JP2001056232A - Navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation device capable informing a user of displayed region and point clearly even when high speed scroll is done when scroll for displaying desired map and point is done in the navigation device. SOLUTION: A guide point selection part selecting a point where voice guide is given at the time of scroll is provided in a navigation device, and a current place is informed by voice (S2) and a scale of displayed map is read (S3) when scroll is started (S1). For example, an administrative boundary corresponding to map scale such as a boundary line between prefectures is selected at the time of scroll by a wide area map (S4) to discriminate whether a pointer exceeds a selected administrative boundary line or not (S5), and the administrative district name is informed by voice when it exceeds the boundary line (S6). It discriminates whether a selected guide point exists in the vicinity of the pointer or not (S7), and its name is guided by sound when it exists (S8). It is judged whether it stops for more than a predetermined time or not (S9), and its point name is informed by voice when it stops longer than a predetermined time (S11). These procedures are repeated until scroll ends.

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 navigation device that can be used to arbitrarily scroll a displayed map.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The current position of a vehicle is detected by self-contained navigation or satellite navigation, map data around the current position is read from map data storage means such as a DVD-ROM, and map information is displayed on a screen together with a vehicle position mark. In-vehicle navigation devices that provide a driver with map information around a vehicle position are widely used. In addition, such a navigation device not only indicates the current position of the vehicle, but also has a function of searching for an optimal route to the destination and guiding the vehicle along the searched route, further improving convenience. ing. In addition, such a navigation device is not limited to displaying the current position of a vehicle, but is installed in various devices,
In addition, those which are miniaturized and made portable are also used.

In such a navigation device,
When setting a route from the current position to a destination, it is necessary to set a destination and a waypoint on a map, and various methods have been developed as setting methods therefor. As one of them, for example, by operating an operation unit such as a joystick of a remote controller on a screen displaying the vicinity of the current location, the map is scrolled to display a map screen of a transit point or a destination, and a predetermined Is set as a transit point or a destination by inputting a point as a simple method suited to the user's sense. Further, the navigation device is used as a map, and a user may scroll from a map of a current location or a specific location to search for a map portion therearound.

[0004] To display a map in a navigation device, map data in a predetermined range centering on a specific point is read out from a storage device such as a DVD-ROM into which the map data is input, and stored in a map buffer. A map is drawn in the VRAM based on the map data, and a map of an area to be displayed on the screen is cut out of the map and displayed as an image.

[0005] The map stored in the DVD-ROM is
The map data is divided into regions of appropriate longitude and latitude widths according to the scale level, and the map data for each scale is composed of a road layer, a background layer, character layers such as characters and signs, and the like. . When the map data thus configured is displayed on the screen, when a specific point is designated as described above, data in a predetermined area within a memory capacity range centered on the designated point is read out. , Draw the map. When scrolling the map, the drawing is first performed in the data that has been read in advance, but when it is predicted that the data will be out of the range of the data, the direction in which the data is output is detected, and new data in that direction is read. The reading control is performed so that the map on the scrolling screen is not interrupted as much as possible.

[0006] When scrolling the map as described above, when displaying the destination of the displayed map from the currently displayed map, the destination to be displayed is far away from the currently displayed map. If this is the case, try to operate the operation unit such as the joystick of the remote controller to the maximum extent and try to scroll as soon as possible. However, in the conventional navigation device, the scroll speed of the map displayed due to the capability of the built-in MPU is not so fast, and the user is often frustrated. On the other hand, in recent years, the capability of the MPU of the navigation apparatus has been remarkably improved, and the buffer capacity of the map data has been increased, so that the map can be drawn at a high speed.

[0007]

As described above, when map drawing can be performed at a high speed, on the contrary, when the above-described high-speed scrolling is performed, the displayed map screen changes quickly. Cannot be sufficiently visually recognized. As a countermeasure, it is conceivable to reduce the scroll speed so that the user can visually recognize the scroll screen.However, this cannot be done with a device that cannot adjust the scroll speed. The user makes adjustments such as scrolling. Further, even in a device capable of adjusting scrolling, when the map portion to be displayed is far from the currently displayed map, the scroll speed is often increased without considering the displayed image, and the scrolling can be visually recognized. It is extremely difficult to adjust the speed to an appropriate level.

[0008] In addition to the above-described high-speed scrolling, it is extremely difficult to visually recognize the display content of the moving screen even in a normal scrolling. Therefore, it has been desired to be able to clearly notify the user of the point currently displayed during scrolling.

Therefore, according to the present invention, when scrolling to display a desired map or point in a navigation device, even when a high-speed scroll is performed, the user can clearly inform the user of the displayed area or point. It is a main object of the present invention to provide a navigation device capable of performing such operations.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a map data section, a map drawing section for displaying map data as an image, a scroll detection section, and a map for providing voice guidance at the time of scrolling. A navigation point selecting section for selecting from data, wherein when the scroll point is in the vicinity of the point selected by the guide point selecting section, voice information of the point is provided as a navigation device. is there.

[0011] A point where voice guidance is performed is selected according to the scale of the map on which the image is displayed. The point where voice guidance is performed is an administrative boundary line, and voice guidance is provided for an administrative area. In addition, the point where the voice guidance is performed is the scroll stop point,
In addition, the guidance point selection unit is capable of arbitrarily changing the voice guidance field, and the guidance point selection unit outputs data for performing voice guidance to the map drawing unit and displays the image. The determination as to whether the scroll point is in the vicinity of the point selected by the guide point selection unit is obtained by changing the determination conditions according to the scale of the map.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing the outline of a navigation device according to the present invention in a block diagram. The basic configuration of the navigation device is the same as that of a conventional device, and a signal from a GPS antenna 10 is received by a GPS receiver 11. The current position of the vehicle is calculated based on the signal, and the data is stored in the data storage unit 12. On the other hand, the self-contained navigation sensor 1 includes an angle sensor 13 for detecting that the traveling direction of the vehicle has changed, and a vehicle speed sensor 14 for determining the traveling distance of the vehicle.
5 is provided on the vehicle, and the position of the vehicle
The azimuth calculation unit 16 calculates the position of the vehicle and the traveling direction. The vehicle position from the GPS obtained in this way,
Based on the vehicle position by the self-contained navigation sensor that supplements this data, the vehicle position signal generator 17 calculates the current accurate position of the vehicle.

The read control unit is operated by a signal of the current position of the vehicle calculated as described above, or by an operation signal input to an operation signal input unit 20 from an operation input unit 19 such as a remote controller 18, a key operation unit, or a touch panel. 29 is DVD
-Read map data around a designated point from a map data storage medium 22 such as a ROM or a CD-ROM, and store the data in a map buffer 24 in a map data unit 23. Among the map data in the map data unit 23, data especially in the vicinity of the current position or the designated position is represented by the map drawing unit 2.
In step 1, image display data is stored in the VRAM 25 as image display data, a necessary portion is sent to the image synthesizing section 26, where the image is synthesized with various images, and an image display device such as a liquid crystal display is displayed. At 27, a map centering on the current location or the designated point is displayed. Therefore, when the current position or the designated position moves, the map can be scrolled and displayed accordingly.

On the other hand, when a search for a guidance route is instructed from the operation signal input unit 20, the guidance route search unit 28 outputs a designation output from the operation signal input unit 20 from the current position of the vehicle or a designated guidance start point. The data of the map data unit 23 is searched for the optimum route to the specified destination, and this is stored in the guidance route storage unit 30. The guidance route control unit 31 converts the guidance route data into the guidance route drawing unit 3.
2 to be used as image display data, which is
In step 6, the route is synthesized with the map image, and the guidance route is displayed on the image display device 27. In addition, in the guidance route control unit 31, when the current position approaches the right / left turn intersection, the intersection image generation unit 33 creates an intersection screen different from the map screen, and outputs the intersection screen to the image synthesis unit 26. The image synthesizing unit 26 further includes various mark generating units 34 for superimposing and displaying various marks such as landmarks on the map screen, and also generates a pointer for generating a pointer indicating a reference point when scrolling. A portion 35 is provided.

In the present invention, the operation signal input unit 20 is provided with a scroll detection unit 36 to provide voice guidance at the time of scrolling to the navigation control device 50 having the above-mentioned conventional configuration. It is detected that scrolling is being performed by operating the unit 19 or the remote controller 18, and a guide point selecting unit 38 described below is detected.
Output to When a scroll is detected by the scroll detecting unit 36, a scroll stop detecting unit 37 detects whether the scroll has stopped for a predetermined time or more, and outputs a signal to the guide point selecting unit 38 in the same manner.

The scroll position indicated by the user, detected by the scroll detection unit 36, is detected by the pointer position detection unit 40, and this position signal is output to the guide point selection unit 38. The map scale specified by the user in the operation signal input unit 20 is read by the scale reading unit 41, and this signal is also output to the guide point selection unit 38. In addition, the data of the boundary of the prefecture and the boundary of the municipalities in the map drawing unit 21, the data of the name of the point displayed on the map, the landmark,
The data of the station, the famous sightseeing spot, and the like are output to the guide point selection unit 38.

The guide point selecting section 38 includes a stop point name detecting section 42 as described in detail in an operation flow and the like described later.
The scroll stop detecting unit 37
For example, when the stop of scrolling is detected, the point at which the scrolling is stopped is detected by the pointer position detection unit 40, and the name of the point is output to the audio output unit 45. Further, a selection guide point detection unit 43 near the pointer is provided, and during a scroll operation or when the scroll is temporarily stopped as described above, the pointer position from the pointer position detection unit 40 is provided to the user. When it is within a predetermined distance from a point, a landmark, or the like at which the location is to be performed, the name of the point, the name of the landmark, or the like is output to the audio output unit 45. In addition, an administrative area name detecting unit 44 is provided, and according to the map scale currently displayed from the scale reading unit 41, the position of the pointer when scrolling is changed to a boundary between prefectures or a boundary between municipalities. When an administrative area is crossed, the name of the administrative area is output to the audio output unit 45. The audio output unit 45 outputs the audio data to the audio unit 46, and guides the user by voice.

The operation of the navigation device having the above configuration will be described with reference to the functional block diagram shown in FIG. 3 and the operation flow shown in FIG. When a user sets a destination to search for a guidance route using this navigation device, or when a map of a specific point is displayed,
When the scroll is started by operating the operation input unit 19 such as a key input unit or a touch panel, or by operating the joystick of the remote controller 18, the scroll is started by the scroll detection unit 36 from the signal input to the operation signal input unit 20. Is detected (S1). When the scroll start is detected, the guide point selecting unit 38
The current position is detected based on the map data from the map drawing unit 21 based on the pointer movement signal of the pointer position detection unit 40, and the detected current position is output to the audio output unit 45 as a guide point, and the audio unit 46 provides voice guidance on the current position ( S2).

While scrolling, the scale reading unit 41 reads the scale of the map currently displayed or instructed based on the data of the map drawing unit 21 and the scale instruction signal from the operation signal input unit. S3) An administrative boundary line corresponding to the map scale is selected to provide voice guidance for a scrolling point to be described later (S4). When selecting this administrative boundary, a large-scale map (wide-area map)
In the case of, an arbitrary setting can be made, such as a boundary line between prefectures, and in the case of a map with a small scale, for example, a boundary line between wards or municipalities, or a boundary line between smaller administrative areas.

Thereafter, the administrative area name detecting section 44 of the guide point selecting section 38 compares the pointer position with the boundary data in the map data from the map drawing section 21 to determine whether or not the pointer has crossed the selected boundary line. (S5)
When the vehicle is crossed, the voice of the name of the administrative area beyond which the vehicle is crossed is provided (S6). For example, when scrolling from a map in Tokyo in the state of a wide area map, and when the pointer enters Saitama Prefecture, voice guidance such as “Saitama Prefecture is inside” is performed.

At this time, when scrolling is started, for example, as shown in FIG. 4A, a pointer position display section 51 is arranged at the upper edge of the screen 50, and the above-described voice guidance is provided in this section. At the same time, it can be displayed in characters. In the above example, since the pointer 53 has crossed the boundary line 52 between Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture, which is indicated by the bold dashed line in the figure, the pointer position display section 51 on the screen indicates “Saitama Prefecture”. it's shown. This display
When a point for voice guidance is selected by the guide point selection unit 38, the data is output to the map drawing unit 21 so that the data can be displayed at a predetermined location on the screen. By performing such a display, the map is shown in a stopped state in the figure, so that each point can be clearly seen, but in a high-speed scroll state, characters are displayed in a flowing manner, and these points are displayed. Can hardly be visually recognized, but the pointer position display section 51 does not move. Therefore, by confirming this display together with the voice guidance as described above, the current pointer position can be easily known. it can.

In the illustrated embodiment, after determining whether or not the pointer has crossed the set administrative boundary, the selected display point detecting unit 43 near the pointer of the guide point selecting unit 38 determines whether the pointer is within a predetermined distance from the point of the pointer. For example, if there are landmarks such as high-rise buildings, large bridges, famous buildings, famous facilities, etc., or if there are stations or interchanges, or even a famous tourist spot, a famous event venue, etc. It is determined whether or not there is a selected guide point selected as preferable to perform (S)
7). At this time, in addition to the above example, the selected guide point can be set as appropriate according to the national situation in which the navigation device is used, for example, when the pointer crosses a famous street. Further, a selection instruction signal is directly output from the operation signal input unit 20 to the guide point selection unit 38, and when the user wishes to give voice guidance mainly to, for example, a tourist facility, such a selection instruction is performed, thereby enabling arbitrary selection. You can also set the genre of voice guidance.

In the above embodiment, an example is shown in which the determination as to whether or not the selected guide point exists within a predetermined distance from the point of the pointer is made after the determination as to whether or not the pointer has crossed the set administrative boundary. However, the same operation is performed even if it is determined first. In addition, when selecting the selection guide point, similarly to the selection of the administrative boundary line corresponding to the map scale, corresponding to the map scale, for example, in the case of scrolling with a wide area map, particularly remarkable landmarks, large cities, etc. It is preferable to select a station or the like. Further, when determining whether the distance is within a predetermined distance from the point of the pointer, it is preferable to change a determination condition, such as changing a distance for determining whether or not the vehicle is in the vicinity according to the scale of the map.

As a result of the above determination, if the selected guide point exists near the pointer, for example, if it is a landmark of the Kasumigaseki Building, for example, "It is near the Kasumigaseki Building"
The name of the selected guide point is provided by voice (S8). At this time, as in the case described above, the pointer position display section displayed on the scrolling screen displays "Kasumigaseki neighborhood" as shown in FIG. The names of points on the map screen that are difficult to perform can be displayed in a stopped state, and the current display point can be easily known.

Thereafter, the scroll stop detecting section 37 detects whether or not the scrolling pointer has stopped for a predetermined period of time, for example, "3 seconds" or the like (S9). If the above stop is not performed at the time of this determination, the process returns to the step 5 (S5) again, and the same operation is repeated, such as determining whether or not the pointer has crossed the selected administrative boundary. On the other hand, for example, when the vehicle is stopped for the predetermined time or more, it is presumed that it is time to confirm where the scrolling user is currently scrolling. The name of the point where the vehicle stopped at 42 is detected and voice guidance is performed (S10). Next, the scroll detection unit 36 determines whether or not the scroll is completed (S
11) When it is determined that the processing has been completed, the processing is completed (S12).
Then, when scrolling is performed again, the display map scale is read again (S3) in consideration of the change of the display scale during the stop period, and the same operation is performed.

The operation flow of FIG. 2 shows another operation mode of the navigation device according to the present invention. In this operation flow, in the above embodiment, an example in which the determination as to whether or not the selected guide point is present near the pointer is always performed during scrolling is shown, but in the example shown in FIG. It goes when it stops.
In the operation mode shown in FIG. 2, various voice guidance modes can be changed according to the scale of the map.

In the operation flow shown in FIG. 2, when scrolling is started (S21), the scale of the display map is first read (S22), and voice display guidance corresponding to the map scale is selected (S22). . In the example shown in FIG. 1, the example of changing the selection of the administrative boundary line and the selection of the selected guide point near the pointer when necessary when selecting the voice guidance according to the map scale is shown in FIG. In the illustrated embodiment, the voice guidance at the stop point can be changed according to the scale, and the voice guidance at the current location can also be changed. Therefore, for voice guidance of the current location or the point where scrolling is stopped, scrolling on a large-scale map, for example, guidance "Shinjuku-ku", while scrolling on a small-scale map, "Shinjuku Sanchome" And provide more detailed voice guidance.

After the voice guidance of the current location corresponding to the map scale is performed as described above (S24), it is determined whether or not the pointer has crossed the selected administrative boundary as in the embodiment of FIG. 1 (S25). If it exceeds, the voice guidance of the administrative area name is performed at the boundary level corresponding to the scale of the map (S26).
Next, it is determined whether or not the operation has stopped for a predetermined time or more (S2).
7) If the operation has not stopped for a predetermined time or more, step 2
Returning to step 5, the above operation is repeated. In addition, when the user stops for a predetermined time or more, it is determined that the user wants to confirm where the scroll point is, and it is determined whether or not a selection guide point exists near the pointer (S28). Voice guidance of the name of the guidance point (S2
9). At this time, the selected guide point is selected according to the map scale as described above. In this embodiment, during normal scrolling, voice guidance is not provided even when the pointer passes near the selected guidance point, and voice guidance is provided only when the pointer stops. When the pointer passes in the vicinity of the selected guide point during scrolling as shown in (2), it is natural that the setting can be changed so as to always provide voice guidance.

In the determination as to whether or not the selected guide point exists near the pointer, when the selected guide point does not exist, in the embodiment of FIG. 2, the name of the stopped point is voice-guided. In this example, when the selected guidance point exists in the above determination, it is determined whether or not scrolling has been completed after performing the voice guidance.
After the voice guidance of the selected guide point is performed, the name of the stop point may be changed to the voice guidance. At that time, voice guidance will be given continuously, such as "Near Kasumigaseki Building" and "Kasumigaseki 3-chome."

After the above operation, it is determined whether or not scrolling has been completed (S31). If it is determined that scrolling has been completed, the process is terminated (S32).
In consideration of the fact that the display scale has been changed during the suspension period, the display map scale is read (S22), and the same operation is repeated thereafter. Note that, in this embodiment, when the same operation is repeated again after the above operation flow is completed, the flow for voice guidance of the current position is shown again. However, when returning to this step after a temporary stop, the flow is bypassed. Can be changed.

[0031]

According to the invention of claim 1 of the present application, when scrolling to display a desired map in the navigation device, the scroll point is selected by the guide point selecting section even when high-speed scrolling is performed. Since the information of the point can be provided by voice guidance when the point is near the point, the scrolling point can be easily and clearly known.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the point for voice guidance is selected according to the scale of the map displaying the image, so that an appropriate voice guidance point can be selected according to the scroll state. You can know the scrolling point without fail. The invention according to claim 3 is:
The point where voice guidance is performed is the administrative boundary line, and voice guidance is provided for the administrative area, so that the scrolling point can be clearly known. In addition, the invention according to claim 4 can improve the usability by giving voice guidance to the scrolling point when the scroller stops scrolling, which is when he / she wants to check the scrolling point. it can.

In the invention according to claim 5, the voice guidance field can be arbitrarily changed according to the user's preference.
The usability of the navigation device can be further improved. In the invention according to claim 6, since the scroll point is provided by voice guidance and image display, the scroll point can be known more reliably. The invention according to claim 7 changes the condition for determining whether or not the scroll point is near the point selected by the guide point selection unit according to the scale of the map. You can know where you are.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an operation flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a screen when an image of a scrolling point is displayed together with voice guidance in the present invention. FIG. 4 (a) shows a display example when the scrolling point crosses an administrative boundary, and FIG.
Is a display example when the scroll point is located near the selected landmark point.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 GPS antenna 15 Self-contained navigation sensor 17 Vehicle position signal generation part 18 Remote control 20 Operation signal input part 21 Map drawing part 22 Map data storage medium 23 Map data part 26 Image synthesis part 27 Image display part 37 Scroll stop detection part 38 Guide point selection Unit 40 pointer position detection unit 41 scale reading unit 42 stop point name detection unit 43 selection guide point detection unit near the pointer 44 administrative area name detection unit 45 audio output unit 46 audio unit 51 pointer position display unit

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A map data section, a map drawing section for displaying map data as an image, a scroll detection section, and a guide point selection section for selecting a point for performing voice guidance during scrolling from the map data, wherein the scroll point is A navigation device which, when near a point selected by a guide point selecting unit, provides voice guidance of information on the point. 2. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein a point at which voice guidance is performed is selected in accordance with the scale of the map displayed as an image. 3. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the point where voice guidance is performed is an administrative boundary line, and voice guidance is provided in an administrative area. 4. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the point at which the voice guidance is performed is a scroll stop point. 5. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the guidance point selection unit is capable of arbitrarily changing a voice guidance field. 6. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the guide point selecting unit also outputs data for performing voice guidance to the map drawing unit and displays the data as an image. 7. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the determination as to whether the scroll point is in the vicinity of the point selected by the guide point selection unit changes the determination condition according to the scale of the map. .