Vehicle and terminal device location determining system, and method

Abstract

An information processing system includes a vehicle, a terminal device, and a server that can communicate with the vehicle and the terminal device. The vehicle repeatedly transmits positional information on the vehicle to the server at predetermined timings. The terminal device repeatedly transmits user identification information for identifying a user of the terminal device and positional information on the terminal device to the server at predetermined timings. The server determines, based on the positional information on the vehicle and the positional information on the terminal device, whether or not the terminal device is located in a reference region within a predetermined distance from the vehicle, and determines, based on the user identification information, that the user of the terminal device is on board the vehicle, when it is determined that the terminal device is located in the reference region.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An information processing system comprising:
 a vehicle;   a terminal device; and   a server configured to communicate with the vehicle and the terminal device, wherein:   the vehicle repeatedly transmits positional information on the vehicle to the server at predetermined timings,   the terminal device repeatedly transmits user identification information that identifies a user of the terminal device and positional information on the terminal device to the server at predetermined timings, and the predetermined timings of transmitting the positional information of the terminal device is set to be when the terminal device is detected to accelerate or decelerate, and   the server determines whether the terminal device entered into a reference region, which is set to be within a predetermined threshold distance from the vehicle, which is a threshold set to determine whether the user was located in the vehicle, based on the positional information on the terminal device and the positional information on the vehicle.   
     
     
         2 . The information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein the server:
 determines a first position of the vehicle or a first position of the terminal device in response to determining the terminal device enters the reference region, as an onboard position where the user of the terminal device enters the vehicle; and   determines a second position of the vehicle or a second position of the terminal device in response to determining that the terminal device exits the reference region, as an off-board position where the user of the terminal device exits the vehicle.   
     
     
         3 . The information processing system according to  claim 2 , wherein the server determines a fare based on an amount of time between a time when the terminal device moves to the onboard position until a time when the terminal device moves to the off-board position. 
     
     
         4 . The information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein the server determines the predetermined threshold distance based on a measurement accuracy of a global positioning system and a measurement frequency of the positional information of each of the vehicle and the terminal device. 
     
     
         5 . The information processing system according to  claim 2 , wherein the server includes a processor programmed to:
 in response to determining that the user of the terminal device is on board the vehicle, transmit a notification to a vehicle driver that the user of the terminal device is on board.   
     
     
         6 . The information processing system according to  claim 2 , wherein the server:
 stores information indicating a stop scheduled position of the vehicle, and   determines the on-board position or the off-board position in response to determining that the vehicle and the terminal device are both located in a region defined by a predetermined distance from the stop scheduled position of the vehicle.   
     
     
         7 . The information processing system according to  claim 6 , wherein the stop scheduled position changes when the vehicle is a taxi. 
     
     
         8 . The information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein the server:
 determines movement information of the vehicle or movement information of the terminal device based on the positional information of the vehicle and the positional information of the terminal device at at least two different time points; and   compare the movement information of the vehicle with the movement information of the terminal device to determine that both the movement information of the vehicle and the movement information of the terminal device overlap at a plurality of time points.   
     
     
         9 . The information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein the server:
 stores on-board determination information based on whether the user is determined to be located in the vehicle, and   transmits the on-board determination information to at least one of the vehicle and the terminal device.   
     
     
         10 . The information processing system according to  claim 9 , wherein the user identification information includes payment information on the user that is used for payment of a fare. 
     
     
         11 . The information processing system according to  claim 10 , wherein the server communicates with the terminal device based on the user identification information to receive authorization to pay the fare using on the payment information stored in a memory of the server. 
     
     
         12 . The information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein the server determines relative positional information indicating a relative position between the vehicle and the terminal device based on the positional information on the vehicle and the positional information on the terminal device, the relative positional information being based on a communication range between the vehicle and the terminal device and a distance between a position of the vehicle and a position of the terminal device. 
     
     
         13 . The information processing system according to  claim 12 , wherein the relative positional information is determined based on a strength of a received signal from short-distance radio communication from at least one of the terminal device or the vehicle by the other one of the at least one of the terminal device or the vehicle. 
     
     
         14 . The information processing system according to  claim 12 , wherein the server determines whether the user of the terminal device is on board the vehicle based on the determined relative positional information. 
     
     
         15 . The information processing system according to  claim 12 , wherein the server determines an onboard position where the user of the terminal device enters the vehicle and an off-board position where the user of the terminal device exits the vehicle based on the determined relative positional information. 
     
     
         16 . The information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein an information processing device is installed in the vehicle to perform processes of the vehicle. 
     
     
         17 . The information processing system according to  claim 1 , wherein the reference region is a geofence region that is determined based on the positional information on the vehicle. 
     
     
         18 . The information processing system according to  claim 17 , wherein the geofence region is generated in a one-dimensional space or a three-dimensional space. 
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions that causes a server, which is configured to communicate with a vehicle and a terminal device, to perform processes comprising:
 repeatedly receiving, from the vehicle, positional information on the vehicle at predetermined timings;   repeatedly receiving, from the terminal device, user identification information that identifies a user of the terminal device and positional information on the terminal device at predetermined timings, and the predetermined timings of transmitting the positional information of the terminal device is set to be when the terminal device is detected to accelerate or decelerate; and   determining whether the terminal device entered into a reference region, which is set to be within a predetermined threshold distance from the vehicle, the predetermined threshold distance being a threshold set to determine whether the user was located in the vehicle, and the predetermined threshold distance is based on the positional information on the terminal device and the positional information on the vehicle.   
     
     
         20 . An information processing method that is carried out by an information processing system including a vehicle, a terminal device, and a server configured to communicate with the vehicle and the terminal device, the method comprising:
 repeatedly transmitting, by the vehicle, positional information on the vehicle to the server at predetermined timings;   repeatedly transmitting, by the terminal device, user identification information that identifies a user of the terminal device and positional information on the terminal device to the server at predetermined timings, and the predetermined timings of transmitting the positional information of the terminal device is set to be when the terminal device is detected to accelerate or decelerate; and   determining, by the server, whether the terminal device enters into a reference region, which is set to be within a predetermined threshold distance from the vehicle, the predetermined threshold distance being a threshold set to determine whether the user is located in the vehicle, the predetermined threshold distance being based on the positional information on the terminal device and the positional information on the vehicle.