Information transmission terminal and information transmission method

Abstract

To provide an information transmitting terminal that appropriately transmits information even when a plurality of information transmitting terminals are assembled, in a location identification system.SOLUTION: An information transmitting terminal includes a first information transmitting unit that transmits information including its own individual ID identifying its own holder and its own operating status to another terminal using a first wireless communication method, an information receiving unit that receives from the other terminal another individual ID identifying a holder of the other terminal and the operating status of the other terminal using the first wireless communication method, and a second transmitting unit that broadcasts a data frame including the own individual ID and data indicating that itself is an access point for wireless communication using a second wireless communication method different from the first wireless communication method. The second transmitting unit broadcasts the data frame in the second wireless communication method with the other individual ID added based on the own operating status and the operating status of the other terminal.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information transmission terminal for transmitting information of an owner and to an information transmission method thereof. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, location-finding services have become widespread, in which, for example, in order to protect children, the elderly, etc., the children or the elderly are provided with small terminals that transmit their own GPS (Global Positioning System) locations, etc. via mobile phone network communications.

[0003] Also, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a mobile terminal having an LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) communication function that receives beacons transmitted from access points of BLE (Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy) or Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity: IEEE802.11 standard communication) fixed around the mobile terminal. The system discloses a system that manages the location information of a mobile terminal that does not have a GPS function and consumes a lot of power by transferring the Wi-Fi unique number or BLE unique number received by the mobile terminal to a server via an LPWA relay device. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2018-129598 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In a system using a mobile terminal that receives beacons such as Wi-Fi, such as the system in Patent Document 1, for example, when multiple mobile terminals are gathered together and each of the multiple mobile terminals transmits communication radio waves of the same communication standard, the communication radio waves may interfere with each other. This may result in the communication radio waves not reaching the relay device properly, and communication for identifying the location may be hindered.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and aims to provide an information transmission terminal and an information transmission method that can transmit information appropriately even when multiple information transmission terminals are gathered in a location identification system. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The invention described in claim 1 includes a first information transmitting unit that transmits information including an individual ID that identifies its holder and its own operating status to another terminal using a first wireless communication method, an information receiving unit that receives an individual ID that identifies the holder of the other terminal and the operating status of the other terminal from the other terminal using the first wireless method, and a second transmitting unit that broadcasts a data frame including the individual ID and data indicating that the terminal is a wireless communication access point using a second wireless method different from the first wireless communication method, and is characterized in that the second transmitting unit adds the individual ID to the data frame in the second wireless method and broadcasts it based on the operating status of the other terminal and the operating status of the other terminal.

[0008] The invention described in claim 9 includes a first information transmitting unit that transmits information including an individual ID that identifies its holder and its own operating status to another terminal using a first wireless communication method, an information receiving unit that receives an individual ID that identifies the holder of the other terminal and the operating status of the other terminal from the other terminal using the first wireless method, and a second transmitting unit that broadcasts a data frame including the individual ID and data indicating that the terminal is a wireless communication access point using a second wireless method that consumes more power than the first wireless communication method, and is characterized in that the second transmitting unit starts or stops broadcasting the data frame using the second wireless method based on its own operating status and the operating status of the other terminal.

[0009] The invention described in claim 10 is an information transmission method in which an information transmitting terminal transmits information including an individual ID that identifies its own holder and an individual ID that identifies a holder of another terminal, the method including a first transmission step of transmitting information including the individual ID that identifies its own holder and its own operating status to the other terminal using a first wireless communication method, a receiving step of receiving the other individual ID that identifies the holder of the other terminal and the operating status of the other terminal from the other terminal using the first wireless method, and a second transmission step of broadcasting a data frame including the individual ID and data indicating that the terminal is a wireless communication access point using a second wireless method that consumes more power than the first wireless communication method, the second transmission step being characterized in that the other individual ID is added to and broadcasted in the data frame in the second wireless method based on the operating status of the terminal itself and the operating status of the other terminal.

[0010] The invention described in claim 11 is an information transmission program executed by a computer, which causes the computer to execute a first transmission step of transmitting information including the own individual ID that identifies the holder of the own terminal and its own operating status to the other terminal using a first wireless communication method, a receiving step of receiving the other individual ID that identifies the holder of the other terminal and the operating status of the other terminal from the other terminal using the first wireless communication method, and a second transmission step of broadcasting a data frame including the own individual ID and data indicating that the terminal is a wireless communication access point using a second wireless communication method that consumes more power than the first wireless communication method, and the second transmission step is characterized in that the other individual ID is added to the data frame in the second wireless communication method and broadcast based on the operating status of the own terminal and the operating status of the other terminal. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a position specifying system 10 according to an embodiment of the present application. [Diagram 2] 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a small terminal 20 according to an embodiment of the present application. [Diagram 3] 2 is a diagram showing an example of shared data SD of the small-sized terminal 20 recorded in the data sharing unit 24 of the small-sized terminal 20 according to an embodiment of the present application. FIG. [Figure 4] 2 is a diagram showing an example of an SSID included in a data frame generated by a small terminal 20 according to an embodiment of the present application. FIG. [Diagram 5] 1 shows an information transmission flow RT1 in which the small terminal 20 according to an embodiment of the present application broadcasts a data frame. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a peripheral terminal 30 according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 7] 2 is a diagram showing an example of terminal position relation information PD generated by a surrounding terminal 30 according to an embodiment of the present application. FIG. [Figure 8] 11 shows a location related information transmission flow RT2 in which a surrounding terminal 30 according to an embodiment of the present application transmits terminal location related information PD. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a server 40 according to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 10] 1 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a position identifying unit 43 of a server 40 according to an embodiment of the present application identifies the position of a small terminal 20. FIG. [Figure 11] 11 is a diagram illustrating a state in which an information determination unit 47 according to an embodiment of the present application determines whether information included in terminal location related information PD is appropriate. FIG. [Figure 12] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a state in which an information determining unit 47 according to an embodiment of the present application determines whether information included in terminal position related information PD transmitted from a plurality of terminal types is appropriate. [Figure 13] 11 shows a location specification information generation flow RT3 in which the server 40 according to the embodiment of the present application generates and stores location specification information.

[0012] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the following description and accompanying drawings, substantially the same or equivalent parts are designated by the same reference numerals. EXAMPLES

[0013] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a position specifying system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0014] The position identification system 10 includes, for example, a plurality of small terminals 20A-20D carried by each of a plurality of owners H1-H4 who are locally gathered, a surrounding terminal 30 that receives terminal information of the plurality of small terminals 20A-20D and transmits information relating to their positions, a server 40 that identifies the position of the small terminal 20 based on the information relating to the position transmitted from the surrounding terminal 30, and a parent terminal 50 that acquires the position of the small terminal 20 identified by the server 40. The surrounding terminals 30 and the parent terminal 50 are configured to be able to communicate with the server 40 via a network NW.

[0015] The small terminal 20 serving as an information transmitting terminal is, for example, a terminal device having communication functions for two types of wireless communication systems.

[0016] As a first wireless communication method, the small terminal 20 has, for example, a BLE function. The small terminal 20 transmits and receives information on individual IDs that identify each of the owners H1 to H4 and information on each operating state in the form of advertising packets (hereinafter, sometimes referred to as BLE data) between the multiple small terminals 20A to 20D, and shares the information.

[0017] As the second wireless communication method, the small terminal 20 has a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) function conforming to the IEEE802.11 standard communication. In addition, in the second wireless communication method, the small terminal 20 operates in an access point mode in which the small terminal 20 itself is an access point for wireless communication. The small terminal 20 generates a data frame conforming to the IEEE802.11 standard communication and broadcasts the data frame to the surroundings.

[0018] The information shared by the small terminals 20A to 20D via BLE includes, for example, individual ID data identifying the owners H1 to H4 of the small terminals 20A to 20D, an emergency flag indicating the operating status of the small terminals 20A to 20D, the remaining battery level of each small terminal, and information on whether or not broadcast communication is being performed, etc.

[0019] In addition, the small terminal 20 generates a data frame including an individual ID that identifies an owner H1-H4 shared by one of the small terminals 20A-20D based on information on each operating state shared by the small terminals 20A-20D through BLE, and broadcasts the data frame to the surrounding area. This makes it possible to prevent carrier waves from interfering with each other due to multiple broadcast communications.

[0020] In FIG. 1, an example will be described in which the small-sized terminal 20A among the multiple small-sized terminals 20A to 20D broadcasts a data frame to the surrounding area.

[0021] In this embodiment, the first communication method for communicating between the small terminals 20 is BLE, and the second communication method for broadcasting data frames is wireless communication conforming to the IEEE802.11 standard communication. However, the first and second communication methods are not limited to this. Specifically, for example, each of the first and second communication methods may be wireless communication conforming to the IEEE802.11 communication standard, BLE conforming to the Bluetooth (registered trademark) 4.0 standard, or LPWA such as LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network) or Sigfox. The first communication method may have a narrower communication range and lower power consumption than the second communication method, and may be a D2D (Device To Device) communication mode for transmitting and receiving information between small terminals. The second communication method may consume more power in communication than the first communication method, but may be capable of broadcasting data frames over a wider range than the first communication method.

[0022] In other words, the communication range of the first communication method is narrower than the communication range of the second communication method.

[0023] In addition, the data frame conforming to the IEEE802.11 communication standard broadcast by the small terminal 20 includes information such as a service ID for using the location identification system 10, an SSID (Service Set IDentifier) ​​including an individual ID for identifying holders H1 to H4 including the small terminal itself and an emergency flag indicating that any of the holders H1 to H4 is in an emergency, and the MAC address (Media Access Control address) of the small terminal 20A broadcasting.

[0024] The surrounding terminal 30 as an information transmitting / receiving device is, for example, a terminal device such as a PC, a smartphone, or a tablet terminal owned by a residence NH, a store NS, or a pedestrian P in the vicinity of the small terminal 20A. The surrounding terminal 30 is equipped with a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) function conforming to the IEEE802.11 communication standard, can recognize an access point of the communication standard, and is configured to be able to connect to the Internet itself.

[0025] Although the individual ID is not directly linked to the identification of an individual, for safety reasons, it is preferable that the data frame broadcast by the small terminal 20A can be acquired or recognized only by specific surrounding terminals 30. For example, it is preferable to have a system in which only surrounding terminals 30 in which application software that enables the use of the positioning system 10 is installed can recognize the data frame broadcast by the small terminal 20A.

[0026] When the surrounding terminal 30 acquires a data frame broadcast from the small terminal 20A, the surrounding terminal 30 generates terminal position related information that includes the SSID and MAC address of the small terminal 20A included in the data frame, as well as information on the date and time when the data frame was acquired, the location, and the reception electric field level of the data frame. The surrounding terminal 30 also transmits the terminal position related information via the network NW.

[0027] The network NW is, for example, an Internet connection network to which the surrounding terminals 30 are connected via communication lines such as dedicated lines including wired lines and wireless lines, and public communication line networks. Examples of the connection between the surrounding terminals 30 and the network NW include a network interconnection service provided by an ISP (Internet Service Provider), a LAN via a PC connected by an ISP, or a Wide Area Network (WAN) provided by a telecommunications carrier. Note that the means by which the surrounding terminals 30 connect to the network NW is not limited to the above, and it is sufficient that the surrounding terminals 30 are connected to an Internet connection network.

[0028] The server 40, which is a server device, is a data server that receives terminal position related information transmitted by the surrounding terminals 30 via the network NW, identifies the positions of the multiple small terminals 20A-20D based on the terminal position related information, and stores the positions of each of the multiple small terminals 20A-20D in chronological order.

[0029] The server 40 is capable of receiving terminal location related information transmitted by the surrounding terminals 30 via the network NW using a communication protocol such as TCP / IP. The server 40 also identifies the locations of the small terminals 20A-20D based on the reception time, reception location, and reception electric field level when each of the surrounding terminals 30 included in the received terminal location related information received received data frames from the small terminal 20A. The server 40 also stores the identified locations of the small terminals 20A-20D in chronological order. If the emergency flag included in the SSID of the small terminal 20A included in the terminal location related information indicates an emergency, the server 40 makes an emergency contact with relevant organizations such as the school SC where the holders H1-H4 of each of the small terminals 20A-20D are seated or the police station PS in the vicinity of the identified location.

[0030] The guardian terminal 50 as an acquisition terminal is, for example, a terminal installed in a home HM and owned by any of the family members of the holders H1 to H4 of the multiple small terminals 20A to 20D. The guardian terminal 50 is configured to be able to access the server 40 via the network NW and acquire the position of any of the small terminals 20A to 20D identified by the server 40. The guardian terminal 50 is not limited to a type of terminal such as a PC, a smartphone, or a tablet terminal, and may be any terminal that can be connected to the network NW, which is an Internet connection network, and can access the server 40.

[0031] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a small terminal 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0032] The small terminal 20 has an inter-terminal communication transmitting unit 21 that transmits its own terminal information to other small terminals 20 via BLE, an inter-terminal communication acquiring unit 23 that acquires terminal information of other small terminals 20 via BLE from the other small terminals 20, a data sharing unit 24 that stores its own terminal information and the terminal information acquired by the inter-terminal communication acquiring unit 23, a data frame generating unit 25 that generates data frames, a data frame transmitting unit 27 that broadcasts the generated data frames, and an emergency recognition unit 29 that notifies the holder H that an emergency situation is occurring.

[0033] The inter-terminal communication transmission unit 21 as a first information transmission unit generates BLE data including an individual ID for identifying the owner of the small terminal 20, the remaining battery level as the operating state of the small terminal 20, and information on whether the small terminal 20 is broadcasting, and transmits the BLE data to other small terminals 20. The time interval for transmitting the BLE data can be set arbitrarily. For example, the inter-terminal communication transmission unit 21 transmits the BLE data continuously, intermittently, or intermittently. Specifically, for example, the BLE data may be transmitted at any time or at a fixed interval such as every 5 minutes. The inter-terminal communication transmission unit 21 may automatically change the time interval for transmitting the BLE data according to the remaining battery level of the small terminal 20.

[0034] The inter-terminal communication acquisition unit 23 as an information receiving unit acquires BLE data transmitted by other small terminals 20 within the communication range of BLE, and acquires an individual ID for identifying the owner of the other small terminal 20 included in the BLE data, a remaining battery level as an operating state of the other small terminal 20, and information on whether the other small terminal 20 is broadcasting. The inter-terminal communication acquisition unit 23 supplies the acquired information to the data sharing unit 24. The interval at which the inter-terminal communication acquisition unit 23 acquires BLE data can be set arbitrarily. For example, the inter-terminal communication acquisition unit 23 acquires BLE data continuously, intermittently, or intermittently. Specifically, for example, the BLE data may be acquired at any time, or may be acquired at a fixed interval such as every 5 minutes. The inter-terminal communication acquisition unit 23 may automatically change the time interval at which the BLE data is acquired depending on the remaining battery level of the small terminal 20.

[0035] The data sharing unit 24 records terminal information of its own small terminal 20, such as its own individual ID, remaining battery level, and information as to whether the small terminal itself is broadcasting, as well as the other individual IDs of other small terminals 20, remaining battery level, and information as to whether the other small terminals 20 are broadcasting, which are included in the BLE data acquired by the inter-terminal communication acquisition unit 23.

[0036] The data frame generating unit 25 generates a data frame to be broadcast when it determines that the battery remaining amount of its own small terminal 20 is the largest among the battery remaining amounts of its own small terminal 20 and the other small terminals 20 recorded in the data sharing unit 24. Specifically, it generates an SSID including a service ID indicating that the positioning system 10 is used, its own individual ID, other individual ID, and an emergency flag indicating that either the owner of its own small terminal 20 or the owner of the other small terminal 20 acquired by BLE is in an emergency, generates a data frame including the SSID, and supplies it to the data frame transmitting unit 27. That is, the data frame generated by the data frame generating unit 25 is generated in a mode indicating that the small terminal 20 operates as an access point. Note that, when the battery remaining amounts are the same, the individual IDs may be converted into numerical values ​​and compared, and the one with the higher numerical value may be set as the access point.

[0037] In addition, if the data frame generation unit 25 does not determine that the remaining battery power of its own small terminal 20 is the highest among the remaining battery powers of its own and the other small terminals 20 recorded in the data sharing unit 24, it stops the processing of the data frame generation unit 25 and the data frame transmission unit 27 and stops broadcasting of the data frame.

[0038] The data frame transmission unit 27 as a second transmission unit broadcasts the data frame generated by the data frame generation unit 25 to the surrounding area. The time interval for broadcasting can be set arbitrarily. For example, the data frame transmission unit 27 broadcasts the data frames continuously, intermittently, or intermittently. Specifically, for example, the broadcasting may be performed at any time, or may be performed at a fixed interval such as every 5 minutes. Furthermore, the data frame transmission unit 27 may automatically change the time interval for broadcasting depending on the remaining battery power of the small terminal 20.

[0039] The emergency recognition unit 29 recognizes that an emergency has occurred for the holder of the small terminal 20 that shares information via BLE, for example, when the holder presses a button or pulls a string provided on the small terminal 20 when the holder falls into an emergency or detects danger. When the emergency recognition unit 29 recognizes an emergency, if the small terminal 20 is one that broadcasts data frames, it instructs the data frame generation unit 25 to generate a data frame so that the emergency flag indicates an emergency. If the small terminal 29 is not one that broadcasts data frames, it generates BLE data so that the emergency flag included in the BLE data indicates an emergency, and transmits the BLE data.

[0040] At this time, the small terminal 20 in which the emergency has occurred or the small terminal 20 that has acquired BLE data including an emergency flag indicating an emergency may instruct the data frame transmitter 27 to continue transmitting the data frame at all times. In addition, in conjunction with the transmission of the data frame, a loud alarm may be sounded via a speaker (not shown) to notify the surroundings of the danger.

[0041] In other words, the device includes an inter-terminal communication transmitting unit 21 that transmits information including its own individual ID that identifies its holder and its own remaining battery level to other small terminals 20 via BLE, an inter-terminal communication acquiring unit 23 that receives from the other small terminals 20 the other individual ID that identifies the holder of the other small terminal 20 and the remaining battery level of the other small terminal 20 via BLE, and a data frame transmitting unit 27 that broadcasts a data frame including its own individual ID and SSID via wireless LAN, which consumes more power than BLE, and the data frame transmitting unit 27 adds the other individual ID to the data frame and broadcasts it on the wireless LAN based on its own remaining battery level and the remaining battery levels of the other terminals.

[0042] It also includes an inter-terminal communication transmitting unit 21 that transmits information including its own individual ID that identifies its holder and its own remaining battery level to other terminals via BLE, an inter-terminal communication acquiring unit 23 that receives from the other small terminal 20 the other individual ID that identifies the holder of the other small terminal 20 and the remaining battery level of the other small terminal 20 via BLE, and a data frame transmitting unit 27 that broadcasts a data frame including its own individual ID and SSID via wireless LAN, which consumes more power than BLE, and the data frame transmitting unit 27 starts or stops broadcasting the data frame via wireless LAN based on its own remaining battery level and the remaining battery levels of the other small terminals 20.

[0043] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of shared data SD of the small terminal 20 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0044] The shared data SD includes, for example, the individual ID of each small terminal 20 communicating BLE data, the remaining battery level, and information on the broadcast status of each small terminal 20 data frame.

[0045] The individual ID is a unique ID given to each small terminal 20. By registering the personal ID in the positioning system 10, it is possible to link the personal information of the holder H and identify the holder H from the individual ID. Note that the individual ID uses five characters out of 81 character types that can be used for BLE and SSID, so that it is possible to define IDs for approximately 3 billion people.

[0046] The remaining battery level indicates the remaining battery level of each small terminal 20 communicating BLE data. The small terminal 20 determines whether to broadcast a data frame based on the remaining battery level recorded in the shared data SD. Specifically, when it is determined that its own remaining battery level is the highest among the remaining battery levels recorded in the shared data SD, it determines that it is the small terminal 20 that will broadcast the data frame.

[0047] The broadcast status indicates whether each small terminal 20 communicating BLE data is broadcasting a data frame. When none of the small terminals 20 is broadcasting a data frame or multiple small terminals 20 are broadcasting a data frame, the small terminal 20 determines whether to broadcast a data frame based on the remaining battery level.

[0048] 4 is a diagram showing an example of the data structure of the SSID included in the data frame generated by the small terminal 20 according to the embodiment of the present application. The data frame is generated by the SSID when the data frame generating unit 25 determines in the shared data SD that the small terminal 20 is the one that broadcasts the data frame.

[0049] For example, when the data frame is generated as a beacon frame conforming to the IEEE802.11 communication standard, the data frame is configured in a manner including an SSID of up to 32 characters and the MAC address of the small terminal 20. In this embodiment, the SSID included in the data frame is configured, for example, with a service ID header HE indicating that the location identification system 10 is being used, an individual ID data string ID identifying each owner of the small terminal 20 communicating the BLE data, an emergency flag SF indicating that one of the owners is in an emergency situation, a reserve flag RF, and an underscore E separating each element.

[0050] In the example shown in FIG. 4, the service ID header HE has 3 characters, the individual ID data IDA has 5 characters, the emergency flag SF has 1 character, the underscore E has a total of 3 characters, and the reserve flag RF has 20 characters.

[0051] The individual ID data string ID is generated so that individual IDs including the small terminal itself in the shared data SD are written consecutively. Specifically, the individual ID data IDA of the small terminal itself is generated first, followed by the individual ID data IDB of the second terminal and the individual ID data IDC of the third terminal. Since the number of characters of the SSID is a maximum of 32 characters, the individual IDs of the other small terminals 20 after the individual ID data IDB of the second terminal are generated by reducing the number of characters of the spare flag RF. In addition, in this embodiment, the number of small terminals 20 that can be broadcast as a data frame is a maximum of five, including the small terminal itself. When six or more small terminals 20 are shared by BLE data, an SSID including the individual IDs of the small terminal itself and the second to fifth small terminals 20 may be generated and broadcast in a time division manner, and then an SSID including the individual IDs of the small terminal itself and the sixth and subsequent small terminals 20 may be generated and broadcast.

[0052] In this embodiment, the IEEE802.11 communication standard is adopted as the second communication method for broadcasting a data frame, and a data frame having an SSID of up to 32 characters that conforms to the communication standard will be described, but the communication standard of the data frame is not limited to this. For example, when BLE is adopted as the second communication method for broadcasting a data frame, a data frame that includes the above information in the Bluetooth (registered trademark) device name may be generated. Also, even when a data frame of another communication standard is used, a data frame that includes the above information in the device name of the small terminal 20 may be generated.

[0053] In other words, the data frame has an SSID indicating the identifier of the small terminal 20 as an access point, and the SSID includes a self-individual ID and other-individual IDs.

[0054] The data frame also includes emergency flag information indicating whether the SSID holder or the holder of another small-sized terminal 20 is in an emergency.

[0055] The data frame also contains the MAC address of the small terminal 20 that broadcasts the data frame.

[0056] 5 shows an information transmission flow RT1 in which the small terminal 20 according to the embodiment of the present application broadcasts a data frame. The information transmission flow RT1 is repeatedly executed while the small terminal 20 is activated. The information transmission flow RT1 may be repeatedly executed at any time. The repetition interval may be set to a fixed interval such as every 5 minutes, or may be automatically set according to the remaining battery power of the small terminal 20.

[0057] First, as a first transmission step, the inter-terminal communication transmission unit 21 transmits the individual ID of its own small terminal 20, the remaining battery level, and BLE data indicating whether it is broadcasting a data frame to the surroundings by BLE (step S101).

[0058] Next, as a receiving step, the inter-terminal communication acquisition unit 23 enters a standby state in which it can receive BLE data from another small terminal 20 via BLE, such as the individual ID of the other small terminal 20, the remaining battery level, and whether the small terminal 20 is broadcasting a data frame (step S102).

[0059] Next, the inter-terminal communication acquisition unit 23 determines whether or not BLE data has been received from another small-sized terminal 20 (step S103).

[0060] In step S103, if it is determined that BLE data has not been received from another small terminal 20 (step S103: No), the data frame generating unit 25 determines that there is no other small terminal 20 in the vicinity, and generates a data frame including only its own individual ID (step S104). Note that this process may be determined by determining that no BLE data has been received from another small terminal 20 for a predetermined period of time.

[0061] Next, as a second transmission step, data frame sending section 27 broadcasts the data frame generated by data frame generating section 25 to the surroundings (step S105).

[0062] Furthermore, if it is determined in step S103 that BLE data has been received from another small terminal 20 (step S103: Yes), the inter-terminal communication acquisition unit 23 records the acquired BLE data in the data sharing unit 24 (step S106).

[0063] Next, the data frame generation unit 25 reads the shared data SD of the data sharing unit, and determines whether its own remaining battery level is the highest among its own and the other small terminals 20 acquired through the BLE data (step S107).

[0064] In step S107, if it is not determined that its own remaining battery power is the highest (step S107: No), the data frame generating unit 25 determines that it is not a small terminal that broadcasts a data frame, and returns to the process of step S101.

[0065] Furthermore, if it is determined in step S107 that the small terminal itself has the highest remaining battery power (step S107: Yes), the data frame generation unit 25 determines that it is the small terminal that will broadcast the data frame, and generates a data frame including the individual IDs of itself and the other small terminals 20 recorded in the shared data SD (step S108).

[0066] Next, as a second transmission step, data frame sending section 27 broadcasts the data frame generated by data frame generating section 25 to the surroundings (step S109).

[0067] Next, the data frame generating unit 25 determines whether all the individual IDs recorded in the shared data SD have been broadcast in the data frame (step S110).

[0068] If it is determined in step S110 that all the individual IDs recorded in the shared data SD have been broadcast in the data frame (step S110: Yes), the data frame generating unit 25 ends the information transmission flow RT1.

[0069] Also, in step S110, if it is determined that all individual IDs recorded in the shared data SD have not been broadcast in the data frame (step S110: No), the data frame generation unit 25 returns to the processing of step S108 and re-generates its own ID and the individual IDs that have not been broadcast in the data frame.

[0070] By executing the above process, the small-sized terminal 20 can share terminal information of other small-sized terminals 20 via BLE and broadcast data frames.

[0071] In other words, this is an information transmission method in which a small terminal 20 transmits information including its own individual ID that identifies its holder and a other individual ID that identifies the holder of another small terminal 20, and includes a first transmission step of transmitting information including its own individual ID that identifies its holder and its own remaining battery level to the other small terminal 20 via BLE, a receiving step of receiving the other individual ID that identifies the holder of the other small terminal 20 and the remaining battery level of the other small terminal 20 from the other small terminal 20 via BLE, and a second transmission step of broadcasting a data frame including its own individual ID and SSID via wireless LAN, which consumes more power than BLE, and the second transmission step adds the other individual ID to the data frame on the wireless LAN and broadcasts it based on the remaining battery level of the small terminal itself and the remaining battery level of the other small terminal 20.

[0072] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a peripheral terminal 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0073] The surrounding terminal 30 has a data frame acquisition unit 31 that acquires a data frame broadcast by the small terminal 20, a location related information generation unit 33 that extracts necessary information from the data frame and generates terminal location related information by adding information on the data frame reception status of the surrounding terminal 30, and a location related information transmission unit 35 that transmits the terminal location related information to the server 40 via the network NW.

[0074] The data frame acquisition unit 31 checks whether there is an access point around the surrounding terminal 30. When the data frame indicating an access point broadcast by the small terminal 20 is recognized, the data frame acquisition unit 31 acquires the data frame and supplies it to the positional related information generation unit 33. In addition, the data frame acquisition unit 31 supplies the reception time and reception electric field level when the data frame is acquired to the positional related information generation unit 33. Note that the surrounding terminal 30 can arbitrarily set whether there is an access point around. The surrounding terminal 30 may be set to check the reception status of the data frame at any time. In addition, the time interval for checking may be set by the holder of the surrounding terminal 30, may be set to a fixed interval such as every 5 minutes, or may be set automatically depending on the type of terminal such as a PC, a smartphone, or a tablet terminal.

[0075] The location related information generating unit 33 extracts necessary information including the SSID of the small terminal 20 from the data frame acquired by the data frame acquiring unit 31. In addition, the location related information generating unit 33 adds information on the reception time when the data frame supplied from the data frame acquiring unit 31 was received, the reception electric field level, and the reception position of the surrounding terminal 30 to the extracted information, generates terminal location related information, and supplies it to the location related information transmitting unit 35.

[0076] The positional related information transmitting unit 35 transmits the terminal positional related information generated by the positional related information generating unit 33 to the server 40 via the network NW to which the positional related information transmitting unit 35 is connected.

[0077] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of terminal position relation information PD generated by the surrounding terminal 30 according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0078] The terminal position related information PD includes the acquisition time AT of the data frame, which is information about the surrounding terminal 30 that generated and transmitted the terminal position related information PD, the acquisition position AP, and TT indicating the terminal type of the surrounding terminal 30.

[0079] The acquired position AP is the position of the surrounding terminal 30 when the data frame is received from the terminal, and is, for example, latitude and longitude information by GPS or the like. The position information is not limited to latitude and longitude. For example, the acquired position AP may be a facility name that can specify the address of the residence or store where the surrounding terminal 30 is installed, the name of an apartment building, the name of a store, or the like. In addition, in the case of a PC, the acquired position AP may be set in advance by the owner of the surrounding terminal 30, or may be automatically acquired from an IP address when connected to the Internet, or from a different device connected to the surrounding terminal 30. In addition, in the case of a laptop PC, smartphone, or tablet terminal equipped with a GPS function, the latitude and longitude may be automatically acquired in conjunction with the GPS function.

[0080] The terminal type TT indicates, for example, the type of the terminal of the surrounding terminal 30. Specifically, it may indicate a desktop PC, a laptop PC, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or the like. It may also be possible to determine whether the surrounding terminal 30 has a GPS function or not, or whether the acquired position AP is a position obtained in conjunction with the GPS function or is manually input by the holder. It may also simply be information on whether the terminal is a mobile terminal or a fixed terminal.

[0081] In this embodiment, a case will be described in which the surrounding terminal 30 acquires data frames from a first group including seven small terminals 20 with individual IDs aaaaa, bbbbb, ccccc, ddddd, eeeee, fffff, and ggggg at the same time or within a predetermined time span, and a second group including three small terminals 20 with individual IDs 11111, 22222, and 33333. Also, a case will be described in which the small terminal 20 that broadcasts the data frame is the small terminal 20 with individual ID aaaaa in the first group, and the small terminal 20 with individual ID 11111 in the second group.

[0082] The terminal position related information PD includes information on a plurality of small terminals 20 acquired by the surrounding terminal 30. For example, the first small terminal information of the first SSID data SI1, the reception electric field level RL1 of the first data frame, and the first MAC address MA1 included in the first data frame of the small terminal 20 of the first group acquired by the surrounding terminal 30 is extracted from the first data frame and added after the information of the surrounding terminal 30.

[0083] In the first group, the data frame is broadcast twice in a time division manner. Therefore, the individual ID data string ID of the first SSID data SI1 included in the first data frame includes the individual IDs of the five small terminals 20, aaaaa to eeeee, including the individual ID of the small terminal 20 that broadcast the data frame.

[0084] The surrounding terminal 30 also acquires the second data frame, which is the second data frame of the first group, and subsequently extracts the second SSID data SI2, the reception electric field level RL2 of the second data frame, and the second MAC address MA2 from the second data frame, and appends them after the first small terminal information. The individual ID data string ID of the second SSID data SI2 included in the second data frame includes the individual IDs of the three small terminals 20, aaaaa, fffff, and ggggg, including the individual ID of the small terminal 20 that broadcast the data frame. At this time, the reception electric field level RL2 and the second MAC address MA2 of the second data frame are the same as the reception electric field level RL1 and the first MAC address MA1 of the first data frame.

[0085] Also, the third SSID data SI3, the reception electric field level RL3, and the third MAC address MA3 included in the data frames broadcast by the multiple small terminals 20 of the second group acquired at the same time are extracted from the third data frame and added after the second MAC address MA2. The above-mentioned predetermined time interval during which the surrounding terminal 30 is considered to have acquired the first, second, and third data frames simultaneously can be set arbitrarily. For example, it may be a fixed time interval such as 10 seconds after the first data frame is received, or it may be a time interval during which the surrounding terminal 30 checks the reception status of the data frames.

[0086] After generating information on all small terminals 20 acquired by the surrounding terminals 30, EOF (End Of File) data indicating the end of the data is added to the end to generate terminal position related information PD.

[0087] 8 shows a location related information transmission flow RT2 in which the surrounding terminal 30 according to the embodiment of the present application transmits the terminal location related information PD. The location related information transmission flow RT2 is repeatedly executed while the surrounding terminal 30 is running or while application software that enables the use of the position identification system 10 is installed. The location related information transmission flow RT2 may be repeatedly executed at any time as described above. The repetition interval may be set by the holder of the surrounding terminal 30, may be fixed at every 5 minutes, or may be automatically set depending on the type of terminal, such as a PC, a smartphone, or a tablet terminal.

[0088] First, the data frame acquisition unit 31 goes into a standby state in which it is able to receive a data frame from the small-sized terminal 20 (step S201).

[0089] Next, the data frame acquisition unit 31 determines whether or not a data frame has been received from the small-sized terminal 20 (step S202).

[0090] In step S202, when it is determined that the data frame has not been received from the small-sized terminal 20 (step S202: No), the data frame acquisition unit 31 returns to the process of step S201, and steps S201 and S202 are repeatedly executed.

[0091] Also, if it is determined in step S202 that a data frame has been received from the small terminal 20 (step S202: Yes), the data frame acquisition unit 31 supplies the received data frame, the acquisition time AT and the received electric field level RL at the time the data frame was received to the positional relationship information generation unit 33 (step S203).

[0092] Next, the location related information generation unit 33 generates terminal location related information PD having information on the supplied acquisition time AT, the acquisition position AP set in the unit itself or automatically acquired from the GPS mobile phone, the unit's own terminal type TT, the SSID of the small terminal 20 extracted from the received data frame, and the MAC address of the small terminal 20 (step S204).

[0093] Next, the positional relation information generating unit 33 judges whether or not information on all small terminals 20 acquired by the data frame acquiring unit 31 at the same time or within a predetermined time span is included in the terminal positional relation information PD (step S205).

[0094] In step S205, if it is not determined that the information of all small terminals 20 is included in the terminal position related information PD (step S205: No), the position related information generation unit 33 executes the processing of step S204 again and adds the information of the next small terminal 20 after the generated terminal position related information PD.

[0095] In step S205, if it is determined that information on all small terminals 20 is included in the terminal position related information PD (step S205: Yes), the position related information generation unit 33 adds EOF data indicating the end of data to the end of the terminal position related information PD, and supplies the terminal position related information PD to the position related information transmission unit 35. Thereafter, as a terminal position related information transmission step, the position related information transmission unit 35 transmits the supplied terminal position related information PD to the server 40 via the network NW (step S206).

[0096] Through the above process, the surrounding terminals 30 receive the data frames transmitted by the small terminals 20, generate terminal position related information PD, and transmit the terminal position related information PD to the server 40.

[0097] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a configuration of the server 40 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0098] The server 40 includes a location related information acquisition unit 41 that acquires terminal location related information PD transmitted by surrounding terminals 30, a location identification unit 43 that identifies the location of each of the multiple small terminals 20 based on the terminal location related information PD, a memory unit 45 that stores the terminal location related information PD and the locations of each of the multiple small terminals 20 identified by the location identification unit 43 in chronological order, an information determination unit 47 that determines whether the information included in the terminal location related information PD is appropriate information, and an emergency contact unit 49 that makes emergency contact with relevant authorities when the emergency flag SF of any of the multiple small terminals 20 included in the terminal location related information PD indicates an emergency situation.

[0099] The location related information acquisition unit 41 acquires terminal location related information PD transmitted by the surrounding terminals 30 via the network NW, and supplies the information to the location identification unit 43 , the storage unit 45 , the information determination unit 47 and the emergency contact unit 49 .

[0100] The position identification unit 43 identifies the position of each of the multiple small terminals 20 based on the terminal position related information PD supplied from the position related information acquisition unit 41. Specifically, when acquiring the terminal position related information PD transmitted by one surrounding terminal 30 to one group of small terminals 20, it identifies the owners of each of the multiple small terminals 20 from the individual ID data string ID of the SSID of the small terminal 20 included in the terminal position related information PD, and identifies that the multiple small terminals 20 are located within a radial distance corresponding to the reception electric field level RL of the data frame from the acquisition position AP of the data frame of the surrounding terminal 30 based on the acquisition time AT, acquisition position AP, and reception electric field level RL of the data frame of one surrounding terminal 30 included in the terminal position related information PD. Furthermore, when terminal position related information PD transmitted by multiple surrounding terminals 30 within a predetermined time width to one group of small terminals 20 is acquired, position identification information is generated that identifies multiple small terminals 20 as being at points where the ranges of radial distances corresponding to each of the reception electric field levels RL of the multiple data frames from each of the acquisition positions AP of the data frames of the multiple surrounding terminals 30 overlap, based on the acquisition times AT, acquisition positions AP, and reception electric field levels RL of the data frames of the multiple surrounding terminals included in the multiple terminal position related information PD. The position identification unit 43 supplies the position identification information to the storage unit 45 for each individual ID of the small terminals 20 in one group.

[0101] The storage unit 45 stores, in chronological order, the terminal position related information PD supplied from the position related information acquisition unit 41 and the position identification information for each individual ID of the small terminals 20 in one group identified by the position identification unit.

[0102] The information determination unit 47 determines whether the information included in the terminal location related information PD is proper information. Specifically, the information determination unit 47 compares the individual ID and MAC address of the small terminal 20 that broadcast the data frame included in the terminal location related information PD with registration information in which the individual ID and MAC address of the small terminal 20 registered for use in the location identification system 10, which is stored in advance in the storage unit 45, are linked. Specifically, the individual ID and MAC address of the first five characters of the individual ID data string ID of the SSID included in the terminal location related information PD are compared with the registration information recorded in the storage unit 45.

[0103] When there is a discrepancy between the individual ID and MAC address of the small terminal 20 that broadcasted the data frame included in the terminal location related information PD and the registered individual ID and registered MAC address of the registration information, particularly when it is detected that the information included in the terminal location related information PD has a MAC address different from the registered MAC address for the registered individual ID, the information determination unit 47 determines that the small terminal 20 that broadcasted the data frame including the MAC address different from the registration information is an impersonation terminal. The information determination unit 47 registers the impersonation terminal as a blacklist in the storage unit 45 and deletes the terminal location related information PD of the impersonation terminal and the location identification information identified by the location identification unit 43 from the storage unit 45. The information determination unit 47 may also instruct the location identification unit 43 to ignore the identification of the location of the impersonation terminal when the MAC address of the impersonation terminal is included in the terminal location related information PD acquired subsequently.

[0104] The server 40 also has an information determination unit 47 that acquires registration information including a pre-recorded registered individual ID and a registered MAC address, and the terminal location related information PD includes the terminal MAC address of the small terminal 20. When the terminal location related information PD receives terminal location related information PD that includes an individual ID that is the same as the registered individual ID, the information determination unit 47 determines in the appropriateness determination that the terminal location related information PD is not appropriate information if the terminal MAC address included in the terminal location related information PD is different from the registered MAC address.

[0105] In addition, when the information determination unit 47 detects a location outside the communication range for broadcasting the data frame of the small terminal 20 for the location identification information respectively identified based on the multiple pieces of terminal location related information PD acquired within a specified time span, the information determination unit 47 prompts the multiple surrounding terminals 30 that transmitted each of the multiple pieces of terminal location related information PD to confirm their registered addresses.

[0106] The emergency contact unit 49 judges whether the small terminals 20 of the first group are in an emergency state from the data of the emergency flag SF of the small terminals 20 of the first group, which is included in the terminal location related information PD. When the information judgment unit 47 judges that the small terminals 20 of the first group are in an emergency state, it makes an emergency contact with the school SC where each owner of the small terminals 20 of the first group is present, the nearest police station PS to the specified location, and the parent terminals and parent emergency contact information of each owner.

[0107] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating how the position identifying unit 43 of the server 40 according to an embodiment of the present invention identifies the position of the small terminal 20. In FIG.

[0108] In this embodiment, a case will be described in which the positions of small terminals 20 in a first group including seven small terminals 20 with individual IDs aaaaa, bbbbb, ccccc, ddddd, eeeee, fffff, and ggggg shown in FIG. 7 are identified.

[0109] The surrounding terminal 30A receives a data frame broadcast by the small terminal 20 of the first group at a reception electric field level of 65%. At this time, the position identification unit 43 of the server 40 determines that the small terminal 20 is within a range RA of a radius DA corresponding to a reception electric field level of 65% from the residence NH where the surrounding terminal 30A is located.

[0110] Moreover, the surrounding terminal 30B received the data frame broadcast by the small terminal 20 of the first group at a reception electric field level of 85%. At this time, the position identification unit 43 of the server 40 determines that the small terminal 20 is within the range RB of the radius DB corresponding to the reception electric field level of 85% from the store NS where the surrounding terminal 30B is located.

[0111] Moreover, the surrounding terminal 30C receives a data frame broadcast by the small terminal 20 of the first group at a reception electric field level of 40%. At this time, the position identification unit 43 of the server 40 determines that the small terminal 20 is within a range RC of a radius DC corresponding to a reception electric field level of 40% from the pedestrian P carrying the surrounding terminal 30C.

[0112] The location determination unit 43 determines that the small terminals 20 of the first group and their respective owners are located in the diagonally shaded area OP in the figure where the ranges RA, RB and RC in which the three positions are determined as above overlap, and generates the range OP as location determination information for each individual ID.

[0113] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the information determining unit 47 according to an embodiment of the present invention determines whether the information included in the terminal location related information PD is appropriate.

[0114] In this embodiment, a case will be described in which the data frame broadcast by the small terminal 20 of the first group is received by the surrounding terminals 30D and 30E installed in the residences NH1 and NH2. In addition, a case will be described in which the surrounding terminals 30D and 30E are desktop PCs and the holders themselves set the acquisition position AP.

[0115] First, a case will be described where the address set in the peripheral terminal 30E installed in the residence NH2 has been erroneously input to the position of the peripheral terminal 30E1 that is relatively close, such as a wrong address.

[0116] The small terminal 20 in the first group broadcasts a data frame, which is received by the surrounding terminals 30D and 30E, and each transmits terminal position related information PD to the server 40 via the network NW. The terminal position related information PD transmitted by the surrounding terminal 30D includes an acquired position APD indicating a correct address. However, the terminal position related information PD transmitted by the surrounding terminal 30E includes an acquired position APE1 indicating the surrounding terminal 30E1, which is an incorrect address.

[0117] The information determination unit 47 determines that the surrounding terminals are located at positions 30D and 30E1, respectively, from the reception positions included in the terminal position related information PD transmitted from each of the surrounding terminals 30D and 30E. The information determination unit 47 calculates the distance between the two points of the surrounding terminals 30D and 30E1, and if the distance is equal to or less than a predetermined distance, for example, the diameter distance of the communication range broadcast by the small terminal 20, determines that there has been no significant change in the position of the small terminal 20 of the first group, and causes the storage unit 45 to record each of the terminal position related information PD including the acquired positions APD and APE1, and the position identification information generated based on the terminal position related information PD, as is.

[0118] Next, a case will be described where the address set in the peripheral terminal 30E installed in the residence NH2 has been erroneously input to the position of the peripheral terminal 30E2, which is far away.

[0119] The information determination unit 47 determines that the surrounding terminals are located at positions 30D and 30E2, respectively, based on the reception positions included in the terminal position related information PD transmitted from each of the surrounding terminals 30D and 30E. The information determination unit 47 calculates the distance between the two points of the surrounding terminals 30D and 30E2, and determines that there is an error in either the acquired positions APD or APE2 of the surrounding terminals 30D and 30E if the distance is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance, for example, the diameter distance of the communication range broadcast by the small terminal 20. In this case, the information determination unit 47 contacts the surrounding terminals 30D and 30E to prompt them to confirm whether the registered addresses are correct.

[0120] The predetermined distance at which it is determined that the address registered in the surrounding terminal 30 is incorrect can be set arbitrarily. In this embodiment, the diameter distance of the communication range broadcast by the small terminal 20 is set as the determination threshold, but it may be determined by detecting whether or not there is an overlap in the positions of the small terminal 20 predicted from the reception electric field levels of the data frames acquired from the multiple surrounding terminals 30.

[0121] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the information determining unit 47 according to an embodiment of the present invention determines whether the information included in the terminal location related information PD transmitted from a plurality of terminal types is appropriate.

[0122] 11, a case will be described in which the peripheral terminals 30D and 30E installed in the residences NH1 and NH2 receive a data frame broadcast by the small terminal 20 of the first group, and the address set by the peripheral terminal 30E is erroneously input as the position of the peripheral terminal 30E2, which is a far distant location, as in the case of Fig. 11. In addition, a case will be described in which the pedestrian P has a peripheral terminal 30F, which is a smartphone with a GPS function, and the peripheral terminal 30F transmits terminal position related information PD including an acquired position APF automatically acquired from the GPS function.

[0123] The server 40 acquires three pieces of terminal position related information PD via the network NW, including an acquired position APD indicating a correct address, an acquired position APE2 indicating an incorrect address, and an acquired position APF automatically acquired by the GPS function.

[0124] As in the description of FIG. 9, the information determining unit 47 determines that there is an error in any one of the acquired positions APD, APE2, or APF of the surrounding terminals 30D, 30E2, or 30F.

[0125] At this time, the information determination unit 47 determines that there is an error in the location of the acquisition position APE2, which is the only one located far away from the acquisition positions APD, APE2 or APF of the three surrounding terminals 30D, 30E2 and 30F, and contacts the surrounding terminal 30E to prompt it to confirm whether the registered address is correct.

[0126] In addition, the information determination unit 47 may refer to the terminal type TT included in each of the terminal position related information PD transmitted by the surrounding terminal 30D, 30E2 or 30F, determine that the information of the acquired position APF of the surrounding terminal 30F, which automatically acquired position information in conjunction with the GPS function, is the most reliable, and contact the surrounding terminals 30D and 30E to prompt them to confirm whether the registered addresses are appropriate.

[0127] In addition, the information determination unit 47 may determine that the information of the acquired position APF of the surrounding terminal 30F, which automatically acquired position information in conjunction with the GPS function, is the most reliable, and exclude the terminal position related information PD of the surrounding terminals 30D and 30E, which do not have a GPS function.

[0128] 13 shows a location specification information generation flow RT3 in which the server 40 according to the embodiment of the present application generates and stores location specification information. The location specification information generation flow RT3 is repeatedly executed while the server 40 is operating.

[0129] First, the positional related information acquisition unit 41 goes into a standby state in which it is possible to receive the terminal positional related information PD from the surrounding terminal 30 (step S301).

[0130] Next, the positional related information acquisition unit 41 determines whether or not the terminal positional related information PD has been received from the surrounding terminal 30 (step S302).

[0131] In step S302, when it is determined that the terminal position related information PD has not been received from the surrounding terminal 30 (step S302: No), the position related information acquisition unit 41 returns to the process of step S301, and steps S301 and S302 are repeatedly executed.

[0132] Furthermore, in step S302, if it is determined that terminal position related information PD has been received from the surrounding terminal 30 (step S302: Yes), the position related information acquisition unit 41 supplies the received terminal position related information PD to the position identification unit 43, the storage unit 45, the information determination unit 47 and the emergency contact unit 49. Furthermore, the position identification unit 43 identifies the holder of each of the multiple small terminals 20 from the individual ID data string ID included in the supplied terminal position related information PD, and identifies the position of the small terminal 20 that broadcast the data frame based on the acquisition time AT of the data frame of the surrounding terminal 30, the acquisition position AP and the reception electric field level RL of the data frame included in the terminal position related information PD, and generates position identification information for each individual ID of the multiple small terminals 20 (step S303).

[0133] Next, the information determination unit 47 extracts the individual ID data and MAC address of the small terminal 20 that broadcast the data frame included in the terminal location related information PD, reads the MAC address corresponding to the individual ID from the registration data recorded in the memory unit 45, and determines whether the correspondence between the individual ID data and the MAC address of the small terminal 20 that broadcast the data frame included in the terminal location related information PD matches the registration data (step S304).

[0134] In step S304, if it is not determined that the correspondence between the individual ID data and the MAC address of the small terminal 20 that broadcast the data frame included in the terminal location related information PD matches the registered data (step S204: No), the information determination unit 47 determines that the small terminal 20 with the MAC address included in the terminal location related information PD is an impersonation terminal, and deletes the terminal location related information PD for that MAC address and the location identification information generated in step S303 from the memory unit 45 (step S305).

[0135] Next, information determination unit 47 records the MAC address in storage unit 45 as a blacklist (step S306). Information determination unit 47 may also instruct location identification unit 43 to ignore identification of the location of the impersonated terminal when the MAC address of the impersonated terminal is included in terminal location related information PD acquired subsequently.

[0136] Furthermore, in step S304, if it is determined that the correspondence between the individual ID data and the MAC address of the small terminal 20 that broadcast the data frame included in the terminal position related information PD matches the registered data (step S304: Yes), the information determination unit 47 determines whether the acquired positions AP of the multiple surrounding terminals 30 that transmitted each of the multiple pieces of terminal position related information PD, each of which is identified based on the multiple pieces of terminal position related information PD acquired within a specified time width, are correct (step S307).

[0137] In step S307, if it is determined that the acquired positions AP of the multiple surrounding terminals 30 that transmitted each of the multiple terminal position related information PD are correct (step S307: Yes), the information determination unit 47 records the received terminal position related information PD and the position identification information for each individual ID of the multiple small terminals 20 generated in step S303 in the memory unit 45 (step S308).

[0138] Also, in step S307, if it is not determined that the acquired positions AP of the multiple surrounding terminals 30 that transmitted each of the multiple terminal position related information PD are correct (step S307: No), the information determination unit 47 determines whether the multiple terminal position related information PD includes information of the acquired position AP acquired by the GPS function (step S309).

[0139] In step S309, if it is not determined that the multiple terminal position related information PD includes information of the acquired position AP acquired by the GPS function (step S309: No), the information determination unit 47 discards the multiple terminal position related information PD received and the position identification information generated in step S303 (step S310).

[0140] Next, the information determination unit 47 contacts each of the surrounding terminals 30 that transmitted the multiple terminal position related information PD, requesting them to correct the information of the acquisition position AP set in each of the surrounding terminals 30 if it is incorrect (step S311).

[0141] Furthermore, in step S309, if it is determined that the multiple pieces of terminal position related information PD include information on the acquired position AP acquired by the GPS function (step S309: Yes), the information determination unit 47 determines that the information on the acquired position AP acquired by the GPS function is the most reliable, and discards the information other than the terminal position related information PD acquired by the GPS function and the position identification information generated in step S303 (step S312).

[0142] Next, the information determination unit 47 contacts each of the surrounding terminals 30 that have transmitted the multiple terminal position related information PD and that do not have a GPS function, requesting that they correct the information of the acquisition position AP set in each of the surrounding terminals 30 if it is incorrect (step S313).

[0143] Next, the information determination unit 47 records the terminal location related information PD that was not discarded in step S312 and the location specification information for each individual ID of the multiple small terminals 20 generated in step S303 in the storage unit 45 (step S308).

[0144] Through the above process, the server 40 can select only appropriate information from the terminal position related information PD received from the surrounding terminals 30, and generate and store only accurate position specifying information.

[0145] According to this embodiment, terminal information is shared among a group of small terminals 20 using a first communication method, and one of the small terminals 20 broadcasts a data frame using a second communication method on behalf of the group, making it possible to properly transmit information to surrounding terminals 30 without interference from radio waves using the second communication method.

[0146] In this embodiment, a case has been described in which the small terminal 20 shares terminal information among a plurality of small terminals 20 using BLE as the first communication method, but the communication method in which the small terminals 20 share terminal information is not limited to this. The first communication method may be any form of D2D (Device To Device) communication in which information is transmitted and received between small terminals.

[0147] In the present embodiment, the case where the small terminal 20 broadcasts a data frame conforming to the IEEE802.11 communication standard as the second communication method has been described, but the communication standard broadcast by the small terminal 20 is not limited to this. Any communication standard may be used as long as a data frame including information including a service ID indicating the use of a location identification system, an individual ID identifying the owner of the small terminal, and an emergency flag indicating an emergency can be received by surrounding terminals.

[0148] In the present embodiment, the case where the position of one group of small terminals 20 is identified has been described. However, the position identification unit 43 of the server 40 may further identify the position of each of the small terminals 20 in one group. Specifically, for example, information on the BLE reception electric field level may be added to the data frame broadcast by the small terminal 20, and the position identification unit 43 may further identify the position from the small terminal 20 broadcasting the data frame based on the BLE reception electric field level.

[0149] In addition, in this embodiment, an example has been described in which the surrounding terminals 30 and the server 40 are connected to an Internet connection network, but when providing a local location identification service, the surrounding terminals 30 and the server 40 may be connected only to a closed network such as a WAN or LAN.

[0150] In the present embodiment, the embodiment using the small terminal 20 having the above-mentioned functions has been described, but the embodiment is not limited to this. For example, the embodiment may be a mobile terminal such as a smartphone in which a program or application for executing the functions is installed.

[0151] As a modification of this embodiment, the small terminal 20 may not only broadcast a data frame conforming to the IEEE802.11 communication standard, but may also have a function of receiving wireless communication conforming to the communication standard.

[0152] This makes it possible to receive data such as updates to the communication software of the small-sized terminal 20. Also, it becomes possible to receive update data for the registered individual ID associated with the MAC address of the small-sized terminal 20 from the server 40 via the network NW, and to update the SSID generated by the small-sized terminal 20.

[0153] Specifically, the server 40 periodically updates the individual ID associated with the MAC address of the small terminal 20 included in the registration information, and transmits an update flag indicating that the registered individual ID has been updated to, for example, the guardian terminal 50 of the home HM registered in the registration information.

[0154] When the small-sized terminal 20 returns to the home HM and the parent terminal 50 confirms that it has received the data frame from the small-sized terminal 20, the parent terminal 50 transmits an update flag to the small-sized terminal 20.

[0155] The small terminal 20 is triggered by receiving an update flag from the parent terminal 50 to connect to the server 40, download the updated registered individual ID, thereby updating its own individual ID information, and updating the SSID that is generated.

[0156] This allows the individual ID registered in the portable terminal 20 and the server 40 to be updated periodically, making it possible to more reliably prevent the owner H from being identified as an individual.

[0157] As another way of updating the individual ID, an update request may be sent from the small terminal 20 to the server 40, requesting an update of the individual ID, triggered by the small terminal 20 being connected to a wireless communication repeater device in the home HM or being connected to the network NW via wired communication. [Explanation of symbols]

[0158] 10 Location System 20 Small terminals 21 Terminal communication transmission unit 21 23 Terminal communication acquisition unit 24 Data Sharing Department 25 Data frame generator 27 Data frame transmitter 29 Emergency recognition department 30 Surrounding terminals 31 Data frame acquisition section 33 Location-related information generation unit 35 Location-related information transmission unit 40 Servers 41 Location-related information acquisition unit 43 Location identification part 45 Storage section 47 Information Judgment Department 49 Emergency Contact Department 50 Parental terminal

Claims

[Claim 1] a first information transmission unit that transmits information including an individual ID that identifies a holder of the device and an operating status of the device to another terminal by a first wireless communication method; an information receiving unit that receives, from the other terminal, an other individual ID that identifies a holder of the other terminal and an operating status of the other terminal by the first wireless communication system; a second transmission unit that broadcasts a data frame including the individual ID and data indicating that the device itself is an access point for wireless communication by a second wireless communication method different from the first wireless communication method; Including, The information transmitting terminal is characterized in that the second transmitting unit adds the other individual ID to the data frame in the second wireless communication method and broadcasts it based on its own operating status and the operating status of the other terminal.

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