JP2009031077A - Navigation system, and method and program for controlling it - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To present for guidance a route being optimum and free from waste for a user by making individual specific conditions of the user, such as his knowledge and purpose, reflected appropriately on navigation, in the technique for the navigation. <P>SOLUTION: A destination accepting means 23 accepts designation of the destination by map scrolling, a touch operation on a map subsequent thereto, etc. When a road link nearest to the destination designated by the means 23 is a two-path line, an inquiry means 25 checks with the user in regard to the road link as to whether he approves it as a target link to be made the end of a route searched for or selects alteration thereof, by a display of an inquiry screen or the like, prior to the search of the route. A route search means 26 searches, by computation, for the route leading to the target link approved or altered by the user in this way, based on the road data stored in a disk device 2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement in navigation technology.

  In recent years, navigation devices that have rapidly spread in the field of automobiles use road data stored in advance, display the position of the vehicle detected by GPS or the like on a map, or specify a destination by facility search or map scrolling. The route to the road is searched and calculated, and the traveling direction of the branch point is guided and guided along the route by screen display, voice output, or the like.

  The road data used in such a navigation device has a road network configuration by connecting road links representing individual road sections (also simply referred to as “links”) with nodes representing road intersections and inflection points. Represents.

  And the typical route search algorithm in the navigation device is the so-called Dijkstra method, but when applying it, based on the location of the destination specified by the user scrolling or touching the map on the screen, A road link having a short two-dimensional distance from the road is selected as a so-called target link that is the end of the route search.

  By the way, for roads that can be passed in both directions, in addition to the case where the data is expressed as a single link that can be passed in both directions, roads that are wide or have a median are separated for each travel direction. In many cases, the one-way links are expressed in the form of coexisting in the opposite direction, and the latter is referred to as “two lines”.

In the case where such a line along the two lines is designated as the destination, conventionally, one of the two road links that are the two lines is close to the designated destination. Since the destination link is selected, for example, when the destination is close to the down line side, a route that always ends with the down line is searched. This treatment is based on the premise that the two-way road has a large road width and has a median strip, so it cannot move on the spot from one side to the other by turning.
JP-A-8-292055

  However, even if it is the above two lines on the data, there are various individual specific circumstances in the user and the local situation, and as an example, the user can actually turn around on the road near the destination. or if you know, in addition to the case of purposes such as shopping it does not matter for the user even if the arrival in either lane order to be achieved by, for example, over on the other side on foot, but you specify some kind of landmark as the destination Originally, there may be cases where there is errand on the other side.

  Even in such a case, since the destination side link is always used as a route end point in the past, for example, although it is actually possible to arrive on the up line side, it is unnecessary to make a roundabout or U to reach the down line. There are many disadvantages such as searching for a route including a turn, which has been a problem that impairs the usability of navigation.

  As a proposal for reflecting the user's intention in the route search, there is an example of selecting a type of destination to be set on a toll road or a general road (see, for example, Patent Document 1), as described above. It did not correspond to the subject of the present invention.

  The present invention solves the problems of the prior art as described above, and its purpose is optimal for the user by more appropriately reflecting the individual specific circumstances such as the user's knowledge and purpose in the navigation technology. It is to present and guide a route without any waste.

  Based on the above object, the invention of claim 1 is road data using a road link representing a road section in a navigation device that searches for a route to a specified destination and performs guidance guidance. Road data storage means including data on two roads in which each road in each traveling direction is paired as a separate road link, and other road links, and destination reception for receiving destination designation When the road link nearest to the destination designated by the destination and the destination receiving means is the two lines, the road link may be used as the destination link as it is or a change is selected. Computer control of inquiry means for displaying an inquiry screen for confirming whether or not, and route search means for searching for a route to the target link by calculation based on the road data Characterized in that to realize the.

  The invention of claim 3 captures the invention of claim 1 from the viewpoint of a method. In the navigation device control method for searching for a route to a specified destination and guiding guidance, road data storage means and The road data using the road link representing the road section is realized by the destination control means for receiving the destination designation means, the inquiry means to the user, and the route search means for navigation by the computer control unit. In the storage means, road data including two lanes obtained by converting each road in each traveling direction facing each other as a pair of separate road links, and each other road link is stored in the storage means in advance. Memorize, accept designation of the destination by the destination accepting means, and nearest the destination specified by the destination accepting means by the inquiry means When the road link is the second line, an inquiry screen for confirming whether the road link can be used as a target link as it is or a change is selected is displayed. The route is searched by calculation based on the road data.

  In this way, when the road link nearest to the destination is a double line, by confirming with the user in advance whether the route search is to be performed as it is as the destination link or to change, the individual situation such as the local situation that the user knows and the purpose to go to Depending on the specific circumstances, the optimum route can be used with high probability, such as eliminating unnecessary circuitous routes for going to the opposite lane.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the navigation device according to claim 1, wherein a road link of the opposite lane that is paired with the second line is searched from the road data, and a road section corresponding to the road link or the road section Presenting means for presenting a position corresponding to is realized by the calculation control unit.

  The invention of claim 4 captures the invention of claim 2 from the viewpoint of a method. In the control method of the navigation device according to claim 3, the means for presenting alternative candidates is realized by an arithmetic control unit of a computer. The presenting means retrieves a road link of the opposite lane that is paired with the second line from the road data, and presents a road section corresponding to the road link or a position corresponding to the road section. And

  The invention of claim 5 is a computer program for grasping the inventions of claims 2 and 4 from the viewpoint of a computer program, and is a control program for a navigation device that searches for a route to a specified destination and provides guidance. By controlling the arithmetic control unit of the computer, road data storage means, destination acceptance means for accepting designation of the destination, inquiry means to the user, alternative candidate presentation means, route search for navigation And road data using a road link representing a road section, wherein each road in each traveling direction facing each other is converted into data as separate road links that form a pair, and Road data including each other road link is stored in the storage means in advance, and the destination is specified in the destination reception means. If the road link nearest to the destination designated by the destination receiving means is the two lines, the inquiry means may use the road link as it is as the destination link. An inquiry screen for confirming whether or not to select a change is displayed, and the presenting means searches the road data of the opposite lane that is paired with the two lanes from the road data, and the road corresponding to the road link. A section or a position corresponding to the road section is presented, and the route search means is made to search for a route to the target link by calculation based on the road data.

  In this way, by searching for the opposite lane of the second line and presenting the road and nearby positions, the user can avoid the hassle of determining and specifying the appropriate road and position by himself / her and speed up the process. The usability of navigation can be improved.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in the navigation technology, it is possible to present and guide the optimum wasteless route for the user by appropriately reflecting the individual specific circumstances such as the user's knowledge and purpose. Is possible.

  Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that assumptions common to the explanation in the background art and problems are omitted as appropriate.

[1. Constitution〕
A navigation device (hereinafter referred to as “this device”) in the present embodiment is mounted on a vehicle and searches for a route to a designated destination and provides guidance, and each of the following components shown in the configuration diagram of FIG. With elements.

  First, the disk device 2 is a storage unit such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) that stores road data using a road link representing a road section in advance, and may be a storage medium other than the HDD. Moreover, the road data in this apparatus includes two lines that convert each road in each traveling direction that faces each other such as an upper and lower line into separate road links, and other road links. .

  The GPS receiver 3, the gyro 4, the vehicle speed pulse sensor 5, and the back signal sensor 6 are a navigation sensor group for sequentially detecting the position and direction of the own vehicle. In addition, this apparatus has an input interface device such as a remote control light receiver 7 and a remote control unit 8 or a touch panel display 9 as an input device for receiving operations such as destination designation and route search requests from the user.

  In addition, this apparatus has a display device such as a liquid crystal display 9 for visually presenting a map, a route, and other necessary information to the user. As described above, the liquid crystal display 9 is a touch panel type, and the input interface It is desirable to double the device.

  In addition, a control program for realizing the functions of the apparatus including the route search is stored in the ROM 10 in the apparatus, and is expanded in the RAM 11 as necessary when the apparatus is started up. When executing a route search, a necessary portion of road data stored in advance in the disk device 2 is read into the RAM, and the read road data is appropriately used by the CPU 12 to obtain an appropriate route. Then, it is displayed on a display device such as a liquid crystal display 9 in a form superimposed on the surrounding map.

  That is, the CPU 12 is an arithmetic control unit of the computer, and realizes the respective means 23, 25, 26, and 27 by being controlled by a predetermined control program that implements the present invention. Each of these means is a processing means for realizing and executing each functional action of the present invention and this embodiment as described below. It should be noted that the conventional navigation processing such as guidance guidance output and its means are omitted because they are not the main features of the present invention.

[2. (Overview of action)
In the present embodiment configured as described above, the destination receiving means 23 receives the designation of the destination by map scrolling or subsequent touch operation on the map, and the inquiry means 25 is designated by the destination receiving means 23. If the closest road link to the destination is the second line, prior to route search, the road link is approved as a destination link at the end of the search route, or change is selected. Or confirm with the user by displaying an inquiry screen. Then, the route searching means 26 searches for the route to the target link approved or changed by the user based on the road data in the disk device 2 by calculation.

[3. (Specific processing contents)
Next, a more specific processing procedure in this embodiment is shown in the flowchart of FIG. This processing procedure shows a processing procedure when a route search is performed by the present apparatus based on an event such as a destination designation from the user and a subsequent route search request operation.

  That is, first, the destination receiving means 23 obtains the position coordinates of the vehicle position calculated from the signal data of the GPS receiver 3, the gyro 4, the vehicle speed pulse sensor 5, the back signal sensor 6, etc., and the destination receiving means 23 is the user. The position coordinates of the destination D1 for which designation has been received are obtained (step S1).

  Then, the route search means 27 reads the road data of the area including the periphery of the destination D1 from the disk device 2 into a memory such as the RAM 11 (step S2), and the road link included in the road data read in this way. Among them, a road link L1 closest to the destination D1 is extracted from those excluding road sections such as expressways that are not suitable as the destination link, and the link L1 is set as a destination link candidate (step S3). For example, in the example of the map shown in FIG. 3, the nearest destination D1 specified is the road link L1 indicated by the solid line arrow.

  Further, the inquiry means 25 checks whether or not the link L1 that is the target link candidate as described above is a double line from the attributes set in advance in the link (step S4). In this case, the route search is started using the link L1 as the target link as it is (step S5). On the other hand, in the case of two lines (step S4), as shown in FIG. 4, the inquiry means 25 displays a message for inquiring the user as to whether or not the route search can be performed with the link L1 as the target link. (Step S6).

  On the other hand, when the user performs some operation, the operation content is checked (step S7), and the link L1 is set as the target link as in the case where the operation content selects “Yes” on the screen of FIG. If the intention indication is good (step S7), the route search is started with the link L1 as the target link (step S11). On the other hand, when the intention is that the link L1 should not be the destination link as in the case where “correct destination” is selected on the screen of FIG. 4 (step S7), another destination D2 A change operation is accepted (step S9).

  The specific content of the change operation is arbitrary. For example, while confirming the current destination (for example, D1) on the screen map (for example, FIG. 3), screen scrolling, cursor movement, finger touch, etc. Thus, a new destination (for example, D2) as illustrated in FIG. 5 is designated.

  Then, the route searching means 27 obtains the road link L2 (indicated by a solid arrow in FIG. 5) closest to the changed destination D2 from the road data read in step S2 (step S10), and the link L2 is obtained. A route search is performed as the target link (step S11).

[4. (Automatic display of opposite lane)
In addition to changing the destination or the like, it is conceivable to make the user white as described above, and specify and present a point or opposite lane that is considered appropriate as the change destination. Typically, not only automatically distinguishing the two lines from the type attribute as the two lines set in advance, but a road that is considered to be the opposite lane of the road that is the two lines is obtained.

  In this case, when the change is selected by the inquiry means 25 by the presenting means 26, or in the case of the two lanes, the road link of the opposite lane paired with the two lanes is searched from the road data, and the The road section corresponding to the road link or the position corresponding to the road section is presented.

  That is, when the link L1 obtained in step S3 corresponds to, for example, “downward line of national highway 1”, the link L2 to be obtained can be considered as “upward line of national highway 1”. Also, in the case of a two-straight road, the distance between the down line and the up line is very small, and the distance between each link of the down line and the up line, that is, the start point and end point of each other, and the coordinate positions of the end point and start point are mutually predetermined. It can be considered that there is a high possibility that the directions that are within the distance and pass are almost exactly opposite, that is, the relative angle is close to ± 180 degrees.

Therefore,
(A) In the positional relationship between the start point and the end point, it exists within a predetermined distance from the link L1,
(B) The road type (category such as national road, major local road, prefectural road, etc.) is the same,
(C) The difference in the angle on the road shape based on the direction in which the vehicle can pass is 180 ° ± predetermined value (if there is an interpolation point, the degree of opening is calculated and judged for each interpolation point)
The road link satisfying all the conditions is searched from the road data read in step S2, and if found, the user is asked for confirmation as necessary, and the route search is performed with the link as the target link L2. Do.

  As an example of the user interface in this case, as shown in FIG. 6, when an option is presented with each button and “Modify destination” is touched, an operation such as touching a map screen is performed as in FIG. Since scrolling becomes possible, the destination is changed by scrolling. When scrolling is finished, a timeout of a few seconds, or enter operation by joystick of the remote control switch, or touch “Yes” on the screen as shown in FIG. The route search is triggered by a predetermined operation or the like.

  Also, if you select “Set to opposite lane” instead of “Correct destination”, search for the link of the opposite lane under the above three conditions (a) to (c) and center the opposite lane or opposite lane. For example, an icon of a new destination D2 is displayed at a line-symmetric position (FIG. 5). In this case, instead of the destination D2, for example, the road of the road link L2 may be presented by blinking. Then, for confirmation, on the screen such as “Can I make this my destination?” Or “OK”, the new link in the opposite lane is used as the destination link, and the route to that destination link is searched. To do.

  As described above, by searching for the opposite lane of the second line and presenting the road and its neighboring position, the user does not have to bother to judge and specify an appropriate road and position himself, and to quickly process. To improve the usability of navigation.

[5. effect〕
As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the road link closest to the destination is a double line, by confirming with the user in advance whether the route search is performed as the destination link or the route is changed, The optimum route can be used with a high probability, such as eliminating unnecessary round trips to go to the opposite lane according to the specific circumstances such as the local situation to know and the purpose of going.

[6. Other embodiments]
In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, The thing illustrated below and other embodiment other than that are included. For example, the configuration diagram of FIG. 1, the flowchart of FIG. 2, the screen examples of FIG.

The figure which shows the structure of embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which illustrates the process sequence in embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the screen display (destination designation | designated) in embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the screen display (inquiry screen) in embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the screen display (destination change) in embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the other example of the screen display (inquiry screen) in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... This apparatus 2 ... Disk apparatus 3 ... Receiver 4 ... Gyro 5 ... Vehicle speed pulse sensor 6 ... Back signal sensor 7 ... Remote control light receiver 8 ... Remote control unit 9 ... (Touch panel type) Liquid crystal display 10 ... ROM
11 ... RAM
12 ... CPU
23 ... Destination acceptance means 25 ... Inquiry means 26 ... Presentation means 27 ... Route search means

Claims (5)

In a navigation device that searches for a route to a specified destination and performs guidance guidance,
Road data that uses road links that represent road sections, and two roads that have been converted into data as separate road links that form a pair of roads in opposite driving directions, and other road links, Means for storing road data including:
A destination receiving means for receiving designation of the destination;
When the road link nearest to the destination designated by the destination receiving means is the two lines, it is confirmed whether the road link can be used as it is as a destination link or change is selected. An inquiry means for displaying an inquiry screen to be
Route search means for searching for a route to the destination link by calculation based on the road data;
Is realized by an arithmetic control unit of a computer. The presenting means for searching the road link of the opposite lane paired with the two lines from the road data, and presenting the road section corresponding to the road link or the position corresponding to the road section,
The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the navigation apparatus is realized by the arithmetic control unit. In a control method of a navigation device that searches for a route to a specified destination and performs guidance guidance,
While realizing the road data storage means, the destination reception means for receiving the designation of the destination, the inquiry means to the user, and the route search means for navigation by the computer control unit,
Road data that uses road links that represent road sections, and two roads that have been converted into data as separate road links that form a pair of roads in opposite driving directions, and other road links, Road data including
The destination accepting means accepts designation of the destination,
When the road link nearest to the destination designated by the destination receiving means is the two lines by the inquiry means, the road link may be used as the destination link as it is or Display the inquiry screen to confirm whether to select,
A method for controlling a navigation device, wherein the route search means searches for a route to a target link by calculation based on the road data. The alternative candidate presentation means is realized by a computer control unit, and
The presenting means retrieves a road link of the opposite lane that is paired with the second line from the road data, and presents a road section corresponding to the road link or a position corresponding to the road section. A method for controlling a navigation device according to claim 3. In a control program for a navigation device that searches for a route to a specified destination and performs guidance guidance,
The program controls the arithmetic control unit of the computer to store road data storage means, destination reception means for receiving designation of a destination, inquiry means for a user, alternative candidate presentation means, and navigation And the route search means of
Road data that uses road links that represent road sections, and two roads that have been converted into data as separate road links that form a pair of roads in opposite driving directions, and other road links, Road data including
Let the destination receiving means accept the designation of the destination,
In the inquiry means, when the road link nearest to the destination designated by the destination receiving means is the two lines, the road link may be used as the destination link as it is or Display the inquiry screen to confirm whether to select,
In the presenting means, the road link of the opposite lane that is paired with the second line is searched from the road data, and the road section corresponding to the road link or the position corresponding to the road section is presented,
A navigation apparatus control program that causes the route search means to search for a route to a target link by calculation based on the road data.

Images