JP3407920B2 - Mobile information processing system - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for providing information to a moving body by using communication means, and more particularly to a mobile body mounted information processing system equipped with position information acquisition means such as a navigation device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional example of this type of system equipped with a navigation device, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-131100, position route information (map information) of an area in which a moving body exists, There is known a method of mounting a storage means for storing in a vehicle.

By the way, the amount of position / route information that a moving body can hold is limited due to the storage capacity of the storage means.
Therefore, in some cases, the presence of the moving body may fall outside the range of the position route information.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, the moving body exists outside the range of the position route information (map information) stored in the storage means mounted on the moving body. In such a case, it is not considered how to obtain new information immediately.
No consideration was given to the means for determining the position of the mobile body on the map.

It is an object of the present invention to provide information that can be supplied by an external information database, such as map information desired by a user, at any time and to always properly determine a position on a map. The object is to provide a mobile information processing system capable of performing the same.

[0006]

In the mobile information processing system having a master station arranged in each predetermined area and a slave station mounted on the mobile body, a position route is provided to the master station. A second database that includes a first database including information, a first communication unit, and a control unit that controls the first database and the first communication unit, and that communicates with the parent station to the slave station. A communication means, a position acquisition means for detecting the position of the moving body, a storage means for storing the data acquired from the master station via the second communication means, and a second data base for storing the position route information. An operation processing means for controlling the second communication means, the second database, the storage means and the position acquisition means, a control command input means for inputting a control command to the operation processing means, and at least position path information. And display means for displaying Achieved by an information processing system for a mobile body, characterized in that position path information designated by a control command input means is acquired from a master station via a first and a second communication means by a command of an arithmetic processing means. To be done.

[0007]

In the second database provided in the slave station, basic position and route information such as a map can be stored in advance, so that information on the location of the vehicle on the map can always be determined.

Further, the latest detailed information can be obtained and used from the first database of the master station via the second communication means. Further, the information once obtained from the master station can be stored in a recordable storage device and can be used again.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of this embodiment.
Shown in.

The system of the present embodiment is composed of a master station 100 which is distributed and arranged in a fixed area, and a slave station 200 which is mounted on a mobile unit. In FIG. 1, the master station 100
Is a database 1 including position / route information, the contents of which are appropriately updated, a car phone transceiver 2, a control means 3 for the database 1 and car phone transceiver 2.
And an antenna 4.

The slave station 200 includes a vehicle-mounted antenna 5, a car telephone 6, a position measuring device 7, a touch sensor 8 used as a control command input means, and a compact disk / read which is a read-only storage device. -Only memory (hereinafter abbreviated as CD-ROM) 9 and hard disk drive (hereinafter abbreviated as HDD) 10 as a recordable device
And 11 have an arithmetic processing unit, for example, a display 12 using a liquid crystal display device.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the operation steps of FIG. First, the child station 200
Measures the current position using the position measuring device 7 (step 1000). The position measuring device 7 is, for example, a GPS
(Global Positioning System) GP that receives the radio signal transmitted from the satellite and measures the current position by it.
It is an S position measuring device. The position measuring device 7 transmits the measured current position of the vehicle to the arithmetic processing device 11. The arithmetic processing unit 11 reads out the map information including the measured current position from the CD-ROM 9 (step 1100). Here, in the CD-ROM 9, map information showing a range wider than a certain fixed range is recorded. That is, for example, map information at a scale of 1 / 100,000 is a CD
-If the most detailed and limited map information recorded in ROM 9 is: 1 / 500,000,
Maps are also recorded for larger areas, at scales of one millionth.

The arithmetic processing unit 11 includes the position measuring device 7
The position information measured by and the read map information are combined (step 1200), and, for example, an image as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the display 12 (step 1300). On the screen displayed here, a selection button for changing the scale is displayed. On the screen of the display 12, a touch sensor 8 is arranged as a control command input means. As a result, when the user touches the displayed selection button portion, the touch sensor 8 senses the touch and transmits it to the arithmetic processing unit 11 (step 14).
00).

Here, if the user wants a map of 1 / 25,000, for example, the 1 / 25,000 map information is not recorded in the CD-ROM 9. (Steps 1410, 1411). The processing device 11 is an HD
The search for D10 is performed (step 1420). HDD10
Also, if the requested map information is not recorded (step 1421), for example, an image as shown in FIG. Ask for judgment. When the user selects “Yes” in FIG. 4, the arithmetic processing unit 11 automatically calls the base station 100 via the mobile phone 6 (step 1430). When the response of the base station 100 is confirmed, the arithmetic processing unit 11 sends out a signal requesting the transmission of the map information of the designated range (step 1440).

Here, the car telephone 6 uses a general car telephone line, and actual communication is carried out through a group of exchange stations (not shown in the figure).

The base station 100 processes the received request signal by the control means 3, searches the database 1 for the requested map information, and reads it (step 1450). The read map information is transmitted to the slave station 200 via the control means 3 and the transceiver 2 of the car telephone (step 1).
460). The slave station 200 receives the map information transmitted from the base station 100 by the mobile phone 6 and transmits it to the arithmetic processing unit 11. The arithmetic processing unit 11 stores the received map information in the HDD 10 (step 1470), combines it with the position information measured by the position measuring device 7 (step 1480), and displays it on the display 12 (step 1490).

By storing the obtained information in the HDD 10, once the information is obtained from the base station 100, the base station 100 need not be called again until the information needs to be updated. , The same information can be used by searching the HDD.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the position measuring device 7 and the CD-R in which the basic information is recorded are recorded.
With OM9, you can always check the current position,
More detailed information can be obtained and used from the parent station 100 using the car telephone 6, and further, the obtained information can be stored in the HDD 10 which is a recordable storage device and used again.

In the above description, the example in which the HDD is used as the recordable storage device has been described, but a storage device other than the HDD, such as an IC memory card or a magneto-optical disk device, may be used. Further, although the example in which the touch sensor is used as the control command input means has been described, other input means such as a keyboard or a mouse may be used.
Also, an example using a CD-ROM, which is a read-only storage device, has been described as the second database, but as long as it has a storage capacity sufficient to record basic information, additional writing is possible. A storage device such as an HDD, an IC memory card, or a magneto-optical disk device may be used.

Further, although the example in which the GPS position measuring device is used as the position measuring device is shown, a system using a sensor such as a geomagnetic sensor may be used.

Further, as the master station 100, various information providing services by telephone, which are generally used, can be used.

A second embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 5, in the present embodiment, the slave station 200 is provided with a time measuring device 13.
The reading number counting means 110 and the storage date and time determining means 111 are provided, and the other components are the same as those in FIG.

The slave station 200 uses the car telephone 6 to obtain map information from the database 1 of the master station 100. The arithmetic processing unit 11 stores the acquired map information in the HDD 10. When the information stored in the HDD 10 is used again, the arithmetic processing unit 11 determines the date and time when the read map information was created, based on the date and time information included in this map information. At the same time, the date and time and the time measuring device 1
The measurement results of the current date and time of 3 are compared. Here, when the arithmetic processing unit 11 determines that the date and time when the map information is created is before a preset period, for example, 6 months from the current date and time, it is similar to the case of the embodiment of FIG. In steps
Communicate with the parent station 100 via the car telephone 6.

The master station 100 first transmits the date and time when the requested map information was updated to the slave station 200. Child station 20
0 compares the received date and time with the date and time included in the map information requested to be updated. If the received date and time and the date and time included in the map information requested to be updated are the same, the slave station 20
At 0, it is determined that the map information currently stored in the HDD 10 is the latest, and the map information is not acquired. On the other hand, when the received update date and time is different from the date and time included in the map information requested to be updated, the map information stored in the HDD 10 is determined to be old, and new map information is obtained from the master station 100. . The arithmetic processing unit 11 stores the acquired map information in the HDD 10. Here, the map information includes
For example, a symbol indicating a scale and a drawable range is included, and old information having the same drawing range is erased and newly stored in the HDD 10. This allows the HDD
The latest information can always be used without wasting the storage capacity of 10.

Further, when the information is stored up to the full storage capacity in the HDD 10, the arithmetic processing unit 11 causes the reading number counting means 110 and the storage date / time determining means 11 to operate.
Depending on 1, the information that is read the least, or
Delete the information with the oldest stored date and time. As a result, the storage capacity of the HDD 10 can be secured at all times.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the content of the database of the master station 100 is updated as needed. Further, in the slave station 200, by determining the date and time when the information obtained from the master station 100 was created, the old information and the new information can be exchanged and used at predetermined fixed intervals.

Further, the operation of the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The embodiment shown in FIG. 6 is different from the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 only in the communication means used in the master station / slave station, and the other components are the same.

In FIG. 6, 14-0 to 14-n are a plurality of radio wave transmitters / receivers arranged along the road, and 15 is a vehicle-mounted antenna for communicating with the radio wave transmitters / receivers 14-0 to 14-n. , 16 are radio wave transmitters / receivers mounted in the slave station 200.

In this embodiment, the position information measured by the position measuring device 7 is transmitted to the arithmetic processing unit 11. In order for the master station 100 to transmit predetermined information from the database 1, the slave station 200 transmits data from the radio wave transceiver 16 according to a command from the touch sensor 8 or automatically by the processing of the arithmetic processing unit 11. Send a request signal. A radio wave transmitter / receiver 1 arranged along a road in response to the request signal
Sent from 4-0.

This transmitted radio wave is received and demodulated by the vehicle-mounted antenna 15 and the radio wave transmitter / receiver 16 of the slave station 200 and transmitted to the arithmetic processing unit 11. Here, the radio wave transmitter / receiver 1
The radio waves transmitted from 4-0 to 14-n include position information and map information. The outputs of the radio waves transmitted by the radio wave transmitters / receivers 14-0 to 14-n are limited to a certain value or less so that they can be received only within a substantially constant range. Therefore, the in-vehicle antenna 15 does not simultaneously receive the radio waves of the adjacent radio wave transmitters / receivers 14. The arithmetic processing unit 11 processes the position information and the map information demodulated by the radio wave transmitter / receiver 16, stores them in the HDD 10, and displays them on the display 12. here,
The radio wave transmitters / receivers 14-0 to 14-n are installed at a distance of, for example, several Km, and the content of the map information is limited to a certain range centered on the radio wave transmitter / receiver 14. In other words, if you need wide area map information,
-By using the information in the ROM 9 and obtaining detailed information from the radio wave transmitters / receivers 14-0 to 14-n, the slave station 200 does not need to have an enormous database including detailed information.

Further, even when the vehicle is moving on a road where the radio wave transmitter / receiver 14 is not installed, the present position can be confirmed by the mounted position measuring device 7, so that
You can grasp the current position.

As described above, the map information is transmitted from the radio wave transmitters / receivers 14-0 to 14-n arranged along the road,
By receiving and processing the map information in the slave station 200, the latest map information can always be used without installing a huge database in the slave station 200.

Further, in the above embodiment, the slave station 200 is
The information was acquired by transmitting the data transmission request signal to the master station 100. However, without transmitting the signal, the parent station 100 responds to the presence of the child station 200 by automatically using radio waves or the like, or automatically or periodically, the parent station 100 transmits information such as map information. The slave station 200 may receive the signal and use it appropriately.

A fourth embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. This embodiment is a modification of the communication means of the embodiment shown in FIG. In this embodiment, as a communication means, a system for exchanging data with the master station 100 by the car telephone 6 and a plurality of radio wave transmitters 14-0 to 14-0 installed along the road.
14-n together with the system for obtaining map information from 14-n.

In FIG. 7, radio wave transmitters 14-0 to 14-14
-N transmits detailed map information at a specific scale, for example, 1 / 5,000. The scale is 5,000.
One-half the map and the most detailed map stored in the CD-ROM 9, for example, map information at an intermediate scale of the one-hundredth scale map, for example, one-thousandth-fifth map information is a car. Provided via telephone 6.

As described above, the radio wave transmitters 14-0 to 14-0 which can obtain information in a relatively wide range and can obtain the information almost instantly via the car telephone 6 which takes a relatively long time to communicate.
By obtaining detailed information in a narrow range from 14-n, detailed information in a narrow range to information in a wide range can be efficiently obtained and used.

[0037]

As described above, according to the present invention, detailed map information can be obtained and used from the master station 100 by using the communication means, so that a huge amount of database is prepared in the slave station. There is no need.

In addition, the latest information can always be obtained and the basic map information is already installed in the vehicle, so the slave station can always know the current position on the map.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation flowchart of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the display according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen of the display according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Database, 2 ... Car telephone transceiver, 3 ... Control means, 4 ... Antenna, 5,
15 ... In-vehicle antenna, 6 ... Car phone, 7 ...
Position measuring device, 8 ... Touch sensor, 9 ... C
D-ROM, 10 ... HDD, 11 arithmetic processing unit, 12 display, 13 time measuring instrument,
14 ・ ・ Radio wave transceiver, 16 ・ ・ Radio wave transceiver

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-4-266228 (JP, A) JP-A-4-348433 (JP, A) JP-A-4-46379 (JP, A) JP-A-3- 203770 (JP, A) JP-A-2-67915 (JP, A) JP-A-2-3899 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G08G 1/0969 G01C 21 / 00 G09B 29/10

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A mobile unit having communication means for communicating with a master station.
The slave station device to be installed stores the data acquired from the master station via the communication means.
Storage means, and arithmetic processing means for controlling the communication means and the storage means
And the display device and the control displayed on the screen of the display device
Command input means, the arithmetic processing means receives the control command received by the control command input means, and receives the control command.
The attached control command gives specific position and route information to the display device.
Is displayed, and the specific position / route information is
If the specific position / route information is not stored in the storage means,
A slave station device, which is obtained from the master station . 2. A mobile unit having communication means for communicating with a master station.
In the slave station device to be mounted, the position acquisition means for detecting the position of the mobile body and the data acquired from the master station via the communication means are stored.
Storage means, a database in which position path information is stored in advance, the communication means, the database, the storage means, and
Arithmetic processing means for controlling position acquisition means, display device, and control displayed on the screen of the display device
Command input means, and the arithmetic processing means includes a position of the moving body detected by the position acquisition means.
The position and route information for the
The mobile unit is read from the data stored in the storage unit,
On the display device by synthesizing the position of
The arithmetic processing means further receives the control command received by the control command input means, and the received control command causes the display device to specify a specific position path.
Information is displayed and the specific location route
Information is recorded in the database and the storage means.
If not remembered, the specific position and route information is forwarded via the communication means.
A slave station device, which is obtained from the master station. 3. A method of displaying position and route information on a display device.
It communicates with the master station and executes the communication process to acquire data.
Then, the communication process stores the data acquired from the master station.
The arithmetic processing for controlling the communication processing and the storage processing.
And row, on a display screen of the display device control instructions to the arithmetic processing
In the arithmetic processing, the control command received by the input processing is specified in the display device.
It is a request to display fixed position and route information, and
When the fixed location route information is not stored in the storage process
The specific location and route information to the communication process, the master station
The position and route information, which is characterized by being acquired from
How to display on the display screen of the display.