JP4985297B2 - 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, in a navigation device that searches for a guidance route to a destination point, when the navigation device can recognize that the current position is on a road, the current location is set as the departure point of the guidance route. However, there are cases where the current position cannot be recognized as being on the road, such as when the current position is at a location off the road such as a parking lot. In such a case, the road closest to the current position is generally set as the starting point.

  However, as illustrated in FIG. 9, the current position 21 may actually be in a large facility 22 such as a parking lot, and the exit 24 of the facility 22 may be on a different side from the road closest to the current position 21. In this case, the guide route 23 starts from a position not intended by the user.

  As a result, even if the user actually leaves the facility 22, there is a situation in which it is not known where to exit from the facility 22, whether to exit the parking lot, turn right, or turn left. Can do.

As a technique for avoiding such a situation, when the navigation device recognizes that the facility 22 includes the position information of the exit 24 in the map data and the facility 22 has the current position 21, the exit 24 Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for searching for a guidance route using as a starting point.
JP 2005-37275 A

  However, although the technique of Patent Document 1 needs to record exit information as facility data in advance in map data, as a matter of fact, recording such information for all facilities nationwide is not possible. It is unrealistic in view of problems such as an increase in time and effort of map data maintenance and maintenance, and an increase in the amount of data due to adding such information to the map data. In addition, using such an exit as a departure point is not always as intended by the user.

  In view of the above points, the present invention provides a technology that can determine the starting point of a guidance route so that map data does not require special information and can reflect the user's intention more directly. The purpose is to provide.

  In the feature of the present invention for achieving the above object, the navigation device causes the image display device to display a guidance route from the departure point to the destination point so that the departure point is included, and the displayed departure point. The designation of the alternative departure point in place of the user is accepted, and the alternative departure point is specified based on the accepted designation. Further, the navigation device calculates a route from the specified alternative departure point to the destination as an alternative guidance route that replaces the previous guidance route.

  In this way, the user can specify an alternative departure point instead of the departure point while visually grasping the guidance route including the departure point, so that special information is included in the map data. Therefore, it is possible to specify a departure point that more directly reflects the user's intention.

  Further, the navigation device may limit a position range that can be specified as an alternative starting point to a road selected based on the current position of the navigation device (hereinafter referred to as a selected road).

  In this way, by limiting the position range that can be specified as an alternative starting point based on the current position, even if the user specifies a position inappropriate for the current position, the position is not set as the alternative starting point. can do.

  Further, when the position related to the designation by the user is away from the selected road, the navigation device may be configured such that the position closest to the designated position in the selected road is set as the alternative departure point.

  In this way, even if the user tries to specify a position on the selected road, but the actual specified position deviates from the selected road, the deviation is corrected and the alternative departure point is specified. Can do.

  In addition, when the current position is in an area that is partitioned in advance as other than a road, the navigation device may be configured so that a road adjacent to the area is a selected road. In this way, a road adjacent to an area (for example, a parking lot) previously partitioned as other than a road becomes an alternative starting point. Usually, in order to get out of an area partitioned as described above, it is necessary to first enter a road adjacent to the area. Therefore, it is possible to specify an alternative starting point that matches the circumstances of the area including the current position.

  Further, the navigation device may be configured so that a road surrounding the current position is a selected road. Usually, if there is a road surrounding the current position, the user of the navigation device should go to the destination point through the road. Therefore, this makes it possible to specify an alternative departure point suitable for the road structure including the current position.

  The navigation device may be configured such that a road that is within a reference distance from the current position and faces the current position is the selected road. Here, the “road facing the current position” means a road where there is no other road between the current position and the road.

  The user of the navigation device is very likely to pass through a road that is within the reference distance from the current position and faces the current position in order to start from the current position and go to the destination. Therefore, this makes it possible to specify an alternative departure point suitable for the road structure including the current position.

  Further, the navigation device may be configured such that the previous alternative departure point is set as the current alternative departure point based on the fact that the alternative departure point has been specified in the past in the vicinity of the current position. In this way, it is not necessary to redo the designations made by the user in the past at the same position.

  The navigation device also specifies a plurality of alternative departure points, calculates a route from each of the specified alternative departure points to the destination point as an alternative guidance route, and uses the calculated alternative guidance routes to the image display device. It may be displayed.

  In a place where the user first visits, the user may not be able to determine where to start. In such a case, as described above, by displaying a plurality of alternative guidance routes starting from a plurality of alternative departure points to the user, no matter which alternative guidance route the user adopts in advance, The course of the alternative guidance route can be confirmed.

  The features of the present invention can also be understood as a program for a navigation apparatus according to the present invention.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, a first 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. 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 nonvolatile 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 has road data and facility data. The road data includes link position information, type information, node position information, type information, information on connection relations between nodes and links, and the like. The facility data has a plurality of records for each facility, and each record has data indicating name information, location information, facility type information, and the like of the target facility. Here, the facilities refer to features other than roads (parking lots, parks, shopping centers, restaurants, etc.). Some of the plurality of facilities in the facility data include polygon data representing a geographical area occupied by the facility. This polygon data is an example of data indicating an area partitioned as other than a road.

  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 (if possible), 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 point by the user from the operation unit 13 and calculating an optimum guidance route from the current position to the destination point.

  The route guidance process reads map data from the map data acquisition unit 16 and outputs an image in which the calculated guidance route and current position etc. are superimposed on the map indicated by the map data to the image display device 12, and This is a process of causing the speaker 14 to output a guidance voice signal for instructing a right turn, a left turn, etc., when necessary such as when the host vehicle arrives in front.

  In the present embodiment, the control circuit 17 corrects the position of the departure point of the guidance route according to the user's designation after the guidance route is displayed once in the guidance route calculation process. Hereinafter, the operation of the control circuit 17 will be described in detail.

  FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the program 100 executed by the control circuit 17. In the guidance route calculation process, the control circuit 17 starts the execution of the program 100 after accepting the input of the destination point by the user, ends the execution of the program 100, and then determines the guidance route determined at that time. The route guidance process is executed as an object.

  In the execution of the program 100, the control circuit 17 first calculates a guide route to the accepted destination in step 110. Here, when step 110 is executed for the first time after the execution of the program 100, the initial departure point is used as the departure point of the guidance route.

  The initial departure point is the current position when the current position of the vehicle navigation device 1 is matched to any road by map matching. However, if the current position does not match any road, a point on a nearby road (for example, the road closest to the current position) is set as the initial departure point.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of the guide route 23 to the destination 51 calculated when the current position does not match any road. In the example of FIG. 3, the current position 21 of the vehicle navigation device 1 is in a facility area 22 such as a parking lot in a shopping mall. Even though the exit of the facility area 22 is the designated point 25, the position of the initial departure point 50 is on the road closest to the current position 21. Such an initial departure point 50 is likely not an appropriate departure point for the user.

  Subsequently, in step 120, the image display device 12 is caused to display a map image including all the routes of the guide route calculated immediately before (that is, the entire process from the starting point to the destination point of the guide route). For example, a map image including the current position 21, facility area 22, initial guidance route 23, initial departure point 50, and destination point 51 as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed. As a result, the user can visually grasp the entire process of the initial guidance route 23.

  Subsequently, in step 130, the user is inquired whether or not to change the current departure point. If the answer is that the request is received and the answer is that the change is to be made, step 140 is executed. If yes, then step 170 is executed.

  For example, an image for inquiring whether or not to change is displayed on the image display device 12, a yes button or a no button that can be selected by the user is displayed on the inquiry image, and the user selects the yes button using the operation unit 13. If the answer is that the change is received, step 140 is executed. If the no button is selected, step 170 is executed if it is received that the change is not made.

  In step 140, an image for changing the departure place is displayed. This screen is a map image including a part including the departure point of the guidance route and the current position of the guidance route calculated in the immediately preceding step 110. The position on the departure place changing image can be designated by the user using the operation unit 13. The designation method may be a method of touching a desired point using a touch panel, or a method of moving the cursor to a desired point using a mechanical switch.

  Subsequently, in step 150, the user waits for an operation of designating an alternative departure point by the user using the departure place changing image, and subsequently executes step 160 based on accepting the designation operation. In the example of FIG. 3, the user designates a point 25 as an alternative departure point using the operation unit 13.

  In step 160, the actual alternative departure point is specified based on the user's designated position received in step 150. In the present embodiment, the actual alternative departure point is set to the same position as the designated position (or the position on the road closest to the designated position).

  Following step 160, in step 110 again, a new guide route (hereinafter referred to as an alternative guide route) from the substitute departure point specified immediately before to the destination point is calculated. When the point 25 is designated by the user as in the example of FIG. 3, as shown in FIG. 4, the alternative guidance route 26 to the destination point 51 having the designated point as the alternative departure point 52 is the initial guidance route 23. It is calculated as a guide route instead of.

  In step 170 after the operation indicating that the departure place is not changed in step 130, a user operation for performing route guidance using the current guidance route (the alternative guidance route 26 in the example of FIG. 4) is waited for, When the operation is received through the operation unit 13, the execution of the program 100 is terminated and the route guidance process is performed using the guidance route.

  Note that the user can change the alternative departure point as many times as necessary by repeating the operation to change the departure point in Step 130.

  By executing the program 100 as described above, the control circuit 17 calculates and displays the initial guidance route from the initial departure point specified based on the current position to the destination point designated by the user (steps 110 and 120). When the operation to change the departure point by the user is received (see step 130), an image including the initial departure point, the current position, and the initial guidance route is subsequently displayed as a departure point change reception screen (see FIG. (See step 140). Then, the user waits for designation of an alternative departure point using the reception screen. When the designation is accepted (see step 150), the actual alternative departure point is identified based on the accepted designated point (see step 160), and the guidance route from the identified alternative departure point to the destination point is The route guidance process is started based on a user operation for approving this alternative route and starting route guidance (see steps 130 and 170), as an alternative guidance route replacing the initial guidance route (see step 110). .

  In this way, the user can designate an alternative departure point in place of the departure point 23 while visually grasping the guidance route 23 including the initial departure point. It is possible to specify a departure point that does not require or include information and reflects the user's intention more directly.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in the relationship between the position designated by the user and the actual alternative departure point in step 160 of the program 100. In the present embodiment, the position range that can be specified as an actual alternative starting point is limited to a specific road. A road to be limited (hereinafter referred to as a selected road) is determined based on the current position of the vehicle navigation device 1.

  Specifically, when the current position is within the range of polygon data of any facility in the facility data (corresponding to an example of data indicating an area partitioned as other than a road), the polygon A road adjacent to the area indicated by the data is selected.

  FIG. 5 illustrates the relationship between the current position 21 and the selected road 27 in this case. In this example, the current position 21 is included in the facility area 22. The facility area 22 is an area indicated by polygon data. Therefore, the selected road 27 indicated by diagonal lines is adjacent to the facility area 22 and surrounds the facility area 22.

  As described above, when the current position is in an area that is partitioned in advance as other than a road, the vehicular navigation device 1 sets a road adjacent to the area as a selected road. In this way, a road adjacent to an area (for example, a parking lot) previously partitioned as other than a road becomes an alternative starting point. Usually, in order to get out of an area partitioned as described above, it is necessary to first enter a road adjacent to the area. Therefore, it is possible to specify an alternative starting point that matches the circumstances of the area including the current position.

  In addition, when the current position is not within the polygon data range of any facility in the facility data, the road facing the current position is selected from among the roads within the predetermined reference distance from the position. And Here, the “road facing the current position” means a road where there is no other road between the current position and the road.

  FIG. 6 illustrates the relationship between the current position 21 and the selected roads 32 and 33 in this case. In this example, the current position 21 is not included in any polygon data area. A circle 31 indicated by a dotted line is a concentric circle with the current position 21 as the center and the reference distance as a radius. The roads included in the concentric circles include roads 34 to 37 in addition to the selected road 32 and the selected road 33. These roads are blocked by the selected road 32 and the selected road 33 from the current position 21. Therefore, it does not face the current position 21.

  The user of the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 is very likely to pass through a road that is within the reference distance from the current position and faces the current position in order to start from the current position and go to the destination. Therefore, this makes it possible to specify an alternative departure point suitable for the road structure including the current position.

  As described above, by restricting the position range that can be specified as an alternative starting point based on the current position, even if the user specifies a position inappropriate for the current position, the position is not set as the alternative starting point. can do.

  In the example of FIG. 5, when the user designates a position 28 other than the selected road 27 in step 150 of the program 100, the control circuit 17 performs the operation on the selected road 27 in step 160 as shown in FIG. 7. The position 29 closest to the designated position 28 is specified as the alternative starting point 53, and the alternative guide route 30 from the alternative starting point 53 to the destination point 51 is calculated in the subsequent step 110.

  As described above, when the position specified by the user is away from the selected road, the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 uses the position closest to the specified position in the selected road as an alternative departure point. Yes.

  In this way, even if the user tries to specify a position on the selected road, but the actual specified position deviates from the selected road, the deviation is corrected and the alternative departure point is specified. Can do.

  In each of the above embodiments, the control circuit 17 functions as an example of a route calculation unit by executing Step 110 of the program 100, and functions as an example of a route display control unit by executing Steps 120 and 140. By executing steps 150 and 160, it functions as an example of a specifying unit.

(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 second embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the control circuit 17 sets the scale of the map image 40 for changing the departure point displayed in step 140 to a scale that can include all of the selected roads 34. You may come to do.

  In each of the above embodiments, each time the program 100 is executed, the control circuit 17 associates the alternative departure point specified in step 160 and determined not to be changed in subsequent step 130 with the additional data. It may be recorded in the map data acquisition unit 16.

  Then, the control circuit 17 sets, as an alternative starting point this time, a point recorded by the control circuit 17 as an alternative starting point in the past in the vicinity of the current position at that time at an execution opportunity of the program 100. Here, whether or not the current position of the vehicle navigation device 1 this time and the current position of the vehicle navigation device 1 when the alternative departure point was recorded in the past is in the vicinity of the recorded alternative departure point. It is specified based on the additional data.

  For example, as the additional data, information on the current position of the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 at the time when the corresponding alternative departure point is specified may be employed. In that case, if the past current position and the current current position are within a predetermined distance, or if the two current positions are included in the same polygon data area, the two current positions May be determined to be near.

  Further, for example, information on the selected road at the time when the corresponding alternative departure point is specified may be adopted as the additional data. In that case, when the past selected road and the selected road at the execution opportunity of the current program 100 match, the two current positions may be in the vicinity.

  Thus, based on having specified the alternative departure point in the past in the vicinity of the current position, the vehicular navigation device 1 may use the past alternative departure point as the current alternative departure point. . In this way, it is not necessary to redo the designations made by the user in the past at the same position.

  Further, in each of the above embodiments, the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 immediately executes step 160 after step 140 in the program 100. In step 160, a plurality of alternative departure points are specified, A route from each of the alternative departure points to the destination point may be calculated as an alternative guide route, and the calculated alternative guide route may be displayed on the image display device 12. And after that, you may make a user select the guidance route of final route guidance object.

  In a place where the user first visits, the user may not be able to determine where to start. In such a case, as described above, by displaying a plurality of alternative guidance routes starting from a plurality of alternative departure points to the user, no matter which alternative guidance route the user adopts in advance, The course of the alternative guidance route can be confirmed.

  At this time, as the plurality of alternative departure points, positions included in all of the selected roads determined in the second embodiment may be employed.

  In the example of FIG. 5 of the second embodiment, the control circuit 17 sets the road surrounding the current position as the selected road as shown in FIG. 5 even when the current position is not within the polygon data area. It may be. Normally, if there is a road surrounding the current position, the user of the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 should go to the destination point through the road. Therefore, this makes it possible to specify an alternative departure point suitable for the road structure including the current position.

  If the current position matches the road in step 110 immediately after execution of the program 100, step 170 may be executed immediately without executing steps 120-160. By doing so, the possibility of prompting the user to perform extra operations until unnecessary is reduced.

  In the above embodiment, the image for changing the departure point and the image for displaying the entire route are displayed on the image display device 12 at different times. However, these images are displayed at the same time. It may be.

  In the above embodiment, after calculating the initial guidance route, the control circuit 17 inquires whether or not to change the departure point, and performs route guidance through step 170 for the first time after accepting an operation not to change. Can be done. However, after Step 120, Step 170 is executed, and a switch for instructing a departure place is displayed on a part of the inquiry screen in Step 170. When the switch is selected by the user, the process proceeds to Step 140. An image for changing the departure point may be displayed.

  Moreover, when the image for starting point change is displayed, the control circuit 17 may change the scale of map display according to a user's designation | designated.

  In addition, the data that needs to be updated, such as the specified alternative departure point, is not limited to the map data acquisition unit 16, and continues to hold data even when the main power supply of the other vehicle navigation device 1 is stopped. It may be stored in a storage medium (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.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although a navigation apparatus is a vehicle-mounted type, a navigation apparatus may be mounted in a ship and an airplane, and may be a thing of the type which a person can carry. . For example, a mobile phone having a navigation device function also corresponds to the navigation device of the present invention.

It is a hardware block diagram of the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 3 is a flowchart of a program 100 executed by a control circuit 17. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the current position 21, the facility area 22, the initial guidance path | route 23, and the designated point 25. FIG. It is a figure which shows the alternative guidance path | route 26. FIG. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the present position 21, the facility area 22, and the selection road 27 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the present position 21, the facility area 22, and the selection roads 32 and 33 in 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the alternative guidance path | route 30. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen 40 by the image display apparatus 12. FIG. It is a figure which shows the positional relationship of the present position 21, the facility area 22, the guidance path | route 23, and the exit 24 in a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle navigation apparatus, 11 ... Position detector, 12 ... Image display apparatus,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 ... Operation part, 14 ... Speaker, 16 ... Map data acquisition part, 17 ... Control circuit,
21 ... Current position, 22 ... Facility area, 23 ... Initial guidance route, 24 ... Exit,
25, 28 ... designated point, 26, 30 ... alternative guide route,
27, 32, 33, 34 ... selected road, 29 ... departure point, 31 ... reference distance circle,
40 ... display screen, 50 ... initial departure point, 51 ... destination point, 52, 53 ... alternative departure point,
100 ... Program.

Claims (4)

Route display control means for causing the image display device to display the guidance route from the departure point to the destination point so that the departure point is included;
For the departure point displayed by the route display control means , the user accepts the designation based on the fact that the user has designated an alternative departure point to replace the departure point by operating the operation unit, and based on the received designation. A specifying means for specifying the alternative starting point;
Route calculating means for calculating a route from the alternative starting point specified by the specifying means to the destination as an alternative guide route replacing the guide route,
In the case where the current position is included in an area that is previously partitioned as a road other than a road, the specifying means sets a road adjacent to the area as a selected road, and the received position specified by the user is A navigation device characterized in that, if the selected road is away from the selected road, a position closest to the designated position in the selected road is set as the alternative departure point. In the case where the current position is included in an area that is previously partitioned as a road other than a road, the specifying means sets a road adjacent to the area as a selected road, and the received position specified by the user is 2. The navigation device according to claim 1 , wherein, when the position includes a road away from the selected road, a position closest to the designated position in the selected road is set as the alternative departure point . The specifying means specifies a plurality of the alternative starting points,
The route calculation means calculates a route from each of the plurality of alternative departure points specified by the specification means to the destination point as the alternative guidance route,
The route display control means, the navigation device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the displaying the plurality of alternate navigation route to the image display device. Route display control means for displaying a guide route from the departure point to the destination point on the image display device so that the departure point is included;
For the departure point displayed by the route display control means , the user accepts the designation based on the fact that the user has designated an alternative departure point to replace the departure point by operating the operation unit, and based on the received designation. And a computer as a route calculation unit for calculating the alternative starting point specified by the specifying unit and the route from the alternative starting point specified by the specifying unit to the destination as an alternative guide route instead of the guide route. Make it work
In the case where the current position is included in an area that is previously partitioned as a road other than a road, the specifying means sets a road adjacent to the area as a selected road, and the received position specified by the user is A program characterized in that, when being away from a selected road, a position closest to the designated position in the selected road is set as the alternative departure point.

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