JP3700209B2 - Portable navigation device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a portable navigation device, and more particularly, to a portable navigation device that displays a map around a current position on a screen and guides a pedestrian or a person traveling by bicycle.
[0002]
[Prior art]
The navigation device guides the current location, the direction of the destination, or the route to the destination, etc. for those who are not guided by the geography, and for those who move on foot or by bicycle in recent years. Portable navigation devices have been developed.
In the portable navigation device, a map around the current location, a mark indicating the current location, a route to the destination, and the like are drawn on the display. A portable navigation device has also been developed that outputs a guidance of a pedestrian's current position, a guidance in a course direction to reach a destination, and the like by voice.
The current position in such a portable navigation apparatus mainly uses a GPS (Global Positioning System) which is a system for receiving satellite radio waves and measuring the position. This GPS stores map information in a memory such as a CDROM, receives a predetermined signal from an artificial satellite, and calculates its current position specified by east longitude and north latitude from this signal. Then, the GPS combines the calculated current position with the map information in the memory and displays it on the display device.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, the radio wave transmitted from the artificial satellite in order to detect the current position with such a portable navigation device has a very high frequency of 1575.42 MHz. For this reason, in the conventional portable navigation device, a pedestrian who uses the device, for example, in the shadow of the building, in the building, in the underground shopping area, under the overpass, in the tunnel, in the shade, in the station, in the subway, and in the train is in the space between the satellite. When I entered, I couldn't receive radio waves and couldn't identify my current location. Further, since the radio wave from the satellite does not pass through the roof of the car or some UV cut glass, the current position cannot be specified in this case.
Therefore, in the portable navigation device for pedestrians, the accuracy is not stable when only GPS is used as means for detecting the current position of the pedestrian.
Therefore, in order to eliminate the disadvantages of GPS whose accuracy is not stable, a method of detecting the current position by combining a beacon receiver, a distance sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, a gyro sensor, and the like with GPS is considered. However, there is a problem that the device becomes too large to be used by a pedestrian and is difficult to actually use.
[0004]
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a portable navigation device capable of stably displaying the current position.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In the first aspect of the present invention, the map information storage means storing the map information, the display means for displaying the map information stored in the map information storage means, and a predetermined signal from the communication satellite are received. Current position detecting means for detecting the current position, base station position information receiving means for receiving the position information of the base station transmitted from the base station, and position information of the in-vehicle navigation transmitted from the in-vehicle navigation Navigation position information receiving means, and determination means for determining whether the current position cannot be detected by the current position detection means and whether the position information of both the base station and the in-vehicle navigation can be received. When the determination means determines that both the position information can be received, the vehicle navigation is instructed to end the position information transmission. A termination instruction means, is provided in a portable navigation device to achieve the purpose.
[0006]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the portable navigation device of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a portable navigation device according to the present embodiment and a system configuration of a current position display system using the device.
As shown in FIG. 1, the current location display system includes a portable navigation device 1 according to this embodiment, one or more in-vehicle navigation devices 2, and a plurality of base stations 3.
[0007]
The portable navigation device 1 includes a navigation processing unit 11 that controls the entire device and guides the current position to pedestrians and the like. The navigation processing unit 11 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 111, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 112 storing various programs and data such as a navigation program, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) as a working memory. This is realized by a microcomputer provided with a memory 113 or the like. The RAM 113 has a current position coordinate storage area for storing data on north latitude and east longitude based on the current position detected from the GPS or position information received from the in-vehicle navigation device 2 and the base station 3.
The navigation processing unit 11 is connected to a current position detection unit 12, a data storage unit 13, a transmission / reception unit 14, a display unit 15, an audio output unit 16, and an input unit 17.
[0008]
The current position detection unit 12 includes a GPS receiver 121 that measures the position of the vehicle using an artificial satellite. The GPS receiver 121 is configured to supply a signal from a receivable satellite among the plurality of artificial satellites to the navigation processing unit 11. The navigation processing unit 11 selects at least three, preferably four, satellite signals from among the supplied signals, and generates the north latitude X1 and the east longitude Y1 of the current position from these signals. .
[0009]
The data storage unit 13 stores voice data 131, map data 132, road network data 133, place name data 134, and telephone number data 135. As the data storage unit 13, various storage devices using a floppy disk, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical disk, a magnetic tape, an IC card, an optical card, and the like are used.
The voice data 131 is voice guidance information data output from the voice output unit 16.
The map data 132 is map data drawn on the display unit 15. The map stored in the map data 132 is for guiding a pedestrian or the like. For example, maps of 1/2500, 1/15000, 1/10000, and 1/20000 are stored. .
The road data 133 is data used when a route search to a destination is performed by a portable navigation device, and is composed of data related to an intersection and data related to a road. The data related to the intersection includes the name of the intersection, the latitude and longitude of the intersection, the road number with the smallest number among the roads starting from the intersection, and the highest number among the roads ending with the intersection. There are data such as small road numbers and presence / absence of signals. The road data includes the intersection number of the start point of the road, the intersection number of the end point, the next number among roads with the same start point, the next number among roads with the same end point, the road thickness, the road There is data such as length.
[0010]
An antenna is connected to the transmission / reception unit 14, and communication with the in-vehicle navigation apparatus 2 and the base station 3 is performed by optical communication using infrared rays, communication using weak radio waves, communication using a connection cable, and the like. Two-way communication is performed between them.
The transmission / reception unit 14 receives position information indicating the current position of the position information supply device from the position information supply device such as the in-vehicle navigation device 2 or the base station 3. Further, when the position information can be received from the base station 3, the transmission / reception unit 14 transmits a signal instructing to stop the transmission of position information to the in-vehicle navigation device 2.
[0011]
The display unit 15 displays a route set according to the user's request, and displays the current position detected by the current location detection unit 12 together with a map centered on the current location. When a route search to the destination is performed, the location of the destination and the searched route are displayed.
Various display devices such as a CRT and a liquid crystal display are used for the display unit 15.
[0012]
FIG. 2 shows the map displayed on the display unit 15 and the display of the current position.
As shown in FIG. 2, the map displayed on the display unit 15 displays various types of information as a map that can be used as a sightseeing map by pedestrians or for reaching a destination. It has become. The police, bank, school, hotel, parking, shrine, temple, post office, ward office, etc. are displayed as pictographs, and their names are further displayed by key operation of the input unit 17.
[0013]
Further, the current position of the pedestrian is displayed at the center of the screen of the display unit 15. In FIG. 2, the current position range 52 is displayed as the current position of the user. That is, when the current position to be displayed on the map is supplied from a position information supply device such as the in-vehicle navigation device 2 or the base station 3, the current position of the position information supply device is displayed with a star 51. At the same time, a range of a predetermined radius from the star 51 is displayed as the current position range 52. The radius of the current position range 52 can be selected, for example, 20 m, 25 m, 30 m, 35 m, 50 m, and the like. If M is the distance at which position information from the base station 3 can be received, M + α is selected. The distance α is a distance for including a region where position information cannot be received from any base station 3.
[0014]
Although not shown, the display of the star 51 and the current position range 52 may be changed depending on whether the position information received by the portable navigation device 1 is the in-vehicle navigation device 2 or the base station 3. For example, when the position information from the in-vehicle navigation device 2 is adopted instead of the star 51, the shape of the automobile is displayed at the center of the current position range 52 and the position information from the base station 3 is adopted. May display icons (pictograms) that image the antenna and the base station. Further, the inside of the current position range 52 may be distinguished by hatching and dots according to the reception target. Furthermore, the display of the center position and the color in the current position range 52 may be changed according to the object for receiving the position information.
[0015]
On the other hand, when the current position to be displayed on the map of the display unit 15 is based on GPS, the actual current position of the user having the portable navigation device 1 is displayed with a star 51. In this case, since the actual position is displayed, the current position range 52 is not displayed.
[0016]
On the map of the display unit 15, the lot number display and the block display can also be displayed by key operation, so that the utility value as a map can be increased.
In addition, each building or the like may be displayed in different colors. For example, public buildings such as schools and government offices are gray, commercial buildings are pink, leisure facilities are yellow-green, stations are brown, hotels and inns are orange, petrol stations are purple, hospitals are red, parking is blue, Parks and green spaces are colored green, and shrines and temples are colored yellow.
[0017]
The voice output unit 16 in FIG. 1 appropriately outputs guidance information for route guidance of pedestrians by voice. For example, when the current position can be detected by the GPS 121, guidance information such as “turn right / left / go straight at this intersection” is output in front of the intersection serving as the guidance point by route search. In addition, operation explanations and comments at the time of various operations such as destination setting are also output.
For the guidance information by voice from the voice output unit 16, voice recorded in advance on a tape or synthesized voice by a voice synthesizer is used.
The input unit 17 includes a keyboard, a joystick key, a touch panel, a mouse, a light pen, or a display unit that is combined with the screen of the display unit 15 to display keys and menus on the screen and inputs from the screen, a voice recognition device, an OCR (optical Various input devices such as a formula character reader) are used.
[0018]
As with the portable navigation device 1, the plurality of in-vehicle navigation devices 2 include a navigation processing unit 11, a current position detection unit 12, a data storage unit 13, a transmission / reception unit 14, a display unit 15, an audio output unit 16, and an input unit 17. It has.
The in-vehicle navigation device 2 uses the GPS 221 as a current position detection unit 22 to detect the geomagnetism by detecting the geomagnetism 222, detect and count the number of rotations of the wheel, or detect the acceleration. A distance sensor 223 that detects the distance by integrating twice, an optical rotation sensor attached to the rotating part of the steering, a steering sensor 224 that detects the steering angle using a rotation resistance volume, and the like are used.
[0019]
Although not shown, the current position detection unit 22 is a device for detecting the current position, for example, a beacon receiving device that receives position information from a beacon arranged on the road or the like, and a rotational angular velocity of the vehicle. A device such as a gyro sensor such as an optical fiber gyro, a gas rate gyro, or a vibration gyro for detecting and integrating the vehicle azimuth may be provided. The current position detection unit 22 detects the current position where the vehicle is currently running or stopped based on the outputs of these sensors. For this reason, the current position detection unit 22 of the vehicle navigation device 2 can detect the current position with higher accuracy than the portable navigation device 1.
The GPS 221 can measure the position independently, but in other cases, the absolute position is detected by the distance sensor 223 and the geomagnetic sensor 222 or the combination of the distance sensor 223 and the steering sensor 224.
[0020]
The data storage unit 23 stores more information than the portable navigation device 13 and enables detailed route guidance. For example, the map data 232 includes many areas and various types of scale map data as map data drawn on the display unit 15.
The road data 233 includes the intersection name, the latitude and longitude of the intersection, the road number with the smallest number among the roads starting from the intersection, and the road that ends at the intersection. Of these, it has data such as the road number with the smallest number and the presence or absence of a signal. The road data 233 includes road start point intersection numbers, end point intersection numbers, roads having the same start point with the next number, roads having the same end point with the next number, roads Data such as the thickness, prohibition information, guidance unnecessary information, the number of nodes, the head address of node sequence data, the road length, the speed limit, and the like. Furthermore, the road data 233 includes data including east longitude, north latitude, attributes, and the like regarding pedestrian crossings, tunnels, and the like that can be detected by a sensor or the like at feature points on the course as data relating to nodes.
[0021]
The base station 3 includes a control unit 31 and a transmission / reception unit 32.
The control unit 31 is realized by a microcomputer including a CPU 311, a ROM 312 in which various programs and data are stored, a RAM 313 used as a working area, and the like, and transmits location information of the base station 3 from the transmission / reception unit 32. It is like that.
A plurality of base stations 3 are arranged at regular intervals along the road or the like. For example, the distance between the base stations is arranged on a utility pole, a telephone box or the like at intervals of about 60 m. The base station 3 transmits position information by weak radio waves so that the transmittable distance M is about 25 m, so that radio waves between the base stations do not overlap.
The base station 3 may be arranged as a single device, but may also be used as a PHS (Personal Handyphone System) base station.
[0022]
Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as described above will be described.
FIG. 3 shows a state of current position detection using the portable navigation device.
Now, as shown in FIG. 3, it is assumed that base stations A, B, and C are arranged on both sides of the road. Base station A is located at 35 degrees 41 minutes 59 seconds north, 139 degrees 46 minutes 19 seconds east, and base station B is located 35 degrees 41 minutes 55 seconds north, 139 degrees 46 minutes 12 seconds east, Assume that C is at a position of 35 degrees 41 minutes 51 seconds north and 139 degrees 46 minutes 19 seconds east longitude, and each base station A, B, C transmits coordinates based on the north latitude and east longitude as position information. Further, it is assumed that the position information transmittable range by the base station A is a, the position information transmittable range by the base station B is b, and the position information transmittable range by the base station C is c. The transmittable ranges a, b, and c do not overlap each other.
In this way, in the area where the base stations A, B and C are located, the car V equipped with the in-vehicle navigation device 2 is parked at a position of 35 degrees 42 minutes 02 seconds north and 139 degrees 46 minutes 10 seconds east longitude Suppose that the transmittable range of the position information from the vehicle-mounted navigation device 2 is v. Since the vehicle V can be parked at an arbitrary position, the transmittable range v overlaps the transmittable range a in the illustrated case.
[0023]
In this state, it is assumed that the driver of the automobile V is from the automobile and has moved from the point P1 to the point P5 while carrying the portable navigation device 1. It is assumed that a radio wave capable of detecting the current position from GPS can be received at point P5 and cannot be received at other positions.
When the user is at the position of point P1, since GPS radio waves cannot be received from this position, the position information (north latitude 35 degrees 42 minutes 02 seconds, east longitude 139 degrees 46 minutes 10 seconds) is received and displayed. The star 51 and the current position range 52 are displayed at the corresponding positions on the map displayed on the part 15.
[0024]
After that, when the user moves and reaches a point P2 that is within the overlapping range of the transmittable range v of the in-vehicle navigation device V and the transmittable range a of the base station A, the portable navigation device 1 is connected to the in-vehicle navigation device V. In response to this, a position information transmission stop signal is transmitted. The portable navigation device 1 displays a star 51 at the position of the base station A (35 degrees 41 minutes 59 seconds north latitude, 139 degrees 46 minutes 19 seconds east longitude), and an area current position range 52 centered on this position. Is displayed, the current position display on the display unit 15 is updated. While the user is moving within the transmittable range a of the base station A, the current position information is not updated unless the radio wave capable of detecting the current position from the GPS is received. it's shown.
[0025]
When the user moves to the position P3 outside the transmission range a of the base station A, the position information of the base station A is stored and the position information from other base stations B, C, etc. is received. Until it becomes possible, the current position display based on the position information of the base station A is continued.
When the user enters the transmittable range b of the base station B and receives position information from the base station B, the portable navigation device 1 determines the position of the base station B (north latitude 35 degrees 41 minutes 55 seconds, east longitude 139 The star position 51 is displayed at (degree 46:12), and the current position display is updated by displaying the area current position range 52 centered on this position. While moving within the transmittable range b, the same display is continued.
[0026]
Then, when the user moves to the position of the point P5 where the current position can be specified by receiving the radio wave from the GPS, the portable navigation device 1 is within the transmittable range c of the base station C. The current position is detected, and a star 51 is displayed at the detected latitude and longitude positions. Since the current position is the actual position of the portable navigation device 1 and is not the position information of the in-vehicle navigation device 2 or the base station 3, the current position range 52 is not displayed on the display device 15.
[0027]
Thus, the portable navigation device 1 displays the current position with the highest priority when the current position can be detected by GPS, and the position information received from the base station 3 when the current position cannot be detected by GPS. Is used to display the current position range 52, and if neither GPS nor base station 3 can receive, the position information received from the vehicle navigation device 2 is used.
[0028]
Next, details of the current position display processing by the portable navigation device 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
The navigation processing unit 11 of the portable navigation device 1 monitors whether or not the power switch is turned on. When the power switch is turned on (step 11; Y), the value of the current position information P composed of north latitude and east longitude is (0). , 0) (step 12).
Then, the navigation processing unit 11 detects whether or not the current position by GPS can be detected (step 13). Whether or not the current position can be detected is determined based on whether or not a modulated signal from at least three GPS units can be received and demodulated to generate the current position.
When the current position can be detected by GPS (step 13; Y), the navigation processing unit 11 generates the north latitude X1 and the east longitude Y1 of the current position of the portable navigation device 1 (step 14). The values in the current position coordinate storage area of the RAM 113 are updated with values X1 and Y1 (step 15).
[0029]
On the other hand, when the GPS current position cannot be detected in step 13 (step 13; N), the navigation processing unit 11 determines whether or not the position information (north latitude X2 and east longitude Y2) transmitted from the base station 3 can be received. (Step 16).
If X2 and Y2 cannot be received (step 16; N), it is determined whether or not position information (north latitude X3 and east longitude Y3) transmitted from the vehicle-mounted navigation device 2 can be received, and X3 and Y3 can be received. In this case (step 17; Y), the current position coordinate storage area of the RAM 113 is updated with the position coordinates X3 and Y3 of the vehicle-mounted navigation device 2 as the current position coordinates P (step 18).
[0030]
When the position information X2 and Y2 of the base station 3 can be received (step 16; Y), the navigation processing unit 11 uses the current position coordinates P stored in the RAM 113 as the position information X3 from the in-vehicle navigation device 2, It is determined whether or not Y3 (step 19). If P = (X3, Y3), the vehicle navigation apparatus 2 is instructed to end the transmission of position information (step 20).
The navigation processing unit 11 then updates the current location storage area of the RAM 113 using the received base station position information (northern latitude X2, east longitude Y2) as the current position coordinates P (step 21).
[0031]
The navigation processing unit 11 then stores the current position coordinates P currently stored in the RAM 113 (the current position P of the portable navigation device 2 by GPS stored in step 15) = (X1, Y1), and the in-vehicle device stored in step 18. The current position coordinates P = (X3, Y3) of the navigation device 2 or the current position coordinates P = (X2, Y2) of the base station 3 stored in step 21 is read out and the current position is displayed by the P point (step). 22).
That is, the map information including the P point is read from the map data 132 of the data storage unit 13 and displayed on the display unit 15, and the star 51 is displayed at the P point position. When the current position coordinates are (X2, Y2) or (X3, Y3), a certain range of current position range 52 centered on the position of point P is further displayed. At this time, the display of the star 51 and the current position range 52 is distinguished depending on whether the current position coordinate point P is (X2, Y2) or (X3, Y3).
[0032]
If X3 and Y3 cannot be received in step 18, the navigation processing unit 11 checks whether or not the value of the current position coordinate P stored in the RAM 113 remains in an initialized state (step 23).
If it is not in the initialized state (step 23; N), the process proceeds to step 22, and the current position is displayed based on the value of the current position P stored in any one of step 15, step 19, and step 22.
On the other hand, if P = (0, 0) and the initial state is maintained (step 23; Y), a warning that information for displaying the current location cannot be obtained and the movement of the location for detecting the current location are displayed. The request is displayed on the screen of display 15 (step 24).
[0033]
Then, the navigation processing unit 11 determines whether or not the device is turned off. If the device is turned on (step 25; N), the navigation processing unit 11 returns to step 13 to acquire the current position information and display the screen. If the power is turned off (step 25; Y), the process is terminated.
[0034]
As described above, according to the portable navigation device of the present embodiment, even if the reception state of the radio wave from the GPS is not good, the user can select the range of the current position range 52 displayed on the display device 15. The actual position can be easily confirmed by comparing the map inside and the actual scenery.
[0035]
In the embodiment described above, the base stations are arranged at intervals of about 60 m, and the distance M at which position information can be transmitted by weak radio waves is set to about 25 m. The transmittable ranges a, b, and c are not overlapped with each other. However, in the present invention, the transmittable ranges of the base stations may be overlapped.
For example, by setting the distance M that can be transmitted to an interval of about 50 m between base stations to 30 m, the position information can be obtained from any base station at any position on the road where a user such as a pedestrian can walk. You may enable it to receive.
In this case, when the position information from the base station R and the base station T is received, the position information with the better radio wave reception state is adopted. For example, the display range of the current position range 52 is set to coincide with the radius M = 30 m of the transmittable range.
[0036]
In the embodiment described above, the base stations 3 are arranged on the road, but may be arranged in a subway platform or in an underground shopping street. In this case, the data storage unit 13 of the portable navigation device 2 stores map data and road data of the corresponding area.
Further, in the embodiment described above, the current position detection unit 12 of the portable navigation device has only the GPS 121 as a device for detecting the current position, but in addition to the GPS 121, a gyro, a pedometer, A measurement device such as an acceleration sensor may be attached, and the current position may be measured while correcting the error due to the GPS 121 with another measurement device. When the position cannot be detected by GPS or when the error becomes large, the current position may be corrected using the position information received from the base station.
[0037]
In the embodiment described above, these three are used in order of priority of the GPS, the in-vehicle navigation device 2 and the base station 3 in order for the portable navigation device to detect the current position. The current position may be specified only by the station.
In particular, by shortening the installation interval between the base stations 3 such as 20 m or 30 m, for example, the user can easily identify his current position only by confirming the range of 20 m or 30 m.
[0038]
In the embodiment described above, the base station 3 always transmits the position information. However, for example, the position information may be transmitted when the position information request signal is received from the portable navigation device 1. .
In this case, the portable navigation device 1 transmits a position information request signal from the transmission / reception unit 14 when the current position cannot be detected by GPS.
[0039]
In the described embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the current position detected by GPS, the position of the in-vehicle navigation device 2, and the base station 3 are displayed with a star 51, but in the present invention, only the position is displayed. Instead of displaying, the traveling direction may be displayed with an arrow. In this case, every time the values of the current position coordinates P in steps 15, 18, and 21 in FIG. 4 are updated, a predetermined number of values of the current position coordinates P are stored as current position history p1, p2, p3,. .
Then, the vector direction (pn-1, pn) is displayed as the traveling direction for the latest current position history pn. For example, when there is a user at the position P4 in FIG. 3, the arrow indicating the direction from the base station A to the base station B indicates that the traveling direction is the coordinate position of the base station B (north latitude 35 degrees 41 minutes 55 seconds, east longitude 139 degrees 46 minutes and 12 seconds).
Note that the arrow indicating the direction of travel can be displayed after being corrected so as to be parallel to the road by performing map matching processing.
[0040]
Moreover, in this embodiment, although the road was displayed on the display apparatus 15, it is not necessary to display a road in this invention. That is, the display device 15 may display only the current position range, a set destination, and a landmark such as a building or a park.
[0041]
【The invention's effect】
According to the portable navigation device of the present invention, the current position can be stably displayed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a portable navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention and a system configuration of a current position display system using the device.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a map displayed on a display unit of the portable navigation device and a display state of a current position.
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a current position detection state using the portable navigation device.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a current position display processing operation by the portable navigation device.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Portable navigation apparatus 11 Navigation processing part 111 CPU
112 ROM
123 RAM
12 current position detection unit 13 data storage unit 14 input unit 15 display unit 16 audio output unit 17 transmission / reception unit 2 vehicle-mounted navigation device 3 base station

Claims (1)

Map information storage means for storing map information;
Display means for displaying the map information stored in the map information storage means;
Current position detecting means for detecting a current position by receiving a predetermined signal from a communication satellite;
Base station location information receiving means for receiving location information of the base station transmitted from the base station;
Navigation position information receiving means for receiving position information of the in-vehicle navigation transmitted from the in-vehicle navigation;
A determination means for determining whether the current position cannot be detected by the current position detection means , and whether the position information of both the base station and the in-vehicle navigation can be received;
An end instruction means for instructing the vehicle-mounted navigation device to end position information transmission when it is determined by the determination means that both of the position information can be received;
A portable navigation device comprising:

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