Mobile information device with user information service in a local area

Abstract: Each time a mobile terminal (20) enters a service area of an information providing device (10) and its location is registered by the information providing device (10), the area code and local code of telephone numbers and addresses associated with the service area are sent from the information providing device (10) to the mobile terminal (20). Based on the area and local codes of telephone numbers and the addresses, the terminal (20) retrieves the telephone numbers, names and addresses of acquaintances residing within the service area from an address book (32) stored in its RAM (23) and visually displays them with a notification sound. Thus, the user at the terminal (20) can know access information for acquaintances residing within each service area each time the user enters the service area.

Description: The present invention relates to a mobile information device capable of obtaining local color-rich user information that is closely associated with an area where it is located. In recent years, in the field of cellular communication system, a simplified mobile communication system employing weak electromagnetic waves, for example, PHS (personal handyphone system), has been put to practical use. The PHS is such that telephone terminals (PHS terminals) are used each of which is equipped with a communication unit that provides a low output of the order of 10 mW, a base station is placed in each of subdivided areas measuring 100 to 400 meters in diameter and covered by the weak electromagnetic waves, and the base stations are controlled by a central base station equipped with an exchange unit. The advantages of the PHS are that the telephone terminals can easily be made small, lightweight, and inexpensive because of the use of the low-output communication unit. In addition, the PHS has an advantage of being very suitable for data communications because of its data rate as high as 9,600 bps. The simplified mobile communication system is the most distinct from the non-simplified mobile communication system in that each service area is very small and location registration processing of notifying the PHS center (control station) of the location of each terminal through a base station is performed frequently. There are some prior arts utilizing this feature, as described in Japanese Patent Publications (KOKAI) H5-175,899 and H9-322,229. According to these prior arts, in order to inform the user of the current location of the terminal, the terminal has an address book in which addresses or addresses and area/local codes of the service areas are stored. If the terminal receives a base station ID (CS-ID) transmitted from a base station, the terminal displays the addresses or addresses and area/local codes of the corresponding service area in which the terminal is located. These prior arts, however, merely display the location information. A mode of use of the simplified mobile communication system for making full use of its feature in which each service area is very small and location registration processing is performed frequently has not been conceived. Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide a mobile information device which can obtain location information that is closely associated with a local area where it is located and perform a new function based on the obtained location information, and a corresponding method. This object is solved by the invention as claimed in the independent claims. Preferred embodiments are defined in the dependent claims. According to an embodiment, there is provided a mobile information device comprising: a user memory; means for writing user information corresponding to an area into the user memory; means for receiving local information indicating an area in which the terminal locates; means for extracting user information corresponding to the area indicated by the received local information; and means for outputting the extracted user information. According to another embodiment, there is provided a computer program product for a mobile information device, the program stored in a computer readable medium and comprising the following steps of: receiving local information indicating an area in which the terminal locates; means for extracting user information corresponding to the area indicated by the received local information from the user memory for storing plural user information corresponding to areas; and outputting the extracted user information. According to the information providing system of an embodiment, the terminal is set in advance to send an information request signal at the time of responding to a location registration signal. Thus, the terminal can automatically issue a request to a base station for local information at the time of location registration to obtain the local information. The invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which; FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an information providing system utilizing a mobile information device according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 shows the stored contents of the local information storage unit in a base station shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 3 shows the stored contents of the address book data storage section of the RAM in the mobile terminal shown in FIG. 1; and FIG. 4 is a flowchart for the operation of the embodiment for providing a list of acquaintances residing within a local area as local information. A preferred embodiment of a mobile information device according to the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring now to FIG. 1, there is illustrated in block diagram form a schematic of the PHS system as an information providing system utilizing a mobile information device according to the embodiment of the present invention. Here, the PHS system is composed of a base station 10 and a mobile information terminal device (PHS telephone terminal) 20. The base station 10 is located in each of subdivided service areas 100 to 400 meters in diameter and connected to a PHS center station not shown by a public line. The base station is under the control of the PHS center. The base station 10 is equipped with a CPU 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, and a communication unit 14. The ROM 12 stores a base station ID 15 and local information 16. The base station ID 15 is sent from the base station 10 to the terminal device 20 at regular intervals for registration of the location of the terminal device 20 that is present in the service area associated with that base station. The local information 16 is information specific to the service area covered by the base station 10. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the local information 16 contains the area code and the local code of the phone number and the town address (the city or town name) of the service area. The local information 16 may contain the base station ID or an area information. Further, in a GPS (Global Positioning System), the local information 16 may further contain the position information (latitude and longitude) of the GPS. The local information 16 is sent to the terminal device 20 that has entered the service area of the base station 10 and for which location registration has been completed as requested by it. The CPU 11, which operates in accordance with a base station control program (not shown) built into the ROM 12, controls each component of the base station 10 in response to center signals transmitted from the PHS center not shown, such as a terminal calling (ringing) signal and a talk signal, and terminal signals received from the terminal device 20 in the communication unit 14, such as a location registration responding signal and a dial/talk signal. Thus, the connection between the terminal device 20 within the service area and the PHS center is established through the base station 10. The base station 10 also sends the local information 16 to the terminal device 20 upon location registration. The mobile information terminal device 20 is equipped with a CPU 21, a ROM 22, a RAM 23, an input device 24, a communication unit 25, an audio input system 26, an audio output system 27, a display device 28, and a storage device 29 using an external storage medium 30. In response to each of various down-link signals sent from the base station 10, such as a base station ID signal for location registration, a local information signal, a received call signal, a talk signal, etc., or various input operation signals input from the input device 24, such as a receiving operation signal, a sending operation signal, etc., the CPU 21 activates the terminal controlling program stored in advance in the ROM 22 or the terminal controlling program read in from the external storage medium 30 to control each component of the terminal device 20. Thus, the CPU 21 performs various reception and response processes on the base station 10 and makes an information display specific to the local information associated with the service area. The communication unit 25 is equipped with a transmitter-receiver having modulation and demodulation functions and a communication ID determination function, allowing reception of down-link signals from the base station 10 and transmission of up-link signals to the base station. The input device 24 is provided with various function keys, such as a power key, reception and sending keys, ten keys, etc. A corresponding key signal is output when a key is pressed by the user. The ROM 22 stores a terminal controlling program for controlling the whole of the mobile information processing terminal device 20, and a telephone number and a communication ID which are specific to that terminal. The RAM 23 contains an address book 32 (refer to FIG. 3) into which telephone numbers, names and addresses of user's acquaintances are entered through the input device 24 by the user, a work memory which temporarily stores data input to or output from the CPU 21 in accordance with communications with the base station 10, and a display memory which stores display data that is displayed on the display device 28. FIG. 3 shows the data structure of the address book 32 in the RAM 23 of the PHS mobile terminal device 20. In the address book, a list of address book formed of the telephone numbers, names and addresses is stored as user information registered by the user. The user information may include memorandum information corresponding to the local area data registered or entered by the user. The user information may be input by the user using the input device 24 or transmitted from the network. The received information is registered. The audio input device 26 is equipped with a microphone and an analog-to-digital converter. A voice signal is entered through this audio input device. The audio output device 27 is provided with a digital-to-analog converter and a loudspeaker. This audio output device provides voice outputs, operation confirmation tones, and notification sounds (beeps). Next, the local information providing process of the embodiment thus arranged will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for this process implemented by the base station 10 and the terminal device 20. Note that the location registration is performed by the PHS center. As described previously, the base station 10 transmits a notification signal including the base station ID via a control channel at regular intervals (step A1). With the power turned ON, the terminal device 20 is placed in the wait state for receiving the base station ID (the bas station ID may include an area ID information defined by plural service areas of plural base stations). The wait state starts when the reception of a predetermined control channel starts or the received control channel is changed to another one. In the wait state, it is determined whether location registration is possible or not (step B1). When the base station ID is received, it is determined that the location registration is possible. The terminal device 20 starts the location registration protocol. The base station 10 executes the location registration protocol between the PHS center. The location of the terminal is registered in the PHS center. Upon completion of the location registration, it is determined by the terminal device 20 in step B2 whether the local information is requested or not. This is intended to allow the user to determine whether to request the local information or not because the local information needs a charge. When requesting the local information, the user is required to set up the local information receiving function in advance through the operation of the input device 24 of the terminal device 20. Specifically, if a local information requesting flag is set in the RAM 23, it represents that the user desires to request the local information. If the user does not desire the local information, the information providing operation terminates. If the local information request flag has been set, then a local information request signal is sent from the terminal device 20 to the base station 10 in step B3. Upon receipt of the local information request signal from the mobile terminal device 20 (step A2), the base station 10 sends the local information 16 (telephone number information (area and local codes) and town address information concerning the service area as shown in FIG. 2) to the terminal device 20 that has made a request to send. Upon receipt of the local information from the base station 10 (step B4), the terminal device 20 searches through the address book in the RAM 23 using the received local information (the area and local codes) as a search key in step B5. In step B6, it is determined whether or not some data in the address book coincides with the received local information. If there is no coincidence, then the information providing operation terminates. If, on the other hand, there are coincidence data, a notification sound for indicating the provision of user information is generated in step B7. In step B8, a list of coincidence information concerning the acquaintance, i.e., the telephone number, name and address of the acquaintance who resides in the service area, etc., is displayed on the display device 28. Watching this display, the user will think of visiting or calling the acquaintance. If the user operates a communication key of the terminal, the displayed telephone number is automatically dialed. If, in this case, customers are registered in place of acquaintances, then the terminal user will be able to visit the customers in an efficient manner, increasing business chances. According to this embodiment, as described above, when the user having the mobile terminal device 20 enters the service area of the base station 10 and then location registration is performed, the telephone number data (the area and local codes) and town address data (city or town) associated with the service area are sent from the base station 10 to the terminal device 20. Based on the received area and local codes and address data, the terminal 10 retrieves address book data (user information) stored in the RAM 23 which coincides with the received area and local codes and town address data, and displays them together with a notification sound. Therefore, each time the terminal user enters a service area, he or she can know, for example, access information for acquaintances who resides in that service area with no need for the user himself or herself to check the address book. The technique described in the above embodiment, that is, the information providing process of the embodiment illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 4 is available in the form of a computer-executable program, which, for the processing on the terminal side, can be recorded on the storage medium 30 (see FIG. 1). As the storage medium, use may be made of a memory card (ROM or RAM card), a magnetic disk (floppy or hard disk), an optical disk (CD-ROM or DVD), a magneto-optical disk, or a semiconductor memory. The storage medium 30 may be fixedly or removably mounted in the storage device 29. The CPU 21, which is a computer, reads the program recorded on the storage medium 30 through the storage device 29 and performs the functions of the terminal described in each of the embodiments, permitting the information providing process according to the above-described technique to be carried out. In the base station 10, as in the terminal device 20, the CPU 11 reads a program from an external storage medium and performs the functions of the base station described in each embodiment. As described above, in accordance with the mobile information device of the present invention, when the mobile information device is moved to the service area of a base station, a local information request signal is sent from the mobile information device to the base station. Thereby, local information associated with the service area which has been stored in advance in the local information memory means in the base station is sent to the mobile information device. In response to the local information, the mobile information device retrieves address data which, of addresses stored in advance in an address book storage means, corresponds to the local information and outputs them in visual form. Thus, each time the terminal user enters a different service area, he or she can know addresses that correspond to the service area. Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the present invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details, representative devices, and illustrated examples shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims. For example, although the present invention has been described in terms of a simplified mobile communication system using weak electromagnetic waves, such as the PHS system, the present invention is applicable to any of systems in which, each time a terminal enters a service area, the terminal location is registered in the corresponding base station. Moreover, the user information is not limited to the address book information. For example, the user information may be the addresses of government offices and public facilities, information concerning events at various facilities, local weather information, information concerning traffic jams, or the like. The contents of local information do not limit the scope of the present invention at all. Furthermore, in the case of transportation service information, it is not necessarily required for a user to designate a destination at the terminal.

Claims: A mobile information device comprising: a user memory (23); means (24) for writing user information including specific data capable of specifying an area into the user memory, and characterized by comprising: means (25) for obtaining location information indicating an area in which the mobile information device locates; means (21) for extracting, from the user memory, user information including specific data corresponding to the area indicated by the obtained location information; and means (28) for outputting the extracted user information. The device according to daim 1, characterized in that the writing means comprises key inputting means (24). The device according to claim 1, characterized by further comprising means for obtaining unique information of a desired area from an external device, and the writing means writes the obtained unique information as the user information into the user memory. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the obtaining means comprises means (25) for receiving, from a radio base station which is able to communicate with the mobile information device by a radio, the location information indicating an area in which the mobile information device locates. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized by further comprising means for setting a predetermined flag based on a key operation by a user, and the obtaining means obtains location information only when the predetermined flag is set. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the outputting means comprises means for informing the extracted user information to a user of the mobile information device. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the outputting means comprises means for displaying the extracted user information. The device according to claim 7, characterized by further comprising: means (24) for instructing an access to a destination when the displayed user information includes an access information for accessing to the destination; and means (21) for accessing a predetermined destination when the instructing means instructs the access to the destination. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the location information comprises an area code and a local code of telephone numbers associated with the area, a town address, latitude and longitude information, or a base station ID. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the user information written in the user memory comprises a name, address, or telephone number of user's acquaintances, and the extracting means extracts the name, address or telephone number of acquaintances residing within the area indicated by the obtained location information. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the user information written in the user memory comprises a transportation schedule, and the extracting means extracts the transportation schedule of transportation running within the area indicated by the obtained location information. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the user information written in the user memory comprises addresses of government offices and public facilities, and the extracting means extracts addresses of government offices and public facilities within the area indicated by the obtained location information. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the user information written in the user memory comprises information concerning events at facilities, and the extracting means extracts information concerning events at facilities within the area indicated by the obtained location information. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the user information written in the user memory comprises weather information, and the extracting means extracts weather information at the area indicated by the obtained location information. The device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the user information written in the user memory comprises traffic information, and the extracting means extracts traffic information at the area indicated by the obtained location information. A method of informing user information, stored in the user memory of the mobile device, relating to an area in which the mobile device locates to user of the mobile device, characterized by comprising steps of: obtaining location information indicating an area in which the mobile device locates; extracting, from the user memory, user information relating to the area indicated by the obtained location information; and informing the extracted user information to the user. The method according to claim 16, characterized by further comprising steps of: obtaining a unique information of a desired area from an external device, and writing the obtained a unique information as user information into the user memory. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that the obtaining step of the location information includes step of receiving, from a radio base station which be able to communicate with the mobile device by a radio, location information indicating an area in which the mobile device locates. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 18, characterized in that the obtaining step of the location information is executed only when a predetermined flag is set by user. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that the informing step of the extracted user information includes step of displaying the extracted user information. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, characterized in that the user information comprises a name, address, or telephone number of user's acquaintances, and the extracting step of the user information includes step of extracting the name, address, or telephone number of acquaintances residing within the area indicated by the obtained location information. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, characterized in that the user information comprises a transportation schedule, and the extracting step of the user information indudes step of extracting the transportation schedule of transportation running within the area indicated by the obtained location information. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, characterized in that the user information comprises address of government offices and public facilities, and the extracting step of the user information includes step of extracting addresses of government offices and public facilities within the area indicated by the obtained location information. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, characterized in that the user information comprises information concerning events at facilities, and the extracting step of the user information includes step of extracting information concerning events at facilities within the area indicated by the obtained location information. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, characterized in that the user information comprises weather information, and the extracting step of the user information includes step of extracting weather information at the area indicated by the obtained location information. The method according to any one of claims 16 to 20, characterized in that the user information comprises traffic information, and the extracting step of the user information includes step of extracting traffic information at the area indicated by the obtained location information.

Inventors: NARA KAZUYA, NARA, KAZUYA, Nara, Kazuya, Casio Computer co., Ltd.
Applicants: CASIO COMPUTER CO LTD, CASIO COMPUTER CO., LTD.
Application year: 1998
Main classification: H04Q7
IPC codes: G06F13, H04M1, G06F17, H04W88, H04W4