JP2004138538A - Navigation apparatus and navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform route guidance which follows a lead vehicle in a succeeding vehicle, even if the lead vehicle runs. <P>SOLUTION: The succeeding vehicle 200 achieves the position of the lead vehicle 100 via a communication device 201 from the lead vehicle 100, calculates a route from the current position of the succeeding vehicle 200 up to the achieved position of the lead vehicle 100, and displays the calculated route on a CRT 208. A travel locus of the lead vehicle 100 after this route calculation is achieved from the lead vehicle 100 via the communication device 201, and this achieved travel locus is added to the calculated route and is displayed together on the CRT 208. Consequently, a route following the lead vehicle 100 can be displayed on the CRT 208 in the succeeding vehicle 200, without calculating a route each time the lead vehicle 100 moves, even if the lead vehicle 100 runs. As a result, the succeeding vehicle 200 can always perform running which follows the lead vehicle 100, according to the displayed route. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a navigation device and a navigation system.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been proposed a navigation system in which a navigation device is mounted on each of a plurality of vehicles and runs in a group (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[0003]
According to the navigation system disclosed in Patent Document 1, in a group formed by a leading vehicle equipped with a navigation device serving as a parent device and a succeeding vehicle equipped with a navigation device serving as a child device, a parent device and a child device are formed. Communicate between aircrafts to perform group travel. That is, the current position of the succeeding vehicle is transmitted to the leading vehicle, and the leading vehicle calculates a route from the received current position of the succeeding vehicle to a predetermined destination (for example, the current position of the leading vehicle), Based on the calculated route, data (route guidance data) for guiding a subsequent vehicle is created. Then, the generated route guidance data is transmitted to the following vehicle, and the following vehicle receives the route guidance data from the leading vehicle, and performs guidance display of the route to be run on the display device according to the route guidance data. The following vehicle follows the leading vehicle by traveling according to the guidance display of the display device.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-9-210710
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the above-described navigation system disclosed in Patent Literature 1, when the leading car is traveling, the current position of the leading car that is the destination changes at any time. The route from the current location to the destination may also change. Therefore, if the route calculation is performed every time the position of the destination changes, a long time is required for the route calculation, so that the route that follows the leading car cannot always be calculated. Patent Document 1 discloses that the leading car also transmits route guidance data to a plurality of succeeding cars. In this case, however, the time required for route calculation further increases, so that the leading car follows the leading car. It is very difficult to calculate the route that has been set.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device and a navigation system that can perform route guidance following a leading vehicle in a succeeding vehicle even while the leading vehicle is traveling. I do.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the communication unit receives information on the position of the first mobile unit transmitted from the first mobile unit, and calculates a route from the current position to the position of the first mobile unit. A navigation device mounted on a second mobile unit, comprising: a route calculating unit that performs the calculation; and a display control unit that displays the calculated route on a display unit, wherein the display control unit displays the calculated route on the display unit. After that, the movement trajectory of the position of the first moving object received by the communication means is displayed in addition to the path.
[0008]
As described above, the navigation device of the present invention displays the movement trajectory of the first moving body after the route calculation in addition to the route displayed on the display unit. Thus, for example, even if the first mobile unit (hereinafter, referred to as a leading vehicle) is traveling, the navigation device mounted on the second mobile unit (hereinafter, referred to as a following vehicle) may not be able to control the leading vehicle. The route following the leading car can be displayed on the display unit without calculating the route each time the position moves. As a result, the succeeding vehicle can always follow the leading vehicle according to the route displayed on the display unit and the movement locus of the leading vehicle.
[0009]
In the navigation device according to the second aspect, the position of the first mobile unit received by the communication unit after displaying the calculated route on the display unit has moved by a predetermined distance or more from the position of the first mobile unit on the route. The display control means further includes a movement determining means for determining whether or not the movement determining means has moved by a predetermined distance or more. In addition, it is displayed.
[0010]
As described above, when the leading vehicle has moved a predetermined distance or more from the calculated position on the route, the moving trajectory of the leading vehicle is received and displayed on the display unit in addition to the calculated route. As a result, the following vehicle can display the following route to the leading vehicle without receiving the movement locus of the leading vehicle at any time. As a result, it is possible to reduce the processing load of the navigation device on the following vehicle.
[0011]
According to the navigation device of the third aspect, the navigation apparatus further includes time determination means for determining whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the movement determination means has determined that the vehicle has moved for a predetermined distance or more, When the determining unit determines that the predetermined time has elapsed, a route from the current position to the final position of the movement locus of the first moving object is calculated, and the display control unit displays the calculated route on the display unit. It is characterized by doing.
[0012]
The final route from the current position of the succeeding vehicle to the position of the leading vehicle, which is composed of the calculated route and the trajectory of the leading vehicle, may not be the optimal route from the current position of the following vehicle. Therefore, when the leading vehicle moves a predetermined distance or more from the calculated route and passes a predetermined time or more, the route from the current position of the succeeding vehicle to the position of the leading vehicle is calculated again. The optimal route to follow can be displayed.
[0013]
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the navigation system communicates with the first mobile unit, a position obtaining unit that obtains a position, and transmits the obtained position to the first mobile unit via the communication unit. A second mobile unit having communication control means and a first mobile unit having the navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 are provided. As described above, the leading vehicle transmits the position of the leading vehicle to the following vehicle, so that the succeeding vehicle can run following the leading vehicle.
[0014]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a navigation device and a navigation system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0015]
(1st Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a navigation system according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the navigation system of the present embodiment includes an in-vehicle device mounted on the leading vehicle 100 and a navigation device mounted on the succeeding vehicle 200.
[0016]
The in-vehicle device mounted on the leading vehicle 100 is configured by a communication device 101, a GPS receiver 102, and a control device 103. On the other hand, the navigation device mounted on the following vehicle 200 includes a communication device 201, a GPS receiver 202, a vehicle speed sensor 203, a direction sensor 204, a map storage device 205, a control switch 206, a CRT controller 207, a CRT 208, and a control device 209. It is configured.
[0017]
The communication device 101 mounted on the leading vehicle 100 performs wireless communication with the communication device 201 mounted on the succeeding vehicle 200. As is well known, the GPS receiver 102 detects the position of the leading vehicle 100 based on radio waves from satellites. The control device 103 performs a process of transmitting the current position and the running locus of the leading vehicle 100 to the subsequent vehicle 200 via the communication device 101 in response to a request from the following vehicle 200 received via the communication device 101.
[0018]
The control device 103 includes a storage medium such as a RAM, for example, and stores information on the position of the leading vehicle 100 detected by the GPS receiver 102 in the storage medium. The leading vehicle 100 in the present embodiment has an on-vehicle device including a communication device 101, a GPS receiver 102, and a control device 103, but has a navigation device mounted on a succeeding vehicle 200 described later. May be done.
[0019]
The communication device 201 mounted on the following vehicle 200 performs wireless communication with the communication device 101 mounted on the leading vehicle 100. The GPS receiver 202, the vehicle speed sensor 203, and the direction sensor 204 all detect the position of the following vehicle 200, and are detected in the form of coordinates (latitude / longitude) of the current position received by the GPS receiver 202. Further, based on the information on the traveling direction and the traveling distance of the following vehicle 200 acquired by the vehicle speed sensor 203 and the direction sensor 204, the coordinates of the current position of the following vehicle 200 by the autonomous navigation are calculated, and the information is stored in the map storage device 205 described later. The map matching with the stored road data is performed to improve the detection accuracy of the current position.
[0020]
The map storage device 205 is a device for storing various data including road data, map data, and landmark data for performing map matching used for improving the accuracy of position detection. As a storage medium for storing these various data, a storage medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM is generally used, but a storage medium such as a memory card or a hard disk which uses a writable storage medium may be used. Good.
[0021]
As the control switch 206, for example, a touch switch or a mechanical switch integrated with a CRT 208 described later is used, and is used for various inputs. The CRT controller 207 receives a signal from a control device 209 described later and outputs an image signal to the CRT 208. The CRT 208 receives an image signal from the CRT controller 207 and receives a vehicle position mark corresponding to the current position of the following vehicle 200 and a road map around the following vehicle 200 generated based on map data input from the map storage device 205. Etc. are displayed.
[0022]
The control device 209 is configured as a normal computer, and includes a well-known CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O, and a bus line connecting these components. A program to be executed by the control device 209 is written in the ROM, and the CPU and the like execute predetermined arithmetic processing according to the program.
[0023]
Also, when the position of the destination is input from the control switch 206, the navigation device of the present embodiment mounted on the succeeding vehicle 200 automatically searches for an optimal route from the current position to the destination and forms a guidance route. Also, a so-called route guidance function for displaying the information on the CRT 208 is provided. As a technique for automatically setting the optimum route, a technique such as the well-known Dijkstra method is known. Note that this route guidance function can also form a guidance route using the current position of the leading vehicle 100 received via the communication device 201 as a destination. Further, the traveling locus of the leading vehicle 100 received via the communication device 201 can be displayed on the CRT 208 together with the guide route.
[0024]
Next, regarding the route guidance processing to the current position of the leading vehicle 100 in the following vehicle 200, which is a feature of the present embodiment, using the flowcharts of FIGS. 3 and 4 and an image diagram of the guidance route displayed on the CRT 208 of FIG. Will be explained. In addition, a process of transmitting position information / traveling trajectory information from the leading vehicle 100 to the following vehicle 200 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. In the following description, the leading vehicle 100 will be referred to as vehicle B, and the following vehicle 200 will be referred to as vehicle A.
[0025]
First, the transmission process of the position information / traveling locus information in the vehicle B will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, vehicle B acquires the current position of vehicle B and stores the acquired current position (step S200). This current position is represented in the form of coordinates of latitude and longitude.
[0026]
In step S210, it is determined whether a transmission request signal has been received from vehicle A. If the transmission request signal has been received, the process proceeds to step S220. If the transmission request signal has not been received, the process proceeds to step S200, and the above-described process is repeated.
[0027]
In step S220, it is determined whether or not the received transmission request signal is a transmission request for traveling locus information. Here, if the request is for transmission of travel trajectory information, the process proceeds to step S230; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S240. In step S230, position coordinates (traveling locus information), which will be described later, become a traveling locus from a point where the vehicle A has been targeted in the past to the latest point of the vehicle B is extracted.
[0028]
In step S240, the latest position coordinates (position information) of the vehicle B are transmitted to the vehicle A, or the travel trajectory information of the vehicle B extracted in step S230 is transmitted.
[0029]
Next, the route guidance processing of the vehicle A to the current position of the vehicle B will be described with reference to FIG. In step S10 in the figure, the current position of the vehicle A is obtained. This current position is acquired in the form of latitude and longitude coordinates, as described above. In the present embodiment, the point N shown in FIG. In step S20, a request for transmitting position information of vehicle B is transmitted to vehicle B.
[0030]
In step S30, the position information from the vehicle B is received, and the position information is stored. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the position of the vehicle B is a point P as shown in FIG. In step S40, a guide route is calculated from point N, which is the current position of vehicle A, obtained in step S10, to point P, which is the latest current position of vehicle B received in step S30, as the destination.
[0031]
When the calculation of the guide route is completed, in step S50, the calculated guide route is displayed on the CRT 208. FIG. 5A shows a display example of a guide route from the vehicle A to the vehicle B (a route from the N point to the P point). Note that the route from the point O to the point P indicates the traveling locus of the vehicle B, and is not displayed on the CRT 208.
[0032]
In step S60, a request for transmitting position information is transmitted to vehicle B. In step S70, the latest current position of vehicle B in response to the request for transmitting position information is received, and the latest current position of vehicle B is stored. I do. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the point Q shown in FIG. 5B is the latest current position of the vehicle B.
[0033]
In step S80, it is determined whether the position of the vehicle B has moved a predetermined distance or more. That is, during the route calculation in step S40, it is determined whether the distance traveled by vehicle B (the distance from point P to point Q) is greater than or equal to a predetermined distance. Here, if the distance is equal to or longer than the predetermined distance, the process proceeds to step S90; otherwise, the process proceeds to step S60. Note that the predetermined distance is a linear distance set to, for example, about several meters or several tens of meters, but may be set arbitrarily by a user.
[0034]
In step S90 shown in FIG. 4, a request to transmit the traveling locus of vehicle B from point P stored in step S30 to point Q stored in step S70 is transmitted to vehicle B.
[0035]
In step S100, travel locus information is received from vehicle B. The travel locus information is a plurality of position coordinates corresponding to the travel locus from the point P designated by the vehicle A to the point Q, as described above.
[0036]
Then, in step S110, the received travel route from point P to point Q of vehicle B is displayed in addition to the guidance route displayed on CRT 208 in step S50. FIG. 5C shows an example in which the traveling locus of the vehicle B from the point P to the point Q is displayed in addition to the guide route from the point N to the point P. Thereafter, by repeating the processing in steps S60 to S110, the traveling locus of the vehicle B is displayed in addition to the guide route.
[0037]
As described above, the navigation device and the navigation system mounted on the vehicle A according to the present embodiment add the travel trajectory of the vehicle B after the route calculation to the guide route when the vehicle B moves a predetermined distance or more after the route calculation. It is displayed on the CRT 208. Accordingly, even when the vehicle B is running, the route that follows the vehicle B can be displayed on the CRT 208 without calculating the route each time the position of the vehicle B moves, even when the vehicle B is running. As a result, the vehicle A can always run following the vehicle B according to the guide route and the running locus displayed on the CRT 208. In addition, since the vehicle A does not receive the traveling locus of the vehicle B from the vehicle A at any time, the processing load of the navigation device on the vehicle A can be reduced.
[0038]
(Second embodiment)
Since the second embodiment has much in common with the first embodiment, a detailed description of the common parts will be omitted, and different parts will be mainly described below.
[0039]
In the navigation device of the vehicle A according to the first embodiment, after calculating the route from the vehicle A to the vehicle B, the travel locus of the vehicle B is acquired and added to the guide route every time the vehicle B moves a predetermined distance or more. However, in the present embodiment, when a predetermined time has elapsed after the vehicle B has moved a predetermined distance or more, the route from the vehicle A to the vehicle B is calculated again, and the calculated route is stored in the CRT 208. It differs in displaying.
[0040]
Hereinafter, the recalculation processing of the route from the vehicle A to the vehicle B will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 6 and an image diagram of the guide route displayed on the CRT 208 shown in FIG. Note that the processing before step S85 shown in FIG. 6 is the same as the processing from step S10 to step S80 shown in FIG. 3 described in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.
[0041]
In step S85, counting of the timer function (not shown) of the navigation device of the vehicle A is started. Subsequent processing in steps S90 to S110 is the same as the processing described in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted. In the present embodiment, by the processing up to step S110, the guidance route from point N to point P and the traveling locus of vehicle B from point P to point Q shown in FIG. Suppose.
[0042]
In step S120, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed from the start of counting by the timer. Here, if the predetermined time has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S130. If the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process proceeds to step S60, and the above process is repeated. The predetermined time may be arbitrarily set by the user.
[0043]
In step S130, the guidance route from the current position of the vehicle A to the point Q, which is the last point of the traveling track of the vehicle B, is calculated again. Then, in step S140, the guidance route calculated again is displayed on the CRT 208. Thereby, for example, as shown in FIG. 7B, when the traveling locus from the point P to the point Q is not the optimal route, the optimal route from the point P to the point Q as shown in FIG. Displayed on CRT 208. Then, in step S150, the count of the timer is reset (state of 0).
[0044]
Thereafter, by repeating the processing from step S60 to step S150, if the vehicle B moves again a predetermined distance or more (for example, moves from the point Q to the point R), as shown in FIG. 7C. In addition, the traveling locus of the vehicle B from the point Q to the point R is displayed, and when a predetermined time has elapsed since the vehicle B moved from the point Q to the point R, the vehicle B is again moved from the current position of the vehicle A to the vehicle B. Is calculated.
[0045]
As described above, by the navigation device and the navigation system according to the present embodiment, when the vehicle B has traveled the predetermined distance or more and the predetermined time has elapsed, the route from the vehicle A to the vehicle B is calculated again, so that the vehicle A Thus, it is possible to display the optimal route that follows the vehicle B. As a result, the vehicle A can travel following the vehicle B according to the optimum route.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a navigation device mounted on a leading vehicle 100 and a vehicle-mounted device mounted on a succeeding vehicle 200 according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating position information / running information transmission processing in a vehicle B according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a first half of a route guidance process of the vehicle A to a current position of the vehicle B according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the latter half of the route guidance processing of the vehicle A to the current position of the vehicle B according to the first embodiment.
FIGS. 5A to 5C are image diagrams illustrating a guide route from a vehicle A to a vehicle B according to the first embodiment.
FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a route guidance process of a vehicle A to a current position of a vehicle B according to the second embodiment.
FIGS. 7A to 7C are image diagrams illustrating a guide route from a vehicle A to a vehicle B according to the second embodiment.
[Explanation of symbols]
100 First car 200 Following car 101, 201 Communication device 102, 202 GPS receiver 203 Vehicle speed sensor 204 Direction sensor 205 Map storage device 206 Control switch 207 CRT controller 208 CRT
103, 209 Control device

Claims (4)

Communication means for receiving information on the position of the first mobile unit transmitted from the first mobile unit;
Route calculation means for calculating a route from a current position to the position of the first mobile unit;
A display control means for displaying the calculated route on a display unit, the navigation device being mounted on a second mobile object,
The display control means, after displaying the calculated route on a display unit, displays a movement locus of the position of the first moving object received by the communication means in addition to the route. . Movement to determine whether the position of the first moving body received by the communication means after displaying the calculated route on the display unit has moved by a predetermined distance or more from the position of the first moving body on the route. A determination unit,
The display control means displays, in addition to the route, a movement locus of the position of the first moving body received by the communication means, when the movement determination means determines that the movement has moved a predetermined distance or more. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein The apparatus further includes a time determination unit configured to determine whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the movement determination unit has determined that the movement has moved a predetermined distance or more,
The route calculation means calculates a route from a current position to a final position of a movement locus of the first moving body when the time determination means determines that a predetermined time or more has elapsed,
The navigation device according to claim 2, wherein the display control means displays the calculated route on a display unit. Communication means for communicating with the first mobile object;
Position acquisition means for acquiring a position,
A second mobile unit comprising: a communication control unit that transmits the acquired position to the first mobile unit via the communication unit;
A navigation system, comprising: a first moving body including the navigation device according to claim 1.

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