JP2000241185A - Navigation apparatus and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain a navigation apparatus in which a bypass route in a direction desired by a user is searched again. SOLUTION: A navigation ECU 10 searches a route up to a destination on the basis of data in a map database 12, and the route is displayed on a display 16. When bypass routes other than the obtained route are required, a user inputs, from an operation part 14, a direction in which the bypass routes are provided. The navigation ECU 10 increases a link cost in directions other than the input direction. A search route which agrees with the input direction is searched again so as to be displayed on the display 16.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation device, and more particularly to a function of re-searching a route other than a route obtained by searching.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in addition to displaying the current position of a vehicle together with map data on an on-vehicle display device, a route to a destination set by a user is searched, and the obtained route is displayed to display the vehicle. Navigation devices that guide the user are known. In such a navigation device, a navigation device having a function of re-searching a route in response to a request from a user when there is a reason that the user cannot travel along a route obtained by searching has been proposed.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-197336 discloses that when a route change request occurs for any reason, the user operates the detour switch so that the navigation device re-searches the detour and displays it on the display device. The technology to do this is described.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, when the detour switch is operated, only the detour route for returning from the current position to the original route is merely searched. There was a problem that it was not possible to specify the user's request to want to run on the.

For example, while traveling on a route obtained by searching, a user may want to travel around a road along the sea. In such a case, the user operates the detour switch. However, in the related art, since the user's intention and desire at the time of re-searching are not reflected, a road along a mountain is searched again as a detour route and displayed. In such a case, there is a problem that the user must operate the re-search switch again and wait until the desired detour route is displayed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems of the related art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device that can obtain a desired re-search route by reflecting a driver's preference at the time of re-search. Is to do.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a navigation apparatus for re-searching a route other than a route obtained by searching. An input unit for inputting a condition to be provided, and an operation unit for executing the re-search operation by adding the condition input from the input unit. The user can quickly obtain a desired route by enabling the user to input a condition to be obtained by a route obtained by re-searching, for example, a peripheral detour.

In a second aspect based on the first aspect, the condition is a direction that a route obtained by the re-search should have. By making it possible to input the direction of the route obtained by re-searching, a desired route can be easily specified, and a route along a mountain or along the sea can be obtained.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect, the calculating means executes the re-search operation by increasing the weight of a road link located in a direction other than the direction. . By increasing the weight (link cost) of a link in a direction other than the input direction, a path in the input direction is easily selected by a search operation, and a path desired by the user is searched.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a medium recording a control program for executing a navigation function for re-searching a route.
A route to the destination is searched, a request for re-searching a route other than the route obtained by the search is input, a direction of the route obtained by the re-search is input, and the direction is added and the search is performed again. It is characterized by the following. The recording medium is CD-RO
Any medium that can hold information electromagnetically, chemically, and optically, such as M and DVD, is included.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of the present embodiment. Navigation ECU (electronic control unit) 10
Is configured by a microcomputer, and executes a search operation to a destination and a re-search operation described later. A map database 12 is connected to the navigation ECU 10, and a search operation to a destination is performed by the map database 12.
Is performed by reading the map data stored in the. The map database 12 can be constituted by a recording medium such as a CD-ROM and a DVD. In addition, the navigation ECU 10
An operation unit 14 is connected to the, and various instructions and data input are performed from the operation unit 14. The operation unit 14 includes buttons and the like, but may also include a touch panel provided on a surface of a display. Further, a display 16 and a speaker 18 are connected to the navigation ECU 10, and the display 16 displays map data around the current position and the current position of the vehicle detected by the position detection device 20, and searches and obtains the current position. A guidance route from the current location to the destination, a detour route obtained by re-searching, and the like are displayed. Various guidance sounds are output from the speaker 18. The position detection device 20 is configured by a GPS or the like, detects an absolute position (latitude and longitude) of the vehicle, and supplies the detected position to the navigation ECU 10. Of course, the position detecting device 20 receives the error information about the current position detection from the FM multiplex broadcast and improves the position detection accuracy.
It is also possible to use GPS, and it is also possible to perform position detection in combination with a direction sensor and a distance sensor.

In such a navigation device,
When traveling to a destination, the user first inputs a destination. The destination can be input by inputting an address, telephone number, facility name, or the like, or by displaying a map and instructing on the map. When the destination is set, the navigation ECU 10 reads the map data stored in the map database 12 and searches for an optimal route from the current position to the destination by using, for example, a known Dijkstra method. The obtained route is displayed on the display 16 together with the map data around the current location and the current location mark.

FIG. 2A schematically shows a current value mark 22 displayed on the display 16 and a route 100 obtained by searching. The user drives while looking at the display screen, but may want to run on a route other than the route 100 for some reason, for example, running on a road along the sea. In such a case, by selecting the detour switch 24 displayed on the display 16, the navigation ECU 1
A re-search operation is instructed for 0.

Conventionally, when the detour switch 24 is operated, the ECU 10 obtains the detour route by re-searching the route to the destination through a route other than the route already obtained from the current location. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, an eight-direction selection switch 26 for further inputting the direction of the detour route is displayed on the display 16. The display of the eight-direction selection switch 26 is displayed on the display 16 by the navigation ECU 10 according to the control program.
For example, when the user desires a detour route existing rightward from the current position as the detour route, the user selects the right direction of the eight-direction selection switch 26 to notify the navigation ECU 10 that the detour route should have the detour route as a condition that the detour route should have. You can enter a route to the right from.

When a condition for having such a detour route is input, the ECU 10 performs a calculation process described later to search for a detour route existing rightward, and displays the obtained route on the display 16. . FIG. 2C shows the detour route 200 obtained in this way. The user can drive the vehicle along a desired detour route 200.

FIG. 3 shows the overall processing of the navigation ECU 10 when the detour switch 24 is selected. When the detour switch 24 is selected, first, a peripheral detour search process is executed (S101). In this peripheral detour search process, a route having the smallest link cost among routes from the current location to the return link on the original route is selected using a known Dijkstra method or the like, and a route from the current location to the selected return link is determined. Search for the route with the lowest link cost. The cost set for each link will be described later.

After the detour route from the current location to the return link is searched for by the detour search process, it is determined whether or not this search was successful (S102). In this determination, for example, when there is no return link in the detour re-search area,
If there is no branch point other than the original route at the time of the re-search, it is determined that the detour route search has failed in at least one case where the front of the current location is a dead end.
When the peripheral detour search is successful, the detour route obtained by re-searching is displayed on the display 16 (S105).

On the other hand, if the peripheral detour search fails,
The original route is displayed (S103), and a message indicating that the rerouting of the detour route has failed is displayed on the display 16 (S103).
104). When displaying the failure message, it is also preferable to make a beep sound from the speaker 18 at the same time.

FIG. 4 schematically shows a return link set in S101 when re-searching for a peripheral detour route. In FIG. 1, the navigation ECU 10 first reads map data for performing a re-search from the map database 12. At this time, the navigation ECU 10 uses a unit area 300 (a unit area including the current location) of the map data for the re-search, and A link closest to the current position on the original route 100 is searched for from the shape data of. Next, in the area 300, the link that continues from the link on the original route 100 to the destination is traced, and the last link connected to the destination in the area 300 is set as the return link 28. I do. That is, the return link 28 is a link that should be passed to return to the original route 100 obtained by the search. By searching for a route from the current location to the return link 28, the detour route from the current location is determined. Obtainable.

After setting the return link 28 in this way,
As described above, the route from the current position to the return link 28 is searched again using the Dijkstra method or the like. The re-search operation is
Similar to the search operation, the weight (link cost) set for each link is integrated, and the route with the minimum sum is searched for as the optimum route. In the re-search operation, routes other than the original route 100 are searched. In order to search for, the weight of the original route 100 is set large and the search is performed.

FIG. 5 schematically shows the weight (cost) set for each link on the original route 100. Weight (cost coefficient) R set for the original route 100
b is changed according to the distance from the current position, and 0 to 500 m is α,
When 500 m to 1000 m is β, 1000 m to 1500 m is γ, and 1500 m to 2000 m is δ, the weight decreases as the distance from the current position increases, for example, α = 10, β = 8, γ = 5, δ = 3. Set to be. The reason for changing the distance in accordance with the distance from the current position is to make it easier to return to the return link 28 which is far from the current position. (The higher the cost, the lower the selectivity of the link, and accordingly the vicinity of the return link. If the cost is set large, the selected route will move away from the return link.)

Also, in the embodiment, the current position is set at 2000 points.
Although it is easy to return to the original route at a distance near m, this distance can be changed as needed. Thereby, an effective detour route search can be performed. If you are searching for a re-route in an area where traffic congestion continues for about
It is good to make it easy to return to the original route at a distance around 00 m. This change in the setting of the distance can be dealt with based on, for example, the current position and data on the length of traffic congestion that normally occurs around the current position stored in advance in the navigation.

Thus, by multiplying each link of the original route 100 by the additional weight (cost) Rb, the original route 1
00 is hard to be selected by the re-search operation, but in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, the user inputs a direction as a condition that the route obtained by the re-search should have, and this direction It is necessary to perform a re-search operation in consideration of

Therefore, the navigation ECU 10 multiplies the original route 100 by an additional weight (cost coefficient) Rb as shown in FIG. 5 and then exists in a direction other than the direction input by the user. By further multiplying the link by the weight (cost) Rc, it is difficult to select a link existing in a direction other than the selected direction. For example, when the user selects the right arrow in FIG. 2 and inputs a rightward route from the current location as a condition that the detour route should have, the navigation ECU 10 multiplies the link branching leftward from the current location by Rc. Increase the link cost. Thereby, in the re-search operation,
Links in the direction specified by the user are easier to select,
As a result, a detour that exists in the direction selected by the user is obtained.

The weight Rc added in a direction other than the direction input by the user may be uniform, or may be changed according to the distance in the same manner as Rb. Of course, it is also possible to relatively increase the cost of the link other than the input direction by multiplying the link in the input direction by a coefficient smaller than 1, and the two are equivalent.

In this embodiment, an eight-direction selection arrow is displayed as shown in FIG. 2B, but it is of course preferable to display a right-direction and left-direction two-direction selection switch. , Any number of select direction switches can be displayed.

Further, in the present embodiment, after the detour switch 24 is selected by the user, the navigation EC
U10 does not immediately display the direction selection switch 26 shown in FIG. 2B, but first checks the shape data from the current position to a predetermined distance (for example, 2000 m shown in FIG. 5), and checks the node, that is, the original data. It is also preferable to determine whether there is a route branching from the route 100 and display a direction selection switch only in the direction in which the branch route exists. Specifically, for example, when there is no road that branches rightward from the original route between the current location and 2000 m, the rightward selection switch is not displayed in FIG. For example, only the switch is displayed. This increases the success rate of re-searching,
The reliability of the system can be increased.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the functions of the navigation ECU 10 described above can be realized by installing a control program from a recording medium into the navigation ECU 10 and sequentially executing the control program by the CPU of the navigation ECU 10. . The basic algorithm of the control program allows the user to search for a route to the destination, input a request for re-searching a route other than the route obtained by searching, input a direction of the route obtained by re-searching, and change the direction. It is to add and re-search. When inputting the direction, it is preferable to display a direction arrow on the display 16.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention, the re-search route desired by the driver can be easily and quickly obtained, and the usability and operability of the navigation system can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing display of a direction selection switch and a detour route in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a peripheral detour search process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a return link setting at the time of a peripheral detour search in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a link cost setting at the time of a detour route search in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 10 navigation ECU, 12 map database, 14 operation unit, 16 display, 18 speaker, 20 position detecting device, 100 search route (original route), 22 current position display, 24 detour switch, 26
Direction selection switch, 200 re-search route (surrounding detour route).

Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Masatsugu Uemura 1-2-28 Goshodori, Hyogo-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo F-term in Fujitsu Ten Limited (reference) 2C032 HB06 HC13 HD16 HD24 2F029 AA02 AB01 AB07 AB13 AC02 AC04 AC08 AC14 AC18 9A001 JJ77

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A navigation device for re-searching a route other than a route obtained by a search, comprising: input means for inputting a condition that a route obtained by the re-search should have; and input means input from the input means. A navigation device for performing the re-search operation with a condition added thereto. 2. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the condition is a direction that a route obtained by the re-search should have. 3. The navigation device according to claim 2, wherein the calculation means executes the re-search calculation by increasing the weight of a road link located in a direction other than the direction. 4. A medium in which a control program for executing a navigation function for re-searching a route is recorded, the program causing a computer to search for a route to a destination, and a route other than the route obtained by the search. A request for re-searching for the route, inputting a direction of the route obtained by the re-search, and performing the search again by adding the direction.