JP2009115485A - Navigation device, method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To correct a distance coefficient easily and highly accurately, in a technology of a navigation device. <P>SOLUTION: A road setting means 20 receives information setting relative to position coordinates of a starting spot and a finishing spot and an essential road length between both spots, in each specific road which is a road used for correction of the distance coefficient, and stores the information in a high-precision distance information database 35 of a storage means 30. A determination means 45 determines own vehicle position arrival on each end point, namely, the starting spot and the finishing spot, of a specific road during traveling, and a distance calculation means 25 calculates a traveling length based on the distance coefficient between the starting spot and the finishing spot of the specific road based thereon. A correction means 40 corrects the distance coefficient based on the road length stored in the high-precision distance information database 35 and the traveling length calculated by the distance calculation means 25. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an improvement in technology for supporting driving of a vehicle.

  In recent years, navigation devices that have become widespread with the development of automobiles and information processing technology use map data indicating the location of roads, etc., to display the position and orientation of the vehicle at any time on a surrounding map, A route to a destination designated by a cursor operation or the like is searched and calculated, and guidance guidance such as a traveling direction at a branch point is output along a screen display or electronic voice.

  In such a navigation device, a vehicle speed pulse output from the vehicle is used to detect the amount of wheel rotation, and an initial value such as 1.5 m per rotation is used to grasp the moving distance of the vehicle. is doing. Although the number of pulses per one wheel rotation differs depending on the vehicle, it is assumed here that two pulses per one wheel rotation.

  In this case, the initial value is 0.75 m per pulse, and the travel distance per pulse is referred to as a distance coefficient. Conventionally, the navigation device has been used to calculate the travel distance more accurately in the subsequent operation. In general, the distance coefficient is corrected by the following two methods to improve the accuracy.

  The first technique is to correct the distance coefficient by comparing the movement distance obtained from the amount of change in absolute position information measured by GPS with the movement distance obtained from the vehicle speed pulse and the distance coefficient (for example, Patent Document 1).

  The second method uses map data, uses turning at intersections, etc. to calculate the travel distance on the map, and compares this travel distance with the travel distance obtained from the vehicle speed pulse and distance coefficient. The distance coefficient is corrected (for example, see Patent Document 2).

In these comparisons, many devices for correcting the distance coefficient more accurately using a Kalman filter or the like are also employed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-311045 JP-A-8-334337

  However, in any of the conventional techniques as described above, there is no high-precision distance data that can be easily referred to as a correction standard in the navigation device in operation, and thus it is difficult to perform high-precision correction of the distance coefficient. was there.

  That is, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 is not suitable for highly accurate correction of the distance coefficient because the GPS accuracy is about 10 m. Further, in the technique of Patent Document 2, since the map data represents the road with a single line, there is always an error for the road width, and at the intersection, the travel distance is different when turning right and when turning left. Again, it was insufficient for use in correcting the distance coefficient with high accuracy.

  The present invention solves the above-described problems of the prior art, and an object thereof is to easily and accurately correct the distance coefficient in the navigation apparatus technology.

  Based on the above object, one aspect of the present invention provides a navigation device that guides and guides a moving body, a navigation unit that estimates a vehicle position based on information including a vehicle speed pulse and a distance coefficient, and correction of the distance coefficient. Road setting means for accepting the setting of information on the start and end points of the specific road that is used for the road and the original road length between the two points, and at least the start point and the end for each specific road Storage means for storing information including a point and the road length, distance calculation means for calculating a travel length based on the distance coefficient between the start point and the end point of the specific road, and storage in the storage means Correction means for correcting the distance coefficient based on the road length being calculated and the travel length calculated by the distance calculation means. And wherein the Rukoto.

  Another aspect of the present invention captures the above aspect from the viewpoint of a method. In a navigation method using a navigation device that guides a moving body, navigation means for estimating the position of the host vehicle and road setting of a specific road Means, a storage means for a specific road, a distance calculation means based on a vehicle speed pulse and a distance coefficient, and a correction means for the distance coefficient are realized by an electronic circuit or an arithmetic control unit, and the navigation means includes a vehicle speed pulse and a distance. A processing step for estimating the position of the vehicle based on information including a coefficient, and information on a start point and an end point for a specific road which is a road used by the road setting unit to correct the distance coefficient, and an original between the two points. A processing step for accepting the setting of the road length information, and at least the start point and the end point for each specific road. A processing step of storing information including a point and the road length in the storage means, and the distance calculation means calculates a travel length based on the distance coefficient between the start point and the end point of the specific road. A processing step, and the correction means includes a processing step of correcting the distance coefficient based on the road length stored in the storage means and the travel length calculated by the distance calculation means. It is characterized by.

  Another aspect of the present invention is a navigation program for controlling a navigation device that guides and guides a moving body, in which the above aspect is regarded as a computer program. The program controls an arithmetic control unit of a computer. The navigation means for estimating the vehicle position, the road setting means for the specific road, the storage means for the specific road, the distance calculation means based on the vehicle speed pulse and the distance coefficient, and the distance coefficient correction means are realized. The navigation means estimates the vehicle position based on information including a vehicle speed pulse and a distance coefficient, and the road setting means has information on start and end points for a specific road that is a road used for correcting the distance coefficient. And accepting the setting of the information of the original road length between the two points, the storage means For each specific road, information including at least the start point, the end point, and the road length is stored, and the distance calculation unit calculates the distance coefficient between the start point and the end point of the specific road. The travel length based on the travel length is calculated, and the correction means corrects the distance coefficient based on the road length stored in the storage means.

  In this way, a road with a small distance error due to vehicle travel, as represented by a long straight road, is set as a specific road used for distance coefficient correction, and the road length is embedded in a storage means such as a map database. Comparing the travel length calculated with the current distance factor with the road length in the map when the vehicle has traveled, and correcting the distance factor, the vehicle travel distance calculation based on the vehicle speed pulse can be made more accurate and the The vehicle position calculation accuracy can be improved.

  Another aspect of the present invention is characterized in that in the above aspect, a road section corresponding to at least one of a distance of a straight line portion being a predetermined value or a constant road width is used as the specific road.

  Another aspect of the present invention captures the above aspect from the viewpoint of a method, and uses, as the specific road, a road section corresponding to at least one of a distance of a straight line portion equal to or greater than a predetermined value or a constant road width. It is characterized by that.

  Thus, by using a road section corresponding to the condition of a long straight line or an appropriate road width for correction, the influence of lane change and meandering operation can be eliminated, and the distance coefficient can be corrected with high accuracy.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, in the above aspect, the specific road is further identified by a unique management number that is different from each other.

  In another aspect of the present invention, the above aspect is viewed from the viewpoint of a method, and includes a processing step of identifying the specific roads with different unique management numbers.

  Thus, by identifying each specific road with a management number such as a serial number that is different from each other, accurate comparison with information items such as corresponding end points and road lengths is facilitated, and the processing becomes efficient.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, in the above aspect, the start point and the end point further include a determination unit that determines whether the vehicle position has been reached. The determination unit includes the latitude of the start point and the end point, If a predetermined range centered on longitude and altitude is reached, it is considered that it has been reached.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, the above aspect is viewed from the viewpoint of a method, and the determination means for determining whether the vehicle position has been reached at the start point and the end point is realized by the electronic circuit or the arithmetic control unit. In addition, the determination unit includes a processing step that regards the start point and the end point as reaching if they reach a predetermined range centered on the latitude, longitude, and altitude.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, the above aspect is viewed from the viewpoint of a computer program. The calculation control unit realizes a determination unit that determines whether or not the vehicle position has been reached for the start point and the end point. The judging means may be regarded as having reached the starting point and the ending point if they reach a predetermined range centered on the latitude, longitude and altitude.

  As described above, if the vehicle position reaches the predetermined range at both end points of the specific road, the specific road leaks even if there is an influence of the estimated vehicle position coordinate error. It is possible to effectively maintain the accuracy of the distance coefficient.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, in the above aspect, the distance coefficient is a travel distance per vehicle speed pulse input from a vehicle.

  In this way, by correcting the distance coefficient, which means the distance traveled per pulse, with high accuracy, it is possible to determine the position of the vehicle with high accuracy even when traveling in any other region. Guide guidance can be output.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to easily and highly accurately correct the distance coefficient in the technology of the navigation device, so that the appropriateness of map display and guidance guidance is also improved.

  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〕
The present embodiment relates to a navigation device that guides and guides a moving body (hereinafter referred to as “the present device”), but has a general configuration common to conventional navigation devices, for example, route search based on map data, own vehicle Since the display of the position and map, the guidance guidance output, and the like may be the same as those in the past, the configuration and operation relating to the correction of the distance coefficient, which is a feature of the present invention, will be mainly described.

  First, as shown in FIG. 1 (configuration diagram), this apparatus controls each of the elements 15 shown in FIG. 1 by controlling the arithmetic control unit 10 including a CPU and a memory of the computer with a predetermined computer program (not shown). 20, 20, 25, 40, 45, and storage means 30 such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a display unit 50 such as a liquid crystal panel, and a user interface 60 such as an operation switch.

  Among these, in addition to the conventional map database (hereinafter referred to as “map DB”) 33 that stores map data, the storage means 30 is a high-precision distance that stores data related to roads used for distance coefficient correction in this embodiment. An information database (hereinafter referred to as “high-precision distance information DB”) 35 is included. The elements 15, 20, 25, 40, and 45 are processing means that realize and execute the following effects.

[2. (Overview of action)
That is, in this embodiment, the navigation means 15 determines the vehicle position based on information including the vehicle speed pulse and the distance coefficient (typically GPS output, angular velocity sensor output, acceleration sensor output, vehicle speed pulse, back signal). Estimate and calculate. As part of such navigation calculation, the distance calculation means 25 holds a distance coefficient that is a travel distance per pulse of the vehicle speed pulse input from the vehicle and uses it for the travel distance calculation.

  In addition, for each specific road that is used for correction of the distance coefficient by the road setting means 20 in advance through external operation, communication, recording medium, etc., the position coordinates of the start point and the end point and the original road between the two points An information setting for the length is received, and the information is stored in the high-precision distance information DB 35 of the storage unit 30.

During traveling, the determination means 45 determines the arrival of the vehicle position for each end point, that is, the start point and the end point of the specific road, and based on that, the distance calculation means 25 determines the start point and the end point of the specific road. The running length based on the distance coefficient is calculated between the points. Then, based on the road length stored in the high-precision distance information DB 35 and the travel length calculated by the distance calculation unit 25, for example, the correction unit 40 compares the road length and if there is an error, the road length The distance coefficient is corrected by a process such as replacement with a correct distance coefficient based on.
Hereinafter, more specific contents will be described.

[3. (Specific road information)
In the present embodiment, the specific road used for correcting the distance coefficient is selected based on a road section corresponding to one or both of the following.

1) About 6m road width (one lane on one side)
2) Straight line of 200m or more (It does not matter if some bending is included)

  The above criteria are based on the condition that the road length measured in advance is easy to match the mileage because the lane change and meandering operation are not possible on the corresponding road, so other criteria are adopted as long as this condition is met. Is possible.

  For such a specific road, information based on survey data with an error of about 1 m or less is stored in the storage means 30, and each specific road is identified by a unique management number different from each other. That is, as shown in FIG. 2, the information of each specific road includes two end point coordinates, a pull-in radius, and a distance between them in addition to an identification serial number, that is, a management number.

  Here, the “drawing radius” is a predetermined range that is considered to have been reached if the determination unit 45 reaches a predetermined range centered on the latitude, longitude, and altitude of the start point and end point of the specific road. Is the radius.

  Using the information on the specific road as described above, the determination means 45 determines that the vehicle has started and ended traveling on the corresponding road with the passage of the two end point coordinates, and at any point in time from the control number Length, that is, distance information can be acquired. The distance coefficient can be corrected and calculated very accurately by the correction means 40 from the vehicle speed pulse and road distance information obtained at this time.

[4. Example of processing procedure)
Next, FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a processing procedure corresponding to the above operation. That is, when vehicle position information is acquired using sensor information or GPS information (step S01), mapping to the map DB 33 and output to the display unit 50 are performed, but at the same time, the high-precision distance information DB 35 is referred to (step S02). In this case, the stored information of each end point coordinate is searched. At this time, if the vehicle position is within the end point information + retraction distance (retraction radius) of the target end point n, it is regarded as traveling on a specific road (step S03), and calculation processing after step S04 is started. The pull-in distance referred to here is defined for each road within a range of about 10 m with the aim of improving both the road determination probability and preventing erroneous determination with other roads.

  In the calculation process, the moving distance calculation using the current distance coefficient is performed (step S04), and counting of vehicle speed pulses is started (step S05). Based on the position of the vehicle (step S06), within the range of the road length of the specific road. (Step S08) The arrival of the other end point is monitored (Step S07). When the vehicle enters another road before reaching the end point, the determination is made by comparing the road length of the selected road with the travel distance from the start of processing.

  When the vehicle reaches the other end point (step S07), the serial number and distance information of the road are acquired (step S09), and the vehicle speed pulse count is ended and the vehicle speed pulse number N so far is held (step S09). S10) A vehicle speed pulse coefficient is calculated using the vehicle speed pulse number N from the start of the process and the road length (step S11), and used as a new value thereafter.

[5. effect〕
As described above, according to the present embodiment, a road with a small distance error due to vehicle travel, such as a long straight road, is set as a specific road used for distance coefficient correction, and the road length is set as a map DB or the like. The vehicle travel distance calculation based on the vehicle speed pulse is improved by comparing the travel length calculated with the current distance coefficient when the vehicle travels on the road with the storage means and comparing the road length in the map with the road length in the map. The accuracy can be improved, and the vehicle position calculation accuracy during navigation can be improved. For example, a conventional error of about 10 m can be improved to an error of about several meters.

  Further, in the present embodiment, by using a road section corresponding to the condition of a long straight line or an appropriate road width for correction, the influence of the lane change or meandering operation is eliminated, and the distance coefficient can be corrected with high accuracy. Also, in this embodiment, each specific road is identified by a management number such as a serial number that is different from each other, thereby facilitating accurate comparison with corresponding information items such as end points and road lengths, thereby improving processing efficiency. Is done.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the end points of a specific road are regarded as having been reached when the vehicle position reaches a predetermined range, so that even if there is an influence of an estimated vehicle position coordinate error, etc. The accuracy of the distance coefficient can be effectively maintained by using the road without omission. Also, in this embodiment, by correcting the distance coefficient, which means the travel distance per pulse, with high accuracy, it is possible to grasp the vehicle position with high accuracy even when traveling in any other region, and to display an accurate map. And appropriate guidance information can be output.

[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, although the above embodiment has been described on the assumption that the distance coefficient is immediately updated using the information on the specific road stored in the high-precision distance information DB 35, a new distance coefficient determined using the information on the specific road On the other hand, if statistical processing, for example, an average or an average of n times acquired recently is applied, the accuracy can be improved stably. Similarly, when the management number is used and the same road is traveled a plurality of times, it is possible to further improve accuracy by performing weighting at the time of statistical processing.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment grasped | ascertained and demonstrated this invention mainly in the category of an apparatus, this invention can be grasped | ascertained also as the method and computer program corresponding to the said embodiment.

The figure which shows the structure of embodiment of this invention. The conceptual diagram which shows the information of the specific road memorize | stored in a memory | storage means in embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process sequence in embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Operation control part 15 ... Navigation means 20 ... Road setting means 25 ... Distance calculation means 30 ... Storage means 33 ... Map database 35 ... High precision distance information database 40 ... Correction means 45 ... Judgment means 50 ... Display part 60 ... User interface

Claims (11)

In a navigation device that guides a moving body,
Navigation means for estimating the vehicle position based on information including a vehicle speed pulse and a distance coefficient;
Road setting means for accepting setting of information on the start and end points of the specific road, which is a road used for correcting the distance coefficient, and the original road length between the two points;
Storage means for storing information including at least the start point, the end point and the road length for each specific road;
Distance calculation means for calculating a travel length based on the distance coefficient between the start point and the end point of the specific road;
Correction means for correcting the distance coefficient based on the road length stored in the storage means and the travel length calculated by the distance calculation means;
A navigation device comprising:   The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a road section corresponding to at least one of a distance of a straight line portion being a predetermined value or more or a constant road width is used as the specific road.   3. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specific road is identified by a unique management number that is different from each other. About the start point and the end point, having a determination means for determining arrival of the vehicle position,
The determination means regards the start point and the end point as having arrived if they reach a predetermined range centered on the latitude, longitude, and altitude. The navigation device described in 1.   The navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the distance coefficient is a travel distance per pulse of a vehicle speed pulse input from a vehicle. In a navigation method using a navigation device for guiding guidance of a moving object,
A navigation means for estimating the vehicle position, a road setting means for the specific road, a storage means for the specific road, a distance calculation means based on the vehicle speed pulse and the distance coefficient, and a correction means for the distance coefficient are electronic circuits or arithmetic control. And realized by the department,
The navigation means estimates the host vehicle position based on information including a vehicle speed pulse and a distance coefficient;
A processing step in which the road setting means accepts the setting of information of a starting point and an ending point for the specific road that is a road used for the correction of the distance coefficient, and the original road length between the two points;
For each specific road, a processing step of storing in the storage means information including at least the start point, the end point, and the road length;
The distance calculating means calculates a travel length based on the distance coefficient between the start point and the end point of the specific road;
A step of correcting the distance coefficient based on the road length stored in the storage means and the travel length calculated by the distance calculation means;
A navigation method comprising:   The navigation method according to claim 6, wherein a road section corresponding to at least one of the distance of the straight line portion is a predetermined value or more or the road width is constant is used as the specific road.   The navigation method according to claim 6, further comprising a processing step of identifying the specific roads by different management numbers. For the start point and the end point, the determination means for determining arrival of the vehicle position is realized by the electronic circuit or the arithmetic control unit,
9. The processing step according to claim 6, wherein the determination unit includes a processing step that regards the start point and the end point as reaching if they reach a predetermined range centered on the latitude, longitude, and altitude. The navigation method according to any one of the above. In a navigation program for controlling a navigation device for guiding and guiding a moving object,
The program controls the arithmetic control unit of the computer,
Implementing navigation means for estimating the vehicle position, road setting means for the specific road, storage means for the specific road, distance calculation means based on the vehicle speed pulse and the distance coefficient, and a correction means for the distance coefficient,
Causing the navigation means to estimate the vehicle position based on information including a vehicle speed pulse and a distance coefficient;
Let the road setting means accept the setting of information of the starting point and the ending point as well as the original road length between the two points for a specific road that is a road used for the correction of the distance coefficient;
For the specific road, the storage means stores information including at least the start point, the end point, and the road length,
The distance calculation means calculates a travel length based on the distance coefficient between the start point and the end point of the specific road,
A navigation program characterized by causing the correction means to correct the distance coefficient based on the road length stored in the storage means. For the start point and the end point, a determination means for determining arrival of the vehicle position is realized by the calculation control unit,
11. The navigation program according to claim 10, wherein the determination unit causes the start point and the end point to be regarded as having arrived if they reach a predetermined range centered on the latitude, longitude, and altitude.

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