JP3806525B2 - Map search method and apparatus for navigation - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a navigation map search apparatus that can reach a desired map at high speed when scrolling a displayed screen when it is desired to display a map of a desired location in a navigation apparatus.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Currently, navigation devices are highly evaluated as devices that can be safely guided to destinations, particularly in cars, and are widely used. In such a navigation device, when setting the route from the current location to the destination, it is necessary to set the destination and waypoint on the map. In that case, for example, on the screen where the current location is displayed, By operating the joystick part of the remote controller, this map is scrolled to display a map of the waypoints and destinations, and predetermined points in the map are input to set the waypoints and destinations. Further, the navigation device may be temporarily used as a map, followed by a road from the currently displayed map, and scrolled to the surrounding map portion.
[0003]
The display of the map in the navigation device is a map in a predetermined range centered on a specific point from a storage device (hereinafter referred to as “DVD-ROM”) such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM into which map data is input. Data is read out, stored in the map buffer, a map is drawn in the VRAM based on the map data, and a map of an area to be displayed on the screen is cut out from the map and displayed on the image display device.
[0004]
The map stored in the DVD-ROM is divided into regions of appropriate longitude and latitude width according to the scale level. Map data for each scale includes road layers, background layers, characters, It is composed of character layers such as codes. As shown in FIG. 10, the road data is composed of road link data RLDT, node data NDDT, and intersection data CRDT. Of these, road link data RLDT gives attribute information of the road link. It consists of data such as the total number of nodes, the number on the node data NDDT of each node constituting the link, the road name, the road type, and the like. The intersection data CRDT is a set of numbers on the node data NDDT of the node closest to the intersection on the link connected to the intersection for each intersection on the map. The node data NDDT is a list of all nodes on the map. For each node, coordinate information, an intersection identification flag indicating whether or not the node is an intersection, an intersection is indicated if it is an intersection. It consists of a pointer or the like pointing to the road link to which it belongs.
[0005]
When displaying the map data configured in this way on the screen, if a specific point is designated as described above, the data in the area centered on the designated point is read and the map is drawn. When scrolling the map, first draw in the data, but when it is predicted that it will go out of the range of data, detect the direction to go out, read new data in that direction, scroll as much as possible It is controlled so that the map on the screen is not interrupted.
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
When scrolling the map in this way, when following the road that is displayed from the currently displayed map, if the destination you want to display is far away from the currently displayed map , Try to scroll as fast as possible by tilting the joystick on the remote control to the direction of the road as much as possible. However, the scrolling of the map has no particular problem when displaying a map in the range of the image drawing VRAM, and there is no particular problem, and when the map buffer contains extra map data. In this case, the data is extracted from the map, and the map is developed in the VRAM for drawing. In this case, the drawing speed is relatively high and does not cause a big problem.
[0007]
However, if the high-speed scrolling is continued, the memory in the map buffer will be insufficient, and even if the map in the scroll direction is pre-read into the map buffer, it will not be in time. That is, although the access speed of CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs has increased recently, it cannot sufficiently follow the high-speed scroll as described above. Therefore, when high-speed scrolling is continued and a map is continuously read out and drawn from a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM, the drawing does not catch up with the scrolling speed, and the map is drawn even if the operator instructs scrolling. It takes time until it is done, and it is not possible to proceed to the map ahead, and eventually the scrolling speed is limited by the access speed of the map storage device such as DVD-ROM, and the map of the predetermined point can be obtained by scrolling the map It is very difficult to display smoothly.
[0008]
As a countermeasure, when you want to display a map of a certain point, do not scroll the map screen in the direction where the point is supposed to be, use the search function provided in the navigation device, and the prefecture name and its Specify the genre such as city name, train route name and station name, expressway name and interchange or service area name, etc., and select the desired genre. A map of a preset area is read out. However, when a map of a desired point is read out by the search as described above, the point read out as a result of the search is not necessarily the true desired point, and the desired point is located in the surrounding portion away from the search point. Is often present. Therefore, in the end, there is no choice but to scroll from the map of the searched location to find the desired location.
[0009]
On the other hand, in the scrolling of the map, when searching for a desired point, a map in which the desired point exists in a wide area map is read as much as possible, and the point considered to be the desired point in the map is the center. When the scale is gradually reduced from there to the detailed map, the point is appropriately displayed in the detailed map, and a desired one point can be designated. However, it is rare to know where the desired point exists in the whole area, but rather, it recognizes where each point is in the line of roads, tracks, etc. There are many. For this reason, when it is desired to display a map of a desired point, it is most suitable for human sense to scroll the map along a line such as a road.
[0010]
Therefore, in the present invention, when a map of a desired point is displayed by scrolling the map, the map is searched at high speed and the map of the desired point is displayed without being limited by the read access speed of a DVD-ROM or the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide a navigation map search method that can be used, and an apparatus that implements the method.
[0011]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
  Above issuesAccording to the present invention, the map storage device in which the main place names are registered in advance in association with the points, the map scroll determining means for determining that the scroll speed is high when the joystick is tilted to the maximum position, and the scroll speed is high. In this case, pointer display means for displaying a pointer on the screen, switching means for switching the screen operation means to pointer operation, and main place names associated with registered points within a predetermined range of the map displayed on the screen are searched. Map search for navigation comprising destination search means, destination display means for displaying the searched main place name on the screen, and search map display means for displaying the map of the place name when the displayed main place name is input by the pointer Achieved by the device.
[0016]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a navigation device that implements the present invention. In the navigation control device 100, a signal from a GPS receiver 102 having a GPS antenna 101 is taken into a data storage unit 103, and an angle sensor 104 and a distance sensor 105 are shown. The vehicle position / direction calculation unit 107 receives the signal from the self-contained navigation sensor 106 having the above and obtains basic data of the vehicle position based on both signals.
[0017]
The navigation control device 100 includes a DVD-ROM that has recently been used, a CD-ROM that has been widely used in the past, other ROM devices, or a RAM portion that can also be written as required. A map storage / output unit (collectively referred to as “DVD-ROM” in the present invention as described above) having a storage device, a storage device, and the like, and a drive mechanism for driving the storage device are connected. Yes. In the DVD-ROM 115, the map data as shown in FIG. 9 is written. This DVD-ROM 115 outputs a map of a specified scale centered on a point specified based on a signal from a map read control unit 116 described later, or a map of a plurality of scales, and temporarily outputs this signal to the map buffer 117. save.
[0018]
In the navigation control apparatus 100, the map matching control unit 119 compares the vehicle position basic signal with the map signal from the map buffer, and superimposes the vehicle position on the road position on the map by map matching. Is output to the map readout control unit 116, the guidance route control unit 120, and the intersection guide unit 121 as “own vehicle position”. The intersection guidance unit 121 provides intersection guidance based on the vehicle position signal from the map matching control unit 119, the approaching intersection signal calculated by the guidance route control unit 120, and the map signal from the map buffer 117. The image processing unit 122 in the guide unit 121 creates a plane enlarged image of an intersection, an intersection stereoscopic image, and the like. From this intersection guide unit 121, in order to perform voice guidance such as “Please turn right at the next signal”, a guidance voice signal is output to the external audio unit 129 and an enlarged image of the intersection is sent to the image composition unit 123. Output and display the enlarged intersection image on a part of the screen or on the entire screen.
[0019]
The map signal from the map buffer 117 is also input to a map drawing unit 125 for displaying a map on the image display device 124, and the signal is developed on the map screen by the VRAM 126, and the readout control unit 127 generates an image center position signal. Based on the map image of the VRAM 126, a desired image is output to the image composition unit 123. Further, the scale of the map read from the read control unit is detected, input to the scale mark generation unit 133, a predetermined scale mark is formed, and output to the image composition unit 123.
[0020]
The image display device 124 such as a liquid crystal display displays an image arbitrarily synthesized by the image synthesis unit 123, and a light receiving unit 141 is provided in a part of the image display device 124 and receives a signal from the remote controller 142. Yes. In addition, a touch panel 143 is provided on the surface of the image display device 124, and the touch panel 143 functions in a specific screen display. Signals from the light receiving unit 141 and the touch panel 143 in the image display device 124 are output from the signal output unit 144 to the operation signal input unit 113 in the navigation control device 100. The operation signal input unit 113 also receives a signal from an operation switch 146 provided in the navigation device or provided in the image display device. The command signal from the operation signal input unit 113 is output to the operation screen generation unit 130, the various mark generation units 131, and the guidance route drawing unit 132. Outputs “route” and “destination” signals.
[0021]
Further, in the state where the operation signal input unit 113 detects the display change speed of the screen in the image display device 124 and immediately displays the map data read from the DVD-ROM 115 on the image display device, the time is about 1 second. Based on this, when the display change speed of the screen is slow, it is determined that the scrolling is fast, and the scroll speed detector 147 outputs the signal to the pointer generator 148. In addition, the stick tilt state of the joystick 150 of the remote controller 142 used when the map is scrolled may be detected, and when the maximum tilt state continues for a predetermined time, it may be determined that the scrolling is fast. The pointer generator 148 displays a pointer having an appropriate shape on the image display device 124, and the pointer can be moved by the joystick 150 of the remote controller 142. In addition, when a map scale command input to the operation signal input unit 113 or a place name to be described in detail later is input by input to the pointer, the scale is reduced when the city corresponding to the place name is large. A scale command based on the determination of setting or the like is sent to the scale determining unit 151 in the map reading control unit 116, and a map of a predetermined scale at a predetermined point is read from the DVD-ROM.
[0022]
In addition to the vehicle position signal, the map signal, the “current location”, the “route”, and the “destination” signals, the guidance route control unit 120 receives a focus position from the map read control unit 116. A signal from the route control unit 120 is stored in the guidance route memory 128, and the signal is output to the map matching control unit 119 and also to the guidance route drawing unit 132.
[0023]
In the image composition unit 123, an intersection enlarged image, a map image from the map readout control unit, an image for facilitating operation input from the operation screen generation unit 130, a mark image from various mark generation units 131, a guidance route drawing unit The images from 132 are combined, and the images required by the navigation device at that time are combined arbitrarily and combined and output to the image display device 124. In this way, a vehicle driver or the like can travel reliably and safely on the guidance route.
[0024]
In the navigation apparatus configured as described above, in the present invention, processing is basically performed according to the flow shown in FIG. That is, it is determined whether or not the scrolling is fast in the map scrolling state. Various means can be considered as a means for determining whether or not the scrolling is performed at high speed. For example, as described above, it can be determined by detecting the display change speed of the screen in the screen display device 124. That is, the map data read out from the DVD-ROM 115 is stored in the map buffer 117, and necessary ones are drawn by the map drawing unit 125 and developed on the map by the VRAM, and the necessary parts are displayed on the image display device. When the scroll speed is slow in the state displayed on 124, the map in the scroll direction is always read in advance from the DVD-ROM 115, stored in the map buffer, and this data is read out one after another, so that the map screen at the time of scrolling You can scroll without interruption. However, when the scrolling speed is increased, and especially when this state continues, it takes time to read from the DVD-ROM and display the map on the image display device, and it takes about 1 second. Therefore, it is determined that the scrolling speed is fast when the display change speed of the screen becomes slow.
[0025]
In addition, as a means for determining whether or not the scrolling speed is high, it is usually performed by operating the joystick of the remote controller at the time of scrolling, so that it is detected that the lever of the joystick has been operated to the maximum for about 3 seconds, for example. Thus, it can be determined that the high-speed scrolling is continued. In addition, when the access to the DVD-ROM continues, for example, for about 3 seconds, a method for determining that the scrolling has become faster can be considered.
[0026]
In this way, after determining whether or not the scrolling is performed at a high speed in step 1, when it is determined that the scrolling is performed at a high speed, the process proceeds to step 2 and a pointer is displayed on the screen. That is, in normal scrolling, the center of the screen is assumed to be the point indicated, and the center position of the screen is moved by the joystick. When it is determined that the user is scrolling at high speed, a pointer is displayed at the center of the screen. In the navigation control apparatus shown in FIG. 4, the pointer is displayed by drawing the character data previously formed by the pointer generator 148. As an image of a pointer, various kinds of software can be used in the same manner as various kinds of software are used in a normal personal computer. For example, as shown in each embodiment of FIGS. Alternatively, the pointer 20 indicating the position may be displayed with the finger of the wrist. The pointer 20 displayed in this way can then be moved to an arbitrary position with a joystick. That is, in step 3, during normal scrolling, the joystick is operated to move the drawing. However, when the pointer is displayed during high-speed scrolling, the joystick is operated so that the drawing does not move. Can be switched to.
[0027]
Next, in step 4, the destination display unit 21 is formed on the screen. Next, in step 5, in order to display the place names of the main destinations of the road in the destination display unit 21, the main place names within a predetermined range are searched from the display map. Therefore, the location of the main place name is registered in advance in the DVD-ROM 115 by linking with the road data, and the registration location within the predetermined distance range of the map displayed on the screen is called in synchronization with the display of the pointer. Next, in step 6, a point to be displayed is selected from the registered points, and the selected point name is displayed on the destination display unit. For example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the destination display may display an arrow along the road at the intersection of the national highway 6 and the national highway 49, and the destination display portions 21, 22, and 23 may be arranged at the tips thereof. In the illustrated embodiment, “Sendai”, “Koriyama”, and “Mito” are displayed as road destinations, respectively. Along with this display, coordinate points on the map corresponding to each point are called, and the display place name, the coordinates, and one on the screen of the display portion are stored in association with each other.
[0028]
Next, in step 7, this destination display portion is not a mere image display portion but an input operable screen. At this time, the entire screen can be used as an input operable screen, and only the destination display section can be used as an input operable screen. As an input operation, the same input function as an operation by a normal mouse movement of a pointer and a mouse click operation at a specified point can be used.
[0029]
In step 8, after the pointer moves to one of the destination display sections as described above, when an input operation is performed by pressing an execution key on the remote controller, the coordinates and scale of the point name are called, and the DVD-ROM A map of a predetermined range and a predetermined scale is read from the coordinates of the point name as a center, and the image processing is performed, and in step 9, it is immediately displayed on the image display device. Therefore, when the “Koriyama” portion is designated in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, a map of Koriyama City in a predetermined range centered on a predetermined point such as Koriyama City Hall is displayed. Therefore, even when the scroll of the map image cannot be followed during high-speed scrolling, the map of the point can be searched and displayed immediately by specifying the place name of the destination display portion displayed as described above. , Substantially high-speed scrolling can be performed.
[0030]
In the above-described embodiment, various place names can be selected for the destination display portion displayed at the time of high-speed scrolling according to the situation. For example, as in the flow shown in FIG. 2, from step 1 to step shown in FIG. After the same step as step 4, it is determined in step 5-1 whether the scale of the map being scrolled is larger than a predetermined scale. If the scale is large, the destination of each road in the wide area is determined in step 5-2. Display at the intersection. If the scale of the map being scrolled is small, the destination of each road in the narrow area is displayed at the intersection in step 5-3. Therefore, as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 6, when scrolling in a relatively wide-area map, the place name displayed on the destination display section is quite far away, such as a large city such as “Koriyama”. The point is displayed. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 7, when scrolling is performed in the state of the detailed map, the place name of “Makoto”, which is the closest main point, is displayed. By doing so, an appropriate map search can be performed by reading the operator's will of scrolling from the scale of the scrolling screen, performing a search corresponding to the scale, and displaying it. In the above embodiment, it is determined whether or not the scale of the map is large. However, it is also possible to set a plurality of scales for the scale of the map, and search and display within the range of each area.
[0031]
Further, the destination display unit is not limited to one in the direction of destination as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, and a plurality of destinations can be displayed as shown in FIG. By displaying the point name displayed on the destination display part of the screen closer to the point name, the user can easily consider to which point the scrolling is skipped. By displaying a plurality of destinations in the same direction in this way, even if scrolling in a relatively detailed map state as shown in FIG. 7, “Ono” and “Koriyama” that could not be represented in FIG. 7 were displayed. The place name can be displayed, and scrolling can be easily skipped over the map of the place name portion.
[0032]
Furthermore, when displaying the map of the destination specified as described above, the scale of the map to be displayed is as shown in FIG. 3 after executing the same steps up to step 7 in the basic flow shown in FIG. In step 11, it is determined whether or not the place where the input key is pressed with respect to the pointer is a large city. For example, in the case of a large city such as “Sendai” in FIGS. In the case of a place name of a region, in step 12, a large-scale one is selected so that a wide-area map is displayed. For example, in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, a place name of a relatively small region such as “Namie” is selected. When the map is displayed, it can be set in step 13 to display a relatively detailed enlarged map with a small scale.
[0033]
In addition, as shown in FIG. 4, after executing step 8 for determining whether or not the input key is pressed on the pointer on the destination display section in the basic flow shown in FIG. May be read, and a map having the same scale may be displayed in step 15. At that time, a relatively detailed map is displayed at the time of scrolling, and if the destination at that time is a small city such as Namie, the map scale at the time of scrolling automatically corresponds to the small scale details. The correct map is selected and displayed.
[0034]
In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 6 to 8 above, a destination display unit is provided together with an arrow at the intersection at the time of high-speed scrolling, and the destination of the road branching from the intersection is displayed and selected from among them. As shown in FIG. 9, the main place names ahead of each road that is not displayed on the screen are displayed in the part where each main road on the screen is cut at the edge of the screen, not at the intersection, and from there You may make it select the desired place name and display the map of the part. By doing so, when the road extends in various directions from the current point as shown in the figure, it is possible to easily select a desired one and immediately start searching in that direction. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 9, a plurality of destinations are displayed in the same manner as in FIG. 8, and can be selected from them.
[0035]
In the above embodiment, representative place names for all road destinations are displayed during high-speed scrolling, and can be selected within them, but the scroll direction by the joystick is not displayed in this way. May be detected, and only representative place names existing within a predetermined angle range in the direction may be displayed. At this time, as in the case shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, a plurality of place names can be displayed and selected from them. By doing so, the burden on the destination search means and the destination display means can be reduced, the display speed can be increased, and an inexpensive device can be obtained.
[0036]
【The invention's effect】
  As described above, according to the present invention, the navigation map search apparatus having the above-described configuration is used.When the map scrolling is fast, the map of the road destination displayed on the screen can be displayed immediately, and there is no need for scrolling during that time, so the display speed of the desired map can be increased.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a basic flowchart of an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an embodiment in which the flowchart of FIG. 1 is partially modified.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an embodiment in which a part of the flowchart of FIG. 1 is further modified.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an embodiment in which another part of the flowchart of FIG. 1 is modified.
FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a navigation device for implementing the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a map screen showing an embodiment of a destination display unit displayed on the screen according to the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a map screen showing another embodiment of the destination display portion displayed on the screen according to the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a map screen showing still another embodiment of the destination display unit displayed on the screen according to the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a map screen showing still another embodiment of the destination display unit displayed on the screen according to the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a data configuration diagram of road display data in the map storage means used in the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
100 Navigation control device
103 Data storage unit
113 Operation signal input section
115 DVD-ROM
116 Map readout control unit
123 Image composition unit
124 Image display device
125 Map drawing part
126 VRAM
130 Operation screen generator
142 remote control
147 Scroll speed detector
148 Pointer generator
150 Joystick
151 Scale determination unit

Claims (1)

Map storage device in which main place names are registered in association with points in advance, map scroll determining means for determining that the scroll speed is high when the joystick is tilted to the maximum position, and a pointer on the screen when the scroll speed is high Pointer display means for displaying; switching means for switching the screen operation means to pointer operation; destination search means for searching for a main place name associated with a registered location within a predetermined range of the map displayed on the screen; A navigation map search device comprising: a destination display means for displaying the main place name on the screen; and a search map display means for displaying a map of the place name when the displayed main place name is input by a pointer.

Images