JPH0556449B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention relates to a travel guidance device that displays travel information on a display device installed inside a vehicle and guides the vehicle to a destination point. This invention relates to a system that facilitates reading of travel information by displaying points, destination points, and intermediate points between these points.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, as a traveling guidance device for this type of vehicle, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 199377/1983, for example,
The vehicle's current position calculated based on the output from the distance sensor and direction sensor is displayed on the map on the display screen, and check points are set at the starting point, destination point, and any predetermined position on the planned route. It is known that a vehicle is guided from a starting point to a destination point by displaying a composite mark on the map.

In addition, as a similar travel guidance device, JP-A-58-
Publication No. 142382 describes a system that updates a map ahead in the direction of travel so that as the vehicle moves, the current position of the vehicle is sequentially placed in the center of the display screen.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the former travel guidance device, the size of the display screen is constant, so when the distance between the starting point and the destination point is long, both points are displayed in the same way. When displayed on a screen, the scale of the image data displayed on the screen becomes smaller. Therefore, even if the current position and travel trajectory of the vehicle are displayed on the display screen of the display device, there arises a problem in that the movement changes less and it becomes difficult to determine travel information in the vicinity of the current position of the vehicle.

Furthermore, in the latter travel guidance device, since the map displayed on the display screen is determined by the current position of the vehicle, the intermediate point through which the vehicle is about to pass may not be displayed on the map.

In other words, in actual driving, the intermediate point or destination point that the vehicle should pass is not necessarily located in front of the vehicle in the direction of travel, and in extreme cases, it may be located on the opposite side of the road from the direction of travel of the vehicle. Depending on circumstances, the route may be taken in a detour. In such a case, even if the driver wishes to always display the above intermediate point or destination point on the screen and proceed with the drive while checking the positional relationship between the point and the current position of the vehicle, the screen will not be displayed. Since only a map determined by the vehicle's current location is displayed on the top, it is not possible to obtain the necessary information.

In particular, when a driver drives to a certain destination, it is normal to check several points along the way to confirm that the driver will pass through the points, and in that case, the points will be displayed on the screen. If it is not used or not, its utility value decreases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and its purpose is to always display the positional relationship between the vehicle's current point or the point it has just passed and the next point to be reached on the screen in a relatively large manner. The purpose is to be able to display it.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve such problems, the present invention adds intermediate points between the starting point and the destination point to the starting point and the destination point as image data to be displayed on the screen. In addition to displaying the point or point you just passed through and the point you should reach next,
When a vehicle travels and its current position and an intermediate point come into a predetermined proximity state, the display screen is switched to display the intermediate point and the next intermediate point or destination point.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention, as shown in FIG. It has an input means 6 into which the departure point, destination point, and intermediate point between these two points are input, and a display screen, and displays the vehicle's current location from among the input departure point, destination point, and intermediate point. Or a display 13 that displays the positional relationship between the point the vehicle passed immediately before and the next point.
a vehicle current position detection unit 7 that detects the current position of the vehicle; a proximity calculation unit 17 that calculates the amount of proximity to a point halfway between the current position of the vehicle; control means 21 for displaying the intermediate point and either the next intermediate point or the destination point on the display when the current position of the intermediate point and the intermediate point come into a predetermined proximity state. It is structured as follows.

(Function) With the above configuration, in the present invention, the starting point, the destination point, and the intermediate point between these two points are input to the input means 6.
When inputted by When the detected current position and the intermediate point come into a predetermined proximity state, the display 13 switches between the intermediate point and the next intermediate point or destination point. In the end, display screen 13
The positional relationship between two points, the current point of the vehicle or the point that the vehicle passed immediately before, and the point the vehicle should reach next, is always displayed on the screen a, and the driving guidance of the vehicle is performed.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings from FIG. 2 onwards.

FIG. 2 shows the overall circuit configuration of a vehicle travel guidance system according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which numeral 1 denotes a place name and point data ROM as a position data storage means;
As shown in Fig. 3, ROM 1 contains information such as 2 in which the positions of multiple place names and points throughout Japan are stored in advance, with an X coordinate axis in the east-west direction and a Y coordinate axis in the north-south direction.
Stored by dimensional coordinates.

In addition, 2 is a keyboard installed in the vehicle interior, 3
is a key matrix encoder that encodes the output of the keyboard 2; the output of the encoder 3 is connected to the place name and point data ROM 1 via the I/O chip 4 and the system bus 5; An input means 6 is constructed which allows the operator to input the position coordinates of a starting point, a destination point, and a midway point between these two points from among a plurality of place names stored in the ROM 1 by operation.

Further, 7 is a current position detection unit that detects the current position of the vehicle based on the output signals of the direction sensor 8 and the distance sensor 9, and the direction sensor 8 is a geomagnetic sensor that detects the running direction of the vehicle with respect to a predetermined reference direction. The output thereof is amplified by an amplifier 10 and then converted into a digital signal by an A/D converter 11. Further, the distance sensor 9 detects the traveling distance of the vehicle based on, for example, the rotational speed of the wheels, and its output is connected to the I/O chip 12.

Reference numeral 13 denotes a cathode ray tube as a display having a display screen 13a and coordinates on the screen 13a. The positional relationship between the current point of the vehicle or the point that the vehicle passed immediately before and the next point is displayed from among the departure point, destination point, and en route point.

Further, the outputs of the input means 6, A/D converter 11 and I/O chip 12 are connected to the system bus 5.
Main CPU 14, program ROM 15 via
and a proximity arithmetic unit 17 consisting of a RAM 16. The proximity calculation unit 17 extracts the output signal from the A/D converter 11 every time a signal is emitted from the distance sensor 9, that is, every time the vehicle travels a predetermined distance, and accumulates the output signal, thereby detecting the distance between the vehicle and the vehicle. The distance between the current position and the intermediate point is calculated, and at the same time, the travel trajectory T of the vehicle to be displayed on the front screen 13a of the cathode ray tube 13 is calculated as shown in FIG. 5b.

Further, the proximity calculation section 17 includes a video display controller 18, a video RAM 19 and
It is connected to the cathode ray tube 13 via a control means 21 consisting of a CRT drive circuit 20, and this control means 21 controls when the output from the proximity calculation section 17 is within a predetermined value, that is, when the output of the vehicle When the current position and the above-mentioned intermediate point are in a predetermined proximity state, image data of the positional coordinates of the said intermediate point and either the next intermediate point or the destination point is displayed on the display screen 13a of the cathode ray tube 13. It is configured as follows.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be explained with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the procedure for controlling the travel guidance of a vehicle. In step _S1 after the start, a departure is selected from among the place names stored in the place name and point data ROM1 by operating the keyboard 2. The position coordinates of the point, the destination point, and any intermediate point between these two points are input and stored in the ROM 16 of the proximity calculation unit 17 via the key matrix encoder 3, I/O chip 4, and system bus 5. Store. Next, in step _S2 , it is determined whether all necessary data has been read. If the determination is NO, step _S1 is repeatedly executed until all necessary data has been input. When all the necessary input data has been read and _the determination in step _S2 becomes YES, the process advances to step _S3 , where the checkpoint register N is initialized to "1", and the process returns to step _S1 . The position coordinates CP ₀ of the starting point entered in S (X, Y)
Assign the first intermediate point CP ₁ to D(X, Y), respectively, and display the display 1 as shown in FIG. 5a.
S (X, Y) and D (X, Y) are displayed on the display screen of No. 3.

After that, in step _S4 , it is determined whether there is a signal to start driving the vehicle, that is, whether there is an output signal from the direction sensor 8 and the distance sensor 9. Wait until a signal is input.

On the other hand, when the vehicle start signal is input and the determination in step _S4 becomes YES, the process advances to step _S5 .
As shown in FIG. 5a, the starting point and the first intermediate point are displayed on the display screen 13a from among the position data input in step _S1 , and the distance sensor 9 generates information as the vehicle travels. Calculates the unit traveling distance l based on the output signal of the direction sensor 8, and calculates the amount of direction change θ while traveling the unit traveling distance l based on the output signal from the direction sensor 8,
Furthermore, the east-west direction component of the above traveling distance l is X = lcosθ
and the north-south direction component Y=lsinθ, and calculate these as the X coordinate component of the above starting point S(X,Y).
_X coordinate component P _X of current position P (X, Y) of vehicle after traveling distance l by adding to S X and Y coordinate component S _Y =
S _X +X and Y coordinate component P _Y =S _Y +Y are calculated.

Next, _the process proceeds to _{step S6} , where the current vehicle positions _P
It is displayed at a predetermined position on the screen 13a of the cathode ray tube 13, as shown in FIG. 5b. Thereafter, in step _S7 , _the vehicle's current position _PX ,
Search for the first intermediate point CP ₁ (X, Y) closest to P _Y , and calculate the distance from the current position P (X, Y) to that intermediate point L = √ ( _X − _1X ) ² + ( _Y − _1Y ) ² , then calculate this distance L and the pre-set and memorized setting value.
Comparing and determining the size with L ₀ in step S ₈ ,
If this judgment is NO (L>L ₀₎ , step S ₅
Return to step _S5 and repeat steps _S6 to _S8 .

On the other hand, the judgment in step _S8 above is that L≦L _0.
If YES, proceed to step _S9 , add "1" to check point register N, and
Assign the value of the first intermediate point CP ₁ (X, Y) to the starting point S (X, Y) and the value of the next intermediate point CP ₂ (X, Y) to D (X, Y). According to
The previous first way point CP ₁ is the starting point S (X,
Y) to the next second waypoint CP ₂ to the destination point P(X,
Y) respectively, and these information are shown in Figure 5c.
After displaying the image on the display screen 13a of the cathode ray tube 13 as shown in FIG. 1, the process returns to step _S5 .

Below are the steps until the vehicle reaches its destination.
Steps _S5 to _S9 from _S5 onward are repeated in the same manner as above, and at least two of the intermediate point, the next intermediate point, and the destination point are sequentially shifted and displayed to guide the vehicle. do.

Therefore, according to the above embodiment, the starting point,
When the destination point and any intermediate point on the planned travel route between these two points are set, the departure point and the first first intermediate point are displayed on the display screen 13a, and the vehicle travels a predetermined distance. When the current position reaches within a predetermined range from the first intermediate point, the first intermediate point and the next intermediate point are automatically displayed on the display screen 13a, and the same process is performed sequentially until the destination point is reached. Since the procedure is executed, even if the distance from the starting point to the destination point is long, it is possible to avoid reducing the scale of the image data on the display screen 13a, making it easier to see the movement status of the vehicle and accurately guiding its travel. And it can be done easily.

In the above embodiment, place name point data ROM1
Although the location coordinates of place names, etc. to be stored in are two-dimensional coordinates having an X coordinate axis in the east-west direction and a Y coordinate axis in the north-south direction, they may also be two-dimensional coordinates with latitude and longitude as coordinate components, and the same coordinates as in the above embodiment can be used. It can produce effects.

It goes without saying that the place name and point data ROM 1 may be replaced by other data storage devices such as a magnetic tape or an optical disk.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the vehicle travel guidance device of the present invention, the current point of the vehicle or The positional relationship between the point the vehicle passed immediately before and the next point is always displayed on the display screen, so the driver drives while checking the next point the vehicle should reach on the screen. In addition, when the current position of the vehicle reaches a predetermined proximity to an intermediate point, the intermediate point and the next intermediate point are newly displayed, so if the distance from the starting point to the destination point is long, However, the necessary image data can be displayed relatively large on the display screen to make it easier to see the movement status of the vehicle, and the vehicle can therefore be accurately and easily guided to the destination point.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention, Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention.
5 to 5 show embodiments of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an overall schematic diagram, FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram illustrating position coordinates such as place names stored in the position data storage means, and FIG. The control flowcharts in Figures 5a, 5b and 5c show the control flowcharts when the vehicle starts, when the vehicle travels from the detection point to the first intermediate point after the start, and when the vehicle reaches within a predetermined range from the first intermediate point, respectively. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing image data displayed on a display screen of a display device. 1... place name point data ROM, 6... input means, 7... vehicle current position detection section, 8... direction sensor, 9... distance sensor, 13... cathode ray tube (display), 13a... display screen, 17... Proximity calculation section, 21... Control means.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A position data storage means that stores the positions of predetermined points in advance, and a starting point, a destination point, and intermediate points between these two points from among the points stored in the position data storage means. an input means for inputting information, and a display screen, which displays the current location of the vehicle or the location the vehicle passed immediately before, and the next location from among the departure point, destination point, and en route point inputted above. a display device that displays the positional relationship between points; a vehicle current position detection unit that detects the current position of the vehicle; a proximity calculation unit that calculates the amount of proximity to a midway point between the current position of the vehicle; and the proximity calculation unit control for displaying the intermediate point and either the next intermediate point or the destination point on the display when the current position of the vehicle and the intermediate point come into a predetermined proximity state based on the output from the A travel guidance device for a vehicle, comprising: means.