JP2002267474A - Navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation system the user of which can confirm the details of a plurality of running routes without making any complicated operation. SOLUTION: A route searching section 22 extracts the plurality of running routes by performing route searching based on a plurality of searching conditions. A route information plotting section 24 generates image data for displaying the extracted running routes on a map image and image data for displaying additional information (names of roads, running distances, etc.), regarding important roads contained in the running routes correspondingly to the roads. An image synthesizing section 34 performs image synthesization by superimposing map image data read out from a VRAM 16 and image data outputted from the route information plotting section 24 upon another and outputs the synthesized image data to a display device 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation device for setting a driving condition, performing a route search process, and extracting a driving route connecting a departure place and a destination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, an on-vehicle navigation device has a map display function of displaying a map around a vehicle position on a screen and a route search for searching for a route to a destination or a waypoint specified by a user. It has a function, a route guidance function for guiding the traveling of the vehicle along the route set by the route search, and the like.

In some navigation devices, a plurality of travel routes are extracted based on a plurality of search conditions (travel conditions) such as toll road priority, time priority, and standard during route search processing. . The extracted plurality of travel routes are displayed on the screen in a display color different from other roads on the map, and, for example, one travel route in a temporarily selected state is highlighted. Then, when any one of the traveling routes is selected by the user, a route guidance process is performed along the traveling route.

[0004]

By the way, when selecting any one of a plurality of travel routes extracted by the route search processing, the search conditions of each travel route and the respective travel routes are used. Included road types (expressways,
You may want to refer to the content of each travel route, such as national roads, prefectural roads, and travel distances.

[0005] However, in the conventional navigation device, when confirming the contents of each traveling route, it is necessary to once display a dedicated screen including the contents of each traveling route. For this reason, if the user tries to change the selection state of the travel route many times while checking the content of the travel route, the normal map display screen and the dedicated screen containing the content of each travel route are alternately displayed each time. , And the operation required to confirm the contents of the traveling route is complicated.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device capable of confirming the contents of a plurality of traveling routes without performing complicated operations. It is in.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the navigation device of the present invention, the route search means performs a route search process based on a plurality of search conditions to connect the departure place and the destination. A plurality of travel routes are extracted, and the extracted plurality of travel routes are displayed by the travel route display means together with additional information corresponding to each of the plurality of travel routes. When displaying a plurality of travel routes extracted by the route search process based on a plurality of travel conditions, additional information corresponding to these travel routes is displayed at the same time. It is possible to confirm the contents of the traveling route.

[0008] Preferably, the above-mentioned additional information includes a name of a road included in each traveling route. Since the name of the road is displayed, the type of road (expressway, national highway, prefectural road, etc.) included in each travel route and the content of the road (○ street, △ road, etc.) can be known, so the outline of each travel route Contents can be easily grasped.

[0009] Further, when any one of the plurality of travel routes is set as a recommended travel route, operation means for enabling the user to arbitrarily change the recommended travel route by a user's operation is further provided. It is preferable that the recommended travel route and the additional information corresponding to the recommended travel route are displayed by the above-described travel route display means in a state where the recommended travel route and the additional information corresponding thereto are distinguishable from the other travel routes. By displaying the currently selected recommended travel route and the corresponding information clearly in distinction from other travel routes and the additional information corresponding thereto, the visibility of the display screen is improved, and the travel route can be selected. It will be easier.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a navigation device according to the present embodiment. The navigation device shown in FIG. 1 includes a navigation controller 1, a DVD 2, a disk reader 3, a remote control (remote control) unit 4, a vehicle position detector 5, and a display device 6.

The navigation controller 1 controls the entire operation of the navigation device. The navigation controller 1 includes a CPU, ROM, RA
The function is realized by executing a predetermined operation program using M or the like. The detailed configuration of the navigation controller 1 will be described later.

The DVD 2 is an information storage medium storing map data necessary for map display, route search, and the like.
Specifically, the DVD 2 stores map data in units of rectangular leaves divided into appropriate sizes by longitude and latitude, and the map data of each leaf specifies a leaf number. By doing so, it can be specified and read out.

The map data of each drawing includes (1) a "drawing unit" comprising various data necessary for displaying a map image;
(2) "Road unit" consisting of various data necessary for processing such as map matching, route search, and route guidance; (3)
An “intersection unit” including various data representing detailed information on the intersection is included. The above-mentioned drawing unit includes data of a background layer necessary for displaying a building or a river, and data of a character layer required for displaying a municipal name, a road name, and the like.

The disk reader 3 can load one or a plurality of DVDs 2 and reads map data from any one of the DVDs 2 under the control of the navigation controller 1. The loaded disk is not necessarily a DVD, but may be a CD. Also, D
Both VD and CD may be selectively loadable.

The remote control unit 4 is provided with various operation keys such as a joystick for specifying up, down, left and right directions, a numeric keypad, and a "decision key" for confirming various settings. Output to The vehicle position detection unit 5 is, for example, a GPS
It is provided with a receiver, a direction sensor, a distance sensor, and the like, detects a vehicle position (longitude, latitude) at a predetermined timing, and outputs a detection result.

The display device 6 displays various images such as a map image around the position of the vehicle based on the image data output from the navigation controller 1. Next, a detailed configuration of the navigation controller 1 will be described. Navigation controller 1 shown in FIG.
Is a map buffer 10, a map reading control unit 12, a map drawing unit 14, a VRAM 16, a vehicle position calculation unit 20, a route search processing unit 22, a route information drawing unit 24, and a guidance route memory 2.
6, a guide route drawing unit 28, an input processing unit 30, a mark image drawing unit 32, and an image synthesizing unit 34.

The map buffer 10 includes the disk reader 3
, The map data read from the DVD 2 is temporarily stored. The map readout control unit 12 includes a vehicle position calculation unit 2
In response to a vehicle position calculated by 0, a request from the input processing unit 30, and the like, a read request for map data in a predetermined range is output to the disk reading device 3.

The map drawing section 14 generates map image data for displaying a map image based on the map data stored in the map buffer 10. The VRAM 16 temporarily stores map image data output from the map drawing unit 14. The vehicle position calculation unit 20 calculates the own vehicle position and the own vehicle direction based on the detection data output from the vehicle position detection unit 5, and when the calculated own vehicle position is not on the road of the map data, A map matching process for correcting the own vehicle position is performed.

The route search processing section 22 searches for a travel route connecting a departure point and a destination (or a waypoint) specified by a user under predetermined conditions. For example, the shortest distance,
A plurality of (for example, five) traveling routes that minimize the cost under various conditions such as the shortest time are extracted.

The route information drawing unit 24 includes a route search processing unit 2
2. Image data for displaying the information on the plurality of travel routes extracted in step 2 over the map image is generated. More specifically, the route information drawing unit 24 includes image data for displaying the whole of the plurality of travel routes on a map image by color-coding each of the plurality of travel routes, Image data for displaying additional information such as the names of the main roads and the distance traveled on the roads. In the present embodiment, toll roads such as highways,
National roads and prefectural roads shall be considered. Route information drawing unit 2
4 will be described later in detail.

The guidance route memory 26 stores the route search processing unit 2
The route data corresponding to one travel route selected by the user using the remote control unit 4 is stored as the target of the route guidance processing from the plurality of travel routes extracted by the process 2. The guidance route drawing unit 28 stores the guidance route memory 2
6 from the route data stored in
A route included in the map drawn in M16 is selected, and guide route drawing data for displaying the guide route superimposed on the map is generated.

The input processing unit 30 outputs a command for performing an operation corresponding to various operation instructions input from the remote control unit 4 to each unit in the navigation controller 1. The mark image drawing unit 32 generates image data for displaying various marks, such as displaying a predetermined vehicle position mark at the own vehicle position after the map matching processing has been performed.

The image synthesizing unit 34 superimposes the map image data read from the VRAM 16 corresponding to the position of the vehicle and the image data output from the route information drawing unit 24 and the mark image drawing unit 32 to perform image synthesis. Then, the composite image data is output to the display device 6.

The above-described route search processing section 22 serves as a route search means, the display device 6, the route information drawing section 24, and the image synthesis section 34 serve as travel route display means, and the remote control unit 4
Respectively correspond to the operation means. The navigation device of the present embodiment has such a configuration.
An operation for displaying a plurality of traveling routes extracted by the route searching process and additional information corresponding to the traveling routes will be described.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the navigation device. When the departure point and the destination are set and the route search processing is performed based on a plurality of search conditions (step 100), the map drawing unit 14 generates map image data of a range including the departure point and the destination. And VRAM16
To be stored. The map image data is read by the image synthesizing unit 34, so that the map image is displayed on the screen of the display device 6 (step 101).

Next, the route information drawing unit 24 obtains a plurality of travel routes extracted by the route search processing unit 22 and uses the map data stored in the map buffer 10 to store the main travel routes included in each travel route. The name of the road is extracted (step 102). In parallel with the processing shown in step 102, the route information drawing unit 24 calculates the travel distance of the main road for each travel route using the map data stored in the map buffer 10 (step 103).

Next, the route information drawing section 24 sets any one of the plurality of travel routes as a recommended travel route (step 104). For example, in the initial state, a traveling route extracted based on standard search conditions is set as a recommended traveling route. When the recommended travel route is set, the route information drawing unit 24 highlights the recommended travel route with a predetermined display color (step 105), and displays other travel routes in a display color different from the recommended travel route. Is displayed (step 106). Specifically, image data for displaying each traveling route (recommended traveling route and other traveling routes) is generated by the route information drawing unit 24, and the image data is combined with the map image data by the image combining unit 34. Thereby, the map image in which each traveling route is overwritten is displayed on the screen of the display device 6.

Next, the route information drawing section 24 highlights and displays the additional information corresponding to the recommended travel route in a predetermined display color (step 107), and also performs the predetermined additional information corresponding to the other travel routes. Display in display color (Step 10
8). Specifically, image data for displaying additional information corresponding to each of the recommended travel route and the other travel routes is generated by the route information drawing unit 24, and the image data is generated by the image synthesis unit 34 into the map image data. By being combined, the map image overwritten with the additional information is displayed on the screen of the display device 6.

Next, the route information drawing unit 24 determines whether or not the user has operated the remote control unit 4 and the recommended travel route at that time has been selected as a travel route (guide route) to be subjected to route guidance processing. (Step 10
9). If the recommended travel route is not selected as the guidance route, a negative determination is made in step 109, and then the route information drawing unit 24 issues an operation instruction to change the recommended travel route by operating the remote control unit 4 by the user. Is determined (step 110). If an operation instruction to change the recommended travel route has not been issued, a negative determination is made in step 110, and in this case, the process returns to step 109 described above, and the subsequent processing is repeated.

When an operation instruction to change the recommended travel route is issued, an affirmative determination is made in step 110, and in this case, the process returns to step 104, and the travel specified by the user is performed. The route is newly set as the recommended traveling route, and the subsequent processing is repeated.

When the recommended travel route is selected as the guide route, an affirmative determination is made in step 109 described above, and the route information drawing unit 24 determines the travel route selected as the guide route as the route search processing unit. Notify 22. Upon receiving the notification, the route search processing unit 22 stores the route data corresponding to the traveling route selected by the user in the guidance route memory 26.
(Step 111). Thereafter, a predetermined route guidance process is performed based on the route data stored in the guidance route memory 26.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a plurality of traveling routes and additional information corresponding to the traveling routes. In FIG. 3, the route search process is performed by setting the position of the vehicle position mark G displayed on the upper right side as the departure point and the position of the destination mark P displayed on the lower left side as the destination. Is shown.

In FIG. 3, of the plurality of traveling routes connecting the departure point and the destination, the recommended traveling route is indicated by a thick solid line, and is highlighted using a predetermined display color. Is expressed. Further, the other travel routes are indicated by dotted lines, and indicate that a display using another display color that can be distinguished from the recommended travel route is performed. By performing such a display, the recommended traveling route can be easily distinguished from other traveling routes (other traveling routes). In practice, the other travel routes are
It is not necessarily displayed as a dotted line, but is preferably displayed as a solid line.

The two pieces of additional information 100 correspond to the recommended travel route (thick solid line), and the road name and the travel distance of each road included in the recommended travel route are displayed in association with each road. I have. Similarly, the four pieces of additional information 110 correspond to other traveling routes (dotted lines), and the road names and traveling distances of the roads included in the other traveling routes are displayed in association with the respective roads. . The additional information 100 corresponding to the recommended travel route is highlighted using a predetermined display color (represented by hatching in the figure) so that the additional information 100 corresponding to the other travel route can be distinguished from the additional information 110 corresponding to the other travel route. Has been done. By performing such a display, the additional information 1 corresponding to the recommended traveling route is displayed.
00 and the additional information 110 corresponding to other travel routes can be easily identified.

Note that step 11 shown in FIG.
If the recommended travel route is changed at 0, any one of the other travel routes is set as a new recommended travel route,
The display contents of each traveling route and the corresponding additional information are updated. As described above, in the navigation device of the present embodiment, when displaying a plurality of travel routes extracted by the route search process based on a plurality of search conditions, the name of the main road constituting these travel routes, Since the traveling distance is simultaneously displayed as the additional information, the contents of a plurality of traveling routes can be confirmed without performing a complicated operation. In addition, since the selected recommended traveling route and the additional information corresponding to the selected traveling route are clearly distinguished from other traveling routes and the additional information corresponding thereto, the visibility of the display screen is improved, and the traveling route is displayed. Makes selection easier.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the embodiment described above,
Although the road name and the mileage were displayed as additional information corresponding to each travel route, the content of the additional information is not limited to this, and the toll required for traveling on the toll road is also displayed. Various modifications are possible, such as displaying the estimated time required for traveling on each road. Alternatively, search conditions when each traveling route is extracted (toll road priority, etc.)
May be displayed as additional information.

In the above-described embodiment, the display colors are different between the recommended travel route and the other travel routes, so that both can be identified. Also for the route, the display color may be color-coded according to each search condition.

In the above-described embodiment, highways, national roads, prefectural roads, and the like are listed as main roads on which additional information is displayed. However, the main roads are not limited to these. Each user may arbitrarily set the type of the main road to be displayed.

[0039]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a plurality of travel routes extracted by performing a route search process based on a plurality of travel conditions are displayed, the plurality of travel routes are displayed. Since the additional information is displayed at the same time, the contents of a plurality of traveling routes can be confirmed without performing a complicated operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a navigation device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the navigation device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a plurality of traveling routes and additional information corresponding to the traveling routes.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Navigation controller 4 Remote control (remote control) unit 6 Display device 10 Map buffer 14 Map drawing unit 16 VRAM 20 Vehicle position calculation unit 22 Route search processing unit 24 Route information drawing unit 26 Guidance route memory 28 Guidance route drawing unit 30 Input processing unit 32 mark image drawing section 34 image synthesis section

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G08G 1/0969 G08G 1/0969 G09B 29/00 G09B 29/00 A 29/10 29/10 A F-term (reference) 2C032 HC08 HC27 HD21 2F029 AA01 AB07 AB13 AC02 AC06 AC09 AC14 AC19 5B075 KK07 KK13 KK33 KK37 ND03 ND06 ND20 ND22 ND23 PQ02 PQ22 PQ32 UU14 UU16 5H180 AA01 BB13 CC12 EE02 FF40 FF05 FF40

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Route search means for performing a route search process based on a plurality of traveling conditions to extract a plurality of traveling routes connecting a departure point and a destination, and additional information corresponding to the plurality of traveling routes, respectively. A navigation device, comprising: a traveling route display means for displaying the navigation device together with the navigation device. 2. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the additional information includes a name of a road included in each of the traveling routes. 3. The device according to claim 1, wherein any one of the plurality of traveling routes is set as a recommended traveling route, and further comprising an operation unit capable of arbitrarily changing the recommended traveling route by a user operation. The navigation device, wherein the traveling route display means displays the recommended traveling route and the additional information corresponding to the recommended traveling route so as to be distinguishable from other traveling routes and the additional information corresponding thereto.