JP4812609B2 - Navigation system and navigation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication type or a vehicle-mounted navigation system or navigation device that displays a map image and displays an icon image according to the attribute of the facility on the map image according to the location of the facility, In particular, the present invention relates to a navigation system and a navigation apparatus that extract and display an icon image of a facility in a desired designated area of a map image when displaying a map image and an icon image on a display means.

  In recent years, the performance of mobile communication terminal devices such as mobile phones and PHS has been dramatically improved, and multi-functionalization has been progressing. In particular, the data communication function is strengthened in addition to the call function, and various data communication services are provided to the user via the Internet. A navigation service is one of them, and recently, a navigation service that provides route guidance from a current position to a destination in real time not only for automobile drivers but also for mobile phone users has been realized.

  In these navigation systems and navigation devices, icon images indicating the types of facilities such as convenience stores, fast food stores, supermarkets, etc. may be displayed at the location of the corresponding facility on the map image displayed on the display means. Has been done. However, there is a restriction on the size of the display screen, and when the icon image of the facility located in the map area to be displayed is randomly displayed, many icon images may be displayed. There is a problem that results in hindering the visual recognition of the map image. For this reason, various ideas have been proposed for displaying icon images.

  In addition, a navigation system and a navigation device that configures an operation unit including a limited size operation panel and a minimum number of switch keys by a display device having a touch panel, and performs all operations and input settings necessary for operation control. Has been proposed.

  For example, in the following Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-254761), facility information is obtained and a facility icon is displayed at a position corresponding to the position of the facility on a map displayed on a display. A navigation technology that makes it easy to see and use facility information is disclosed.

  The technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 directly specifies the facility icon in a navigation device that takes in facility information from the outside and displays the facility icon at a position corresponding to the facility position on the map displayed on the display. And a designated facility route guidance unit that provides route guidance to the facility when a direct designation operation is performed on the facility by the facility designation unit.

  And the said facility designation | designated means is comprised with the touchscreen for coordinate designation provided in the front side of the said indicator, and said designation | designated operation was performed when 1st facility designation | designated operation was performed via this touchscreen The designated facility information notification for notifying the facility information of the designated facility when the designated facility detection means for determining and the second facility designating operation different from the first facility designating operation are performed via the touch panel And means.

  With this configuration, if the first facility designation operation is performed via the touch panel, route guidance to the facility is performed, and if the second facility designation operation is performed, the facility Since the facility information is notified, the main operation associated with the facility designation is realized without performing a special operation such as a mode switching operation, and the operability is very good.

  Patent Document 2 below (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-284342) relates to a navigation technique for displaying a facility mark indicating a facility on a map, and in particular, the facility mark displayed on the map can be directly selected. A possible navigation technique is disclosed.

  The technique disclosed in Patent Document 2 includes a facility mark storage unit that stores a facility mark indicating a facility on a map, a facility mark acquisition unit that acquires the facility mark stored in the facility mark storage unit, and the facility A facility specified by a user from among the facility marks on the map displayed by the facility mark display means in a navigation device comprising facility mark display means for displaying the facility mark acquired by the mark acquisition means on a map A facility mark specifying means for acquiring a mark; and a destination setting means for setting the facility mark acquired by the facility mark specifying means as a destination of the moving object.

  And facility information storage means for storing information related to the facility of the facility mark, facility information acquisition means for acquiring the facility information stored in the facility information storage means, and information regarding the facility acquired by the facility information acquisition means. A facility information display means for displaying, and when the facility mark specified by the user is acquired by the facility mark specifying means, the facility information display means displays information about the facility, Further, the facility mark display means includes a touch panel in which the displayed facility mark is an operation position, and the facility mark designation means is configured to designate the facility mark corresponding to the operation position on the touch panel. It is what.

With this configuration, it is not necessary to adjust the position of the cursor with respect to the facility mark or to switch to the destination setting screen, and the destination can be set only by performing a simple operation on the facility mark. In addition, if the facility mark designation means obtains the facility mark desired by the user from the facility marks displayed on the map, the facility information display means displays the information about the facility. The facility information can be easily obtained, and furthermore, the facility mark can be directly specified by a simple operation using the touch panel, so that an intuitive and reliable operation can be realized.
JP 2003-254761 A (paragraphs [0005], [0006], FIG. 2) JP 2006-284342 A (paragraphs [0009], [0013], [0014])

  In the navigation techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 above, the facility information is easily obtained by designating the facility icon displayed on the map.

  However, some users have a desire to display only icon images of facilities in a predetermined area among icon images indicating all facilities displayed on the map. For example, when a large number of icon images are displayed when an icon image of a facility is displayed, there is a problem in that the map image and the icon image are overlapped so that necessary map information cannot be easily identified.

  According to the navigation techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 above, it is possible to suppress the display of the facility information corresponding to the icon image that hinders the visual recognition of the map image, but it is in the actually desired area as described above. It is not always convenient for users who wish to display only the icon image of the facility.

  As a result of various studies to solve the above problems, the inventor of the present application designates a desired display area via the area designating means when the navigation device requests display of a map image of a desired point. Thus, if the facility in the desired designated area of the map image is searched and only the icon image of the facility is extracted and displayed, the above problem can be solved and the present invention is completed. It has come to be.

  That is, the present invention aims to solve the above-mentioned problems, and searches for a facility in a desired designated area of a map image based on facility information and displays an icon image of the facility and The object is to provide a navigation device.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is
A navigation system for displaying a map image on a display means and displaying an icon image corresponding to an attribute of the facility on the map image according to a location of the facility, the map data being included in the map data An icon image database in which icon images corresponding to the attributes of the facility are stored; an area designating means for designating an arbitrary area of the map image displayed on the display means; a facility search means; an icon image display control means; When the map image and the icon image are displayed on the display means, the facility search means extracts a facility belonging to the area by referring to the map data based on the area specified by the area specifying means. The icon image display control means extracts the icon image of the extracted facility from the icon image database and displays it. A navigation system according to symptoms, the icon image display control means, when the number of the extracted the facility is equal to or more than a predetermined number, characterized in that to enlarge the designated said region.

  The invention according to claim 2 of the present application is characterized in that the area is a rectangular area, and the area designating unit designates at least three arbitrary vertices among the four vertices of the rectangular area.

  The invention according to claim 3 of the present application is characterized in that the region designating means is a touch panel arranged on the display means.

  The invention according to claim 4 of the present application is a navigation device that displays a map image on a display means and displays an icon image according to an attribute of the facility on the map image according to a location of the facility, Map data; an icon image database in which icon images corresponding to the attributes of the facilities included in the map data are stored; an area designating unit for designating an arbitrary area of the map image displayed on the display unit; A search means, and an icon image display control means, and when the map image and the icon image are displayed on the display means, the facility search means uses the map data based on the area designated by the area designation means. The facility belonging to the region is extracted by referring to the icon image display control means, and the icon image of the extracted facility is extracted from the icon image database. In the navigation apparatus characterized in that it is extracted and displayed, the icon image display control means enlarges and displays the designated area when the number of the extracted facilities is a predetermined number or more. To do.

  The invention according to claim 5 of the present application is characterized in that the area is a rectangular area, and the area designating unit designates at least three arbitrary vertices among the four vertices of the rectangular area.

  The invention according to claim 6 of the present application is characterized in that the region designating means is a touch panel arranged on the display means.

  The invention according to claim 7 of the present application is characterized in that, in the navigation device according to claim 5 or 6, the area designating means is a touch panel disposed on the display means.

  In the invention according to claims 1 and 4, the navigation system and the navigation device are displayed on the icon image database storing the icon image corresponding to the attribute of the facility included in the map data, and displayed on the display means. An area designating unit for designating an arbitrary area of the map image, a facility search unit, and an icon image display control unit, and when displaying the map image and the icon image on the display unit, the facility search unit Based on the area specified by the area specifying means, the facility belonging to the area is extracted with reference to the map data, and the icon image display control means extracts and displays the icon image of the extracted facility from the icon image database. In the navigation system, the icon image display control means is an extracted image. Wherein if the number of facilities is equal to or more than a predetermined number, to enlarge the designated the area.

  According to such a configuration, when a map image is displayed, a facility belonging to the area designated by the area designating means is searched, and only an icon image indicating the facility can be displayed, so that the map image is displayed. Since the number of icon images can be reduced, the map image can be easily viewed, and only the icon images of facilities belonging to the designated area are displayed after the area designated by the user is enlarged, so that the user desires The trouble of overlooking the facility information to be generated will not occur.

  In the invention according to claims 2 and 5, in the navigation system and the navigation apparatus according to claims 1 and 4, the area is a rectangular area, and the area designating unit is configured to determine the four vertices of the rectangular area. Specify at least three arbitrary vertices.

  According to such a configuration, when a map image is displayed, facilities belonging to a rectangular area including any three vertices designated by the area designating means are searched, and only icon images indicating the facilities can be displayed. The number of icon images displayed on the map image can be suppressed, the map image can be easily viewed, and only the icon images of facilities belonging to the area specified by the user are displayed. There is no longer a problem of oversight.

  In the invention according to claims 3 and 6, in the navigation system and the navigation apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, claim 4 or claim 5, the region specifying means is disposed on the display means. Touch panel.

  According to such a configuration, when a map image is displayed, a facility belonging to the area designated by the touch panel is searched, and only an icon image indicating the facility can be displayed. Therefore, the icon image displayed on the map image is displayed. Since the map image is easy to visually recognize and only the icon image of the facility belonging to the area designated by the user is displayed, there is no problem of overlooking the facility information desired by the user.

  Hereinafter, specific examples of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to examples and drawings. However, the embodiment described below exemplifies a navigation system and a navigation device for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and is intended to specify the present invention as the navigation system and the navigation device. Instead, the present invention can be equally applied to navigation systems and navigation devices of other embodiments included in the scope of claims.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an in-vehicle navigation device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The vehicle-mounted navigation device 10 includes a control unit 11, a GPS reception unit 12, a self-contained navigation unit 13, map data 14, a route search unit 15, a display unit 16, an input unit 17, an icon image display control unit 18, a communication unit 19, and a facility. An information DB (database) 20, a facility search means 21, an icon image DB (database) 22 and the like are provided.

  Although the present embodiment shows the vehicle-mounted navigation device 10, it may be a communication type navigation system composed of a navigation server and a navigation terminal device. It may be a navigation system that guides routes using transportation. In the case where the navigation terminal device is a portable terminal device that does not have a vehicle-mounted function, the self-contained navigation means 13 need not be provided.

  Although not shown, the control unit 11 is a microprocessor having a RAM, a ROM, and a processor, and controls the operation of each unit by a control program stored in the ROM. The GPS receiving means 12 receives signals from a plurality of GPS satellites at a constant cycle and measures the current position. The self-contained navigation means 13 is for performing dead reckoning navigation by obtaining various sensor outputs such as an acceleration sensor and a rudder angle sensor provided in the vehicle and calculating a current position.

  The display means 16 is a display unit composed of a display panel such as an LCD or an organic ELD, and displays a map image and a recommended route. The input means 17 is composed of operation buttons, a touch panel, and the like, and operates various functions of the navigation device 10 and inputs required numerical values and characters.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the configuration of the display unit 16 and the input unit 17, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration of the display unit 16 and the input unit 17.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the display unit 16 includes an LCD 161 and an LCD control unit 162. The LCD control unit 162 performs predetermined image processing on the image signal supplied from the map data 14 or the icon image DB 22 in accordance with a control signal from the control unit 11 and outputs the image signal to the LCD 161.

  The input unit 17 includes a touch panel 171 such as a resistive film type or a sensor type and a touch panel control unit 172. The touch panel 171 is provided on the display surface of the LCD 161, and generates a position detection signal by detecting pressure or contact of a finger or the like at an arbitrary position on the display surface. The touch panel control unit 172 processes the position detection signal from the touch panel 171 and outputs an operation control signal to the control unit 11.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the touch panel 171 is configured by bonding a panel in which the electrode 31 is provided in the horizontal direction (x direction) and a panel in which the electrode 32 is provided in the vertical direction (y direction). When a control signal from the touch panel control unit 172 is supplied to an input register (not shown) via an input terminal, a signal ix is output from the input register, and the signal ix is supplied to each horizontal electrode 31 of the touch panel 171. The

  In this state, when the intersecting portion of the horizontal electrode 31 and the vertical electrode 32 is pressed, a current oy flows through the vertical electrode 32 of the pressed portion, and this current oy is supplied to an output register (not shown). . A signal corresponding to the current oy, that is, a position detection signal indicating which position is on, is output from the output register, and this signal is supplied to the touch panel control unit 172 via the output terminal. By performing the detection in this way, the control unit 11 can detect which position is pressed and can perform various processes corresponding to the position.

  In the touch panel of the above embodiment of the present invention, a touch sensor surface made of a transparent resistive film and an electrode film is installed on the upper surface of a display such as an LCD, and the touch sensor surface at the pressed portion is pressed by the user. Since the electrical resistance of the touch panel changes depending on the pressure at the time of pressing, the touch panel control unit detects the area where the resistance change has occurred on the touch sensor surface, but the present invention is not limited to the touch panel of the embodiment, for example, Using a light sensor, light that is parallel to the display surface is emitted into a space close to the display surface such as an LCD, and the touch panel control unit blocks light when the user operates the display surface. It is also possible to apply to a touch panel that detects the position area.

  When there is a navigation request by setting a desired departure point and destination from the input unit 17, the route searching unit 15 searches for a recommended route that connects the two points in the shortest with reference to the map data 14.

  The recommended route searched by the route search means 15 is displayed on the display means 16 together with the map image. The map image is displayed on the display means 16 based on a predetermined range of map data centered on the current position calculated by the GPS receiving means 12 or the autonomous navigation means 13, and a current position mark indicating the current position is displayed on the map image. Is done.

  The icon image DB (database) 22 stores icon image image data corresponding to the facility attribute (facility type). When displaying a map image on the display unit 16, the icon image DB 22 stores the facility attribute. The icon image data corresponding to the facility is acquired, and the icon image corresponding to the attribute of the facility is displayed at the location of each facility.

  The map data 14 stores facility information such as attributes (types) and location of various facilities existing in the map area, and detailed information of each facility, that is, the name, telephone number or facility of the facility. Facility information related to the sales of the facility is stored in a facility information DB (database) 20. This facility information is configured to be acquired and updated from an external information providing unit via the communication unit 19.

  For example, when the facility is a store, detailed facility information including business days and business hours can be acquired from store information provided by various servers and home pages. In addition, when the facility is a parking lot, the VICS system provides a state of whether there is an empty space or the vehicle is full. Can be updated at different time intervals.

  When the display of the map image is requested, the facility search means 21 searches the facility information in the map data 14 and extracts the facility corresponding to the location on the map image. Here, when an area on the map image desired by the user is designated by the input means 17 (area designation means), the facility information in the map data 14 is searched, and the facility corresponding to the location included in the designated area is searched. Search for.

  The icon image display control means 18 reads the icon image corresponding to the attribute of the facility in the designated area extracted by the facility search means 21 from the icon image DB 22 and displays the icon image on the map image displayed on the display means 16. The icon image is displayed.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a map image display screen for explaining an operation of designating an area for displaying an icon image. In the display example of FIG. 4, the main road 5 a is displayed, and the current position mark 5 c indicating the current position of the navigation device 10 is displayed in the center of the screen, and the user has a rectangular shape including a desired area. Assuming the area (range), for example, first, touch the position of the vertex A (the position that should be the upper left vertex of the rectangular area) with your finger, then continue to the position of the vertex B (the upper right vertex of the rectangular area) Position), the position of vertex C (position to be the lower right vertex of the rectangular area), and the position of vertex D (position to be the lower left vertex of the rectangular area) are touch-operated with fingers.

  When the position is detected by the touch panel control unit 172 and the position information is output, the control unit 11 designates a rectangular area surrounded by the maximum coordinate and the minimum coordinate in the X direction and the Y direction among the vertex coordinates. Recognized as a range (indicated by a broken line).

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an icon image display screen displayed on the display means 16. The display example of FIG. 5 shows an example in which the facility search means 21 searches for stores that exist within the rectangular range specified in FIG. 4 and displays an icon image of the store corresponding to the location. A main road 5a and a plurality of store icons 5b are displayed on the display screen, and a current position mark 5c indicating the current position of the navigation device 10 is displayed at the center of the screen.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another example of the icon image display screen displayed on the display means 16. In the display example of FIG. 6, the facility search means 21 searches for stores that exist within the rectangular range specified in FIG. 4, displays only the rectangular range in an enlarged manner, and displays an icon image of the store corresponding to the location. The displayed example is shown. By enlarging and displaying only the range designated by the user, it becomes easier to visually recognize the map image, and the problem of overlooking desired facility information can be further reduced.

  In the above-described embodiment, the facility belonging to the range specified in FIG. 4 is detected and the icon image corresponding to the facility is displayed at the predetermined position. The range specified in FIG. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a facility belonging to a specified range is detected, and an icon image corresponding to the facility is displayed at a predetermined position. Later, if many facilities belong to the specified range and many icon images are displayed, obstructing visual recognition, the range specified by the user's intention may be enlarged, or the facilities belonging to the specified range may be displayed. If the number is detected and the number is less than or equal to the predetermined number, the enlarged display is not performed.

  Then, when viewing or downloading the detailed information of the desired icon by looking at the displayed icon image 5b, the user selects and clicks the desired icon from the displayed icon image group. Link information is recorded in the icon image, and the information can be downloaded by linking to an information providing server having detailed information of the selected icon image.

  Although the above description has explained a general example in which a user of the navigation device 10 displays a map image of a predetermined scale and latitude / longitude range based on a desired route or point, the map image is displayed. At this time, the user can select a desired area and selectively display a map image of the area.

  In the description of the above embodiment of the present invention, when specifying a desired rectangular area, four vertices of the rectangular area are sequentially specified. However, at least three vertices of the rectangular area are specified, and each vertex is specified. A rectangular area surrounded by the maximum and minimum coordinates in the X and Y directions may be set as the designated range.

  First, touch the finger with the start position of the vertex A (the position that should be the top left vertex of the rectangular area) and continue to trace along the virtual rectangular frame in the order of right, down, left, and up. When the drag operation is performed in the manner of one stroke writing and the finger is released at the position where it seems to have returned to the original position, the control means 11 detects the start point position as the start point coordinate, and further stores the coordinates that become the locus of the drag operation. Then, the coordinates of the position where the finger is separated are detected as the end point coordinates. Then, the start point coordinate to the end point coordinate may be recognized as a closed range, and the rectangular area may be recognized as the designated range from the maximum coordinate and the minimum coordinate in the X direction and the Y direction in the trajectory.

  Furthermore, the shape related to the designated range is assumed to be a rectangle, but is not limited to this rectangular shape, and any shape that can form a closed range can be set as the designated range. For example, the circular region can be set as the designated range by dragging from the start point, drawing a circle, and ending the end point on the start point.

  As described above, according to the navigation device of the present invention, when a map image and an icon image are displayed on the display means, a facility belonging to the area specified by the area specifying means is searched, and the location of the facility is determined. Since the icon image corresponding to the attribute of the facility is displayed, the number of icon images displayed on the map image can be suppressed, the map image can be easily viewed, and the icon image of the facility belonging to the area designated by the user Therefore, there is no problem of overlooking the facility information desired by the user.

  Although the above description is based on the navigation device as an example, the present invention is not limited to the navigation device 10 of the example, and can be applied to a navigation system including a navigation terminal device and a navigation server. is there. Further, the navigation terminal device may be either on-vehicle use or walking.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus concerning the Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of a display means and an input means in this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of a display means and an input means in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen of the map image for demonstrating operation which designates the area | region for displaying an icon image in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen of the icon image displayed on a display means in this invention. It is a figure which shows another example of the display screen of the icon image displayed on a display means in this invention.

Explanation of symbols

10. Navigation device 11 ... Control means 12 ... GPS receiving means 13 ... Self-contained navigation means 14 ... Map data 15 ... Route search means 16 ... Display means 17 ··· Input means 18 ··· Icon image display control means 19 ··· Communication means 20 ··· Facility information DB (database)
21 ··· Facility search means 22 ··· Icon image DB (database)

Claims (6)

And displays the map image on the display means, meet the navigation system to display an icon image corresponding to the attribute of the facility on the map image in accordance with the location of the facility,
And MAP data and icon image database icon image is stored in accordance with the attribute of the facility contained in the map data, a region designation means for designating an arbitrary area of a displayed map image on the display means, Facility search means, and icon image display control means,
When displaying a map image and an icon image on the display means, the facility search means refers to the map data based on the area designated by the area designation means, extracts facilities belonging to the area, and the icon In the navigation system , wherein the image display control means extracts and displays the extracted icon image of the facility from the icon image database .
The said icon image display control means expands and displays the said designated area | region, when the number of the said extracted facilities is more than predetermined number .   The navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the area is a rectangular area, and the area designating unit designates at least three arbitrary vertices among the four vertices of the rectangular area.   The navigation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the area designating unit is a touch panel arranged on the display unit. And displays the map image on the display means, and depending on the location of the facility meet the navigation device displays the icon image corresponding to the attribute of the facility on the map image,
And MAP data and icon image database icon image is stored in accordance with the attribute of the facility contained in the map data, a region designation means for designating an arbitrary area of a displayed map image on the display means, Facility search means, and icon image display control means,
When displaying a map image and an icon image on the display means, the facility search means refers to the map data based on the area designated by the area designation means, extracts facilities belonging to the area, and the icon In the navigation apparatus , wherein the image display control means extracts and displays the extracted icon image of the facility from the icon image database .
The said icon image display control means expands and displays the said designated area | region, when the number of the extracted said facilities is more than predetermined number . 5. The navigation apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the area is a rectangular area, and the area designating unit designates at least three arbitrary vertices among the four vertices of the rectangular area. The navigation device according to claim 4 or 5 , wherein the area designating unit is a touch panel arranged on the display unit.

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