JP3415303B2 - Vehicle guidance system - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle guidance apparatus for searching for a guidance route and displaying the search result on a background map. 2. Description of the Related Art A background map around a current position of a vehicle and a point selected by a driver is displayed, and a guide route with good movement efficiency to a designated destination is calculated. There is a vehicle guidance device that highlights the guidance route on the background map. [0003] This type of apparatus has road coordinate data in data used for searching for a guide route in addition to data for displaying a background map, and reads out coordinates corresponding to the calculated guide route. The guidance route is displayed. For this reason,
There is a problem that a large storage capacity is required for storing the map. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicular guidance apparatus that highlights a guidance route and reduces the storage capacity of a map. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides, for each predetermined area, a. Character / symbol data; b. Background data consisting of road coordinate data indicating the coordinates of nodes set on the road line and terrain coordinate data indicating the coordinates of the terrain line; c. Node sequence data indicating a set of the nodes set on a road line; d. Display map data storage means for storing road pointers; route search data storage means for storing connection data of nodes and links at intersections; and, based on the route search data, a map from a departure point or a current position to a destination. Route search means for searching for a guide route; storage means for storing a road pointer corresponding to the guide route searched by the route search means; and a road pointer in a predetermined area of the map storage means for storing the stored road pointer. Comparing means for outputting a corresponding road pointer, and guidance for creating a layer for displaying a guidance route corresponding to the road pointer output by the comparing means based on the node sequence data and the road coordinate data. Path layer creating means, and a character for creating a layer for displaying characters and symbols based on the character / symbol data And symbols layers creating means, the based on the background data of the road coordinate data and terrain coordinate data, and the background layer forming means for forming a layer for displaying a background consisting of roads and terrain, the guide path layer, character-
Display means for combining and displaying the symbol layer and the background layer. According to the present invention, the comparing means matches the road pointer string of the guide route searched by the route searching means with the road pointer in the display area read from the display map data storage means. The pointer is output, the route layer generating means selects road coordinate data based on the road pointer and the node string data, and outputs only the road coordinate data of the guide route to the display means. That is, the background layer generating means for generating the background map including the road and the route layer generating means can share the road coordinate data, and the map storage capacity is reduced. An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle guidance system according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) which is a control unit;
Denotes a CPU for performing various processing controls, 3 denotes a RAM for storing processing results of the CPU 2 and the like, and 4 denotes a ROM for storing control programs for the CPU 2 and the like. Reference numeral 5 denotes an interface unit, which is a signal indicating a vehicle state such as a vehicle speed, a forward / backward state, a lighting state of a light, and a GPS (Global Positio).
ning System) externally receives position information (latitude, longitude) from the receiver 6. Reference numeral 7 denotes an S-RAM for storing information such as position information and traveling direction; 8, a gyro for detecting the traveling direction of the vehicle; 9, an interface unit connected to an external bus;
0 is a CD-ROM drive for reading various information, and 11 is a VRAM for storing image data. A TV tuner 12, a radio 13, a CD-ROM changer 15, and a panel 16 are connected to an external bus connected to the interface unit 9. The panel 16 includes a display unit 16a such as a color liquid crystal display, and various other components. And an operation unit 16b including an operation element. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the storage structure of the CD-ROM drive 10 (FIG. 1).
CD-ROM management information, drawing / road shape data, route search data, and place name / facility search data are stored. Among them, the CD-ROM management information stores the storage location, storage capacity, creation date, and the like of each data area described below. The drawing / road shape data includes management data, background data, character / symbol data, road pointers, node string data, and road shape data for map matching, which will be described later. The data further includes road coordinate data and terrain coordinate data. Here, the road coordinate data is data indicating the coordinates of the nodes set on the roads in the background map. The nodes a1 = (a1x, a1y) and a2 = (a2x, a2y).
.. Are stored in XY coordinates. The terrain coordinate data is vector data of display coordinates of a mountain, a river, a site, and the like. These road coordinate data and terrain coordinate data are both relative coordinates (offset coordinates) with respect to predetermined origin coordinates, and a background layer described later is displayed by connecting those coordinates. The character / symbol data is data used for displaying a place name, a map symbol, or the like at each point on the background map. The background data and the character / symbol data are divided for each scale, and each scale is further divided and stored in a plurality of display section areas. Here, the display division area indicates an area obtained as a result of dividing a map of the whole of Japan into a grid, and the storage positions of the background data and character symbol data divided and stored for each scale and each display division area are as follows. Are stored in the management data. The node string data indicates a set of the nodes located on a road (link) connecting two adjacent intersections, and a link A = {a1, a2, a3... A
n}, B = {b1, b2...}, C. The road pointer designates the node string data and road coordinate data, and is represented by links A, B, C,. The road shape data is data indicating a shape such as a curve of the road. When the current position of the vehicle is displayed on a background map, the position is corrected so that the current position is displayed on the road. It is used at the time of map matching. The route search data includes management data and route data. Among them, the route data indicates an index value (cost) which is a measure of the passing time of the corresponding road for each link described above, and a guide route with good movement efficiency is searched based on the route search data. Further, the place name / facility search data is composed of management data, place name data, and facility data.
It is used to search and display the background map of the location from the facility name (hotel, etc.). Next, FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the main configuration and processing of this embodiment as functional blocks. In this figure, reference numeral 20 denotes an input means for inputting a destination and a current location (or a departure location). The input of the destination and the departure location corresponds to the position setting process using the operation unit 16b (FIG. 1). Corresponds to a position detection process performed based on the vehicle speed signal input via the interface unit 5, the position information supplied from the GPS receiver 6, and the direction information supplied from the gyro 8. Reference numeral 21 denotes path data storage means for storing the path search data (FIG. 2), which corresponds to the CD-ROM drive 10. A route search unit 22 searches for a guide route, and corresponds to a route search process performed by the CPU 2. Reference numeral 23 denotes a storage unit that stores a search result of the route search unit 22, and corresponds to the RAM 3. Reference numeral 24 denotes a display map data storage unit that stores the drawing / road shape data (excluding the road shape data), and corresponds to the CD-ROM drive 10. From this display map data storage means, various data included in the display division area are read. Reference numeral 25 denotes a comparing unit which compares the road pointer of the display map data storage unit 24 with the route search result (road pointer string) stored in the storage unit and outputs a matching road pointer. Reference numeral 26 denotes a route layer generating unit which generates road coordinate data of a guidance route in the display section area based on the node string data and the road coordinate data of the display map data storage unit 24 and the road pointer output by the comparing unit 25. Output. Reference numeral 27 denotes a background layer generating means which outputs road display coordinate data in the display section area from the road coordinate data in the display map data storage section 24, and outputs topographic coordinate data in the display section area. Is output. 28
Is a character / symbol layer generating means, which outputs characters / symbols in the display division area and their coordinates among the character / symbol data. The comparing means 25, the route layer generating means 26, the background layer generating means 27, and the character / symbol layer generating means 28 correspond to the processing of the CPU 2. Reference numeral 29 denotes display means for creating an image for each layer based on the coordinate data output from the route layer generating means 26, the background layer generating means 27, and the character / symbol layer generating means 28, and And overwrites the character symbol image and the guidance route image thereon. The display means 29 corresponds to the display processing of the VRAM 11 and the display unit 16a of FIG. 1 and the CPU 2 controlling them. Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the above-described functional block diagram (FIG. 3). First, input means 2
When the departure place 30 and the destination place 31 are inputted at 0 as shown in FIG. 4, the route search means 22 searches for a guide route, and a road pointer sequence A → B → C → D constituting the guide road is obtained. These road pointers are stored in the storage unit 23 and output to the comparison unit 25. On the other hand, the road pointers A, B, C, E, F, G, and H included in the display section area 32 are read from the display map data storage means 24, and the comparison means 25 compares these road pointers with the pointer strings. Road pointers A, B , and C that match each other are output. With respect to the road pointer B, the route layer generating means 26 calculates the node string data B = ｛b of the road pointer B from the plurality of node string data of the display map data storage means.
1, b2... Are examined and the corresponding node coordinates (b1x,
.. b1y), (b2x, b2y)... are selected from the road coordinate data and output to the display means 29. At this time,
The coordinate data of the virtual nodes av and cv on the guidance route and on the dividing line of the display section area 32 are also output. With this virtual node, all the guide routes in the display section area are displayed without interruption. FIG. 5A is a view showing a guide route layer 41 displayed by the display means based on the coordinate data obtained at this time, and the guide route is emphasized with a conspicuous color different from the display color of a normal road at this time. Is displayed. The background layer generating means 28 (FIG. 3) outputs the road coordinate data and the terrain coordinate data included in the display division area 32 to the display means 29, and the display means displays the background coordinate data as shown in FIG. The layer 43 is displayed. In FIG. 5C, 43a is a site, 43b is a road,
43c indicates a river, and 43d indicates a mountain. Similarly, the character / symbol layer generating means 28 outputs the character / symbol data included in the display area section 32 to the display means 29, and the character / symbol layer 42 as shown in FIG. 5B is displayed. . Here, the display means 29 displays the background layer 4
3, the character / symbol layer 42 and the guidance route layer 41 are overwritten in this order, and the resulting image is finally displayed. As described above, according to the present invention, when a guidance route is displayed, a road existing in a background map in a predetermined area is displayed using a road pointer corresponding to the guidance route. By designating, since the road data of the background map is shared, the storage capacity of the map can be reduced.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle guidance system according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a storage structure of a CD-ROM drive 10 in the embodiment. FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the embodiment. FIG. 4 is an operation explanatory diagram of the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of each layer according to the embodiment;
5A shows a route layer, FIG. 5B shows a character / symbol layer, and FIG. 5C shows a background layer. [Description of Signs] 1 ECU 2 CPU 3 RAM 4 ROM 5, 9 Interface unit 6 GPS receiver 7 SRAM 8 Gyro 10 CD-ROM drive 11 VRAM 12 TV tuner 13 Radio 14 Speaker 15 CD-ROM changer 16 Panel 16a Display unit 16b Operation unit 20 Input unit 21 Route search data storage unit 22 Route search unit 23 Storage unit 24 Display map data storage unit 25 Comparison unit 26 Route layer generation unit 27 Background layer generation unit 28 Character / symbol layer generation unit 29 Display unit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-6-288783 (JP, A) JP-A-3-140816 (JP, A) JP-A-6-208327 (JP, A) JP-A-3-20861 219397 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01C 21/00 G08G 1/0969 G09B 29/00-29/10 G06T 1/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. For each predetermined area, a. Character / symbol data; b. Background data consisting of road coordinate data indicating the coordinates of nodes set on the road line and terrain coordinate data indicating the coordinates of the terrain line; c. Node sequence data indicating a set of the nodes set on a road line; d. Display map data storage means for storing road pointers; route search data storage means for storing connection data of nodes and links at intersections; and Route search means for searching for a guide route; storage means for storing a road pointer corresponding to the guide route searched by the route search means; and a road pointer in a predetermined area of the map storage means for storing the stored road pointer. And comparing means for outputting a matching road pointer, based on the node string data and the road coordinate data,
Guidance route layer creation means for creating a layer for displaying a guidance route corresponding to the road pointer output by the comparison means; and a character / symbol layer for creating a layer for displaying characters and symbols based on the character / symbol data Creating means; background layer creating means for creating a layer for displaying a background composed of roads and terrain based on the road coordinate data and terrain coordinate data of the background data; the guidance route layer, character / symbol layer, and background A vehicle guidance device comprising display means for combining and displaying layers.