FIG.

[0085] [Figure 17] FIG. 17 is a flowchart conceptually showing a number of programs for explaining the software configuration of the mountain trail guidance system shown in FIG.

[0086] [Figure 18] Figure 18(a) is a perspective view showing an example of a climber walking through a certain branching point while the mountain trail guidance system shown in Figure 14 is in operation, Figure 18(b) is a time chart showing the change over time in the state in which the mobile device receives a transmitter in the walking example of Figure 18(a), and Figure 18(c) is a time chart showing the change over time in the display state on the screen of the climber's mobile device in the walking example of Figure 18(a). DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0087] Hereinafter, a number of more specific and exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[0088] [First embodiment]

[0089] 1 is a schematic diagram showing a hardware configuration of a mountain trail guidance system (hereinafter simply referred to as the "system") 10 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The system 10 is designed to implement a pedestrian guidance method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0090] <System Overview>

[0091] Briefly explained, as shown in FIG. 2, this system 10 has a mountain climber (an example of a "walker") user, and determines whether the climbing user's walking condition is abnormal (whether the climbing user may have gotten lost, deviated from the mountain climbing trail 14, etc.) on a mountain trail 14 (an example of a "walking route", an example of a mountain path, an example of a mountain route, etc.) in a mountainous area 12, communicates the result to the climbing user as a warning, and ultimately assists in guiding the climbing user along the correct walking route (the correct direction, along the correct course), thereby providing a climbing trail guidance function that prevents the climbing user from getting lost.

[0092] <Mountain trail guidance function>

[0093] In this system 10, in order to realize a mountain trail guidance function, multiple guide transmitters 30 are installed so as to be lined up discretely and in series along the mountain trail 14. The guide transmitters 30 are arranged in series at equal intervals (e.g., intervals of 10 m, 50 m, 100 m, 500 m, or 1 km), for example. Alternatively, the multiple guide transmitters 30 may be arranged in series at variable intervals that decrease as the trail approaches the end of the mountain trail 14.

[0094] Each guide transmitter 30 may be attached to an artificial object installed on the mountain trail 14, such as a post or a sign, or may be attached to a natural object growing on the mountain trail 14, such as a natural tree or shrub.

[0095] As the climber walks, the signals from the multiple guide transmitters 30 are received by the climber's mobile terminal 90 (an example of a "user terminal") in sequence via short-range wireless communication. The mobile terminal 90 can wirelessly communicate with a management server 50 that is operated and managed by a management center 40 installed in a location remote from the mountainous region 12.

[0096] To realize the mountain trail guidance function, the mobile terminal 90, either alone or in cooperation with the management server 50, warns the climber (such as by informing the climber that he or she may be lost, to get the climber's attention) and provides route guidance so that the climber's walking route (where to walk) and walking sequence (which direction to walk) do not deviate from the correct ones while ascending or descending the mountain.

[0097] Here, the "warning" may be, for example, a notice that the climber may have gotten lost in the mountainous area 12, a warning to the climber, a message to encourage corrective action, or a message that if the climber continues walking, he or she will enter an outside communication range where radio waves from the mobile terminal 90 cannot reach other mobile terminals 90. Examples of an outside communication range include an area where there is no nearby terrestrial base station 300 (see FIG. 2) that can receive radio waves, or an area where tall trees or neighboring mountains exist around the climber and therefore the radio waves from the climber's mobile terminal 90 are blocked.

[0098] In addition, "route guidance (route guidance, course guidance, route guidance, etc.)" may, for example, provide a climber with position and orientation information to correct his or her actual walking route and course to a correct walking route and course, or may inform the user visually, audibly, or tactilely of a message to the effect that "you are lost, so it would be advisable to retrace your current route."

[0099] In this example, when the mobile terminal 90 of the lost climber detects that he / she is lost using the guide transmitter 30, it may output the message in text, image or sound to alert the climber and to encourage the climber to decide to turn back from the current route, or may confirm that the climber has confirmed the message by operating a "confirmation button." In this case, the mobile terminal 90 of the current climber may continue to display the same button until the "confirmation button" is tapped by the user.

[0100] Nevertheless, if the "Confirmation Button" is not tapped by the user even after the continuous display time of the "Confirmation Button" exceeds a specified time limit, the current climber's mobile terminal 90 determines that the user climber may be in an emergency situation (e.g., lost), and transmits this information to the management server 50, and further simultaneously transmits this information to the mobile terminals 90 of the other climbers (companying climbers) who belong to the same party.

[0101] Furthermore, each climber's mobile terminal 90 acquires location information using its positioning function (e.g., a positioning function using GPS, a positioning function using a terrestrial base station 300) at discrete times during the climb, either at all times or from the time the warning is issued to the climber, and sequentially transmits the location information to the management server 50 to facilitate search operations in the event of a disaster.

[0102] Upon receiving the location information, the management server 50 sequentially associates the location information with the user ID / device ID of each climber's mobile terminal 90 and chronologically stores it in memory 162 (see FIG. 9). When the climber gets into trouble, the mobile terminal 90 of the climber accesses the management server 50, which then extracts the behavior history of the climber from memory 162 and transmits it to the mobile terminals 90 of the other accompanying climbers. Thus, the management server 50 and the other accompanying climbers can track the location of the climber from at least the time when the warning was issued to the climber.

[0103] The behavior history of the victim, i.e., the tracking result, is used, for example, by other accompanying persons or rescuers in the search for the victim. In addition, the behavior history of the victim is used by the management server 50 when determining the flight target point of the drone 200 described later.

[0104] In this system 10, in order to realize the mountain trail guidance function, when the climber's portable terminal 90 receives an identification signal from any of the guide transmitters 30, it determines that any of the guide transmitters 30 is a reference transmitter (start transmitter, departure point transmitter, etc.) through which the climber's passage has been confirmed.

[0105] After determining the reference transmitter, the mobile terminal 90 refers to the mapping data (see FIG. 7) downloaded from the management server 50, described below, to determine the one of the multiple guide transmitters 30 that is located next to the reference transmitter on the walking route (see FIG. 2) as the target transmitter (ahead transmitter, adjacent transmitter, destination transmitter, etc.).

[0106] Furthermore, if the portable terminal 90 receives an identification signal from the target transmitter before a predetermined time limit f has elapsed from the time when the identification signal was received from the reference transmitter, it determines that the climber's walking condition is normal (the climber is not lost), but if it does not receive an identification signal from the target transmitter even after the predetermined time limit f has elapsed, it determines that there is something abnormal about the climber's walking condition (the climber may be lost).

[0107] Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view showing two adjacent guide transmitters 30 from the multiple guide transmitters 30 in Fig. 2. The two guide transmitters 30 are installed at two adjacent points A and B. In the example shown in Fig. 3, point A is located at the entrance point (start point, beginning point) of the mountain trail 14, and point Z is located at the summit point (turnaround point, end point, finishing point) of the mountain trail 14.

[0108] During mountain climbing (when climbing the mountain trail 14) (in terms of the walking route, uphill direction, and climbing direction while climbing), point B is ahead of point A in the direction of travel, so if the guide transmitter 30 at point A is the reference transmitter, the guide transmitter 30 at point B is the target transmitter.

[0109] In contrast, during descent (when descending the mountain trail 14) (in terms of the walking route, downward direction, and descent direction during descent), point A is ahead of point B in the direction of travel, so if the guide transmitter 30 at point B is the reference transmitter, the guide transmitter 30 at point A becomes the target transmitter.

[0110] 3, there is a distance d between the guide transmitter 30 at point A and the guide transmitter 30 at point B. To be precise, it is not the shortest distance but the length measured along the mountain trail 14. There is also an altitude difference Δh between the guide transmitter 30 at point A and the guide transmitter 30 at point B.

[0111] Furthermore, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the reception ranges of the guide transmitter 30 at point A and the reception ranges of the guide transmitter 30 at point B are set so that they do not overlap with each other, so that one mobile terminal 90 will not effectively receive identification signals from two guide transmitters 30 at the same time at any given moment.

[0112] FIG. 6(a) shows an exemplary graph of a normal walking state scenario in which, in this system 10, a mobile terminal 90 receives a signal from a guide transmitter 30 at an adjacent point B before a predetermined time limit f has elapsed from the time when the same mobile terminal 90 receives a signal from a guide transmitter 30 at a nearby point A.

[0113] In contrast, Figure 6(b) shows an exemplary graph of an abnormal walking state scenario in which a mobile terminal 90 in this system 10 does not receive a signal from the guide transmitter 30 at the neighboring point B even after a predetermined time limit f has elapsed since the time the mobile terminal 90 received a signal from the guide transmitter 30 at point A.

[0114] As shown in FIG. 6(b), in this system 10, if the mobile terminal 90 does not receive a signal from the guide transmitter 30 at the neighboring point B even after a specified time limit f has elapsed, the mobile terminal 90 determines that the climber's walking condition (such as the direction of travel) is abnormal (for example, the climber is lost) and issues a warning to the climber.

[0115] If the climber does not notice the warning, the climber's mobile device 90 or the management server 50 will simultaneously transmit a message to the mobile devices 90 of the other accompanying climbers informing them that the climber may be in danger of being lost. Furthermore, in order to realize the aforementioned victim search function, the management server 50 executes a victim search mode.

[0116] FIG. 7 conceptually shows, in a table, mapping data that correlates the predetermined relationship between the transmitter ID of each guide transmitter 30 and the installation position of each guide transmitter 30 on the map, the order in which multiple guide transmitters 30 are lined up along the correct walking route of the mountain trail 14, and the length of the aforementioned time limit f.

[0117] The mapping data is originally stored in memory 162 of the management server 50, and when accessed by any mobile terminal 90, the management server 50 transmits the mapping data to that mobile terminal 90, whereupon the mobile terminal 90 downloads the mapping data from the management server 50 and stores it in its own memory 132 (see Figure 5).

[0118] <About setting the time limit>

[0119] In this system 10, the time limit f is set for each pair of two adjacent points, as shown in Fig. 7. The time limit f is set in advance assuming a climber with normal physical ability, taking into account the actual distance d and altitude difference Δh between the two adjacent points, so that it is not shorter than the minimum time required for the average climber to traverse between the two points.

[0120] 8(a) is a graph showing an example of a gradual change in altitude between two adjacent points A and B on a mountain trail 14. FIG. 8(b) is a graph showing an example of a sudden change in altitude between points A and B.

[0121] In this system 10, the time limit f is calculated as the product of a reference time S and a correction coefficient k. Fig. 8(c) shows an example of a graph in which the length of the reference time S increases according to the distance d between two points A and B. Fig. 8(d) shows an example of a graph in which the correction coefficient k increases according to the altitude difference Δh between two points A and B.

[0122] <Mutual contact function for accompanying persons>

[0123] In addition to the above-mentioned mountain trail guidance function, this system 10 has a companion mutual communication function that supports mutual assistance between multiple climbers belonging to the same party (team, group, etc.) by communicating with each other using their respective mobile terminals 90. This companion mutual communication function also functions to confirm the safety of a person who has been lost.

[0124] In this system 10, when multiple people are climbing as a single party, the mutual communication function for companions (mutual aid function) allows for sharing of information regarding an emergency with the other companions, who can then communicate with each other via mobile terminals 90 to prevent accidents from occurring, immediately dispatch rescue personnel, and immediately search for the person in case of accident.

[0125] Specifically, for example, when multiple people are climbing a mountain as a party and it is discovered that one of the climbers has encountered an emergency (for example, the climber's mobile terminal 90 or the management server 50 infers the existence of the emergency), the climber's mobile terminal 90 or the management server 50 will automatically wirelessly transmit information regarding the emergency to each of the mobile terminals 90 of the other climbers in the party at the same time.

[0126] In one example, the mobile terminals 90 of multiple climbers belonging to the same party automatically attempt to establish mutual connections (e.g., without the user's knowledge) regardless of whether they are lost or not, or as necessary, and if there are other mobile terminals 90 with which a connection has not been established despite this, the management server 50 reports this to the management server 50. The management server 50 determines that the climber who is the user of the other mobile terminal 90 with which a connection has not been established may be in an emergency, and simultaneously transmits this information to the mobile terminals 90 of the other climbers with which a connection has been established.

[0127] In another example, the management server 50 periodically attempts to establish a connection with each mobile terminal 90, and if a connection cannot be established with any of the mobile terminals 90, it determines that the climber who should own that mobile terminal 90 may be in an emergency, and simultaneously transmits this information to each of the mobile terminals 90 of the other climbers.

[0128] Here, an "emergency situation" may be, for example, a case where the walking route is not corrected even after the warning is issued, or a case where a connection cannot be established with a certain mobile terminal 90. In the latter case, for example, a certain climber may be out of communication range, or the battery of a certain climber's mobile terminal 90 may be low. In either case, if a climber gets lost, it may become impossible to search for the climber by relying on the mobile terminal 90, and the search may become difficult.

[0129] <Distress search function>

[0130] In addition to the above-mentioned mountain trail guidance function and companion mutual communication function, this system 10 also has a victim search function for searching for a climber who should happen to get lost in the mountainous area 12. This victim search function also serves as a function for confirming the safety of the climber.

[0131] In this system 10, in order to realize the function of searching for lost climbers, a climber wears a climber transmitter 32 before climbing. The climber transmitter 32 moves together with the climber who wears it, and the position of the climber transmitter 32 coincides with the position of the climber.

[0132] Furthermore, the system 10 includes an unmanned small aircraft, or drone 200, for searching for victims from the air. The drone 200 can be remotely operated using its own controller 202 and in accordance with instructions from the management server 50, or it can be autonomously navigated using the controller 202.

[0133] When the management server 50 determines that a climber may be in distress, it transmits representative spatial coordinate values ​​of the mountainous region 12 the climber is climbing (e.g., the latitude, longitude and altitude of a specific representative point such as the summit or the entrance to the hiking trail 14) to the communication device 204 of the drone 200 as information representing the flight target point, and instructs the drone 200 to deploy (be) deployed via the controller 202.

[0134] The drone 200 includes a controller 202 and a communication device 204 connected thereto. The communication device 204 is capable of wireless communication with the management server 50. The communication device 204 may function as a normal mobile phone (mobile telephone) using a terrestrial base station 300, or may function as a satellite telephone using an artificial satellite.

[0135] In addition to the communication device 204, the drone 200 is equipped with an airborne mobile (movable) air base station (hereinafter referred to as a "relay base station") 206 that replaces the fixed terrestrial base station 300 for the mobile terminal 90. The relay base station 206 receives location information from the mobile terminal 90 within its communication range, and transmits the location information to the terrestrial base station 300 within the communication range of the relay base station 206.

[0136] The drone 200 further has a receiver 210 capable of receiving a signal from the climber transmitter 32 of the stranded person. The controller 202 constantly measures the strength of the radio waves received by the receiver 210 from the climber transmitter 32. The controller 202 navigates the drone 200 in a direction in which the current value of the radio wave strength measurement is greater than the previous value.

[0137] In this system 10, there are two modes for searching for a lost climber: a portable terminal usage mode in which the search is conducted for the lost climber himself using his portable terminal 90, and a transmitter usage mode in which the search is conducted for the lost climber himself using his climber transmitter 32.

[0138] First, to give an outline of the mode, the mobile terminal use mode is executed to search for a victim by utilizing the positioning function and communication function of the mobile terminal 90, on the condition that a connection is established between the mobile terminal 90 and the management server 50. In this search scenario, the mobile terminal 90, which is one of the victim's equipment, is directly used for searching for the victim.

[0139] In contrast, the transmitter usage mode is executed to search for the missing person by utilizing the location authentication function and transmission function of the climber transmitter 32 when a connection has not been established between the victim's mobile terminal 90 and the management server 50, for example, when the battery of the mobile terminal 90 is low or the mobile terminal 90 is outside the communication range.

[0140] Specifically, in this transmitter use mode, the drone 200 is dispatched, the receiver 210 mounted on the drone 200 sequentially measures the strength of radio waves received from the climber transmitter 32 of the stranded person, and the flight route of the drone 200 is determined so that the measured value increases over time. As a result, a search scenario is realized in which the stranded person is searched for, or a search scenario in which, on the condition that the stranded person's mobile terminal 90 is operating normally (for example, the battery is not low, the mobile terminal 90 is not broken), the mobile terminal 90 is connected to the management server 50 via the relay base station 206 mounted on the drone 200 and further via the nearest terrestrial base station 300.

[0141] In the former search scenario, the climber transmitter 32, which is one of the equipment of the stranded person, is directly used for searching for the stranded person by the drone 200. In contrast, in the latter search scenario, the transmitter use mode is executed to enable the above-mentioned mobile terminal use mode to be executed.

[0142] Specifically, in the latter search scenario, the drone 200 is dispatched and soon approaches the victim, and when the victim's mobile terminal 90 enters the communication range of the relay base station 206, a connection is established between the victim's mobile terminal 90 and the ground base station 300 by the relay function of the relay base station 206, and further, a connection is established between the victim's mobile terminal 90 and the management server 50. In this case, the mobile terminal usage mode is executed, and the victim can communicate with the management server 50. In this case, for example, the victim can talk to a telephone operator at the management center 40 and send data (messaging) via his or her own mobile terminal 90.

[0143] The drone 200 further includes a camera 220 that captures still or video images of the ground from the sky. The camera 220 generates imaging data that represents an image of the ground, and the imaging data is transmitted to the management server 50 via the communication device 204. An operator at the management center 40 can remotely monitor the state of the ground surface of the mountainous region 12 via the camera 220. This allows the operator at the management center 40 to visually and remotely search for people in distress. Camera 220 The operating state (on / off, etc.), shooting conditions (zoom ratio, exposure, etc.) and attitude (angle, etc.) of the camera are remotely controlled by the management server 50 via the controller 202.

[0144] The drone 200 further includes a speaker 230 that outputs sound from the sky. The speaker 230 is remotely controlled by the management server 50 via the controller 202. For example, the controller 202 drives the speaker 230 based on sound data received from the management server 50, thereby generating and outputting sound. As a result, the operator of the management center 40 can output sound from the sky toward the mountainous region 12 via the speaker 230.

[0145] Thanks to this voice output, before the missing person is found, the operator at the management center 40 can inform the missing person by voice that a search is currently underway, and of the presence and current location of the drone 200. After the missing person is found, the operator can confirm the safety of the missing person, instruct the person on what actions they should take to be rescued, and provide information on the current status of rescue efforts.

[0146] The drone 200 further includes a shooter 240 that drops or drops necessary items, equipped with a parachute as necessary, from the sky toward a target location on the ground. The shooter 240 is remotely controlled by the management server 50 via the controller 202. Examples of items that can be dropped include relief supplies (e.g., a spare charged battery pack that can be used for the mobile terminal 90 of the victim, water, food, etc.) and lighting equipment for locally illuminating the vicinity of the victim to facilitate rescue operations.

[0147] When dropping an item from the chute 240, in order to attract the victim's attention, it is possible to explain the details of the rescue operation by voice using the speaker 230 or to drop a light at the same time. Thanks to the light, the victim can accurately determine the landing point of the dropped item and can reliably catch the item.

[0148] <About guide transmitters and climber transmitters>

[0149] Figure 4 shows a functional block diagram of the guide transmitter 30 and the climber transmitter 32, both of which are shown in Figure 2 and have a common configuration. Because the guide transmitter 30 and the climber transmitter 32 have a common configuration, the following description will be given representatively of the common configuration of only the guide transmitter 30.

[0150] 4, each guide transmitter 30 transmits a unique signal, and the unique signal represents a unique transmitter ID. Since it is known where each guide transmitter 30 is installed on the mountain trail 14, the installation position, i.e., spatial coordinate values ​​(x, y, z), is assigned to the transmitter ID in advance.

[0151] First, to explain conceptually, the guide transmitter 30 is a non-contact or contact (proximity) communication device that locally transmits an identification signal that can identify a unique transmitter ID.

[0152] Next, the operation method will be described. The guide transmitter 30 actively transmits a unique identification signal locally without requiring an external trigger signal, and continuously as long as there is no shortage of power supply.

[0153] The guide transmitter 30 is generally known as a beacon device, a radio beacon, etc., that transmits a beacon signal as an identification signal. In one example, the guide transmitter 30 generates an identification signal representing a corresponding transmitter ID by modulating an original signal, and transmits the generated identification signal locally as an IR signal, a Bluetooth (registered trademark) signal, an NFC (near field communication) signal, etc.

[0154] Next, the hardware configuration will be described with reference to FIG. 4. The guide transmitter 30 is mainly composed of a computer 104 having a processor 100 and a memory 102 for storing a plurality of applications executed by the processor 100.

[0155] The guide transmitter 30 further has a replaceable disposable battery 106 as a power source. Instead of the battery 106, a rechargeable battery can be used, or a commercial power source or a solar cell can be used as an external power source.

[0156] When a solar cell is used as the external power source, surplus electrical energy generated by the solar cell during the day can be stored in a battery, and at night, battery energy can be extracted from the battery to operate the guide transmitter 30.

[0157] The guide transmitter 30 further includes a transmitter 108 that generates and transmits an identification signal. The transmitter 108 is powered by a battery 106 and controlled by a controller 110. The controller 110 is controlled by the computer 100.

[0158] To explain the software configuration of the guide transmitter 30, the processor 100 outputs a signal for modulating an original signal (e.g., a carrier signal) to the controller 110 so that the transmitter ID is reflected. The controller 110 controls the transmitter 108, and as a result, the transmitter 108 generates an identification signal to be transmitted this time. After that, the generated identification signal is transmitted from the transmitter 108.

[0159] <About mobile devices>

[0160] The mobile terminal 90 of a mountain climber (user) is a device carried by the user and has a wireless communication function, such as a mobile phone, a smartphone, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a PDA, etc. The mobile terminal 90 is also an example of a user's communication terminal.

[0161] Next, referring to FIG. 5, the hardware configuration of the mobile terminal 90 will be explained. The mobile terminal 90 is mainly composed of a computer 134 having a processor 130 and a memory 132 that stores a plurality of programs (also called "applications") executed by the processor 130.

[0162] The mobile terminal 90 further has a display unit (e.g., a liquid crystal display) 136 that displays information, a receiving unit 138 that receives signals from the guide transmitter 30 and the management server 50, and a transmitting unit 140 that generates signals and transmits the signals to the management server 50. Here, the receiving unit 138 is also a part that senses the identification signal from the guide transmitter 30.

[0163] The mobile terminal 90 further includes an input unit 150 for inputting data and commands from the user. The input unit 150 includes, for example, an operation unit operable by the user to input desired information (e.g., commands, data, etc.) to the mobile terminal 90. The operation unit may be, but is not limited to, a touch screen that displays icons (e.g., virtual buttons) operable by the user, a physical operation unit (e.g., a keyboard, keypad, buttons, etc.) operable by the user, a microphone that detects voice, etc.

[0164] The mobile terminal 90 further includes a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 152. As is well known, the GPS receiver 152 receives a plurality of GPS signals from a plurality of GPS satellites, and measures the position (latitude, longitude, and altitude) of the GPS receiver 152 on the earth by triangulation based on the GPS signals.

[0165] This mobile terminal 90 further includes an acceleration sensor 154 that detects its own acceleration. Since the acceleration sensor 154 is mounted on the mobile terminal 90, it vibrates integrally with the mobile terminal 90, and as a result, it detects the acceleration acting on the acceleration sensor 154 itself as being equivalent to the acceleration acting on the mobile terminal 90 and the user carrying it.

[0166] Here, to explain one function of the user's mobile terminal 90 in relation to the guide transmitter 30, when the mobile terminal 90 receives an identification signal from the guide transmitter 30, the mobile terminal 90 starts (logs in) a certain program preinstalled in the computer of the mobile terminal 90, i.e., a dedicated application for guide transmitter processing (hereinafter referred to as the "transmitter application"), and demodulates the received identification signal, thereby decrypting the transmitter ID.

[0167] Furthermore, when the mobile terminal 90 starts the transmitter application while receiving an identification signal from the guide transmitter 30, the mobile terminal 90 also measures the distance between the position of the guide transmitter 30 when it transmitted the identification signal and the position of the mobile terminal 90 when it received the identification signal, based on the received identification signal (e.g., the strength of the identification signal).

[0168] That is, based on the identification signal received from the guide transmitter 30, the mobile terminal 90 obtains both the transmitter ID unique to that guide transmitter 30 and the distance to the guide transmitter 30 at that time.

[0169] <Transmitter reception range>

[0170] Two types of reception areas are seemingly assigned to the guide transmitter 30. They are a receivable area and an effective reception area (hereinafter also referred to as a "reception range" or "reception zone").

[0171] All of these areas are generally defined by a sphere centered on the location of the guide transmitter 30. Some examples of coverage areas are shown in FIG.

[0172] The receivable area of ​​the guide transmitter 30 has a maximum reception radius (e.g., about 50 m), whereas the effective reception area has an effective reception radius (e.g., any value within the range from 0 m to about 50 m). While the maximum reception radius is a fixed value, the effective reception radius is a variable value that can be set at any time by the mobile terminal 90, as described later.

[0173] The receivable area means an area in which the identification signal from the guide transmitter 30 can reach when the power supply of the guide transmitter 30 is normal, that is, an area in which the mobile terminal 90 can receive the identification signal as long as it is within that area.

[0174] In contrast, the effective reception area has an effective reception radius smaller than the maximum reception radius of the coverage area. The maximum reception radius cannot be set arbitrarily, whereas the effective reception radius can be set arbitrarily by software in the mobile terminal 90.

[0175] That is, it is possible to say that the maximum reception radius refers to the reception limits determined by the hardware, whereas the effective reception radius refers to the reception limits determined by the software.

[0176] As described above, the mobile terminal 90 measures the distance to the guide transmitter 30 based on the strength of the identification signal it receives. The measured distance value may or may not exceed the effective reception radius. When the measured distance value does not exceed the effective reception radius, the mobile terminal 90 is in the effective reception area, whereas when the measured distance value exceeds the effective reception radius, the mobile terminal 90 is in the receivable area but not in the effective reception area.

[0177] In this embodiment, the reception range of the guide transmitter 30 is set to be a spherical region with a radius of, for example, about 0 m to 5 m. In other words, the effective reception radius used in the mobile terminal 90 is set to a fixed value within about 0 m to 5 m. The effective reception radius may be set, for example, so that the reception range of each guide transmitter 30 covers the entire width of the portion of the mountain trail 14 where each guide transmitter 30 is installed.

[0178] <About the management server>

[0179] 9 is a functional block diagram of the management server 50. The management server 50 is mainly composed of a computer 164 having a processor 160 and a memory 162 that stores a plurality of applications executed by the processor 160.

[0180] This management server 50 further has a display unit (e.g., a liquid crystal display) 166 that displays information, a receiving unit 168 that receives signals from the mobile terminal 90, a transmitting unit 170 that generates signals and transmits the signals to the mobile terminal 90, and a clock 172. This management server 50 does not directly receive information from the transmitter 30, but in effect receives information via the mobile terminal 90.

[0181] <Software configuration of mountain trail guidance system>

[0182] 10 conceptually shows a flowchart of a number of programs for explaining the software configuration of this system 10. These programs include a mountain trail guidance application (steps S101-S122) executed on each climber's mobile terminal 90, and a program (steps S151-S158) executed on the management server 50.

[0183] When the mountain trail guidance application is started on each climber's mobile terminal 90 prior to climbing the mountain trail 14, first, in step S101, a login request to the management server 50 and personal information of the user who is the current climber are input into the mobile terminal 90 by the user's operation. Examples of personal information of the current climber include the climber's user ID, the user's name and address, and the telephone numbers or email addresses of the mobile terminals 90 of the other accompanying persons. The login request and personal information are transmitted to the management server 50, and are then received by the management server 50 in step S151.

[0184] Next, in step S102, the user operates the mobile terminal 90 to input hiking trail identification information for identifying the current hiking trail 14 (e.g., the name or ID of the hiking trail 14, and the name or ID of the mountain region 12 in which the hiking trail 14 is located), and the hiking trail identification information is transmitted to the management server 50, which then receives it in step S151.

[0185] Next, in step S152, the management server 50 registers the received personal information and hiking trail identification information in memory 162. After that, in step S153, the management server 50 reads from memory 162 the mapping data (see FIG. 7) that corresponds to the hiking trail 14 represented by the hiking trail identification information currently received from the mobile device 90, and transmits it to the mobile device 90.

[0186] In response to this, in step S103, the portable terminal 90 downloads mapping data corresponding to the mountain trail 14 from the management server 50. The downloaded mapping data is stored in the memory 132 in association with the mountain trail 14 and the date.

[0187] Next, in step S104, the mobile terminal 90 displays a page such as that shown in FIG. 11(a) on the screen, and the user inputs data on the screen to distinguish whether the action to be taken on this mountain trail 14 is to ascend or descend.

[0188] In one typical example, first (for example, at starting point A of the mountain trail 14), as shown in FIG. 11(a), the user operates the button representing “mountain climbing”, and in response, the aforementioned mountain trail guidance mode is activated on the mobile terminal 90, on the condition that the user is climbing and not descending.

[0189] After that, when the user safely arrives at the end point Z of the mountain trail 14 and is about to start descending, the user operates the button representing "reset" and then the button representing "descent" as shown in Fig. 11(a) in advance. In response to this, the aforementioned mountain trail guidance mode is activated in the mobile terminal 90 from the first step, this time on the condition that the user is descending and not ascending.

[0190] Next, in step S105, the mobile terminal 90 attempts to receive an identification signal from any of the guide transmitters 30. After that, in step S106, the mobile terminal 90 judges whether or not the identification signal has been validly received from any of the guide transmitters 30. If the identification signal has not been validly received (valid reception has failed), the judgment becomes NO, and the process returns to step S105. On the other hand, if the identification signal has been validly received (valid reception has succeeded), the judgment in step S106 becomes YES.

[0191] If the mobile terminal 90 has effectively received (successfully received) an identification signal from any of the guide transmitters 30 (the one among the multiple guide transmitters 30 that is closest to the user's current location), then in step S107, the mobile terminal 90 displays on the screen a map showing the mountain trail 14 that covers the current location, the installation location of any of the received guide transmitters 30, and the current location measured using the built-in GPS described above, in an overlaid state.

[0192] If the portable terminal 90 is also equipped with a direction sensor, the user holds the portable terminal 90 horizontally and adjusts the orientation of the portable terminal 90 so that the direction of the map displayed on the screen and the direction of the portable terminal 90 match each other, thereby making it possible to visually guide the climber in the direction he or she should go using the screen.

[0193] After that, in step S108, the portable terminal 90 determines the currently received guide transmitter 30 as the above-mentioned reference transmitter.

[0194] Next, in step S109, the mobile terminal 90 judges whether or not the user is descending this time. If the user is ascending the mountain and not descending, the judgment becomes NO, and in step S110, the mobile terminal 90 determines, as the aforementioned target transmitter, another guide transmitter 30 that is located immediately next to the guide transmitter 30 that was received this time when viewed in the ascending direction of the mountain trail 14, among the multiple guide transmitters 30.

[0195] Specifically, in the example shown in FIG. 2, if the reference transmitter is the guide transmitter 30 located at point E (the fifth one counting from the starting point A), the guide transmitter 30 located at point F (the sixth one counting from the starting point A) is determined as the target transmitter.

[0196] In contrast to this, if the user is not climbing but descending the mountain this time, the determination in step S109 will be YES, and in step S111, of the multiple guide transmitters 30, another guide transmitter 30 that is located immediately next to the guide transmitter 30 that was received this time when viewed in the downward direction of the mountain trail 14 is determined to be the target transmitter mentioned above.

[0197] Specifically, in the example shown in FIG. 2, if the reference transmitter is the guide transmitter 30 located at point E (the fifth one counting from the starting point A), the guide transmitter 30 located at point D (the fourth one counting from the starting point A) is determined as the target transmitter.

[0198] In either case, the mobile terminal 90 then attempts to receive an identification signal from the current target transmitter in step S112. The mobile terminal 90 then determines whether or not the identification signal has been validly received from the current target transmitter in step S113. If the identification signal has not been validly received (valid reception has failed), the determination becomes NO, and the process proceeds to step S115.

[0199] In step S115, the mobile terminal 90 determines whether or not the time elapsed from the initial execution start time of step S112 exceeds the time limit f. If not, the determination becomes YES, and the process returns to step S112.

[0200] On the other hand, if the portable terminal 90 has effectively received the identification signal from the current target transmitter (succeeded in effectively receiving the signal), the determination in step S113 becomes YES.

[0201] Next, in step S114, the mobile terminal 90 displays on the screen a map of the vicinity of the current position, the installation position of the received target transmitter, and the measured current position in an overlaid state, in the same manner as in step S107 described above. After that, the process returns to step S108, and the current target transmitter is determined as the next reference transmitter.

[0202] On the other hand, if the mobile terminal 90 does not validly receive an identification signal from the target transmitter even when the elapsed time from the execution start time of step S112 exceeds the time limit f, the determination of step S115 is NO.

[0203] Thereafter, in step S116, the portable terminal 90 determines that the walking state of the current climber is abnormal. This abnormality determination means, for example, that the current climber is unable to arrive at the current target transmitter in the section between the current reference transmitter and the current target transmitter, and may be lost.

[0204] Next, in step S117, the mobile terminal 90 issues a visual warning to the current climber, as shown in Fig. 11(b) for example. In one example, the mobile terminal 90 displays on the screen a message saying "You may be lost. We recommend that you retrace your steps" and a confirmation button that is operated to confirm that the current climber has read the message, in association with each other.

[0205] Thereafter, in step S118, the mobile terminal 90 measures its current location by using the built-in GPS described above. Then, in step S119, the mobile terminal 90 transmits location information representing the positioning result to the management server 50 in association with the user ID and the current time.

[0206] In response to this, in step S154, the management server 50 receives the current location information from the mobile terminal 90 in association with the user ID and the current time, and then in step S155 stores the location information in association with the user ID and the current time in memory 162. As a result, the behavior history of the current climber is stored in chronological order in memory 162 in association with the time, and this information is useful when tracking the climber.

[0207] Thereafter, in step S120, the mobile terminal 90 judges whether or not the user has operated the confirmation button, as exemplified in Fig. 11(b). If the confirmation button has not been operated, the judgment becomes NO, and the mobile terminal 90 judges in step S121 whether or not the elapsed time from the initial execution start time of step S120 has exceeded a predetermined time limit g. If it has not exceeded the time limit, the judgment becomes YES, and the process returns to step S117. When the elapsed time eventually exceeds the time limit g, the judgment in step S121 becomes NO.

[0208] Thereafter, in step S122, the mobile terminal 90 determines that the current climber is a missing person, and transmits a request for the aforementioned missing person search mode for searching for the missing person to the management server 50. Next, in step S123, the mobile terminal 90 displays on the screen a message to the effect that "contacting the accompanying person" and a message to the effect that "requesting rescue" as exemplified in Fig. 11(c).

[0209] In response, in step S156, the management server 50 receives a request for missing person search mode from the current mobile terminal 90, and then, in step S157, simultaneously transmits a message to each of the mobile terminals 90 of the other climbers accompanying the current climber and who are registered in memory 162 of the management server 50, informing them that the current climber may be in distress.

[0210] Specifically, for this companion mass transmission service, personal information, such as name, address, age, sex, physical condition data (e.g. health data) and athletic ability (e.g. years of sports experience), as well as contact information, such as the telephone number, email address and IP address of each companion's mobile terminal 90, are registered in the memory 162 of the management server 50 in association with each of the companions (e.g. members of a party climbing the same mountain trail 14) of the current climber, to construct a companion database.

[0211] After that, in step S158, the management server 50 dispatches the drone 200 with the current mountain trail 14 as the destination point. As described above, the drone 200 searches for the position of the climber by relying on the radio waves received from the climber transmitter 32 worn by the current climber. This realizes the above-mentioned victim search function.

[0212] As is clear from the above description, according to this embodiment, it is not necessary for the climber, who may be in a psychologically panicked state, to judge whether he or she has gotten lost, whether there is a risk of getting into an accident, select an action to avoid getting into an accident, and judge whether he or she has really gotten into an accident. As a result, according to this embodiment, the climber can accurately know whether he or she has gotten lost before getting into an accident, accurately know whether there is a risk of getting into an accident, and, if there is a risk of getting into an accident, accurately know what action to take to avoid getting into an accident.

[0213] In this embodiment, the portion of the computer 134 of the portable terminal 90 that executes steps S105, S106, and S108 in FIG. 10 can be considered to constitute an example of the reference transmitter determination unit, the portion of the computer 134 of the portable terminal 90 that executes steps S109-S111 in the same figure can be considered to constitute an example of the target transmitter determination unit, the portion of the computer 134 of the portable terminal 90 that executes steps S115 and S116 in the same figure can be considered to constitute an example of the walking state judgment unit, and the portion of the computer 134 of the portable terminal 90 that executes step S117 in the same figure can be considered to constitute an example of the warning unit.

[0214] It should be noted that in this embodiment, the first feature unit functioning as the reference transmitter determination unit, the second feature unit functioning as the target transmitter determination unit, and the third feature unit functioning as the walking state judgment unit are all implemented in the computer 134 of the same mobile terminal 90. Alternatively, the present invention may be implemented in a manner in which all three feature units are implemented in the computer 164 of the management server 50, or the present invention may be implemented in a manner in which some of the three feature units are implemented in the computer 164 of the management server 50.

[0215] Additionally, in this embodiment, assuming that the climber does not slip off the mountain trail 14 (that is, the climber does not deviate laterally from the mountain trail 14), if the mobile terminal 90 does not receive a signal from the target transmitter within the time limit f, it is determined that the climber may be lost.

[0216] In contrast, the present invention may be implemented in such a way that, when the portable terminal 90 cannot receive a signal from the target transmitter within the time limit f, the acceleration of the portable terminal 90, i.e., the acceleration of the climber, is measured using the acceleration sensor 154 of the portable terminal 90, and when the absolute value of the measured value exceeds a predetermined value, it is determined that the climber has deviated from the mountain trail 14 near the reference transmitter and may have slipped off. Here, the "possibility that the climber has slipped off the mountain trail 14" is an example of the aforementioned "abnormal walking condition."

[0217] [Second embodiment]

[0218] Next, a victim rescue system 10 according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Elements common to the first embodiment will be referred to using the same names or symbols to omit redundant explanations, and only different elements will be described in detail. The victim rescue system 10 is designed to implement a victim rescue method according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0219] As described above, in the first embodiment, when the management server 50 receives a request for the missing person search mode from the mobile device 90 of the current climber (an example of a "user terminal") in step S156, it simultaneously transmits a message in step S157 to each of the mobile devices 90 (an example of a "companion terminal") of the other climbers accompanying the current climber and registered in the memory 162 of the management server 50, informing them that the current climber may be in distress, as shown in Fig. 10. The mobile devices 90 of each companion have a common configuration with the mobile device 90 of the climber.

[0220] In contrast, in this embodiment, the management server 50 does not unconditionally and simultaneously send the above-mentioned message, i.e., a message requesting a search for and rescue of the climber, i.e., the missing person, to all of the multiple companions registered in memory 162, but instead narrows down those companions (multiple candidate rescuers) to those whose physical risk to them would not exceed a standard value if they were dispatched to the location of the missing person, and sends the above-mentioned message only to each companion, i.e., each rescuer (final rescuer), thus selected.

[0221] Various methods can be employed to narrow down a plurality of candidate rescuers to a smaller number of final rescuers.

[0222] In an example shown in Figure 12, the management server 50 receives from each of the mobile devices 90 of multiple companions multiple types of personal risks (risk of accident that will affect the companion if that companion is dispatched to the location of the missing person) for each companion.

[0223] These personal risks include geographical information (an example of "companion information") that indicates the current location of each companion, which is a three-dimensional position (latitude x, longitude y, altitude z) measured by the GPS of each companion's mobile terminal 90, in order to measure the distance that must be walked to reach the victim's location (presumed location) (the longer the distance, the higher the risk of an accident (e.g., risk of injury, risk of death, etc.) for the companion during rescue).

[0224] Another personal risk is the temperature measured by the temperature sensor on each companion's mobile terminal 90 (the lower the temperature, the higher the companion's risk of accident during rescue) to determine whether or not to request rescue from each companion, taking into account the local weather conditions at each companion's location (another example of "companion information").

[0225] Yet another personal risk is the illuminance measured by the illuminance sensor on each companion's mobile terminal 90 (the darker the outside brightness, the higher the companion's risk of accident during rescue) in order to determine whether or not to request rescue from each companion, taking into account different local weather conditions at each companion's location (yet another example of ``companion information'').

[0226] Yet another individual risk is the altitude (z) measured by the GPS of each companion's mobile terminal 90 in order to determine whether or not to request rescue from each companion, taking into account the local geographical conditions at each companion's location (yet another example of "companion information") (the higher the altitude, the lower the air pressure and the lower the oxygen concentration, and therefore the higher the risk of an accident for the companion during rescue).

[0227] Yet another individual risk is health data (yet another example of "companion information") entered by the user on each companion's mobile terminal 90 in order to determine whether or not to request rescue from each companion, taking into account their physical condition (for example, a scale of health levels such as good, normal, or poor, where the lower the health level, the higher the companion's risk of accident during rescue).

[0228] Yet another individual risk is the athletic ability data (yet another example of "companion information") stored on each companion's mobile terminal 90 that is input by the user in order to determine whether or not to request rescue from each companion, taking into account their physical condition (for example, the number of years of sports experience that the person has up to the day; for example, the closer the number of years of experience is to 0, the higher the companion's risk of accident when being rescued).

[0229] In an example shown in Figure 12, the management server 50 further receives multiple types of environmental risks for each companion (the risk of an accident that will occur to that companion if that companion is dispatched to the location of the missing person) from the weather server 400 (an example of an "environmental server") based on the weather characteristics of the missing person's location (an example of "environmental information").

[0230] Environmental risks include weather risks at the location of the victim (estimated as the location measured by the GPS of the victim's mobile terminal 90) (the worse the weather (rain, snowfall, etc.), the higher the risk of an accident for accompanying persons during rescue).

[0231] Another environmental risk is the temperature risk in the location of the stranded person (the greater the deviation of the temperature from the optimum range, the higher the risk of an accident for accompanying persons during rescue).

[0232] Yet another environmental risk is the risk of wind speed in the location of the victim (the higher the wind speed, the higher the risk of an accident for accompanying persons during rescue).

[0233] In an example shown in Figure 12, the management server 50 further receives multiple types of environmental risks for each accompanying person from a terrain server 500 (another example of an "environmental server") based on the terrain characteristics of the victim's location (another example of "environmental information").

[0234] Environmental risks include the topographical risk in the location of the victim (for example, the steeper the slope, the higher the risk of an accident for accompanying persons during rescue).

[0235] Another environmental risk is the surface risk in the location of the survivor (for example, the more likely natural disasters such as landslides, avalanches, and debris flows are to occur in mountainous areas, the higher the risk of accidents for accompanying persons during rescue).

[0236] In the example shown in Figure 12, the management server 50 calculates a total individual risk F for each companion from the companion's position (more precisely, the distance D (Distance) between the companion and the victim), the temperature (air temperature) T (Temperature) at the companion's location, the illuminance L (Lightness) at the companion's location, the altitude H (Height) at the companion's location, the companion's physical condition C (Condition), and the companion's motor skill M (Motor Skill) as follows:

[0237] F=D·k1+T·k2+L·k3+H·k4+C·k5+M·k6 k1, k2, k3, k4, k5, k6: Weighting coefficients multiplied by each risk variable (default value)

[0238] The higher the calculated total individual risk F, the higher the risk of an accident to accompanying persons during rescue.

[0239] In an example shown in Figure 12, the management server 50 calculates a total environmental risk G for each victim from the weather risk M1, temperature risk M2, wind speed risk M3, terrain risk S1, and ground surface risk S2 at the victim's location, as shown in the following formula.

[0240] G = M1 k7 + M2 k8 + M3 k9 + S1 k 10 +S2·k 11 k7, k8, k9, k 10 ,k 11 : Weighting coefficient by which each risk variable is multiplied (default value)

[0241] The higher the calculated value of the overall environmental risk G, the higher the risk of an accident to accompanying persons during rescue.

[0242] FIG. 13 shows, in a conceptual sequence, communications between the portable terminals 90 of multiple companions, the management server 50, the weather server 400, and the terrain server 500 to realize the above-mentioned companion simultaneous transmission service, as well as the programs executed by the processors of each component.

[0243] As shown in FIG. 10, when the management server 50 receives a request for the victim search mode from the current mobile terminal 90 in step S156, as shown in FIG. 13, in step S1351, the management server 50 simultaneously sends a request to request personal risk from each companion (each potential rescuer) to all of the multiple mobile terminals 90 of the multiple companions.

[0244] When the portable terminal 90 of each accompanying person receives the request in step S1301, in step S1302, the portable terminal 90 measures the current position of each accompanying person using the GPS as the location of each accompanying person.

[0245] Next, in step S1303, the portable terminal 90 of each accompanying person detects the temperature (air temperature) T at the location of each accompanying person using the temperature sensor of the portable terminal 90 of each accompanying person. Furthermore, the illuminance sensor of the portable terminal 90 of each accompanying person detects the illuminance L at the location of each accompanying person. Furthermore, the GPS of the portable terminal 90 of each accompanying person detects the altitude H of the location of each accompanying person.

[0246] Then, in step S1304, each companion's mobile device 90 transmits the above-mentioned multiple detection values ​​T, L, H, together with the level of physical condition C of each companion's mobile device 90 input by the user (e.g., the higher the level, the more fatigued the companion is) and the level of athletic ability M of each companion's mobile device 90 input by the user (e.g., the lower the companion's athletic ability, the higher the level), to the management server 50 as personal risks.

[0247] In response to this, the management server 50 receives these personal risks from the portable terminal 90 of each accompanying person in step S1352, and then, in step S1353, stores these received personal risks in the memory 162 in association with each accompanying person.

[0248] Next, in step S1354, the management server 50 estimates the current location last received by the management server 50 from the mobile terminal 90 of the stranded mountain climber as the location of the stranded person, reads it from memory 162, sets that location as a rescue point, and registers it in memory 162.

[0249] Thereafter, in step S1355, the management server 50 transmits a request for requesting a plurality of environmental risks to each of the weather server 400 and the terrain server 500 together with the set rescue point.

[0250] Each of the weather server 400 and the terrain server 500 receives the request in step S1371, and then searches for environmental risks for a certain area covering the rescue point in the weather database of the weather server 400 and the database of the terrain server 500, respectively, in step S1372.

[0251] Thereafter, in step S1373, each of the weather server 400 and the terrain server 500 transmits the searched plurality of environmental risks to the management server 50.

[0252] In response to this, in step S1357, the management server 50 calculates the total environmental risk G for the received multiple environmental risks in the manner described above.

[0253] The management server 50 then determines in step S1358 whether the calculated value of the total environmental risk G is equal to or less than a preset upper limit (one example of a "second reference value"), i.e., whether the rescuer has a low accident risk. If the calculated value is equal to or less than the upper limit, the determination is YES, and in step S159 rescue by any of the accompanying persons is permitted, but if the calculated value is higher than the upper limit, the determination is NO in step S1358, and, for example, the process returns to step S1351, where the process waits for the environmental risk at the same rescue point to improve, or determines whether rescue should be performed at a different rescue point.

[0254] After executing step S1359, in step S1360, the management server 50 calculates the total individual risk F for each candidate rescuer (each accompanying person) from the received multiple individual risks. Then, in step S1361, the management server 50 selects, as final rescuers, those of the multiple candidate rescuers whose calculated total individual risk F is equal to or less than a preset reference point (an example of a "first reference value") from among the multiple candidate rescuers.

[0255] Next, in step S1362, the management server 50 sends a message to the mobile terminal 90 of each selected rescuer requesting a search for and rescue of the victim, along with the victim's name, estimated location, physical characteristics, and clothing characteristics.

[0256] In response to this, the mobile terminal 90 of each rescuer displays the received message on the screen (or outputs it as voice) and further displays a confirmation button on the screen in step S1306. After that, on condition that the confirmation button is operated by the user of the mobile terminal 90, i.e., the rescuer, the mobile terminal 90 of each rescuer operates the confirmation button in step S1307, thereby transmitting to the management server 50 the intention of the corresponding rescuer to accept the rescue request.

[0257] In response to this, in step S1363, the management server 50 receives information from the mobile terminal 90 of any of the rescuers that the confirmation button has been operated, identifies the rescuers who have accepted the rescue request, and registers them in the memory 162.

[0258] However, if the management server 50 does not receive information from any of the mobile terminals 90 of the rescuers that the confirmation button has been operated even after the time limit has elapsed, the management server 50 updates the reference point so as to decrease the reference point by a predetermined amount from the current value in step S1364, and then returns to step S1361. As a result, the next execution of step S1361 expands the range of rescuers who are contacted to make a rescue request, thereby increasing the probability of finding a rescuer who will accept the rescue request.

[0259] As is clear from the above description, in this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, it is possible to consider that the part of the mountain climber's mobile terminal 90 that executes steps S105-S117 and S120-S122 in Fig. 10 constitutes an example of a "disaster victim determination section." One example of the "disaster victim determination section" is one that performs a disaster victim determination using multiple guide transmitters 30 as external devices of the mobile terminal 90, while another example of the "disaster victim determination section" is one that performs a disaster victim determination as described above using the aforementioned acceleration sensor 154 (an example of a motion sensor that measures the behavior of the mountain climber).

[0260] Furthermore, in this embodiment, for ease of explanation, it is possible to consider that the portion of the management server 50 that executes steps S1352 and S1360 in FIG. 13 constitutes an example of a "personal risk calculation unit", the portion of the management server 50 that executes steps S1354-S1357 in the same figure constitutes an example of an "environmental risk calculation unit", the portion of the management server 50 that executes step S1359 in the same figure constitutes an example of a "rescue permission unit", the portion of the management server 50 that executes steps S1361 and S1364 in the same figure constitutes an example of a "rescuer selection unit", and the portion of the management server 50 that executes step S1362 in the same figure constitutes an example of a "rescue request unit".

[0261] [Third embodiment]

[0262] Next, a mountain trail guidance system 10 according to a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings, with elements common to the first embodiment described above being referred to using the same names or reference numerals to omit redundant explanations, and only different elements will be described in detail. The system 10 is designed to implement a pedestrian guidance method according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0263] As described above, in the first embodiment, as shown in Fig. 2, multiple guide transmitters 30 are installed along the mountain trail 14, regardless of location, from the starting point (start point) to the destination point (end point). If the time required for a climber to walk from one guide transmitter 30 to the next guide transmitter 30 exceeds the time limit, it is determined that the climber may be lost.

[0264] In contrast, climbers are generally likely to get lost on mountain trails not in straight sections of the mountain trail 14 but in sections with branching points. Installing transmitters 30 as branching point transmitters only at branching points (or only at branching points where, statistically or empirically, there is a high probability that climbers will get lost) as branching point transmitters rather than installing transmitters 30 as guide transmitters all over the same mountain trail 14 reduces the total number of transmitters 30 installed, which is advantageous in terms of cost and manpower.

[0265] In consideration of this fact, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 14, branch point transmitters 30 are installed only at the portions of the mountain trail 14 where there are a plurality of branch points.

[0266] Furthermore, in this embodiment, when the climber's portable terminal 90 starts receiving from any of the branch point transmitters 30, in response, an operation is started in which a map image showing only the area of ​​the hiking trail 14 near the current branch point is displayed on the screen, along with a mark indicating the climber's current position, a mark indicating the correct route, and the name of the branch point (as well as other climbing information useful to the climber, etc.), as illustrated in FIG.

[0267] Thereafter, when the mobile terminal 90 stops receiving a signal from the same junction transmitter 30, the map image that had been displayed up until that point disappears from the screen.

[0268] 16, a map database is constructed in the memory 162 of the management server 50, which represents map data for each of the multiple mountain trails 14 (for example, for each mountain region) by destination. However, in this embodiment, for the sake of convenience, the map database is constructed so that it is valid only when a climber climbs the mountain trail 14 toward the summit.

[0269] Therefore, when any destination is specified, one piece of map data is specified.

[0270] Each map data is configured as a collection of a plurality of partial map data, and in each map data, each partial map data is associated with an intersection ID indicating one intersection included in that partial map data.

[0271] As shown in FIG. 15, each piece of partial map data is configured to include a corresponding branch point and at least three routes among the hiking trail 14 that intersect at that branch point, as well as a mark that represents, in relation to that position, the correct path determined in relation to the destination specified by the hiker.

[0272] The memory 162 of the management server 50 further stores a predetermined relationship, not shown, between a transmitter ID represented by an identification signal transmitted by each branch point transmitter 30 and a branch point ID representing the branch point at which each branch point transmitter 30 is installed.

[0273] Therefore, when the mobile terminal 90 receives a signal from any one of the junction transmitters 30, one transmitter ID is identified, and further, one junction ID is identified, and ultimately, one partial map data is identified.

[0274] 17 shows, in a conceptual sequence, communications between multiple junction transmitters 30, a climber's mobile device 90, and the management server 50 to realize the above-mentioned junction guidance service, as well as programs executed by the processors of each component. A climber guidance application is installed in the memory 132 of the mobile device 90 as the relevant program.

[0275] Fig. 18(a) shows an example of a climber walking through a certain branch point while the system 10 is in operation, in a perspective view. Fig. 18(b) shows a time chart illustrating the change over time in the state where the mobile terminal 90 receives any of the branch point transmitters 30 in the walking example of Fig. 18(a). Fig. 18(c) shows a time chart illustrating the change over time in the display state on the screen of the climber's mobile terminal 90 in the walking example of Fig. 18(a).

[0276] 17, when the mountain climber guidance application is started on the mobile terminal 90, in step S1701, the mountain climber inputs a destination into his / her mobile terminal 90. Next, in step S1702, the mobile terminal 90 transmits a request for map data corresponding to the input destination together with the destination to the management server 50.

[0277] In response to this, the management server 50 receives the request in step S1731, and then in step S1732, the management server 50 searches the map database for corresponding map data using the destination received from the mobile device 90 as a key. After that, in step S1733, the management server 50 transmits the current map data thus searched (a collection of multiple partial map data) to the mountain climber's mobile device 90.

[0278] In response to this, in step S1703, the mountain climber's portable terminal 90 receives the current map data from the management server 50, and stores the map data in the memory 132 of the portable terminal 90 in association with the current destination.

[0279] Next, in step S1704, the climber's portable terminal 90 attempts to receive a signal from any of the branch point transmitters 30. After that, in step S1705, the climber's portable terminal 90 determines whether or not the portable terminal 90 has validly received a signal from any of the branch point transmitters 30, that is, whether or not the portable terminal 90 is within the reception range (valid reception area) of any of the branch point transmitters 30. If the signal has not been validly received, the determination becomes NO and the process returns to step S1704, but if valid reception begins, the determination changes to YES.

[0280] When the judgment in step S1705 becomes YES at the timing indicated by time t1 in the example of Figure 18(b), the climber's mobile terminal 90, in step S1706, obtains the current transmitter ID from the received signal, and then, in step S1707, converts the obtained transmitter ID into a branch point ID in accordance with the relationship.

[0281] Thereafter, in step S1708, the climber's portable device 90 selects, from among the multiple pieces of partial map data stored in the memory 132 of the portable device 90, the data that corresponds to the current branch point ID, and reads the current partial map data from the memory 132. Next, in step S1709, the climber's portable device 90 starts displaying the read partial map data on the screen, as exemplified in Fig. 15, at the timing shown as time t3 in the example of Fig. 18(c).

[0282] Next, in step S1710, the climber's portable terminal 90 attempts to receive a signal from any of the branch point transmitters 30. After that, in step S1711, the climber's portable terminal 90 determines whether or not the portable terminal 90 has validly received a signal from any of the branch point transmitters 30, that is, whether or not the portable terminal 90 is within the reception range (effective reception area) of any of the branch point transmitters 30.

[0283] If the climber's portable terminal 90 is effectively receiving a signal from any of the branch point transmitters 30, the judgment in step S1711 becomes YES, and then in step S1712, it is determined whether the transmitter ID obtained from the received signal matches the transmitter ID obtained during the previous execution of the above-mentioned step S1706, that is, whether the portable terminal 90 is continuing to effectively receive a signal from the same branch point transmitter 30.

[0284] If the determination in step S1712 is YES, the process returns to step S1709, and the display of the current partial map data continues; however, if the determination in step S1712 is NO, the process proceeds to step S1706, and the display of partial map data for another branch point is started in the same manner as described above.

[0285] In contrast, in the example of Figure 18(b), at the timing shown as time t2, when the climber's mobile terminal 90 transitions from an effective reception state in which it effectively receives a signal from any of the branch point transmitters 30 to an ineffective reception state in which it does not effectively receive a signal from any of the branch point transmitters 30, the judgment in step S1711 will be NO.

[0286] After that, the mountain climber's mobile terminal 90 ends the display of the current partial map data in step S1713 at the timing shown as time t4 in the example of Figure 18(c), and then proceeds to step S1704.

[0287] As is clear from the above explanation, in this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, it can be considered that the portion of the climber's mobile terminal 90 that executes steps S1704-S1707 in FIG. 17 constitutes an example of a "branch point position identification unit", the portion of the climber's mobile terminal 90 that executes steps S1701-S1703 in the same figure constitutes an example of a "map data receiving unit", and the portion of the climber's mobile terminal 90 that executes steps S1708-S1713 in the same figure constitutes an example of a "partial map data display unit".

[0288] It should be noted that although the several embodiments described above are applications of the present invention for guiding hikers along the mountain trail 14, the present invention can be applied to other applications.

[0289] For example, the present invention may be applied to applications such as guiding pedestrians on other types of mountain trails, guiding pedestrians on forest roads, guiding the route of visitors or monitoring their behavior (such as whether or not they enter restricted or dangerous areas) within a facility (e.g., a factory, an art gallery, a museum, a public facility, etc.), guiding customers through a store where multiple products are displayed, monitoring the behavior of students on their way to school (such as whether or not they deviate from the regular school route), guiding pedestrians on walking paths, and guiding bicycles on cycling courses.

[0290] Additionally, in some of the embodiments described above, all or part of the processing executed in the mobile terminal 90 may be executed in the management server 50 instead, and conversely, all or part of the processing executed in the management server 50 may be executed in the mobile terminal 90 instead. This is because which device executes the processing to be executed is usually determined by the circumstances at the time, such as the amount and type of data to be handled, the processing speed and storage capacity of each device, and the like.

[0291] Although some exemplary embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, these are merely examples, and the present invention can be embodied in other forms that incorporate various modifications and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art, including the forms described in the [Summary of the Invention] section above.

Claims

1. A system for searching for a target using a communication terminal and a transmitter attached to the target, a management server capable of communicating with the communication terminal via a base station; a receiver capable of receiving a signal from the transmitter by a short-distance wireless communication method; Including, A target search system in which the management server executes a communication terminal-based search mode in which the positioning function of the communication terminal is used to search for the target when a connection between the communication terminal and the management server is established, and executes a transmitter-based search mode in which the signal of the transmitter is used to search for the target when a connection between the communication terminal and the management server is not established, on the condition that a connection between the transmitter and the receiver is established.

2. A system for searching for a target using a communication terminal and a transmitter attached to the target, a management server capable of communicating with the communication terminal via a base station; a receiver capable of receiving a signal from the transmitter by a short-range wireless communication method, the receiver being mounted on an airplane that searches for the target from the sky; Including, The management server executes a communication terminal-based search mode in which the management server searches for the target using the positioning function of the communication terminal when a connection between the communication terminal and the management server is established with or without going through the airplane, and executes a transmitter-based search mode in which the management server searches for the target using the signal from the transmitter when a connection between the communication terminal and the management server is not established by navigating the airplane, on the condition that a connection between the transmitter and the receiver is established.

3. The aircraft is a drone, The target search system of claim 2, wherein the management server includes a remote control unit that remotely controls the drone, on the condition that a connection between the communication terminal and the management server is established via the drone in the communication terminal-based search mode.

4. The aircraft is a drone, The target search system of claim 2, wherein the management server includes an autonomous navigation unit that, in the transmitter-based search mode, causes the drone to autonomously navigate based on the signal received by the receiver from the transmitter, provided that a connection between the transmitter and the receiver is established.

5. A system for searching for a target using a communication terminal and a transmitter attached to the target, comprising: a management server capable of communicating with the communication terminal via a base station; an airplane for searching the target from above; A receiver installed on the aircraft capable of receiving signals from the transmitter via a short-range wireless communication system; Including, The aircraft is A controller for controlling the flight of the aircraft; a communication device capable of wireless communication with the management server; Including, A target search system in which the airplane is remotely operated to search for the target using the positioning function of the communication terminal in accordance with instructions received by the controller from the management server via the communication device when a connection between the communication terminal and the management server is established with or without going through the airplane, while when a connection between the communication terminal and the management server is not established, the airplane performs autonomous navigation to search for the target using the signal from the transmitter, provided that a connection between the transmitter and the receiver is established.

6. The target search system of claim 5, wherein the controller includes an autonomous navigation unit that causes the aircraft to navigate autonomously based on the signal from the transmitter received by the receiver when a connection between the communication terminal and the management server is not established, provided that a connection between the transmitter and the receiver is established.

7. 5. A program for causing a computer to function as the management server according to claim 1.

8. A recording medium on which the program according to claim 7 is recorded so as to be readable by a computer.

Images