JP2007155437A - Car navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To delete a planned path point or destination point from a guidance route in a case where going to the planned path point or destination point has lost its meaning, as to a car navigation device. <P>SOLUTION: When an installation is found while traveling along a guidance route and the installation has ever been called at on the way, for example, in order to have a wash, it is determined whether or not the installation called-at is an installation belonging to the same category that an installation set as a planned path point or destination point belongs to. In cases where they belong to the same category, the planned path point or destination point is eliminated from planned path points or destination points on the guidance route. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a car navigation device having a function of guiding a vehicle along a guide route to a destination.

  The car navigation device has a function of detecting a current position and a function of searching for a guide route from the current position to the destination when the destination is input. During travel of the vehicle, the guide route and the current position of the vehicle are displayed on a map on the display screen to guide the route to the destination. When the vehicle deviates from the guide route during this route guidance, the route from the current position to the destination is re-searched by the re-route function, and guidance to the destination is performed by the re-search route.

  In car navigation systems, when entering a destination, it is usually possible to enter a stopover at the same time. When a stopover is input, a guidance route to the destination via the stopover is searched. To do. Accordingly, when a user wants to take a detour or set a route that passes through a desired place such as a scenic spot, the user can satisfy the desire by inputting the waypoint.

Further, in Patent Document 1, when a transit point is input as a transit point candidate, it is determined whether or not the destination can be reached by the initial desired time, and if it can arrive by the desired time, the transit point candidate is routed. A guide route is determined, and if the destination cannot be reached by the desired time, a guide route to the destination is set without passing through the route candidate.
JP 2000-346667 A

By the way, if you set a guide route and actually drive with a vehicle, you may lose interest in going to a waypoint or destination on the way. For example, it is assumed that a guide route is set by setting an Italian restaurant as a transit point in order to go to a destination after eating. On the way to the italian restaurant, which is a transit point, suppose you accidentally found a Japanese restaurant that you had always wanted to visit, and stopped by and finished your meal.
In such a case, the user has already lost the purpose of going to an Italian restaurant as a transit point. However, since the car navigation device has not passed through the transit point (Italian restaurant), the car navigation device continues to guide the vehicle according to the initial guide route that goes to the destination via the transit point. Such a problem cannot be solved by Patent Document 1.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a car navigation system that can erase the waypoint or destination from the guideway when the meaning of going to the waypoint or destination is lost. To provide an apparatus.

  In the invention of claim 1, whether or not the stop-in facility belongs to the same category as the facility set as a waypoint or destination when stopping at the facility while traveling along the guide route If the category is the same category, the route or destination is deleted from the route or destination of the guide route. For this reason, when it is understood that the meaning of going to a transit point or destination by losing to a facility belonging to the same category as the transit point or destination is lost, the transit point or destination is deleted, so the transit point that lost the meaning of going The problem of continuing guidance to the place or destination can be solved.

In the invention of claim 2, the facility visited this time is determined to be a facility belonging to the same category as the waypoint or destination, and the frequency of the visit to the facility of the same category as the facility visited this time is more than a predetermined number of times. At the time, the waypoints or destinations of the same category as the facility at which you stopped are deleted from the waypoints or destinations of the guide route.
According to this configuration, the user's hobbies / preferences are determined based on the frequency of visits to each category of facilities that have visited so far, and if the facility that has stopped this time is determined to be a facility that matches the user's hobbies / preferences, Since the waypoints or destinations belonging to the same category as the category to which the facility visited this time belong are deleted, it is possible to eliminate the waypoints or destinations against the user's will as much as possible.

  In the invention of claim 3, when the waypoint or destination is deleted, a new guide route from the current position to the destination via the remaining waypoint is set, or the remaining waypoint is set as the destination. Since a new guide route is set instead of the above, it is not necessary to perform re-input for setting a new guide route.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram functionally showing the overall configuration of the car navigation apparatus. As shown in the figure, the car navigation apparatus 1 includes a calculation unit 2, a current position measurement unit 3 as a current position acquisition unit, a map data storage unit 4 as a map data acquisition unit, a display unit 5 as a display unit, and a pronunciation. A speaker 6 as means and an input unit 7 as input means are provided.

  The current position measuring unit 3 includes a gyroscope 8 that detects the pitch angle of the vehicle, a G sensor 9 that detects the rolling angle of the vehicle, a distance sensor 10 that detects a travel distance, and a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 11 as sensors. Etc. are connected. Since these sensors 8 to 11 have detection errors of different properties, combining these sensors 8 to 11 enables highly accurate position detection while correcting the detection errors. Then, the current position measuring unit 3 determines the current position of the vehicle based on the detection results of these sensors 8 to 11 and the like.

  The map data storage unit 4 is composed of an information recording medium such as a DVD-ROM and a reading device that reads map data from the information recording medium. The map data, map matching data, and the route are voiced by the reading device. The data for guidance is read and given to the calculation unit 2. In the map data, there is data with a link number determined for each section determined for each road, and the section can be specified by this link number.

  Also, in the map data, when setting the guide route, if the waypoint or destination is entered as a place name, building name, facility name, telephone number, etc., the place name, building name, facility Map index data configured by associating names, telephone numbers, and the like with the corresponding coordinates on the map is configured. Further, in the map data, genre-specific data is configured so that a waypoint and a destination can be searched from the genre.

  Incidentally, the map data includes facility category data in which each facility is classified into a plurality of categories. The facility category data is obtained by dividing various facilities in map data into categories, and is classified into a large classification and a medium classification. The major classification of the facility category is that various facilities are divided into broad categories such as a facility for eating, a facility for staying, a gas station, and a bank. The medium classification is a further classification of facilities belonging to each of the major categories. For example, facilities that categorize large-scale meals are classified into Italian restaurants, French restaurants, Italian restaurants and Western restaurants other than French restaurants, Japanese restaurants, ramen restaurants, soba noodle stores, etc. ing.

  The display unit 5 includes a display screen such as a liquid crystal display, and can display map data, characters, symbols, or the like on the display screen. The input unit 7 is used for inputting data and inputting various setting items. For example, the input unit 7 includes various switches such as a touch panel or a mechanical switch provided integrally with the display unit 5. Yes.

  The calculation unit 2 includes a display control unit 12, a route calculation unit 13, a route guidance control unit 14, a voice control unit 15, and the like. The display control unit 12 acquires current position information from the current position measurement unit 3 and displays a road map around the current position on the display screen of the display unit 5 based on the map data acquired from the map data storage unit 4. The pointer indicating the current position and the traveling direction of the vehicle is displayed on the road map on the display screen.

  The route calculation unit 13 functions as a guide route search unit, and searches for a route from the current position to the destination. When a waypoint is designated, the route calculation unit 13 searches for a route that passes through the waypoint and reaches the destination. The waypoints and destinations are input from the input unit 7 as waypoint setting means and destination setting means. In this case, the waypoints and destinations can be entered using a method of specifying any point on the map displayed on the display screen of the display unit 5, a method of specifying a place name, etc., a telephone number, and a facility name. You can choose from the methods to do.

  When the waypoint or destination is set from the input unit 7, the route calculation unit 13 passes the guide route from the current position to the destination or the route from the current position based on the map data in the map data storage unit 4. To find the route to the destination. In this case, the route calculation unit 13 searches for a plurality of routes on the condition of distance priority, toll road priority, and the like. When the user performs an input operation for designating (setting) a desired guide route from among the plurality of routes, the route is set as the guide route and stored in the route storage unit 16. The Dijkstra method or the like is used as a method for searching for a guidance route.

  The route guidance control unit 14 that functions as a route guidance unit and a route control unit reads out the guidance route stored in the route storage unit 16 and displays the guidance route on the road map of the display unit 5 via the display control unit 12. To display. And the route guidance control part 14 acquires a present position from the present position measurement part 3, and when a vehicle approaches the intersection which should change course, on the display screen of the display part 5 via a display control part 12, an intersection name or Displays the distance to the intersection. In addition, the route guidance control unit 14 issues an instruction to the voice control unit 15 in order to provide guidance on the route at the intersection along with the display of the name of the intersection and the distance to the intersection. The voice control unit 15 reads information stored as digital data in the voice storage unit 17 based on an instruction from the route guidance control unit 14, converts the information into an analog signal, and drives the speaker 6. As a result, a route instruction such as “Approximately *** m ahead intersection is in the * direction” is given by voice from the speaker 6 to guide the route.

  The route guidance control unit 14 detects whether or not the current position of the vehicle is on the guidance route when the guidance route is set, and resets the route to the route calculation unit 13 when the route is removed from the guidance route. Issue a command. Upon receiving the route resetting instruction, the route calculation unit 13 newly sets a guide route from the current position to the destination or a guide route from the current position to the destination via the waypoint, and newly sets the route in the route storage unit 16. The guide route is changed to the original guide route and stored. Therefore, the route calculation unit 13 also functions as a reroute setting unit.

  In the car navigation apparatus 1 configured as described above, the power source 19 is turned on and off by an ignition switch (power-on means) 18 that starts and stops an engine (not shown). That is, the ignition switch 18 is a key rotary type and has four switching positions of OFF, ACC, ON, and START. When the ignition switch 18 is rotated to the ACC position, the car navigation device 1 and other electrical components are used. Each power is turned on, and at the START position, the starter motor is turned on to start the engine.

  By the way, when the route and destination are input and the guidance route is set, the car navigation device 1 guides the vehicle to travel along the guidance route based on the current position detected by the current position measurement unit 3. . When the vehicle deviates from the guide route in the direction of travel, the route calculation unit 13 searches for a new guide route from the current position through the non-passing waypoint to the destination by the reroute setting function, and The vehicle is guided to travel along the new guide route. When the current position detected by the current position measuring unit 3 reaches a position set as a waypoint, it is determined that the route has been passed (passage determination), and thereafter, a reroute search is performed through the route point determined to pass. It will not be.

  Now, at the departure place, as shown in Fig. 3, the guide route that was originally set up is to fill the vehicle with gasoline as soon as the lunch is done. Let's take lunch at a soba noodle shop. Suppose that the first waypoint was a soba / udon store, the next waypoint was a gas station, and the destination was a ramen store.

  However, when you actually drive, you find a popular Western restaurant on the way to the soba / udon store on the waypoint 1, and finish lunch there. In such a case, it is no longer necessary to go to the soba / udon store at the waypoint 1 and the ramen store at the destination, and only go to the gas station.

  In the present embodiment, the car navigation device 1 searches for a category belonging to a facility that has visited by major classification, and in the guidance route, the same major classification as the major classification category of the stopping facility. When there is a transit point or destination belonging to the category, the route or destination is deleted and a reroute search is performed. The control contents of the car navigation apparatus 1 in this case will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 2 (reroute setting routine for stopping on the way).

  In other words, in order to have a meal at a Western restaurant, the vehicle is stopped at the parking lot of the Western restaurant, and after the meal is finished, when the ignition switch 18 is operated to start the engine of the vehicle, the ACC switch is turned on. A power supply 19 is turned on to the car navigation apparatus 1. Then, the car navigation apparatus 1 starts to operate, and first, the route guidance control unit 14 determines whether or not a route point or destination is stored in the route storage unit 16, that is, whether or not a guidance route is set. (Step S1). The operation start by turning on the power supply 19 has a function as a stop detection means.

  Here, since the waypoints 1 and 2 and the destination are set, the route guidance control unit 14 determines that there is a destination or a waypoint (“YES” in step S1), and then the current position (parking lot ) To find a facility within Am from the above-mentioned facility category data. Then, it is determined whether or not the retrieved facility category (major classification) matches the facility category in the major classification of the facility set as the waypoint and the destination (step S2: stopping facility detection means, Category judgment means). The Am may be fixedly set to 50 m or 100 m, or may be set freely by the user.

  Here, a Western restaurant is searched as a facility within Am from the current position, and the facility category of the Western restaurant is classified as a “meal facility”. The route guidance control unit 14 determines “YES” in step S2 and the route category 1 is the same in the large category of the current location facility. The no udon / soba store and the destination ramen store are deleted (step S3: delete means).

  Accordingly, based on the fact that the soba / udon store and the ramen store are deleted from the route storage unit 16, the gas station at the waypoint 2 where the route calculation unit 13 is left is set as a new destination in FIG. As shown, a new guide route from the current position to the gas station is searched, and the reroute setting routine for stopping on the way is completed. When the vehicle starts to travel, the route guidance control unit 14 guides the vehicle to the gas station through the newly set guidance route.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a facility that stops on the way belongs to the same facility category as the waypoint or destination, the route point or destination of the same facility category (major classification) is guided. Since it is deleted from the route, it does not have to be guided to a waypoint or destination that belongs to the same category as the facility that was stopped on the way and no longer needs to go.

  5 to 7 show another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, when a user categorizes facilities on a daily basis to determine a user's hobbies / preferences, and when a guideline is set, a stop-by facility is determined to be a facility that matches the user's hobbies / preferences In addition, the route or the destination is to be deleted only when the transit point or the destination stops and the facility category in the middle classification matches.

  That is, after the vehicle is stopped at the parking lot and used, the ignition switch 18 is operated to start the engine. Then, the ACC switch is turned on, the power source 19 is turned on to the car navigation device 1, the car navigation device 1 starts operating, and the stop-in facility history routine shown in FIG. 5 is entered. Upon entering this stop-in facility history routine, first, the route guidance control unit 14 detects a facility within a predetermined distance Am from the current location based on the map data (stop-in facility detecting means), and further, the facility category to which the detected facility belongs Based on the facility category data (category determination means), and classified and stored in the “category facility category storage area” of the route storage unit 16 as the storage means (step A2: sorting means, Storage control means) and return.

As the data format of the “category facility category storage area” in this case, a facility category major category, middle category, and visit count counter are provided. The major category and middle category of the facility category are recorded with the major category and middle category of the facility visited, and the number of visits is incremented by one each time the visitor stops. For example, if the facility you visited this time was an Italian restaurant,
First storage area Facility category (major category): Facility to eat Facility category (medium category): Italian restaurant Visit counter: 1
Is memorized.

Next, when it was detected that another Italian restaurant was visited, the “category type storage area of the stopping facility”
First storage area Facility category (major category): Eating facility Facility category (medium category): Italian restaurant Visit counter: 2
Is memorized.

Next, when it was detected that you visited a Western restaurant, the “Category type storage area of the stopping facility”
First storage area Facility category (major category): Eating facility Facility category (medium category): Italian restaurant Visit counter: 2
Second storage area Facility category (major category): Facility to eat Facility category (medium category): Western restaurant Stop counter: 1
Is memorized.
In this way, the frequency of daily visits is recorded for each category.

  Now, the control content of the car navigation device 1 when a guidance route is set and the vehicle stops along the route while traveling along the guidance route will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In this case, it is assumed that the data stored in the “category type storage area of the drop-in facility” is as follows.

First storage area Facility category (major category): Eating facility Facility category (medium category): French restaurant Visit counter: 1
Second storage area Facility category (major category): Facility to eat Facility category (medium category): Japanese restaurant Visit counter: 10
Third storage area Facility category (major category): Gas station Facility category (medium category):-
Stop counter: 5

  Now, suppose that the destination of the guide route is a ramen shop as shown in FIG. 7, and the car is parked at a certain place in order to use it on the way to the ramen shop. Assume that there is a French restaurant near the parking location. When the ignition switch 18 is operated to start the engine of the vehicle after the operation is completed, the car navigation device 1 starts to operate in the same manner as described above. First, the route guidance control unit 14 operates as the route storage unit. It is determined whether or not a transit point or destination is stored in FIG. 16, that is, whether or not a guide route is set (step B1).

  Here, since the guidance route is set, the route guidance control unit 14 determines “YES” in step B1, and there is a facility within Am from the current location, and the middle category of the facility category of the facility is the facility category. It is determined whether or not it exists in the recording data (step B2).

  Here, since there is a French restaurant within Am, the route guidance control unit 14 determines “YES” in Step B2, and proceeds to Step B3. In this step B3, the route guidance control unit 14 stores the same middle classification facility as the facility (French restaurant) near the current location in the “category type storage area of the stop-in facility”, and stores the stored facility information. It is determined whether or not the major classification matches the major classification of the facility category set as the transit point or destination (category matching judgment means).

  If “YES” is determined in Step B3, the route guidance control unit 14 determines whether or not the value of the number counter stored in the “category facility category type storage area” is equal to or greater than a predetermined value Y. (Step B4: Stop frequency determination means). If the value of Y is “5”, for example, the number of visits to the French restaurant stored in the “category type storage area of the visit facility” is “1”. In B4, “NO” is determined and the process returns. In other words, in this case, the car navigation device 1 determines that it has not stopped at the French restaurant, returns to the normal route guidance routine, and continues guidance to the ramen restaurant.

  On the other hand, if the facility near the current location is a ramen shop, the route guidance control unit 14 determines “YES” in step B4, and therefore deletes the ramen shop that is the destination. In this case, there is no waypoint from the beginning, and since the destination has been deleted, the guide route is also deleted.

  In this way, for the facilities that have visited in the past, Mr. Kawung is the number of stops, and the reasons for deleting or not depending on the waypoints and destinations are as follows. In other words, the sudden drop-in to a facility that was not originally in the destination or waypoint is that if the facility is viewed by the user, it is more than a facility that was set as a waypoint or destination. This is because it suits your hobbies and preferences. High hobbies and tastes are considered to have been to such facilities many times from the usual days. Therefore, the facility that suits your hobbies and preferences is judged by the number of stops, and I like the kind of facilities that I have visited many times in the past. This is based on the idea of By such a determination, it is possible to improve the matching rate with the user's feelings about erasing from the waypoints and destinations, and it is possible to delete and leave the waypoints and destinations that match the user's feelings. Is.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings, and can be expanded or changed as follows.
The major classification and middle classification of the facility category are not limited to the examples in the above-described embodiment.
The elimination target category of stopovers and destinations is not limited to “Food facilities”. There are various types of stores such as convenience stores and supermarkets, “indoor play facilities” such as amusement parks and parks, and “indoor entertainment facilities” such as movie theaters, theaters and concert halls.
The stop determination means is not limited to the one that is performed when the power source 19 is turned on by the ignition switch 18, but may be a stop when the stop has been at the same position for more than a certain time.

1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a car navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Flow chart of route guidance after parking A figure showing an example of a guide route New route guide map when the original waypoints and destinations are deleted Flowchart for recording history of a stop-in facility showing another embodiment of the present invention Flow chart of route guidance after parking A figure showing an example of a guide route

Explanation of symbols

  In the drawings, 1 is a car navigation device, 2 is a calculation unit, 3 is a current position measurement unit (current position acquisition unit), 4 is a map data storage unit (map data acquisition unit), 5 is a display unit, 6 is a speaker, 7 Is an input unit, 13 is a route calculation unit (reroute setting unit), 14 is a route guidance control unit (stop-by facility detection unit, category determination unit, deletion unit, sorting unit), 16 is a route storage unit (storage unit), and 18 is An ignition switch 19 indicates a power source.

Claims (3)

A function for setting a guide route from a departure point to a destination or a guide route from a departure point to a destination according to whether or not a stop point is input, and driving guidance according to the set guide route. In a car navigation device having a function to perform,
Map data acquisition means for acquiring map data;
Current position acquisition means for acquiring the current position;
A stop-in facility detection means for detecting the facility that stopped by,
Category judging means for judging whether or not the facility detected as having stopped by this stop-in facility detecting means is a facility belonging to the same category as the waypoint or destination,
When the category judging means determines that the facility visited is the same category as the waypoint or destination, the waypoint or destination in the same category as the facility visited is determined from the waypoint or destination of the guide route. A car navigation apparatus comprising deletion means for deletion. The car navigation device according to claim 1, wherein
Furthermore,
Sorting means that divides the facilities detected by the drop-in facility detection means into categories,
And storing means for storing the frequency of visiting the facility separately for each category divided by the sorting means,
The deletion means determines that the visited facility is the same category as the waypoint or destination by the category judging means, and the visiting facility is out of the drop-in frequencies for each category stored in the storage means. The car navigation device, wherein when the stop frequency of a category to which the user belongs is equal to or more than a predetermined number of times, the route or destination of the same category as the facility where the stop is placed is deleted from the route or destination of the guide route. The car navigation device according to claim 1 or 2,
When the waypoint or destination is deleted by the deleting means, a new guide route from the current position to the destination via the remaining waypoints is set, or the remaining waypoints are replaced with destinations. A car navigation device comprising reroute setting means for setting a new guide route.

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