JP4930385B2 - Navigation device and program for navigation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device and a program for the navigation device.

  Conventionally, there is a road section that is allowed to travel on the shoulder only in a specific time zone. For example, in Taiwan, a road section that allows a small-sized vehicle to travel on a shoulder at a specific time is provided for the purpose of avoiding traffic jams on vehicles traveling to expressway interchanges and junction exits. Such measures may be implemented not only in Taiwan but also in Japan and other foreign countries.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and it is an object of the present invention to effectively notify a vehicle driver of a road section that is allowed to travel on a shoulder only in a specific time zone.

In the invention according to claim 1 for achieving the above object, a navigation device mounted on a vehicle acquires information on a time zone in which road travel is permitted in the road section for a road section, and the time The vehicle in front of the road section or the road section
In addition , based on the fact that the vehicle is traveling continuously at a reference speed or less at a reference time or more, a notification that the road can be traveled on the road section is given to the driver of the vehicle.

  As described above, information on a time zone in which road travel is permitted is acquired for a road section that is allowed to travel on the road shoulder only in a specific time zone. The notification that the shoulder travel is possible in the road section is performed based on the vehicle section being in front of the road section or the road section in the time zone. That is, the notification is performed at a timing at which the shoulder travel of the road section can be actually performed. Therefore, it is possible to effectively notify the driver of the vehicle that the shoulder can travel.

  This is because the measures to allow road travel are intended to allow the vehicle going to the exit to avoid traffic jams, so if the vehicle can travel smoothly, it should travel on the road shoulder in the first place. Because there is no need to do. By such an operation, it is possible to notify the road shoulder travel at a timing when it is necessary to travel on the road shoulder, so that the convenience for the user is further improved.

In addition, as described in claim 2 , the navigation device is located near the end point of the road section in which the road shoulder travel is permitted even when the host vehicle travels continuously for a reference time at a reference speed or less. Based on the presence of the host vehicle, the notification that the shoulder can be traveled may not be performed.

  When near the end point of the road section, even if the vehicle enters the shoulder from that position, the distance traveled on the shoulder after that is short, so there are few merits of traveling on the shoulder. Rather, if a notification that prompts entry to the road shoulder is given at that time, if the driver tries to move the vehicle to the shoulder according to such notification, the vehicle will travel from the back to the shoulder. There is a risk of getting in the way of the vehicle. Therefore, in such a case, safety is improved without deteriorating convenience by not performing notification of road shoulder travel permission.

As described in claim 3 , the features of the present invention can also be understood as a program for a navigation device.

  In addition, the code | symbol in the bracket | parenthesis in the said and the claim shows the correspondence of the term described in the claim, and the concrete thing etc. which illustrate the said term described in embodiment mentioned later. .

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 shows a hardware configuration of a vehicle navigation apparatus 1 according to this embodiment. The vehicle navigation device 1 includes a position detector 11, an image display device 12, an operation unit 13, a speaker 14, a map data acquisition unit 16, and a control circuit 17.

  The position detector 11 includes a well-known sensor (not shown) such as a geomagnetic sensor, a gyroscope, a vehicle speed sensor, and a GPS receiver. The current position and direction of the vehicle based on the characteristics of each of these sensors. , And information for specifying the speed is output to the control circuit 17.

  The image display device 12 displays a video based on the video signal output from the control circuit 17 to the user. Examples of the display image include a map centering on the current location. The operation unit 13 includes a plurality of mechanical switches provided in the vehicle navigation device 1 and an input device such as a touch panel provided on the display surface of the image display device 12. The user presses the mechanical switch and touches the touch panel. Is output to the control circuit 17.

  The map data acquisition unit 16 includes a writable storage medium such as an HDD and a device that reads and writes data from and to the storage medium. The storage medium stores a program executed by the control circuit 17, map data for route guidance, and the like.

  The map data includes facility data and road data. The facility data includes data indicating name information, location information, facility type information, etc. for each facility. The road data includes link position (end points, intermediate points, etc.) information, type information, node position information, type information, and information on the connection relationship between nodes and links.

  Furthermore, the map data includes road shoulder travel permission section information. The shoulder travel permission section information is information on the shoulder travel permission section. Here, the road shoulder permitted section will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, there are many cases where a shoulder that is wide enough for the vehicle to pass is provided at a position before the exit point 26 to the ramp 22 that connects the main highway 20 and the interchange (or junction). Such a shoulder should normally not be run.

  However, in order to avoid traffic congestion on the main highway 20, a measure may be taken for a normal small vehicle heading to the exit point 26 only to travel on the road shoulder in a specific time zone. The section 32 in which the road shoulder travel is permitted in a specific time zone is referred to as a road shoulder travel permission section. In order to allow the user to recognize such a roadside travel permission section 32, for example, a signboard 34 indicating that the roadside travel permission section starts is set near the start point 28 of the roadside travel permission section 32, and the end point of the roadside travel permission section 32 is set. It is conceivable that a signboard 36 indicating that the roadside travel permitted section is remaining is disposed in front of 30 and a signboard 38 indicating that the roadside travel permitted section is ended is located at the end point 30.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the roadside allowance section information is a time slot (per day of the week) in which roadside allowance is allowed for each of such roadside allowance sections (in front of exits A to E in the example of FIG. 3). , And information indicating the start and end nodes of the road shoulder allowed section.

  As described above, the roadside allowance section information may include the data of the start and end nodes and the information on the roadside allowance time zone for each roadside allowance section, or The corresponding link may be recorded in a format in which information on the roadside allowance time zone is associated.

  A control circuit (corresponding to a computer) 17 is a microcomputer having a CPU, RAM, ROM, I / O and the like. The CPU executes a program for the operation of the vehicle navigation device 1 read from the ROM or the map data acquisition unit 16, reads information from the RAM, the ROM, and the map data acquisition unit 16 when executing the program. Information is written to the storage medium of the map data acquisition unit 16, and signals are exchanged with the position detector 11, the image display device 12, the operation unit 13, and the speaker 14.

  Specific processing performed by the control circuit 17 executing the program includes current position specifying processing, guidance route calculation processing, route guidance processing, and the like.

  The current position specifying process is a process for specifying the current position and direction of the vehicle based on a signal from the position detector 11 using a known technique such as map matching. The guidance route calculation process is a process of receiving an input of a destination by the user from the operation unit 13 and calculating an optimum guidance route from the current position to the destination.

  In the route guidance process, map data is read from the map data acquisition unit 16, and an image in which the calculated guide route, destination, waypoint, current position, etc. are overlaid on the map indicated by the map data is displayed on the image display device 12. This is a process for outputting the guidance voice for instructing a right turn, a left turn or the like to the speaker 14 when necessary, such as when the host vehicle arrives in front of the guidance target point. Here, the guidance target point refers to a point where the user needs detailed guidance, such as a right / left turn point or a branch point.

  In addition, in the route guidance process, the control circuit 17 notifies that the vehicle is permitted to travel in the roadside travel permitted section when the vehicle approaches the roadside travel permitted section and a predetermined condition is satisfied. To do.

  Details of this route guidance processing will be described below. In the route guidance process, the control circuit 17 repeats the process of displaying a map around the current position on the image display device 12 based on the current position information and the map data information, and superimposing the guidance route on the map.

  The control circuit 17 executes the program 100 shown in FIG. 4 every time it approaches a predetermined distance (for example, 2 km, 1 km) before the guidance target point along the guidance route. In the following, the operation of the control circuit 17 will be described taking the road environment shown in FIG. 2 as an example.

  In the execution of the program 100, the control circuit 17 first performs normal guidance in step 103. Normal guidance is a well-known process for displaying an enlarged map of the guidance target point, traveling direction display, voice guidance in the traveling direction, and the like.

  Subsequently, in step 105, road shoulder travel permission section information is read from the map data, and then in step 110, it is determined whether or not a road shoulder travel permission section 32 is attached to the guidance target point 26 on the guidance route 24. If it is attached, step 115 is executed, and if it is not attached, step 155 is executed.

  The fact that a road shoulder permitted section is attached to a guidance target point means that there is a road shoulder permitted section before a predetermined distance from the guidance target point. As an example of “before a predetermined distance from the guidance target point”, one link along the guidance route 24 (corresponding to the distance from the guidance target point 26 to the road shoulder travel permitted section end point 30 in the example of FIG. 2) There is a foreground.

  In step 115, it is determined whether or not the current date / time is included in the shoulder travel permitted time zone of the shoulder travel permitted section 32 based on the shoulder travel permitted section information. If so, step 155 is executed.

  In step 120, the distance from the current position along the guidance route 24 to the road shoulder travel permitted section start point 28 (or the end point closer to the vehicle of the link that matches the road shoulder travel permitted section) is a first reference distance (for example, , 300 to 500 m) or less. If the distance is less than or equal to the first reference distance, step 125 is executed, and if not, step 155 is executed.

  In step 125, it is determined whether or not the host vehicle has continued to travel at a reference speed (for example, 30 km) or less for a reference time (for example, 3 minutes) or more. If the determination result is affirmative, step 130 is subsequently executed, and if negative, step 155 is subsequently executed.

  In step 130, the distance from the own vehicle along the guidance route 24 to the road shoulder travel permitted section end point 30 (or the end point far from the vehicle of the link matching the road shoulder travel permitted section) is equal to or greater than the second reference distance. It is determined whether or not there is, and if it is greater than or equal to the second reference distance, step 135 is subsequently executed, and if not, step 155 is subsequently executed.

  The second reference distance may be a constant value (for example, 100 m) stored in advance, a value that varies based on various conditions, or a value that is randomly determined within a certain range. There may be. For example, the second reference distance may be a value (for example, 1/10, 1/5 of the total length) according to the total length of the road shoulder allowed section.

  In step 135, the driver is notified that the roadside is possible. For example, the speaker 14 may be used to provide voice guidance to the effect that roadside travel is possible and that roadside travel should be performed with caution.

  Further, for example, as shown in an example 50 of the display screen in FIG. 5, in the normal guidance enlarged image 52 displayed together with the normal map image 51, an arrow 54 indicating a shoulder travel permission section and road shoulder travel permission information. 55 may be superimposed. Here, the shoulder-shoulder travel permission information 55 includes characters indicating that shoulder-shoulder travel is possible and characters indicating a shoulder-shoulder travel permission time zone.

  In step 140 following step 135, the process waits until the distance to the shoulder travel permitted section end point 30 is equal to or less than the second reference distance (for example, 100 meters), and then executes step 145 when the distance is equal to or less than the second reference distance. To do.

  In step 145, guidance to the effect that the shoulder running is completed is performed using an image or a sound using the image display device 12 or the speaker 14. For example, the voice guidance “Shoulder road section will end in 100 meters” is performed.

  Subsequently, in step 150, the host vehicle waits until it passes the exit point (that is, the guidance target point) 26, and when it passes, the execution of the program 100 is terminated, and at the same time, the normal guidance displayed on the image display device 12, The display of the roadside shoulder travel notification is terminated. The processing in step 155 is the same as the processing content in step 150.

  In this way, the control circuit 17 refers to the road shoulder travel permission section information (see step 105) during normal guidance of the guidance target point (see step 103), and the road shoulder travel permission section 32 is attached to the guidance target point. (Refer to step 110), whether or not the present time is the shoulder travel permission time zone of the shoulder travel permission section 32 (see step 115), and the distance to the starting point 28 of the shoulder travel permission section 32 is within the first reference distance. (See step 120), whether or not traveling below the reference speed continues for more than the reference time (see step 125), and the distance to the end point 30 of the road shoulder permitted section 32 is less than or equal to the second reference distance. Whether or not (refer to step 130) is determined, and based on the fact that all of the determination results are affirmative, a notification that the shoulder can be traveled is performed (refer to step 135).

  Then, after the road shoulder travel permission notification is made, when the distance to the road shoulder travel permission section end point 30 is equal to or smaller than the second reference distance (see step 140), a notification that the road shoulder travel permission section 32 is ended. (See step 145).

  As described above, the vehicular navigation device 1 acquires information on a time period during which the roadside travel is permitted in the roadside travel permitted section for the roadside travel permitted section (corresponding to the road section), and Based on the fact that the vehicle is in front of the roadside allowance section or the roadside allowance section, the driver of the vehicle is notified that roadside travel is possible in the roadside allowance section.

  As described above, information on the time zone in which the shoulder travel is permitted is acquired for the shoulder travel permission section. Then, the notification that the shoulder travel is possible in the road shoulder permitted section is performed based on the fact that the vehicle is in front of the road shoulder permitted section or the shoulder travel permitted section in the time zone. In other words, the notification is performed at a timing at which the shoulder travel of the shoulder travel permission section can be actually performed. Therefore, it is possible to effectively notify the driver of the vehicle that the shoulder can travel.

  In addition, the vehicle navigation device 1 is configured to perform the notification based on the fact that the host vehicle continuously travels at a reference speed or less and for a reference time or more. This is because the measures to allow road travel are intended to allow the vehicle going to the exit to avoid traffic jams, so if the vehicle can travel smoothly, it should travel on the road shoulder in the first place. Because there is no need to do. By such an operation, it is possible to notify the road shoulder travel at a timing when it is necessary to travel on the road shoulder, so that the convenience for the user is further improved.

  Further, the vehicle navigation device 1 includes the host vehicle in the vicinity of the end point of the road shoulder travel permitted section where the road shoulder travel is permitted even when the host vehicle travels continuously for a reference time at a reference speed or lower. Based on this, the notification that the shoulder can be traveled is not performed.

  When the road is near the end point of the road shoulder permitted section, even if the road shoulder is entered from that position, the distance traveled on the road shoulder after that is short, so there are few merits of traveling on the road shoulder. Rather, if a notification that prompts entry to the road shoulder is given at that time, there is a risk of interfering with other vehicles traveling on the road shoulder from behind. Therefore, in such a case, safety is improved without deteriorating convenience by not performing notification of road shoulder travel permission.

(Other embodiments)
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, the scope of the present invention is not limited only to the said embodiment, The various form which can implement | achieve the function of each invention specific matter of this invention is included. It is.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, even when step 155 of the program 100 is performed (that is, when no shoulder-shoulder travel notification is performed), when traveling on a non-shoulder portion of the shoulder-permitted road section, “This section is There may be a time zone in which road travel is permitted, "or the like that the vehicle is currently traveling in the road travel permitted section. In this way, it is possible to provide useful information to a driver who does not know the existence of the roadside allowance section and a driver who does not understand the meaning of the signboard indicating the existence of the roadside allowance section.

  Further, the values of the first reference distance, the second reference distance, the reference speed, and the reference time may be appropriately set by the driver using the operation unit 13.

  In the execution of the program 100, the control circuit 17 determines whether or not the own vehicle is an ordinary small vehicle after step 105, and if the ordinary vehicle is an ordinary small vehicle, the control circuit 17 continues to execute step 110. Step 155 may be executed.

  By doing in this way, when the own vehicle is not an ordinary small vehicle, the vehicular navigation device 1 does not perform the road shoulder travel notification. In this way, even if it is a road shoulder travel permission section, road shoulder travel notification is not performed for a vehicle such as a large vehicle that cannot travel regardless of the time zone.

  Information about whether or not the host vehicle is an ordinary small vehicle is input in advance by the driver using the operation unit 13, and the control circuit 17 records the information in the storage medium of the map data acquisition unit 16. Also good.

  In addition, data that needs to be updated, such as vehicle size information, is not limited to the storage medium of the map data acquisition unit 16, and the data is retained even when the main power supply of the vehicle navigation device 1 is stopped. It may be stored in a storage medium that can continue (for example, flash memory, EEPROM, backup RAM). In that case, the storage medium of the map data acquisition unit 16 does not have to be a writable storage medium such as an HDD, and may be a non-writable storage medium such as a DVD or a CD-ROM.

  In the above embodiment, each function realized by the control circuit 17 executing the program is realized by using hardware having those functions (for example, an FPGA capable of programming the circuit configuration). You may come to do.

It is a lineblock diagram of navigation device 1 for vehicles in one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which illustrates the shoulder travel permission area 32 before the exit point 26 which enters the ramp 22 from the main highway 20. It is a figure which shows an example of road shoulder travel permission area information. 3 is a flowchart of a program 100 executed by a control circuit 17. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen in a road shoulder travel permission area alert | report.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Vehicle navigation apparatus 20 Expressway main line 22 Ramp 24 Guidance route 26 Exit point 28 Road shoulder travel permission section start point 30 Road shoulder travel permission section end point 32 Road shoulder travel permission section 54 Road shoulder travel permission section 55 Road shoulder travel permission information

Claims (3)

A navigation device mounted on a vehicle,
An obtaining means (105) for obtaining information on a time zone in which road travel is permitted in the road section;
Based on the fact that the vehicle is in front of the road section or the road section in the time zone , and the vehicle is continuously running at a reference speed or less for a reference time or more , the road section travels on the shoulder. And a notification means (110-150) for notifying the driver of the vehicle that the vehicle is capable of being transmitted. The notification means (110 to 150) is based on the fact that the vehicle is in the vicinity of the end point of the road section even when the vehicle travels continuously at the reference speed or less for the reference time. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the notification is not performed. A program used for a navigation device mounted on a vehicle,
With respect to the road section, an acquisition means (105) for acquiring information on a time zone in which road travel is permitted in the road section, and the vehicle is located in the time zone or before the road section , And an informing means for informing a driver of the vehicle that the vehicle is capable of running on the shoulder in the road section based on the vehicle traveling continuously at a reference speed or less for a reference time or more. 110 to 150), a program that causes a computer to function.

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