Interior image information providing system using portable information terminal and portable information terminal having versatile functions

An image information providing system enables easily obtaining image information on the inside of a facility. The image information providing system comprises a display panel for displaying an image, image signal receiving part for receiving an image signal to be sent via a mobile communication network, an image signal reproducing part which reproduces the image signal which has been received by the image signal receiving part and makes the display panel display the reproduced image, and a GPS circuit which outputs, via a mobile communication network, a position detecting signal for making a judgement on a CCD camera which sends the image signal to the image signal receiving part.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Now, an embodiment of the present invention will be explained below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating a portable telephone, as an example of the portable information terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view illustrating a condition of the portable telephone when operated. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 , a portable telephone 10 has a display panel 12 arranged at the central part of the surface of a main body casing 11 , and an open/close cover 13 disposed at the lower part of the display panel 12 . The open/close cover 13 is rotatably attached vertically at the upper end part thereof to the main body casing 11 by means of an axle 13 A, which is parallel to the lower end rim of the display panel 12 . In addition, there is provided a control panel 14 on the part to be covered with the open/close cover 13 of the main body casing 11 . As shown in FIG. 2 , on the surface of the control panel 14 , there are arranged first operation keys K 1 such as telephone Number input keys and function keys. Moreover, on the reverse side of the open/close cover 13 (which is the front side when the cover is opened), there are arranged second operation keys K 2 . There is provided a CCD camera 18 on the upper right part of the main body casing 11 as shown in the figures. There is also provided a spectrum dial 19 on the left such as for switching the display windows of the display panel 12 . FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the control part of the portable telephone 10 . Referring to FIG. 3 , an antenna 20 attached to the main body casing 11 of the portable telephone 10 is successively connected with a transceiver circuit 21 , a data processing circuit 22 , and a high-speed processing microprocessor or a digital signal processor (DSP) 23 . Here, the data processing circuit 22 performs clock control on the image and audio signals received by the transceiver circuit 21 and serves as an interface to a CPU, described later. The DSP 23 is connected with an audio codec 24 . The audio codec 24 is connected with a microphone 25 and a ringer 26 . In addition, the audio codec 24 is connected with a loudspeaker 29 via a modulation transmitter circuit 27 and a demodulation receiver circuit 28 . The data processing circuit 22 and the DSP 23 are connected to the CPU 30 . In addition, the CPU 30 is connected with the display panel 12 via a LCD driver 31 , the CCD camera 18 via a signal processing circuit 32 , and an open/close detection sensor 33 which is attached to the open/close part of the open/close cover 13 to detect the opened or closed status of the open/close cover 13 . The CPU 30 is also connected with a touch panel 34 attached to the display panel 12 . Via an external I/F 36 , connected to the CPU 30 is a connector 35 which is connected to a personal computer or the like and through which various data is communicated to and from the personal computer or the like. The CPU 30 is also connected with a SRAM 37 in which various personal data are stored such as abbreviated telephone numbers to be inputted by the user. The CPU 30 is further connected with a ROM 38 in which various control programs for the portable telephone are stored. The CPU 30 is also connected with the spectrum dial 19 , and the first operation keys K 1 and the second operation keys K 2 , which contain various operation keys such as function keys and a ten-key pad for use in inputting telephone numbers. Furthermore, the CPU 30 is connected with a global positioning system (GPS) circuit 39 , the position of the portable telephone 10 is measured by communication with a satellite, and the position data is inputted into the CPU 30 . The control part of the portable telephone 10 allows the transceiver circuit 21 to receive a radio wave through the antenna 20 . Then, the data processing circuit 22 separates the radio waves into an image signal and an audio signal. While being subjected to clock control, the image signal is outputted to the CPU 30 and the audio signal is outputted to the DSP 23 each in accordance with a command from the CPU 30 . The audio signal inputted to the DSP 23 is subjected to audio processing in the DSP 23 and then inputted to the audio codec 24 for D/A conversion. Then, the resulting signal is outputted to the loudspeaker 29 via the modulation transmitter circuit 27 and the demodulation receiver circuit 28 as well as to the ringer 26 . On the other hand, the audio signal inputted from the microphone 25 is subjected to A/D conversion in the audio codec 24 . Then, the resulting signal is transmitted from the antenna 20 via the DSP 23 , the data processing circuit 22 , and the transceiver circuit 21 . The CPU 30 allows the various control programs of the portable telephone stored in the ROM 38 to control the operation of the data processing circuit 22 , the DSP 23 , the LCD driver 31 and the like. That is, in accordance with an operation signal from the first operation keys K 1 or the second operation keys K 2 , the CPU 30 will read a control program corresponding to the operation signal from the ROM 38 . Then, in accordance with the control program that has been read, the CPU 30 will output image data of an operation window to the LCD driver 31 to allow the display panel 12 to display the operation window. In addition, the CPU 30 controls the operation of the data processing circuit 22 and the DSP 23 , reads data from or writes data to the SRAM 37 , and communicates data with the personal computer or the like to which the connector 35 is connected. Furthermore, when a display window has been switched over to a new window through the spectrum dial 19 , the CPU 30 reads corresponding image data read from the ROM 38 and then outputs the resulting data to the LCD driver 31 , thereby allowing the new window to appear on the display panel 12 . Furthermore, upon picking-up of an image by means of the CCD camera 18 , the CPU 30 will receive the image signal which is sent from the CCD camera 18 and processed in the signal processing circuit 32 . Then, the CPU 30 outputs the image signal to the LCD driver 31 , thereby allowing the resulting image to appear on the display panel 12 . Moreover, the CPU 30 sends the position data inputted from the GPS circuit 39 from the antenna 20 via the data processing circuit 22 and the sending/receiving circuit 21 to the mobile communication network and further sends the position data to an interior image information providing site (which will be described later) via Internet. In this example, the portable telephone 10 is equipped with six applications: telephone, what's-new, mail, Web, music/image, and PIM (Personal Information Manager) applications. As shown in FIG. 4 , successively displayed on the display panel 12 through the operation of the spectrum dial 19 are a telephone window A, a what's-new window B, a mail window C, a Web window D, a music/image window E, and a PIM window F, corresponding to each of the applications. FIG. 5A shows an example of the telephone window A to be displayed on the display panel 12 , FIG. 5B shows an example of the what's-new window B, FIG. 5C shows an example of the mail window C, and FIG. 5D shows an example of the Web window D. FIG. 5E shows an example of the music/image window E and FIG. 5F shows an example of the PIM window F. FIG. 6 is a conceptual view illustrating the window image of each of the application windows A to F to be displayed on the display panel 12 . That is, the display windows A to F are conceptually each assigned to each of the six regions which are provided by radially dividing a disc T with its center at the spectrum dial 19 , the display windows A to F being arranged as shown in FIG. 4 . A rotational operation of the spectrum dial 19 allows the disc T to rotate about the spectrum dial 19 , causing the display windows A to F on the disc T to appear successively on the display panel 12 . Incidentally, each of the regions divided radially on the disc T is provided with its own color, whereby each of the windows A to F is displayed on the display panel 12 in a different background color from any one of the other regions. In addition, each of the display windows A to F is provided spatially with contents Aa to Fa corresponding to each application as conceptually expressed in FIG. 7 . Furthermore, each of the applications is provided with each input edit window A′ to F′, which is to be displayed through a mode change in place of the windows A to F as shown in FIG. 8 . A program stored in the ROM 38 of the control part (refer to FIG. 3 ) organizes the display form of the windows A to F and the input edit window A′ to F′ on the display panel 12 , and the contents Aa to Fa each corresponding to each of the applications. FIG. 9 is a system configuration view showing an embodiment of the interior image information providing system according to the present invention. Hereinafter, the description will be given with reference to stores such as department sores as facilities where image information is provided. However, the present interior image information providing system is applied not only to such stores, but also to various facilities such as museums, art museums, exhibition sites, stadiums and the like. Referring to FIG. 9 , the interior image information providing site S 1 is a site which sends the portable telephone 10 and another portable information terminal such as personal digital assistants 10 ′ image information provided by facility sites (which will be described later) based on position data to be sent from said portable telephone 10 and the personal digital assistants 10 ′ via Internet I and comprises an administrative control server S 1 a , a program database S 1 b , and a registered facility database S 1 c. In the program database S 1 b of the interior image information providing site S 1 , identification numbers (IDs) of the respective facility sites S 2 and processing programs for driving and controlling CCD cameras and processing image information (which will be described later) in the facility sites S 2 are stored according to the respective IDs. Also, in the registered user database S 1 c , information related to the facilities which have been registered in this interior image information providing system such as IDs for identifying the facility sites S 2 of registered facility sites and the store name, category, position data and the like according to respective IDs are registered. Then, the administrative control server S 1 a is set so as to receive position information to be sent from the portable telephone 10 and personal digital assistants 10 ′ (which will be described in detail later) and further receive image information to be sent from the facility sites S 2 of the stores where the portable telephone 10 and the personal digital assistants 10 ′ are located, and then send such image information to the portable telephone 10 and the personal digital assistants 10 ′ via Internet I and the mobile communication network N. In the respective stores registered in the interior image information providing system, the facility site S 2 connected to the Internet I is installed and the facility site S 2 comprises a facility server S 2 a which supervises control for sending information to and receiving information from the interior image information providing site S 1 , a driving device S 2 b for a CCD camera, and a CCD camera S 2 c installed at a necessary position in the store. Now, the operation procedures and actions in the portable telephone 10 when image information on the inside of a store (facility) is received by means of the portable telephone 10 will be explained. FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the main routine for the mode change (the selection of an application) of the portable telephone 10 . Referring to FIG. 10 , the CPU 30 (refer to FIG. 3 ) determines if control is in the input edit mode (step a 1 ). If control is not in the input edit mode, it is then determined if the spectrum dial 19 has been operated and a link buffer has been set to the application that is to be selected through the operation of the spectrum dial 19 (step a 2 ). In the step a 2 , if the spectrum dial 19 has been operated, the mode is switched over to the application that has been selected by the operation of the spectrum dial 19 . In addition, if the link buffer has been set to the selected application, the buffer link is cleared (step a 3 ). Then, control proceeds to the viewer mode subroutine of each application (step a 4 ). In the step a 2 , if the spectrum dial 19 has not been operated, control proceeds to the subroutine of step a 4 in the viewer mode of the application that has been selected in the previous operation. On the other hand, in step a 1 , if control is in the input edit mode, control proceeds to the subroutine in the input edit mode of the application that has been selected in the previous operation (step a 5 ). Then, it is determined if the exit key has been inputted (step a 6 ). If the exit key has not been inputted, control repeats the procedure from the aforementioned step a 1 . If the exit key has been inputted, control exits the viewer mode or the input edit mode of the selected application. In a case where an image of the inside of a store where a user visited is received through the mode changing operation of the portable telephone 10 , control turns on a power source of the GPS circuit 39 (refer to FIG. 3 ) and starts to detect the position information of the place where the portable telephone 10 or the portable information terminal is located, and control then selects the viewer mode of the web application and makes the display panel 12 of the portable telephone or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ display a web window D of the viewer mode. Then, when control displays a web input edit mode D′ in the web window D and inputs the URL (uniform resource locator) of the interior image information providing site S 1 therein, the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ accesses the interior image information providing site S 1 from a mobile communication network N via Internet for connecting. Thus, position data indicating the position of the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ which has been detected by the GPS circuit 39 , that is, the position of the store where the user carrying the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ with him/her visited is sent to the administrative control server S 1 a of the interior image information providing site S 1 via Internet. The administrative control server S 1 a which has been received the position data of the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ searches the registered database S 1 c based on the thus received position data and then reads out the ID of the facility site S 2 of a registered store having corresponding position data. The administrative control server S 1 a further searches the program database S 1 b based on the thus read-out ID and reads out a processing program having a corresponding ID. Then, the administrative control server S 1 a accesses the facility site S 2 having the ID via Internet I based on the thus read-out processing program for connecting. The facility site S 2 which has been accessed by the administrative control server S 1 a is a facility site which has been installed in the store where the user carrying the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ with him/her visited. Then the facility server S 2 a of the facility site S 2 controls the driving device S 2 b in accordance with the read-out processing program which has been in the administrative control server S 1 a , thereby driving the CCD camera S 2 c for imaging the inside state of the store. The image information from the inside of the store which has been imaged by the CCD camera S 2 c is sent, via Internet, to the administrative control server S 1 a of the interior image information providing site S 1 . In this process, if the CCD cameras S 2 c are respectively provided at a plurality of positions inside the store, the CCD cameras S 2 c at respective positions of the inside of the store are switched over in order at intervals of a predetermined period of time and picked-up images are taken in one by one. Also, the CCD cameras S 2 c are respectively rotated so as to image a predetermined range of the inside of the store in order. The image information on the inside of the store which has been thus sent from the facility site S 2 to the interior image information providing site S 1 is sent to the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ via Internet I and a mobile communication network N by the administrative control server S 1 a. The portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ receives, by means of the antenna 20 and the transceiver circuit 21 , the image information which has been thus sent from interior image information providing site S 1 . Then, the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ demodulates said image information in the data processing circuit 22 and inputs the image signal into the CPU 30 while performing clock control. Herein, if an audio signal is included in the digital image signal, the audio signal is separated in this data processing circuit 22 , inputted into the DSP 23 , and outputted from the speaker 29 of the portable telephone 10 as mentioned above. The demodulated image signal, that has been inputted into the CPU 30 , is subjected to necessary processing such as compression and decompression and then outputted to the LCD driver 31 . Then, based on the image signal to be inputted, the LCD driver 31 makes the display panel 12 display an image obtained through imaging of the inside of the store, for example, as shown in FIG. 11 , in real time. Thus, by means of the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′, the user can see the image obtained by imaging the state of the store where the user is in real time. Furthermore, in terms of the above operation of the portable telephone 10 , if the store where the user has visited is not included in stores which have registered in the interior image information providing system, the administrative control server S 1 a of the interior image information providing site S 1 finds that no store that corresponds to the position data sent from the portable telephone 10 has been registered as a result of search of the registered facility database S 1 c and sends a signal for displaying a message to this effect to the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ for displaying on the display panel 12 of the portable telephone 10 and the like. Herein, another construction may be applied to the interior image information providing system, wherein data for distinguishing the portable telephone 10 and the personal digital assistant 10 ′, which will access interior image information providing site S 1 , is added to the processing programs of the respective IDs, that have been accumulated in the program database S 1 b of the interior image information providing site S 1 , and said distinguishing data of the portable telephone 10 or the like is sent to the facility site S 2 of the store where the portable telephone 10 or the like is located, so that the image information of the images picked-up by the CCD camera S 2 c can be sent from the facility server S 2 a of the facility site S 2 via a mobile communication network N directly to the portable telephone 10 or the like. Also, another construction may be applied, wherein the CCD camera S 2 c is kept driven at all times in the facility site S 2 and when the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ which is sending the position data which has been detected in the GPS circuit 39 (refer to FIG. 3 ) to the interior image information providing site S 1 enters the inside of an arbitrary store which has been registered in the interior image information providing system, the interior image information providing site S 1 instructs the facility site S 2 of the store where the portable telephone 10 or the like has entered to send the image information obtained by the CCD camera S 2 c to the interior image information providing site S 1 so that the thus sent image information is sent to the portable telephone 10 or the like. FIG. 12 is a system configuration view showing another embodiment of the interior image information providing system of to the present embodiment. According to the interior image information providing system according to the present invention, data of each registered store recorded in the registered facility database S 1 c of the interior image information providing site S 1 does not include position data and judgement as to whether the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ entered inside a registered store is made based on the map data which is provided by a map database site S 3 connected to Internet I. The map database site S 3 comprises a map server S 3 a for providing map information, a map database S 3 b in which map image data is accumulated, a facility database S 3 c in which coordinate data indicating names and positions of facilities on the map is accumulated, and an address database S 3 d in which address data on the map is stored, whereby various services related to the map information are provided for other various sites connected to the Internet I. Then, of facilities recorded in the facility database S 3 c of the map database site S 3 , stores which has been registered in the interior image information providing system are provided with IDs, respectively. In the interior image information providing system, when, from the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′, position data indicating the position of said portable telephone 10 or the like detected through the GPS circuit 39 is inputted into the interior image information providing site S 1 , the administrative control server S 1 a sends the position data of the portable telephone 10 or the like to the map database site S 3 via Internet I. The map server S 3 a which has received the position data from the portable telephone 10 searches the facility database S 3 c , reads out data indicating the ID of a store having corresponding position data, and sends the thus read-out ID data to the interior image information providing site S 1 via Internet I. Then, the administrative control server S 1 a of the interior image information providing site S 1 which has received the ID data from the map database site S 3 searches the registered facility database S 1 c . If there is a store having a corresponding ID, that is, if a store where the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ entered has been registered in the interior image information providing system, the administrative control server S 1 a searches the program database S 1 b and reads out a processing program having a corresponding ID, in the same manner as in the aforementioned embodiment. Then, the administrative control server S 1 a accesses the facility site S 2 having the ID via Internet based on the thus read-out processing program and receives picked-up image information obtained from the CCD camera S 2 c of the facility site S 2 . The administrative control server S 1 a further sends the picked-up image information to the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′, thus an image showing an inside condition of the store where the user visited is displayed on the display panel 12 of the portable telephone 10 or the like. Furthermore, if no ID that corresponds to the store's ID which has been read out from the facility database S 3 c of the map database site S 3 is recorded in the registered facility database site S 1 c of the interior image information providing site S 1 , the administrative control server S 1 a finds that the store where the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ has not registered in the interior image information providing system and sends a signal for displaying a message to this effect to the portable telephone 10 or the like for displaying on the display panel 12 of the portable telephone 10 and the like. In the interior image information providing system according to the present embodiment, judgement as to whether the store where the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ entered has been registered in said system or not is carried out by using services of the map database site S 3 which performs various services related to the map and, in general, such a map database site S 3 always renews its updated map information, therefore, even if a registered store has moved, it is not necessary to rewrite the data of the registered facility database S 1 c of the interior image information providing site S 1 and maintenance of the map data base site S 3 makes it possible to perform the service for providing the portable telephone 10 or the like with the interior image information. In the above embodiments, it is detected that the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ carried by the user is located inside a facility such as a store and an image showing an inside condition of the facility is then displayed on the display panel of the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′. However, in the following embodiment, interior image information on facilities located in the vicinity of the place where the user carrying the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′ with him/her stands is displayed on the display panel of the portable telephone 10 or the personal digital assistant 10 ′. That is, referring to FIG. 12 , when-position data indicating the position of the portable telephone 10 which has been detected through the GPS circuit 39 is inputted into the interior information providing site S 1 from the portable telephone 10 (refer to FIG. 1 ), the administrative control server S 1 a sends the position data of the portable telephone 10 or the like to the map database site S 3 via Internet I. The map server S 3 a which has received the position data from the portable telephone 10 searches the map database S 3 b and the facility database S 3 c based on the position data, whereby map data of the vicinity including the place where the user carrying the portable telephone 10 with him/her stands is read out from the map database S 3 b and furthermore, various facilities such as stores included in the range of a map image shown by the thus read-out map data are read out from the facility database S 3 c. Then, the map data and facility data which have been read out from the databases are sent to the portable telephone 10 via Internet, thus a map image is displayed on the display panel 12 (refer to FIG. 1 ) of the portable telephone and, at the same time, facilities are displayed at the respective locations on the map image. Furthermore, hyperlinks are embedded in landmarks indicating the respective facilities and the landmarks are linked to the interior image information providing site S 1 . When the user specifies a desirable landmark indicating a facility such as a store where the user wishes to visit, the specified information is sent to the administrative control server S 1 a of the interior image information providing site S 1 via Internet I and the administrative control server S 1 a searches the registered facility database S 1 c based on the specified information. If the ID of the specified facility has been registered in the registered facility database S 1 c , the administrative control server S 1 further searches the program database S 1 b and reads out a processing program having a corresponding ID in the same manner as in the aforementioned embodiment. Then, the administrative control server S 1 a accesses the facility site S 2 having the ID based on the thus read-out processing program via Internet I and receives the picked-up image information obtained from the CCD camera S 2 c of the facility site S 2 . The administrative control server S 1 a further sends the picked-up image information to the portable telephone 10 , thus an image showing the inside condition of the facility specified by the user is displayed on the display panel 12 of the portable telephone 10 . Furthermore, if the ID of the facility specified on the map image displayed on the portable telephone 10 has not registered in the registered facility database site S 1 c of the interior image information providing site S 1 , the administrative control server S 1 a sends a signal for displaying a message to this effect to the portable telephone 10 for displaying on the display panel 12 thereof. Thus, the user can make the portable telephone 10 display the inside condition of a facility such as a store or the like where he/she wishes to visit of facilities in the vicinity of the place where he/she stands at that moment for checking beforehand. As described above, the user carrying the portable telephone 10 with him/her can obtain live information showing the inside condition of a facility where he/she wishes to visit, whereby he/she can easily select a facility which suits his/her own purpose. In addition, if a facility such as a store arranges commodities and exhibits that the facility wants to appeal to the visitors at positions easily viewed from the CCD camera S 2 C, images thereof can become very effective advertising media. Then, according to such an interior image information providing system, it becomes possible to grasp the actual situation through provision of live information and such facility information can be obtained anywhere anytime by means of the portable information terminal such as a portable telephone, therefore, advertising media which are more excellent than the advertising by means the press media and commercials in the broadcasting media can be provided. Also, for example, by establishing a system, wherein when a user saves image data provided by the interior image information providing site S 1 and takes the data to the facility, he/she can receive a special service, an ability of the facility to attract customers can be enhanced and users′ advantages also further increase. In the above, the embodiment has been described, wherein the user specifies a facility, on which he/she wishes to receive interior image information, by means of a landmark displayed on the map display. However, a construction may be employed, wherein by displaying a list showing facilities located in the vicinity of the place where the user carrying the portable telephone 10 with him/her stands on the display panel 12 of the portable telephone solely or together with a map image and then specifying a facility name with a hyperlink embedded displayed on the list, image information on the inside of an arbitrary facility can be provided. In addition, when such a list is displayed, it is also possible that by specifying a category of facilities (such as restaurants, movie theaters, convenience stores, and discount shops beforehand so that a list including only the facilities that belong to the target category is displayed. Furthermore, in FIG. 12 , of the GPS circuit 39 of the portable telephone 10 is not used, it is also possible that the user accesses the interior image information providing site S 1 , specifies a desirable area name and facility's category, whereby interior image information of a desirable facility is provided. In this case, the map database site S 3 reads out facilities which belong to the specified area and category through search the facility database S 3 c and the address database S 3 d and makes a list of the facilities to be displayed on the display panel 12 of the portable telephone 10 . Moreover, it is also possible that the user accesses the interior image information providing site S 1 from the portable telephone 10 and then inputs a URL, so that a facility site S 2 of the facility site S 2 on which he/she wishes to receive interior image information can be specified. The present application is based on Japanese Patent Applications Nos. 2000-212886 and 2000-282929 which are hereby incorporated by reference.