JP2008157894A - Drive support device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a drive support device capable of enhancing convenience for a vehicle driver. <P>SOLUTION: The drive support device for guiding visually a route on map information to the vehicle driver displays a range other than a map within a prescribed range including an own vehicle position, a guide route and a marked facility, with reduced tone. The marked facility is set by a user, or is set automatically based on vehicle moving history in the past. The reduced tone display is attained by regulating, for example, a lightness, a color tone or a chromaticity. A route from the guide route up to the marked facility is also displayed preferably with the reduced tone. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention generally relates to a driving support device that visually guides a route to a vehicle driver on map information, and more particularly to a driving support device that improves the convenience of the vehicle driver.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an apparatus or system for visually guiding (navigating) a route on map information to a vehicle driver is known (for example, see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-228561 displays a tone-down display by changing the brightness, saturation, and chromaticity of a display line that displays a map background or road outside a predetermined range including the position of the host vehicle. An apparatus that makes it easy to see a map within a predetermined range including a position is disclosed (for example, see paragraphs [0058] to [0059] and the description of FIG. 7).
JP 2004-317417 A

  However, according to the conventional device described in Patent Document 1, when there is a facility that the driver pays attention to outside the predetermined range, such a facility is displayed in a tone-down manner, so that the driver overlooks it. there is a possibility.

  For example, if the user has a convenience store nearby, and the user wants to stop even if he / she has left the guidance route, the user can find out if the convenience store exists outside the predetermined range and is displayed in a tone-down display. May overlook the convenience store on the screen and “fail to drop in”.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and it is a main object of the present invention to provide a driving support device that improves the convenience of a vehicle driver.

  One aspect of the present invention for achieving the above object is a driving assistance device (so-called car navigation system) for visually guiding a route on map information to a vehicle driver, and among the displayed map information, This is a driving support device that displays a tone range of a range other than a map, a guide route, and a facility of interest within a predetermined range including the position of the host vehicle.

  In the above aspect, the facility of interest is any facility that the user may want to drop in once after leaving the route, such as a convenience store, gas station, family restaurant, bank ATM, post office, etc. It is. Such a facility of interest may be set by the user, or may be automatically set from a past vehicle movement history (for example, frequently stop at the facility B when heading to the destination A, etc.) ).

  In the above aspect, the tone-down display may be realized by an arbitrary method as long as the contrast is different. For example, the tone-down display is realized by adjusting brightness, color tone, or chromaticity.

  According to the above aspect, since the facility of interest is not displayed in a tone-down manner, the user can easily grasp the facility of interest existing in the vicinity of the current position of the vehicle or the guidance route, and user convenience is improved.

  In the above aspect, it is preferable that the route from the guidance route to the facility of interest is easy to see without displaying a tone-down display.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the driving assistance apparatus which improves a vehicle driver's convenience can be provided.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Since a person skilled in the art knows the basic concept, main hardware configuration, operating principle, basic control method, etc. of the car navigation system that visually guides the route on the map information to the vehicle driver. Detailed explanation is omitted.

  Hereinafter, with reference to FIG.1 and FIG.2, the driving assistance apparatus which concerns on one Example of this invention is demonstrated.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a driving support apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment.

  The driving support apparatus 100 includes a host vehicle position detection unit 101 that detects the position of the host vehicle using, for example, a GPS (Global Positioning System). The detection accuracy (resolution) of the own vehicle position detection unit 101 is preferably as high as possible (fine). For example, it is preferable to use a high-accuracy GPS such as RTK (Real Time Kinematic) -GPS.

  The driving support apparatus 100 further includes a user input unit 102 for the own vehicle driver to input a destination or set a facility of interest. It is desired that the user input unit 102 be provided at a position where the own vehicle driver can easily operate.

  The driving support apparatus 100 further includes a storage unit 103 that stores and holds map data and facility-of-interest data. The storage unit 103 may be a storage medium of any type / standard. Moreover, it is preferable that the map data memorize | stored and hold | maintained at the memory | storage part 103 is suitably updated to the newest version / content, for example using communication.

  The driving support apparatus 100 further includes a display unit 104 that displays a part of the map data stored and held in the storage unit 103. In addition, the display unit 104 superimposes and displays the own vehicle position detected by the own vehicle position detection unit 101 and the calculated route from the own vehicle position to the destination on a part of the map data. The display unit 104 may be any type of display device, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD). It may also be used as a display device of another in-vehicle system (for example, a multimedia system).

  As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the user input unit 102 and the display unit 104 can be realized as an integrated touch panel display device, and from the viewpoint of user convenience, such a touch panel type can be realized. It is rather preferable to be realized as a display device.

  The display unit 104 may be provided so that only the driver can visually recognize the display screen, or a passenger other than the driver (passenger seat passenger, rear passenger passenger, etc.) in addition to the driver. It may be provided so that the display screen can be visually recognized.

  The driving support device 100 further includes a calculation / control unit 105 that performs overall control of the operation of each component of the driving support device 100 and performs various calculations such as route calculation. The arithmetic / control unit 105 is, for example, an ECU (Electronic Control Unit).

  In the driving support device 100 having such a configuration, when the destination is input / set via the user input unit 102, the calculation / control unit 105 detects the position by the own vehicle position detection unit 101 as in the conventional car navigation system. The route on the map data from the current vehicle current position to the destination is calculated and calculated and displayed on the display unit 104.

  In addition, the calculation / control unit 105 displays, on the display unit 104, a relatively high contrast of information that is considered to be relatively high and a relatively low contrast of information that is considered to be relatively low. By doing so, the visibility of information considered to be relatively high is enhanced.

  An example of the screen display by the display unit 104 is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, in this embodiment, a vehicle mark 201 indicating the current position and traveling direction of the host vehicle, a predetermined range 202 including the current position of the host vehicle, a route 203 being currently guided, and an arrow mark 204 indicating the direction. And a facility 205 (hereinafter simply referred to as “target facility”) 205 corresponding to the target facility data stored and held in the storage unit 103 and a route 206 from the route 203 being guided to the target facility 205 are displayed with high contrast. The other parts are displayed in a tone-down manner so that the contrast becomes low.

  The predetermined range 202 can be an area having an arbitrary area and an arbitrary shape. In the present embodiment, as an example, a circular area having a predetermined radius centered on the current position 201 of the host vehicle is assumed.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the facility of interest 205 refers to any facility that the user may want to drop in even if he / she has left the guided route, for example, a convenience store, a gas station, a family restaurant, a bank ATM. , Post office, etc.

  The target facility data that is the basis for determining the target facility 205 displayed with high contrast may be input and set by the user through the user input unit 102, or B) automatically set from the past vehicle movement history. May be.

  In the case of the former A), it is preferable that a convenience store, a gas station, a family restaurant, a bank ATM, and the like can be specified in detail up to a specific brand name / line name. In addition, data such as the presence / absence of a parking lot and the size of the parking lot may be specified, and those not applicable may not be treated as a facility of interest.

  In the case of the latter B), it is not simply a judgment based on the number of times such as “parking frequently at convenience stores”, for example, “when going from facility X to facility Y, there is a tendency to frequently stop at facility Z” or “before heading to bank It is preferable that the facility of interest 205 is automatically set using statistical data for each destination type or destination type, such as “I tend to stop at a post office”.

  Returning to FIG. As shown in the figure, such a target facility 205 and a route 206 from the guide route 203 to the target facility 205 are displayed with high contrast even if they are outside the predetermined range 202.

  As a result, even if the facility of interest 205 is slightly away from the current vehicle current position 201 or the guide route 203, the visibility from the user is improved, and the possibility that the user overlooks the facility of interest 205 is greatly reduced.

  In addition, since the route 206 from the guide route 203 to such a facility of interest 205 is also displayed with high contrast, the user can easily visually recognize the route 206 that is taken when the user stops at the facility of interest 205.

  Another example of screen display by the display unit 104 is shown in FIG. FIG. 3 shows a situation where the current vehicle position 201 is outside the screen display by scrolling the screen.

  In this embodiment, even in the case of FIG. 3, the guidance route 203, the direction 204, the facility of interest 205, and the route 206 from the guidance route 203 to the facility of interest 205 are displayed in high contrast. Tone-down display of the part.

  As a result, even if the current position of the host vehicle is not displayed on the screen, good visibility is ensured for the direction 204 in which the host vehicle is traveling and the guidance route 203 that will be passed from now on, and the attention facility 205 and the guidance Since the user can easily visually recognize the route 206 from the route 203 to the facility of interest 205, unnecessary information is not distracted, and it is easy to stop by the facility of interest 205.

  By the way, in the present embodiment, the above-described tone-down display is performed by adjusting the brightness, the color tone, the chromaticity, or any combination thereof, so that the high contrast important part as described above and the low contrast non-important. This is performed in order to visually separate the portion and improve the visibility of the important portion of the user, and the specific setting can be changed as appropriate according to the display device specifications and the like.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the attention facility and the route from the guidance route to the attention facility considered to be relatively likely to stop by the user are outside the predetermined range including the current position of the host vehicle. However, since tone-down display is not performed and good visibility is secured, the possibility that the user overlooks the facility of interest can be greatly reduced.

  In the above-described embodiment, the target facility and the route from the guidance route to the target facility may be toned down from the high contrast display to the low contrast display according to the position of the host vehicle.

  For example, when the host vehicle position 201 on the guide route 203 has already passed the route 206 from the guide route 203 to the target facility 205 as in the target facility 205 on the right side of the screen in FIG. It may be determined that there is almost no possibility of a stop, and the attention facility 205 and the route 206 from the guidance route 203 to the attention facility 205 may be displayed in a tone-down manner. In this case, when the host vehicle makes a U-turn, it is preferable that the attention facility 205 that has been toned down due to passing and the route 206 from the guidance route 203 to the attention facility 205 are toned up and displayed again with high contrast.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, as an example, the screen display is one of high contrast display and low contrast display, but the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment. Instead, the degree of tone down may be adjusted to a plurality of levels so that more levels of contrast display are realized according to the estimated importance of the display information.

  For example, the guidance route 203 is always displayed with high contrast so as to be clearest, and the facility of interest 205 (and the route 206 from the guidance route 203 to the facility of interest 205) is from the guidance route 203 to the facility of interest 205. In accordance with the distance, a step-down tone-down display may be used so that the facility of interest 205 far from the guide route 203 has a lower contrast.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used for a driving support device or a car navigation system that visually guides a route on a map information to a vehicle driver. The power source type, fuel type, appearance design, weight, size, running performance, etc. of the vehicle to be mounted are all unquestioned.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a driving support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen display by the driving assistance device which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example according to the screen display by the driving assistance apparatus which concerns on one Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Driving assistance apparatus 101 Own vehicle position detection part 102 User input part 103 Storage part 104 Display part 105 Calculation / control part

Claims (5)

A driving support device that visually guides a route to a vehicle driver on map information,
A driving assistance apparatus, characterized in that, in the displayed map information, a range other than a map within a predetermined range including the position of the host vehicle, a guide route, and a facility of interest is displayed in a tone-down manner. The driving support device according to claim 1,
The driving support apparatus, wherein a route from the guidance route to the facility of interest is not displayed in a tone-down manner. The driving support device according to claim 1 or 2,
The driving facility according to claim 1, wherein the facility of interest is set by a user. The driving support device according to claim 1 or 2,
The driving facility according to claim 1, wherein the facility of interest is automatically set from a past vehicle movement history. The driving support device according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The driving support device, wherein the tone-down display is realized by adjusting brightness, color tone, or chromaticity.

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