Patent ID: 8115625
Filing Date: 2012-02-14
Classification: G08B,H04M,H04W

Abstract:
1. A notification system for notifying a terminal of information regarding a position of a user having another terminal based on a traveling route of the user, said notification system comprising: a first position detection unit operable to detect a position of a first terminal used by a first user; a second position detection unit operable to detect positions of second terminals used by a plurality of second users; a notification control area determination unit operable to determine a plurality of notification control areas, each respective notification control area of the plurality of notification control areas (i) being an area on a map, (ii) being an area in which position information regarding the position of the first terminal used by the first user is not notified when the first terminal is in the respective notification control area, and (iii) including a predetermined area, the plurality of notification control areas being determined based on the positions of each of the second terminals used by the plurality of second users; a traveling route prediction unit operable to (i) predict, for each respective notification control area, a respective first user traveling route from a current detected position of the first terminal to the respective notification control area, such that the respective first user traveling route indicates a route to be traveled by the first user from a current time onward, and (ii) predict, for each respective notification control area, a respective second user traveling route to be traveled by a respective second user of the plurality of second users from the current time onward; a required-for-return time period calculation unit operable to calculate, for each respective notification control area, a respective required-for-return time period representing a time period required for arriving at the respective notification control area when the first user travels along the respective first user traveling route; a companion specification unit operable to specify, as a companion, a second user, of the plurality of second users, that is able to join the first user within a predetermined period of time and accompany the first user, the second user being specified as the companion based on the respective first user and the respective second user traveling routes predicted by said traveling route prediction unit and the respective required-for-return time periods calculated by said required-for-return time period calculation unit; an accompanying starting position calculation unit operable to calculate an accompanying starting position at which the second user specified by said companion specification unit starts accompanying the first user; a notification unit operable to notify the second terminals, including the second terminal used by the specified second user, of information regarding the specified second user and regarding the accompanying starting position; and a notification control unit operable to permit, for each respective notification control area, a notification of the position information regarding the position of the first terminal used by the first user when (i) the respective required-for-return time period has elapsed from the current time and (ii) the first user has not arrived at the respective notification control area, and operable to suppress, for each respective notification control area, the notification of the position information regarding the position of the first terminal used by the first user when the respective required-for-return time period has not elapsed from the current time.