JP2007198860A - On-vehicle navigation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an on-vehicle navigation apparatus having functions that can be utilized effectively in addition to navigation functions. <P>SOLUTION: The on-vehicle navigation apparatus comprises: a program information acquisition means for acquiring program information including the broadcast date/time of a program; a date/time information acquisition means for acquiring date/time information; a time slot designation means for designating a time zone from the date/time information; a program search means for searching a program included in the time slot from the program information; and a program information providing means for providing program information corresponding to the searched program. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle navigation device.

  As the vehicle travels, the current position is detected by GPS (Global Positioning System), etc., and the current position is displayed on a display device together with a road map, and an appropriate route from the starting point to the destination The vehicle-mounted navigation device that guides the user with a display device or a voice output device contributes to efficient and safe driving for the user.

  In-vehicle navigation devices include a navigation function for guiding a searched route, an audio video function for reproducing music and video stored in a recording medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD, semiconductor memory, and hard disk, a hard disk, A function to save data in a recording medium such as a semiconductor memory, a broadcast reception function to receive a broadcast program of radio or television and display it on a display or output from a speaker, a recording function to record a broadcast program of television, etc. Some are equipped. (See Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-051327

  In the example of Patent Document 1, when a TV broadcast program is recorded by an in-vehicle navigation device, information on a desired program is obtained from a TV / radio program information magazine, a newspaper program guide, or program information on the Internet. Scheduled recording. For this reason, when it is desired to obtain information on broadcast programs while driving a vehicle, it is necessary to keep a newspaper or magazine in the vehicle, or to prepare an environment in which the vehicle can be connected to the Internet.

  In addition, when traveling on familiar roads such as commuting routes, it is not necessary to use the navigation function, and users who do not use vehicles other than commuting and shopping have few opportunities to use in-vehicle navigation devices, which Sometimes it feels less effective.

  Against the background of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle navigation device having a function that can be effectively used in addition to the navigation function.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

  An in-vehicle navigation device for solving the above-described problem is a program information acquisition unit that acquires program information including a broadcast date and time of a program, a date information acquisition unit that acquires date information, and a time zone specified based on the date information And a program information providing means for providing program information corresponding to the searched program, and a program information providing means for providing program information corresponding to the searched program. Composed.

  With the above-described configuration, the on-vehicle navigation device guides the program of each TV / radio station in a designated time zone, so that the program that the user wants to watch is not inadvertently missed or missed. In addition, the vehicle-mounted navigation device can be effectively used even when traveling along a familiar route such as a commuting route. Furthermore, if a program information provision time zone is specified, it is possible to prevent providing unnecessary program information such as a bedtime program.

  In addition, the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention includes engine start determination means for determining whether the engine of the vehicle has started, and is configured to provide program information when it is determined that the engine has started. You can also.

  Many in-vehicle navigation devices are configured to be activated when an accessory switch of a vehicle is turned on. Even if the accessory switch is on, the engine is not necessarily in the starting state, and even if the program information is provided when the user uses other functions of the in-vehicle navigation device while the vehicle is stopped, the user Sometimes it feels annoying. Since starting the engine can be regarded as traveling to a predetermined destination, the above configuration makes it possible to provide program information at an appropriate timing without causing the user to feel bothersome. In general, there is often a certain amount of time from the start of the engine to the start of the vehicle, so that the program information can be provided in a state that does not hinder the user's driving.

  The program information acquisition means in the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention can be configured to acquire program information from an external device connected to the in-vehicle navigation device so as to be able to communicate with the network.

  With the above-described configuration, it is possible to save the user from manually inputting program information or fetching program information from an external storage medium such as a CD-ROM, and the latest program information can always be acquired.

  The vehicle-mounted navigation device of the present invention includes a position detection means for detecting the position of the vehicle, a destination setting means for setting the destination, and a first calculation for calculating an expected arrival time from the position of the vehicle to the destination. And the time zone specifying means can be configured to specify the time zone with the expected arrival time as the start time.

  With the above configuration, for example, by providing information about a program after the time at which it is supposed to arrive at a destination such as home, there is a program that you want to see before you arrive at the destination. So you don't miss the program you want to watch. It is also possible to make a schedule after arrival at the destination in advance depending on whether or not there is a program to be viewed.

  The in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention includes a point registration unit for registering a desired point, a position detection unit for detecting the position of the vehicle, and a predicted arrival time from the vehicle position to the registered point. 2 time calculating means, and the time zone specifying means can be configured to specify the time zone with the expected arrival time as the start time.

  For example, when a vehicle is used for commuting, when a user wants to know a program after returning home from the office, setting the home as the destination every time he returns (almost every day) is troublesome for the user. With the above configuration, if a destination is not set, or if you travel to a fixed destination (such as your home) every day, you can expect a preset point as a destination without setting a destination each time. Since the arrival time is calculated, convenience is improved without increasing the user's operation load.

  The program information providing means in the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention can also be configured to include display means for displaying the program information.

  With the above configuration, since the program information can be displayed as character information, the user can visually grasp the program information.

  The program information providing means in the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention can also be configured to include voice message sending means for sending the program information by voice messages.

  With the above configuration, since the program information is also sent out as an audio message, the user can grasp the program information either visually or auditorily.

  The in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention further includes travel determination means for determining whether the vehicle is traveling, and when the program information providing means determines that the vehicle is traveling, voice message sending means is provided. It is also possible to configure such that guidance is performed using only the information.

  Some in-vehicle navigation devices have a built-in or connected TV tuner that allows users to view TV programs, but when the vehicle is running, video is not displayed and only audio is transmitted so as not to hinder the user's driving. There are many things that are configured. With the above configuration, even when program information is provided, the user's driving is not hindered during traveling.

  The purpose of providing a vehicle-mounted navigation device having a function that can be effectively used in addition to the navigation function is realized by a configuration that searches for a program that can be viewed after arrival at the destination and guides the information.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an in-vehicle navigation device (hereinafter abbreviated as navigation device) 100. The navigation device 100 includes a position detector 1, a map data input device 6, an operation switch group 7, a remote control (hereinafter referred to as remote control) sensor 11, a voice synthesis circuit 24 for performing voice guidance, a speaker 15, a nonvolatile memory 9, a display A device 10, a transceiver 13, a hard disk device (HDD) 21, a LAN (Local Area Network) I / F (interface) 26, a control circuit 8 connected thereto, a remote control terminal 12, and the like.

  The position detector 1 includes a known geomagnetic sensor 2, a gyroscope 3 for detecting the rotational angular velocity of the vehicle 101 (see FIG. 3), a distance sensor 4 for detecting the travel distance of the vehicle 101, and a radio wave from a satellite. A GPS receiver 5 for detecting the position 101 is included. Since these sensors 2, 3, 4, and 5 have errors of different properties, they are configured to be used while being complemented by a plurality of sensors. Depending on the accuracy, some of the above-described sensors may be used, and further, a steering rotation sensor or a wheel sensor of each rolling wheel, such as a vehicle speed sensor 23, may be used. The position detector 1 corresponds to the position detection means of the present invention.

  As the operation switch group 7, for example, a touch panel 22 integrated with the display device 10 or a mechanical switch is used. The touch panel 22 is pressed when an electric circuit is wired on the screen of the display 10 in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction through a gap called a spacer on a glass substrate and a transparent film, and the user touches the film. Since the voltage value changes due to short-circuiting of a part of the wiring, a so-called resistance film method for detecting this as a two-dimensional coordinate value (X, Y) is widely used. In addition, a so-called capacitance method may be used. In addition to the mechanical switch, a pointing device such as a mouse or a cursor may be used.

  It is also possible to input various instructions using the microphone 31 and the voice recognition unit 30. In this method, a voice signal input from the microphone 31 is processed by a voice recognition technique such as a well-known hidden Markov model in the voice recognition unit 30, and converted into an operation command corresponding to the result. Various instructions can be input by the operation switch group 7, the remote control terminal 12, the touch panel 22, and the microphone 31. The operation switch group 7, the remote control terminal 12, the touch panel 22, and the microphone 31 correspond to a time zone designation unit, a destination setting unit, and a point registration unit of the present invention.

  The transmitter / receiver 13 is connected to a road traffic from a VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) center 14 by an optical beacon or a radio beacon output from a transmitter (not shown) provided along the road, for example. It is a device for receiving information or receiving FM multiplex broadcasting.

  Further, by communicating with an ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) vehicle-mounted device 16, the fee information received by the ETC vehicle-mounted device 16 from an ETC road device (not shown) is taken into the navigation device 100 and the display 10 Can be displayed. Further, the ETC vehicle-mounted device 16 may be connected to an external network and communicate with the VICS center 14 or the like.

  The control circuit 8 is configured as a normal computer, and connects a well-known CPU 81, ROM 82, RAM 83, I / O 84 which is an input / output circuit, A / D conversion unit 86, drawing unit 87, clock IC 88 and these components. A bus line 85 is provided. The CPU 81 controls the navigation program 21p and data stored in the HDD 21. The CPU 81 controls the reading / writing of data to / from the HDD 21. Further, the ROM 82 may store a program for performing a minimum necessary operation among the navigation functions when the HDD 21 fails. The control circuit 8 corresponds to date and time information acquisition means, program search means, engine start determination means, first calculation means, second calculation means, and travel determination means of the present invention.

  The A / D conversion unit 86 includes a well-known A / D (analog / digital) conversion circuit, and converts analog data input from the position detector 1 or the like to the control circuit 8 into digital data that can be calculated by the CPU 81, for example. It is.

  The drawing unit 87 generates display screen data to be displayed on the display unit 10 from map data 21m (described later) stored in the HDD 21 or the like, display data, and display color data.

  The clock IC 88 is also called a real-time clock IC, and sends or sets clock / calendar data in response to a request from the CPU 81. The CPU 81 acquires date / time information from the clock IC 88. Further, date and time information included in the GPS signal received by the GPS receiver 5 may be used. Further, the date / time information may be generated based on a real-time counter (not shown) included in the CPU 81.

  In addition to the navigation program 21p, the HDD 21 stores so-called map matching data for improving the accuracy of position detection, and map data 21m including road data representing road connections. The map data 21m stores predetermined map image information for display and road network information including link information and node information. The link information is predetermined section information constituting each road, and includes position coordinates, distance, required time, road width, number of lanes, speed limit, and the like. The node information is information that defines an intersection (branch road) and the like, and includes position coordinates, the number of right / left turn lanes, a connection destination road link, and the like. In addition, data indicating whether or not traffic is possible is set in the inter-link connection information.

  In addition, in the HDD 21, auxiliary information for route guidance, entertainment information, and other data can be written independently by the user and stored as user data 21u. The user data 21 u can be rewritten by operating the operation switch group 7, the touch panel 22 and the remote control terminal 12, or by inputting voice from the microphone 31. Further, data and various information necessary for the operation of the navigation device 100 may be stored as the database 21d.

  The navigation program 21p, map data 21m, user data 21u, and database 21d can be added / updated from the storage medium 20 via the map data input device 6. The storage medium 20 is generally a CD-ROM or DVD based on the amount of data, but may be another medium such as a memory card. Moreover, you may use the structure which downloads data via an external network.

  The non-volatile memory 9 is constituted by a rewritable semiconductor memory such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable & Programmable Read Only Memory) or a flash memory, and information and data necessary for the operation of the navigation device 100. Is remembered. The nonvolatile memory 9 is configured to retain the stored contents even when the accessory switch of the vehicle 101 is turned off, that is, the navigation device 100 is turned off. Further, information and data necessary for the operation of the navigation device 100 may be stored in the HDD 21 instead of the nonvolatile memory 9. Further, information and data necessary for the operation of the navigation device 100 may be stored separately in the nonvolatile memory 9 and the HDD 21 according to the contents.

  The display 10 is composed of a known color liquid crystal display, and includes a dot matrix LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and a driver circuit (not shown) for performing LCD display control. The driver circuit uses, for example, an active matrix driving method in which a transistor is attached to each pixel so that the target pixel can be reliably turned on and off, and is based on a display command and display screen data sent from the control circuit 8. To display. Further, an organic EL (ElectroLuminescence) display or a plasma display may be used as the display 10. The display 10 corresponds to program information providing means and display means of the present invention.

  The speaker 15 is connected to a known voice synthesis circuit 24, and the digital voice data stored in the nonvolatile memory 9 or the HDD 21 in accordance with a command from the navigation program 21p is converted into analog voice by the voice synthesis circuit 24 and sent out. Note that speech synthesis methods include a recording and editing method in which speech waveforms are stored as they are or after being encoded and connected as necessary, and a text synthesis method in which corresponding speech is synthesized from character input information. The speaker 15 and the voice synthesis circuit 24 correspond to program information providing means and voice message sending means of the present invention.

  The vehicle speed sensor 23 includes a rotation detection unit such as a known rotary encoder. For example, the vehicle speed sensor 23 is installed in the vicinity of the wheel mounting unit to detect the rotation of the wheel and send it to the control circuit 8 as a pulse signal. In the control circuit 8, the number of rotations of the wheel is converted into the speed of the vehicle 101 to calculate an expected arrival time from the current position of the vehicle 101 to a predetermined place, or an average vehicle speed for each travel section of the vehicle 101. To do.

  The communication unit 25 includes a transmission unit and a reception unit for transmitting and receiving data to and from an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) server 104 (see FIG. 3) or a WWW (World Wide Web) server 105 (see FIG. 3). And an antenna. Since the configuration of the transmission unit, the reception unit, and the antenna is the same as the configuration of a known wireless communication device, detailed description thereof is omitted. The communication unit 25 corresponds to program information acquisition means of the present invention. In addition, the communication unit 25 has a function (for example, a video capture function) compatible with so-called IEPG that can download program information via the Internet.

  In addition, the communication unit 25 includes a well-known television tuner and data multiplex broadcast receiver, and can receive program information superimposed on a vertical blanking interval which is a non-image portion inserted at the head of a television broadcast wave video signal. It is good also as a structure.

  The LAN I / F 26 is an interface circuit for exchanging data with other in-vehicle devices and sensors via the in-vehicle LAN 27. Further, data may be taken from the vehicle speed sensor 23 or connected to the ETC on-vehicle device 16 via the LAN I / F 26.

  With this configuration, when the navigation program 21p is activated by the CPU 81 of the control circuit 8, the navigation device 100 allows the user to operate the operation switch group 7, the touch panel 22, the remote control terminal 12, or the voice from the microphone 31. When the route guidance processing for displaying the destination route on the display 10 is selected from the menu displayed on the display 10 by the input, the following processing is performed.

  That is, when the user selects a point from a given point or facility search or address search on the map, a registered point set by the user, etc., and sets it as a destination, the current position of the vehicle 101 is obtained by the position detector 1, A process for obtaining an optimum guide route from the current position to the destination is performed. Then, the guidance route is displayed on the road map on the display 10 so as to guide the user to the appropriate route. As a method for automatically setting an optimum guide route, a method such as the Dijkstra method is known. In addition, at least one of the display 10 and the speaker 15 performs notification of a message according to an operation guidance or an operation state.

The program information providing process in the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. This process is included in the navigation program 21p and executed together with other processes of the navigation program 21p. First, whether or not the engine (not shown) of the vehicle 101 has been started is checked by one or more of the following methods.
(1) When engine speed data acquired via an in-vehicle LAN 27 from an engine ECU (ECU: Electronic Control Unit, not shown) that controls the operation of the engine of the vehicle 101 increases from a stopped state to a predetermined speed It is determined that the engine has started.
(2) The state of the starter motor 28 for starting the engine is acquired, and it is determined that the engine has started when the starter motor 28 changes from the non-rotating state to the rotating state.
(3) The state of the ignition switch 29 of the vehicle 101 is acquired, and it is determined that the engine has started when the position of the ignition switch 29 changes from ON (on state) to STA (rotation state of the starter motor 28).

  When it is determined that the engine has started (S1: Yes), the current position of the vehicle 101 is detected by the position detector 1, and this is used as position information (S2). Next, date information is acquired from the clock IC 88 (S3).

  Next, program information is acquired (S4). FIG. 3 shows an example of a method for acquiring program information. The vehicle 101 (navigation apparatus 100) is communicably connected to the EPG server 104 or the WWW server 105 via a communication network (other public lines) such as the relay station 102 and the Internet 103. Communication with the relay station 102 is performed by the communication unit 25.

  The EPG server 104 is a so-called WWW server. As shown in FIG. 4, the EPG server 104 stores a program identifier, a program name, a broadcast date and time (start time and end time) as program information in an EPG database built therein. Including the shooting location, the latitude and longitude of the shooting location, the address and telephone number of the shooting location, and the like. In addition, recording reservation data for reserving recording of a predetermined program can be included. The program information acquired from the EPG server 104 is stored in a predetermined area such as the database 21d of the HDD 21.

  The WWW server 105 is a server including a homepage of a television broadcast station or a radio broadcast station, for example, and includes a program table of each broadcast station. The home page is created using a language such as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) or XML (Extensible Markup Language), so that a well-known text editor or HTML editor, etc. Character data (program information) indicating a program name and broadcast date and time can be extracted by performing a keyword search on the tool. The navigation program 21p includes a program for performing processing for extracting the program information. The extracted program information is stored in a predetermined area such as the database 21d of the HDD 21.

  In addition, the address of the page on which the program guide on the homepage of each broadcasting station is posted is stored in advance in the database 21d. In addition to updating by the user, the address of the program guide page includes a method of taking data from the storage medium 20 and downloading it via an external network.

Next, a destination is set, and a time zone for searching program information according to the destination is designated (S5). The time zone designation method uses at least one of the following.
(1) When the destination is set First, the map data 21m is used to search for the guide route between the current position of the vehicle 101 detected above and the destination, and the distance is obtained. For example, the map data 21m The stored average vehicle speed preset for each type of road included in the route (for example, 80 km / h for a highway and 40 km / h for a general road), or the average vehicle speed of the vehicle 101 detected by the vehicle speed sensor 23 The estimated arrival time to the destination is obtained using the actually measured value, and the expected arrival time is calculated from the date / time information and the estimated arrival time acquired above. Next, a time zone designation screen with the expected arrival time as the start time as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows an example in which a time zone (shown as a program information provision time zone in FIG. 5) is specified with the user's bedtime (23:00) stored in advance in the HDD 21 or the nonvolatile memory 9 as the end time. If the “change” button is pressed, the user can change the time zone. The changing method includes a method of specifying an end time, a method of specifying a time such as two hours from the expected arrival time (start time), and the like.
In addition, past travel history including travel date and time, departure place, destination, travel route, travel distance (entire travel route, for each section), travel time (entire travel route, for each section), etc. in HDD 21 or nonvolatile memory 9 Is stored, it may be checked whether the travel route includes the guide route searched above, and the predicted arrival time may be calculated using the travel time.

(2) When destination is not set 1
The time zone using a predetermined value such that the expected arrival time is, for example, 30 minutes after the time included in the date and time information acquired above, and 2 hours from the expected arrival time is set as the time zone for providing program information. Is specified. Alternatively, the end time mentioned in the description of FIG. 5 may be used. These predetermined values can also be preset or changed by the user.

(3) When destination is not set 2
A virtual destination for providing program information when a destination is not set in a predetermined area of the database 21 d of the HDD 21 or the nonvolatile memory 9 is set in advance. A registered location set by the user for route guidance may be used as a virtual destination. Also, home may be set as a virtual destination. Then, as described above, the guide route between the current position of the vehicle 101 and the virtual destination is searched to obtain the distance, the expected arrival time to the virtual destination is obtained using the average vehicle speed described above, and the above is acquired. The expected arrival time is calculated from the date information and the expected arrival time.

  FIG. 10 shows an example of a display screen when setting a virtual destination. This screen is displayed when the “virtual destination setting” button is pressed on the setting menu screen of FIG. The search for the virtual destination is the same as the normal destination search method of the navigation device 100 as described above. When the virtual destination is home, an alias of the virtual destination may be set such as “home”, “home”, or the like. In the example of FIG. 10, the day of the week (check box: □ is checked) and the time zone (numbers are input) using the set virtual destination can be set. In addition, when a plurality of virtual destinations are set and the day of the week and time zone overlap, priority is set (select with “▲” or “▼”), and those with higher priority are designated as virtual destinations. It is good also as composition to do. When each item is entered and the “OK” button is pressed, the setting contents are stored in the database 21 d of the HDD 21 or the virtual destination storage area included in the nonvolatile memory 9.

  FIG. 11 shows an example of the contents stored in the virtual destination storage area. “Home” has the highest priority for use as a virtual destination. “Convenience store A” overlaps with “home” in the day of the week and time zone used as a virtual destination, but has a lower priority than “home”, so “convenience store A” is used as a virtual destination. "Monday-Friday 22: 00-24: 00" and "Saturday / Sunday 21: 00-24: 00"

  The end time and time zone setting method will be described with reference to FIGS. When the “program information setting” button is pressed on the menu screen of FIG. 6, a setting menu screen related to program information as shown in FIG. 7 is displayed. In FIG. 6, buttons of functions not related to the embodiment of the present invention are displayed blank. In FIG. 7, when the “end time” button is pressed, the end time can be changed. In addition, when the “time zone” button is pressed, the time zone can be changed. The buttons at the right end of the “End Time” and “Time Zone” lines indicate which of “End Time” and “Time Zone” has priority, and in FIG. 7, “End Time” with “O” is displayed. It is set to give priority. Further, when the predicted arrival time is after “end time” such as 00:00, “time zone” (2 hours) is used and the end time is designated as 02:00.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the program information of the television broadcast station or radio broadcast station in which the current position of the vehicle 101 is included in the service area is searched from the program information acquired above within the range of the time zone specified above ( S6). Information about the service area of each broadcasting station is acquired by downloading data via an external storage medium such as a CD-ROM or an external network, and stored in a database 21d of the HDD 21 or a predetermined area of a nonvolatile memory.

  Search conditions may include program genres (drama, travel, sports, variety, etc.) and broadcast stations. When a “genre” button is pressed on the setting menu screen of FIG. 7, a submenu (genre list) (not shown) is displayed, and a desired genre is selected (multiple selections are possible). Similarly, when a “broadcast station” button is pressed, a submenu (broadcast station list) (not shown) is displayed, and a desired broadcast station is selected (multiple selection is possible).

  Next, based on the vehicle speed of the vehicle 101 acquired by the vehicle speed sensor 23, when the vehicle 101 is not running (for example, when the vehicle speed is less than 5 km / h) (S7: No), the display 10 as shown in FIG. A screen is displayed and the searched program information is guided (S8). The speaker 15 also provides guidance by voice message such as “News 700 will be broadcast on 3 channels from 19:00”. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the display screen of the display 10 may be divided into a map display area and a program information display area so that the program information is scroll-displayed.

  On the other hand, when the vehicle 101 is traveling (S7: Yes), the display unit 10 does not guide the program information but guides only by the voice message (S11). Also in the case of the display form of FIG. 9, there is no program information display area, and the entire screen becomes a map display area.

  When the vehicle 101 has arrived at the destination (S9: Yes), the program information guidance is terminated (S10). The program information guidance is also terminated when the end time of the time zone specified during traveling of the vehicle 101 is reached.

  Search for program information may be performed at a predetermined timing in addition to when the engine is started. When the “update cycle” button is pressed on the setting menu screen of FIG. 7, the update cycle can be changed. In the example of FIG. 7, since the update cycle is set to 30 minutes, the estimated arrival time to the destination is calculated at intervals of 30 minutes after the first search after the engine is started, and the program information is searched. The result is guided by the display 10 or the speaker 15. In this case, when the vehicle 101 has not traveled a predetermined distance such as 10 km or more since the previous program information search, or travels in the same region (prefecture or municipality) as the previous program information search. If the broadcast station is available (that is, there is no change in the audible broadcasting station), the program information may not be acquired.

  The program information may be taken from an external storage medium 20 such as a CD-ROM. Alternatively, a method may be used in which an information device such as a personal computer is connected to the navigation device 100 and program information included in the information device is downloaded to the navigation device 100. In this case, the user can select the content (program information) to be downloaded. Alternatively, the program information may be input manually one by one using the user operation switch group 7 or the like.

  In addition to TV / radio programs, for example, we obtain box office information including the contents of the box office, the box office time, and the period from the website of an information provider that provides information about various boxes such as movies and plays. As described above, guidance may be provided by the display 10 or the speaker 15.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and the knowledge of those skilled in the art can be used without departing from the spirit of the claims. Various modifications based on this are possible.

The block diagram which shows the structure of a vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus. The flowchart for demonstrating a program information provision process. The figure which shows an example of the acquisition method of program information. The figure which shows an example of EPG data. The figure which shows an example of the display screen of a program information provision time slot | zone. The figure which shows an example of the display screen at the time of the setting regarding program information. The figure which shows an example of the setting menu screen following FIG. The figure which shows an example of the display screen of program information. The figure which shows another example of the display screen of program information. The figure which shows an example of the display screen at the time of virtual destination setting. The figure which shows an example of the memory content of a virtual destination.

Explanation of symbols

1 Position detector (position detection means)
7 Operation switch group (time zone designation means, destination setting means, point registration means)
8 Control circuit (date and time information acquisition means, program search means, engine start determination means, first calculation means, second calculation means, travel determination means)
10 Display (program information providing means, display means)
12 Remote control terminals (time zone designation means, destination setting means, point registration means)
15 Speaker (program information providing means, voice message sending means)
21 Hard disk drive (HDD)
21m Map data 21d Database 22 Touch panel (time zone designation means, destination setting means, point registration means)
24 Voice synthesis circuit (program information providing means, voice message sending means)
25 Communication unit (program information acquisition means)
31 Microphone (time zone designation means, destination setting means)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus 101 Vehicle 104 EPG server 105 WWW server

Claims (8)

Program information acquisition means for acquiring program information including the broadcast date and time of the program;
Date and time information acquisition means for acquiring date and time information;
A time zone specifying means for specifying a time zone based on the date and time information;
Program search means for searching for a program included in the time zone from the program information;
Program information providing means for providing program information corresponding to the searched program;
A vehicle-mounted navigation device comprising: Comprising engine start determining means for determining whether the engine of the vehicle has started;
The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the program information is provided when it is determined that the engine is started.   The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the program information acquisition unit acquires the program information from an external device connected to the in-vehicle navigation device so as to be able to perform network communication. Position detecting means for detecting the position of the vehicle;
Destination setting means for setting the destination;
First calculating means for calculating an expected arrival time from the position of the vehicle to the destination;
With
The in-vehicle navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the time zone designating unit designates the time zone with the estimated arrival time as a start time. A point registration means for registering a desired point;
Position detecting means for detecting the position of the vehicle;
Second calculating means for calculating an expected arrival time from the position of the vehicle to the registered point;
With
The in-vehicle navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the time zone designating unit designates the time zone with the predicted arrival time as a start time.   The in-vehicle navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the program information providing means includes display means for displaying the program information.   The in-vehicle navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the program information providing means includes voice message sending means for sending the program information by a voice message. Travel determination means for determining whether the vehicle is traveling,
The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the program information providing means guides using only the voice message sending means when it is determined that the vehicle is running.

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