JP2000207686A - Car navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an estimated passage time at a halfway position on a guide line. SOLUTION: This car navigation system searches a guide line from a start point P to a destination T on a prescribed search condition and displays the guide line, which is obtained as the search result, as a line connecting from the start point P to the destination T over a map displayed on a display device 7c. A display form change means is provided which changes the display form of the guide line in each of sections (a section indicated by a dotted line and a section indicated by an alternate short and long dash line in a figure 2) where the trip time calculated from the start point P will reach preliminarily set fixed arrival times.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a car navigation system for displaying a running position of an automobile on a map to provide running guidance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some conventional car navigation systems have one or more of the following functions. One of these functions is a conditional guidance route (route) search function. This function performs a search for a taxiway in consideration of conditions such as distance priority, expressway priority, time priority, road width priority, and detour (avoid congested roads). Also, a simultaneous display function for a plurality of routes is known. This function simultaneously displays a plurality of taxiways searched under various conditions on the same screen. Each of the plurality of taxiways is displayed by being distinguished by color coding, line thickness, and the like.

[0003] Further, a function of displaying a course overall view is also known. This function displays a map at a reduced scale such that the entire course from the starting point to the goal falls within the same screen after searching for the taxiway. In addition, there is also known one having a function of setting a stopover place. This feature allows you to stop in the middle of the course (ie, where you want to stop)
Is set, a taxiway that passes through the point is searched for. Further, the distance to the stopover place and the estimated time of arrival can always be displayed during the guidance.

[0004]

However, even if the map of the entire course is displayed by the display function of the whole course diagram as described above, it is difficult to determine which side and how many minutes it takes when traveling on the taxiway. Is hard to understand. For example, if you want to travel from Hachioji in Tokyo to Sendai City, it is difficult to know where you can reach if you drive for 2 hours.

In such a case, there is a method of using the above-mentioned drop-in place setting function to register a midway point on the taxiway as a drop-off point and calculate an estimated arrival time.
In order to calculate the time, you must register the stopover. For such purposes, the above-described conditional route search function and the simultaneous display function of a plurality of routes are completely useless.

In addition, reroute and ARG (Active
Route Guidance: V while driving on taxiway
If the route is changed by the function of automatically recalculating the taxiway based on the reception of ICS information, etc.,
For a new route, it is not immediately possible to grasp the time distribution. For example, if the setting using the above-mentioned drop-in place setting function is performed, a circuitous route may be selected when the ARG is activated. In such a case, it is very difficult to grasp the time distribution of the new detour route.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a car navigation system which makes it possible to determine an estimated time of passage on a taxiway.

[0008]

In view of the above-mentioned object,
In the car navigation system according to the present invention, the guidance route from the departure place to the destination is searched under predetermined search conditions, and the guidance route obtained as a search result is displayed on the display means as a line connecting the departure place to the destination. Display mode changing means for changing a display mode of a taxiway for each section in which a travel time calculated from a departure point reaches a predetermined fixed arrival time, wherein the display mode is changed. It has. Thereby, the estimated passage time on the way of the taxiway is known.

In another invention, in addition to the car navigation system of the above-described invention, the display mode is changed by a display color, a line type, a line thickness, or a combination thereof. This makes it easy to change the display mode and makes it easy to see the change in the display mode.

In another aspect of the invention, in addition to the car navigation system of the above-described inventions, the line representing the taxiway does not display any part other than the section reaching a certain arrival time.
As a result, it is easy to know how far the user can go in the total predetermined time.

[0011] In another invention, in addition to the above-mentioned inventions, there is provided a notifying means for notifying the user when the vehicle is traveling on a taxiway and crosses a section having a different display mode. Thereby, it is possible to confirm the passage of the arrival point corresponding to the certain arrival time without looking at the display screen. Furthermore, in another invention, in addition to each of the above-mentioned inventions, the vehicle has a notifying means for notifying the state when the traveling time has reached a certain arrival time while traveling on the taxiway. With this, it is possible to know the lapse of the traveling time corresponding to the certain arrival time, and to confirm whether or not the intended arrival point has been reached by checking the traveling position at that time on the display means with an alarm. be able to.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an embodiment of a car navigation system according to the present invention.

In FIG. 1, a car navigation system includes a main controller 1 including a microcomputer, a vehicle position processing device 2, a map database 3, a storage medium reading device 4, a main storage memory 5, an input device 6,
It comprises a video processing device 7 and an audio output device 8.

The own-vehicle position processing device 2 comprises an autonomous navigation sensor 2a, a GPS receiver 2b, and an own-vehicle position calculation device 2c. The own vehicle-related sensor information from the autonomous navigation sensor 2a and the GPS from the GPS receiver 2b are used. Own-vehicle position calculating device 2 based on the current position information of the own vehicle by satellite radio wave
The vehicle position is calculated by c.

The storage medium reading device 4 is a CD-ROM
The map data is read from the map database 3 and supplied to the main controller 1.

The main controller 1 includes unit data of the road network in the map data from the storage medium reading device 4, the current position data of the own vehicle from the own vehicle position processing device 2, and the own vehicle input from the input device 6. Based on the position data relating to the departure point and the destination, the optimum guidance route is calculated, and the obtained guidance route data is stored in the main storage memory 5.

The main controller 1 supplies the map data from the storage medium reading device 4 and the guideway data read from the main storage memory 5 to the video processing device 7. Further, the main controller 1 stores a display mode information table for changing a display mode of a guideway, which will be described later, in its built-in memory (not shown), and also serves as a display mode changing unit.

The video processing device 7 comprises a graphic controller 7a, a video RAM 7b and a display device 7c as display means.
Map data and taxiway data in the video RAM 7b
The map data and the guideway data read from the video RAM 7b are supplied to the display device 7c and displayed on the display screen.

The optimum taxiway from the departure point (or present position) to the destination obtained by the normal taxiway search calculation is displayed on a map (not shown) displayed on the screen of the display device 7c, for example, in black. Displayed as a solid line.

The operation of the car navigation system according to the present embodiment having the above configuration will be described.

First, the input device 6 inputs a destination and a search condition. When the destination is determined and the search calculation of the taxiway is completed, the main controller 1 calculates the travel time (that is, the accumulated time required for traveling) from the start point (starting point or current location) along the taxiway route. To go.

After calculating the stroke time from the start point to a certain arrival time (for example, 30 minutes or one hour is set in advance) from the start point, the main controller 1 instructs the graphic controller 7a to execute the stroke time from the start point. The display mode of the guide path to the arrival point (hereinafter, referred to as a first arrival point) is changed. This change of the display mode is, for example, to change the display color of the solid black line of the taxiway by another normal taxiway search calculation to another color. The change of the display color is performed by reading out the color information from the display form information table stored in the built-in memory of the main controller 1 in advance.

Next, the main controller 1 calculates a travel time from the above-mentioned first arrival point to the next fixed arrival time. After this calculation, as described above, the display color of the taxiway from the above-mentioned first arrival point to the newly calculated arrival point (hereinafter, referred to as the second arrival point) is further changed to black and the first arrival point. Change the display color from the display color up to.

Hereinafter, the calculation of the travel time and the change of the display mode (that is, the change of the display color) are repeated at every fixed arrival time to the destination.

FIG. 2 shows the display device 7 based on the above operation.
9 shows a display example of a taxiway displayed on the display screen of FIG. Although the taxiway is actually superimposed on the map screen, the map is omitted in FIG. 2 to make the taxiway easy to see.

In FIG. 2, the taxiway is represented by a line connecting the starting point P to the destination T. In the place of departure P, the start time is 0:00 (zero time zero minutes)
Is displayed, and at the destination T, the estimated arrival time is
For example, 2:15 (2 hours 15 minutes) is displayed, and it can be understood that it takes 2 hours 15 minutes to the destination T.

In FIG. 2, in order to check how far a certain arrival time can be reached, a certain arrival time is set to 1 for example.
Enter time and settings. With this setting, the expected passage time is displayed as 1:00 (one hour and zero minutes) at the first arrival point P1 where the travel time calculated from the departure point P has reached the first fixed arrival time. In addition, the guidance route from the departure point P to the first arrival point P1 is displayed in a color different from the display color (that is, black) at the time of the normal search calculation, for example, blue and a dotted line.

Further, at the second arrival point P2 which has reached the next fixed arrival time from the first arrival point P1, the estimated passing time is displayed as 2:00 (two hours and zero minutes), and the first passage time is displayed. The guidance path from the arrival point P1 to the second arrival point P2 is displayed in a color different from blue, for example, yellow and a dashed line.

Further, the destination T
Since it takes only 15 minutes to reach the predetermined arrival time, the display color of the taxiway in this section remains unchanged and remains black.

When the vehicle actually travels on the taxiway, the own vehicle position mark C is moved and displayed on the line of the taxiway according to the traveling, so that the current position can be known.

As described above, since the taxiway from the departure point P to the destination T is displayed by being set to a certain arrival time, for example, color-coded every hour, it is possible to determine how far a certain arrival time can go. See it instantly on the screen.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step S1, the car navigation system is turned on and started. Next, step S2
Then, a departure point (or current position), a destination, and a search condition (for example, time priority) on the road map are input from the input device 6. Next, in step S3, a certain arrival time (for example, 30 minutes or 1 hour) is set and input from the input device 6. Next, in step S4, the main controller 1 searches for and calculates an optimal guidance route that meets the search conditions.

Next, in step S5, the optimal starting point (starting point or present position) of the taxiway obtained as a result of the search.
, The section time is calculated along the taxiway route.
As the section time, the time required for traveling is calculated for each section from a certain point on the road map used in the search calculation to the next point. Next, each section time of a continuous section is cumulatively calculated to calculate a travel time. All of these calculations are performed by the main controller 1.

Next, in step S6, it is determined whether or not the travel time has reached a certain arrival time. If the answer is no, it is determined in step S7 whether or not the destination has been reached. Is affirmative (yes), this process ends (step S11). On the other hand, if the answer is no in step S7, the process returns to step S5, and the next section time is calculated.
Summed up. These determinations and calculations are also performed by the main controller 1.

When the travel time reaches a certain arrival time (that is, if the answer to step S6 is YES), the process proceeds to step S8, where the display color of the taxiway to the arrival point is changed to the original display color (for example, black). ) And another color (for example, blue) and drawn on the map screen.

Thereafter, the return of step S9 is executed, and steps S5 to S9 are repeatedly executed. Thus, every time the travel time reaches a certain arrival time, the display color of the taxiway to that arrival point is changed to another color.

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications and applications are possible. For example, while the display mode of the taxiway is changed in the above embodiment, the display color and line type are changed, the contents of the display mode information table stored in the internal memory of the main controller 1 in advance are described. By changing only the color or line type (solid line,
Various changes are possible, such as changing only the dotted line, the one-dot chain line, the double line, etc.), the thickness of the line, or a combination thereof.

For example, in the case shown in FIG. 2, the line representing the taxiway from the departure point P to the first arrival point P1 is changed to a dotted line without changing the color, and the first arrival point P2 is changed to the second arrival point. Change the line up to P2 to the dashed line,
The line type from the arrival point P2 to the destination T can be changed every fixed arrival time while keeping the line as a solid line.

As another embodiment, the present invention can be used together with the conventional simultaneous display function of a plurality of routes. In other words, a plurality of taxiways searched under various search conditions are displayed simultaneously on the same screen, distinguished by color coding, line thickness, etc., and the display form of each taxiway is
It can be changed every fixed time. Further, it may be used together with various other functions shown in the conventional example and other functions.

As another embodiment, a taxiway other than a section reaching a certain arrival time (for example, in the example of FIG. 2,
The line display for the section from the second arrival point P2 to the destination T) may be erased (that is, the original black color is changed to transparent). In this case, only the display of the original map appears.

Further, when the vehicle crosses (passes) each arrival point in a section where a certain arrival time is reached during traveling, the state may be notified by an alarm, voice, or the like. At this time, the main controller 1 and the audio output device 8
Are notification means for notifying the state. Instead of the sound, the vehicle position mark C on the display device 7c may be notified by blinking or displaying an image.

Further, during traveling, it may be configured to notify by similar notification means every time when the traveling time elapses a time corresponding to the certain arrival time. In this way, by checking the own vehicle position mark C when an alarm or the like sounds, it is possible to instantly check the current state of the scheduled traveling.

Further, in the above embodiment, the departure point P
It is possible to grasp the elapsed time from and how far you can go in a certain time, but not the place of departure P but the place within a certain time from the destination T and the back calculation time from the destination T You may do it. In this case, in step S5 described above, the start point is not the departure point P or the current position but the destination T, and the section time is calculated in the reverse direction of the taxiway route.

In the above embodiment, the taxiway is divided at a fixed arrival time.
For example, only one arrival time may be input so that a place where the user can go within three hours is known. Further, the total time may be set while dividing by a certain arrival time. That is, five hours is input in order to grasp a place that can be reached in five hours for a destination that can be reached in seven and a half hours. With this setting, the color drawing is not performed for the portion exceeding 5 hours, and the display of the color or line changes every hour until 5 hours.

The present invention can be applied to bicycles and ships in addition to automobiles such as four-wheeled vehicles and two-wheeled vehicles.

[0047]

According to the present invention, the time intermediate point of the taxiway can be determined. For example, the time intermediate point should be different between the case where the journey from the point A to the point B is performed on the general road on the entire journey and the case where the expressway is used halfway. According to the present invention, the different intermediate points can be clearly grasped. Also, if you look at the taxiway, you can instantly know how far you can go in a certain arrival time. Furthermore, it is possible to know at which side of the drive to take a break by adjusting the certain arrival time to the approximate time of a break during driving.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an embodiment of a car navigation system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a display example of a taxiway displayed on a display screen of a display device in the car navigation system of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the car navigation system shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main controller (part of display form change means and notification means) 2 Own vehicle position processing device 3 Map database 4 Storage medium reading device 5 Main storage memory 6 Input device 7 Video processing device 7c Display device (display device) 8 Audio output Device (part of notification means)

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A map displayed on a display means as a search for a taxiway from a departure place to a destination under a predetermined search condition, and the taxiway obtained as a search result as a line connecting the departure place and the destination. A car navigation system superimposed on the display, wherein display mode changing means for changing a display mode of the taxiway for each section in which a travel time calculated from the departure point reaches a predetermined fixed arrival time. A car navigation system comprising: 2. The car navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the display mode is changed by a display color, a line type, a line thickness, or a combination thereof. 3. The car navigation system according to claim 1, wherein a part of the line representing the taxiway other than a section reaching the certain arrival time is not displayed. 4. The car navigation system according to claim 1, further comprising a notifying unit for notifying a user of a state in which the display mode is different while the vehicle is traveling on the taxiway. 5. A car navigation system according to claim 1, further comprising a notifying means for notifying a state of the vehicle when the traveling time has reached the predetermined arrival time while traveling on the taxiway. system.