Customer Location Awareness System

Abstract

To provide a customer position recognition system for correctly obtaining a present position of a customer so as to enable the customer to rapidly get on a vehicle.SOLUTION: A device to be a WiFi access point is mounted on a vehicle 302 of a service provider. When a customer 301 is positioned at a getting-on point 401 within a specific distance range, communication is performed with a portable terminal carried by the customer, so as to correctly calculate a distance between the service provider and the customer with the use of a ranging technique of IEEE802.11 mc. The distance from the customer 301 is measured for each one of fixed distance movements by using the movement of the vehicle 302 of the service provider, so as to identify a correct relative position between the service provider and the customer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a customer position recognition system that accurately detects the position of a customer from a vehicle when the customer and the vehicle meet outdoors as arranged by the customer, such as in a taxi dispatch system. [Background technology]

[0002] In conventional taxi dispatch systems, when a customer requests a taxi, they specify the destination by describing an address or landmark, or by using a GPS (Global Positioning System) positioning system that uses artificial satellites to obtain location information. In recent years, there are also apps that allow customers to specify the destination by specifying the latitude and longitude of their location on a map on their smartphone.

[0003] Patent Document 1 discloses a method for identifying the location information of a customer. Patent Document 1 describes that, in order to minimize delays in responding to a customer's pickup request, the pickup location designated by the customer is displayed on the screen of a vehicle dispatch terminal, and the location information is detected by GPS. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-86243 [Non-patent literature]

[0005] [Non-Patent Document 1] "Visible Light Communication Using a General-Purpose Video Camera - Highly Efficient Visible Light Communication Using Virtual Sine Waves" by Hirotatsu Hashizume and Masanori Sugimoto, Journal of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, Vol. 101, No. 1, pp. 44-51, January 2018 (https: / / app.journal.ieice.org / trial / 101_1 / k101_1_44 / index.html) Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] Conventional systems use destination information (addresses, landmarks, latitude / longitude) to determine the exact location of the customer, and in crowded areas, taxi drivers are forced to wait without knowing where the customer is. Furthermore, because taxi drivers cannot visually determine whether the customer is a customer, there are cases where they are unable to pick up the customer immediately. Furthermore, if the customer's latitude / longitude is entered incorrectly, the GPS cannot be tracked, or the customer has moved on foot, it becomes difficult for the two parties to find each other.

[0007] The present invention aims to solve the above problems and provide a customer location recognition system that can accurately determine the current location of a customer and allow the customer to board a vehicle promptly. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a dispatch system in which a service provider is equipped with a device that acts as an access point for Wifi (registered trademark), which is an interconnection between devices using the IEEE 802.11 standard, and when a customer is located within a specific distance range, the system communicates with a mobile terminal such as a smartphone carried by the customer, and uses IEEE 802.11mc ranging technology to accurately calculate the distance between the service provider and the customer.The system takes advantage of the fact that the service provider is moving and measures the distance to the customer every time the service provider moves a certain distance, thereby providing a customer location recognition system that identifies the exact relative positions of the service provider and the customer. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] (1) By detecting the exact relative location of the customer and the service provider using Wi-Fi or beacons, the service provider can be notified of the location of the target customer, enabling them to find them quickly.

[0010] (2) By displaying images of the customer's surroundings, camera footage, and the distance and direction to the customer on the service provider's navigation screen, it becomes easier to visually determine the passenger's location, making it easier to match them with the customer. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the schematic configuration of an AVM system for dispatching taxis. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a management center in a vehicle dispatch system. [Figure 3] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the positional relationship between a Wi-Fi communication area of ​​a vehicle and a customer according to the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of measuring the relative positions between a customer and a service provider via Wi-Fi according to the first embodiment. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of capturing an optical beacon according to the first embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Below, we will explain the embodiments of the invention in order with reference to the drawings. Before that, we will explain the AVM (Vehicle Activity Monitoring) system for dispatching taxis that uses current wireless mobile communication systems and positioning systems with reference to the schematic configuration diagram of FIG. 1 and the configuration diagram of the management center of FIG. 2.

[0013] The vehicle dispatch system of Figure 1 includes a management center 101, multiple wireless base stations 102 (102-1, 2,...,L), multiple mobile stations (vehicles) 104 (104-1, 2, 3, 4,...,N), a GPS satellite 105, and a vehicle dispatch center 107 having multiple vehicle dispatch terminals 106 (106-1, 2,...,M).

[0014] Each wireless base station 102 has an area (103-1, 2, ..., L) in which it can communicate. For example, communication area 103-1 of wireless base station 102-1 indicates that wireless base station 102-1 can communicate with mobile stations 104-1 to 104-N located within that communication area. Each mobile station 104 can obtain its own location information (latitude and longitude) by receiving location information from GPS satellites 105. The obtained location information, together with the status information of the mobile station (vehicle) 104, is periodically transmitted to the management center 101 via the wireless base station 102 having the communication area 103 in which the mobile station (vehicle) 104 is located. The management center 101 collects the location information and status information of the mobile stations 104 located within the communication area 103 via each of the multiple wireless base stations 102. In such an AVM system for dispatching taxis, a customer contacts dispatch center 107 and requests a taxi by informing an operator of their pickup destination, for example, their current location information and the required vehicle information. At dispatch center 107, an operator operates dispatch terminal 106 to transmit the customer information and the required vehicle information to management center 101. Management center 101 searches for the most suitable vehicle based on the customer's current location information received from dispatch center 107 and the collected location information of mobile station 104, and dispatches the vehicle to the customer's current location.

[0015] 2 shows an example of the configuration of the management center 101. In this example, the management center 101 includes a database server 200, a map server 220, and a vehicle dispatch server 240. Note that the components of the management center 101 do not need to be located in the same place, and may be installed on different networks. The database server 200 is a server that manages various data related to the operation of the vehicle dispatch system. In this example, the database server 200 has an area information management unit 201 that stores and manages area information related to each area, a vehicle information management unit 202 that stores and manages vehicle information related to each vehicle, and a queue management unit 203 that stores and manages queue information related to orders waiting for dispatch (dispatch requests). The map server 220 has a route search unit 221 that searches for a route from the current location to the destination on a map. The dispatch server 240 has a candidate search unit 241 that searches for suitable candidates for dispatch using various information, a dispatch instruction unit 242 that issues dispatch instructions to the candidates determined by the candidate search unit 241, and a queue control unit 243 that controls queues based on queue information from the queue management unit 203 of the database server 200. [Example]

[0016] Next, a customer location recognition system according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. (1) Calculate the passenger's exact location using Wi-Fi location detection technology A device that acts as a Wi-Fi access point is installed in a service provider's commercial vehicle, such as a taxi, and communicates with a customer's mobile device, such as a smartphone, to accurately calculate the distance between the service provider and the customer using IEEE 802.11mc ranging technology. That is, as shown in Figure 3, when a vehicle 302 approaches a customer 301, the customer 301 enters the vehicle's Wi-Fi communication area 300, and as soon as a connection is established, ranging begins.

[0017] i) A device that acts as a Wi-Fi access point is installed in the service provider's vehicle 302. ii) When the customer 301 arranges for a service, authentication information for the service provider's Wi-Fi access point and arrangement information (arrangement ID, etc.) are sent to the customer's smartphone. When the vehicle is dispatched to the service provider, the arrangement information is sent to the terminal of the vehicle 302 of the service provider. iii) When the service provider's vehicle 302 arrives and the customer's 301 terminal enters the Wi-Fi area, it automatically connects using the authentication information and sends the arrangement information to the service provider's terminal. iv) The service provider's access point calculates the relative position information of the connected customer 301's terminal and the taxi. For example, the direction is θ degrees from the front of the service provider, and the distance is x m. As an example of calculating the position information, IEEE 802.11mc Wifi Round Trip Time is used to measure the distance between the service provider's access point and the passenger's smartphone. Even if the antenna is configured with MIMO to calculate the direction, the current positioning accuracy error is 1 to 2 m, so accurate direction cannot be expected. Therefore, by taking advantage of the fact that the vehicle is moving, the customer's location is identified by measuring the position every time it moves a certain distance. v) An icon showing the position of the customer 301 is superimposed on the image from the camera of the service provider's vehicle 302 based on the relative position information, and displayed on the monitor of the service provider's vehicle 302. Alternatively, a voice message such as "40 degrees ahead to the left, distance 20 m" is given.

[0018] Figure 4 shows distance measurement by the customer location recognition system of this embodiment. Customer 301 waits for vehicle 302 at boarding point 401. Vehicle 302 determines the exact location of customer 301 by taking advantage of the fact that service provider vehicle 302 is moving in the direction of the point and measuring the distance to the customer every time it moves a certain distance. Alternatively, the exact location of customer 301 may be determined by giving the antenna a MIMO configuration and directionality.

[0019] An icon showing the location of the customer 301 based on the relative position information is superimposed on the image captured by the camera of the service provider's vehicle 302 and displayed on the service provider's monitor, making it easier to find the customer at the boarding point 401.

[0020] (2) Location detection using a penlight-shaped beacon and the service provider's camera The service provider sends relative position information to the customer 301 via the connected Wi-Fi to the customer's terminal. If the service provider knows the exact direction of its own terminal, it sends the absolute direction instead of the relative direction, but if it does not know the direction, it does not send the direction but only the relative distance. i) Distribute penlight-shaped beacons to customers 301. The beacons can acquire arrangement information by communicating with the mobile terminal of the customer 301, and have the function of encoding the information using the intensity of the light, etc., and transmitting the information. ii) The location information of the service provider's vehicle 302 is periodically notified to the center, and the center provides the location information of the vehicle 302 to the customer's terminal. iii) When the service provider's vehicle 302 approaches to a certain extent, the ID used when the vehicle was dispatched is transferred from the smartphone to the beacon. iv) Once transferred, the beacon starts transmitting a signal. v) The customer 301 holds the beacon in a place visible from the road. vi) Images are taken with the camera of the vehicle 302, and the beacon signals are detected to detect the direction in real time. (For signal decoding technology, see Non-Patent Document 1, etc.) vii) An indicator 501 indicating that a beacon signal has been found is superimposed on the camera image at the location where the beacon signal was detected, and a navigation screen 500 is displayed on the monitor of the in-vehicle device. viii) The beacon may also use the screen of the smartphone itself, and the signal used by the beacon may be not only visible light but also infrared or ultraviolet light.

[0021] As shown on the navigation screen 500 in Fig. 5, the service provider identifies the location of customer 301 by capturing the penlight-shaped beacon carried by customer 301 with the camera of the service provider's vehicle 302. The beacon transmits a signal that identifies customer 301, encoded with the intensity of the light, etc. The camera of the service provider's vehicle 302 detects the light and decodes the intensity signal, thereby identifying where the target passenger, customer 301, is captured on the camera. In other words, by notifying the service provider of the location of the target customer, the customer can be found quickly.

[0022] (3) The relative position information of the service provider's vehicle 302 is also displayed on the customer's mobile terminal. By sending relative position information to the customer 301 calculated by the service provider to the customer's terminal via the currently connected Wi-Fi, the relative position of the service provider's vehicle 302 is displayed on the customer's terminal, making it easier for the customer to find the service provider.

[0023] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiment has been described in detail to provide a better understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not necessarily limited to an embodiment having all of the configurations described. [Explanation of symbols]

[0024] 200 database servers 220 Map Server 240 dispatch server 300 Wi-Fi coverage area 301 Customers (passengers) 302 Service provider's vehicle 401 Boarding point

Claims

1. A device that acts as a Wi-Fi access point is installed in the service provider's vehicle, and communicates with a mobile terminal carried by the customer every time the vehicle moves a certain distance, calculates the distance between the service provider's vehicle and the customer using Wi-Fi ranging technology, and identifies the customer's relative position to the service provider's vehicle; A signal for identifying the customer is encoded by the intensity of light from a penlight-type beacon carried by the customer and transmitted, and the signal is captured by a camera in the service provider's vehicle, thereby identifying the position where the customer is captured on an image screen. A customer location recognition system.

2. 2. The customer location recognition system according to claim 1, Using the relative position, an icon representing the customer is superimposed on an image of the customer's position taken by the camera of the service provider's vehicle, and the image is displayed on a monitor of the service provider. A customer location recognition system.

3. 3. The customer location recognition system according to claim 1 or 2, The relative position information is sent to the mobile terminal of the customer via Wi-Fi, and the relative position of the vehicle of the service provider is displayed on the mobile terminal of the customer. A customer location recognition system.

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