JPH09287968A - On-vehicle navigation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To guide a route in detail by making use of travel locus data. SOLUTION: The on-vehicle navigation apparatus comprises, in addition to a CD-ROM for storing map data for guiding a route and road data, storage means for storing travel locus data of the usual traveling. The locus data includes added node data when the angle of bearing change is larger than a predetermined value, link data for coupling between the nodes generated and registered when the node is added and having length, number of travels and mean vehicle speed data, and node having branch, and intersection data having number of times at each travel link to the entrance link, passing predetermined mean time. These locus data are stored, and utilized for searching the route.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle navigation system in which the locus of a vehicle is sequentially stored in a storage device each time the vehicle travels and the accumulated data is utilized for route search.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, various route guidance devices have been proposed for smoothly driving on an unguided road, and by inputting a destination, guidance of a road to be driven to the destination is provided. There is a route guidance device. In this route guidance device, intersection data, road data such as node data, map data, etc. are stored in a CD-ROM, for example, a route to a destination that can be reached in the shortest distance is searched, and the searched route is displayed on the screen. I am trying to display and guide you.

[0003]

In the conventional route guidance device, the route is searched based on the road data stored in the CD-ROM.
The roads stored in the D-ROM are limited to roads having a predetermined width or more, and thin roads and the like are not targeted for route search. Further, even if it is desired to obtain a search route that utilizes a road that is normally traveling, it does not necessarily mean that the route that is normally traveling is included in the searched guide route.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular navigation device capable of performing detailed route guidance by utilizing the data that are normally traveled.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a route that enables a vehicle to reach a destination in the shortest time on the basis of the required transit time between at least one of intersections or between nodes, by registering a traveling locus of the vehicle. It is characterized by performing a search. The data of the traveling locus is the node data added when the angle of azimuth change is larger than a predetermined value, the node data generated and registered when the node is added, and the data including the length, the number of times of traveling, and the average vehicle speed data. It is composed of the link data that connects the nodes, the nodes that have branches, and the intersection data that includes the data of the number of times of travel and the average time required for passage for each advancing link. It is characterized by performing the shortest time route search based on.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in addition to the map data, the intersection data, the node data and the destination data which are stored in advance in the CD-ROM for the route guidance, the locus data at the time of running are sequentially fetched. accumulate. As the travel locus data, since the data that has been traveled normally is accumulated, the required time between nodes, the time required to pass an intersection, etc. can be known, and it is input in advance by utilizing this for route search. It is possible to perform a route search from a viewpoint different from the CD-ROM data. For example, C
In D-ROM data, the shortest distance is usually searched for,
In the search based on the travel locus data, the shortest time search is also possible, and if the weighting of the roads with a large number of travels is increased, it becomes possible to perform the detailed route search and route guidance in consideration of the driver's preference.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a navigation device according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a navigation device according to the present invention includes an input / output device 1 for inputting / outputting information regarding route guidance, a current position detecting device 2 for detecting information regarding the current position of the vehicle, and a navigation required for route calculation. Information storage device 3 in which data for travel and display guidance data necessary for guidance and the like are recorded, and a central processing unit 4 which performs route search processing and display guidance processing required for route guidance and controls the entire system Has been done.

The input / output device 1 instructs the central processing unit 4 to perform navigation processing at the will of the driver so that the driver can input the destination or output the guidance information by voice and / or screen when the driver needs it. In addition, it has a function of printing out the processed data. As a means for realizing the function, the input section has a touch switch 11 and an operation switch for inputting a destination by a telephone number or coordinates on a map, or for requesting route guidance, and an output section. Includes a display 12 that displays input data on the screen or automatically displays route guidance or the like on the screen in response to a driver's request, data processed by the central processing unit 4 or data stored in the information storage device 3. A printer 13 for printing out, a speaker 16 for outputting route guidance and the like by voice are provided.

Here, a voice recognition device for enabling voice input or a recording card reading device for reading data recorded in an IC card or a magnetic card can be added. In addition, an information center that accumulates data necessary for navigation, provides traffic congestion information, etc. via communication lines at the driver's request, and driver specific data such as map data and destination data is stored in advance. It is also possible to add a data communication device for exchanging data with an information source such as an existing electronic notebook.

The display 12 is composed of a color CRT or a color liquid crystal display, and a target name input screen based on map data or guidance data processed by the central processing unit 4, a route setting screen, a section diagram screen, an intersection diagram. All screens necessary for navigation such as screens and intersections are output in color display, and on this screen, buttons for setting route guidance, guidance during route guidance, and switching screens are displayed. In particular, the passing intersection information such as the passing intersection name is displayed in color in a pop-up on the section map screen at any time.

The display 12 is provided in an instrument panel near the driver's seat. The driver can check the current position of the vehicle by looking at the section map and obtain information on the route from now on. it can. The display 12 is provided with a touch panel 11 corresponding to the display of the function buttons, and is configured to execute the above-described operation based on a signal input by touching the button. The input signal generating means including the button and the touch switch constitutes an input unit, but a detailed description thereof is omitted here.

The current position detecting device 2 stores a GPS receiving device 21 using a satellite navigation system (GPS), a VICS receiving device 22, and data necessary for navigation,
A data transmission / reception device 23 for exchanging data with an information center provided via a communication line in response to a driver's request, an absolute direction sensor 24 including a geomagnetic sensor, a steering sensor, a gyro, etc. It is provided with a relative direction sensor 25, a distance sensor 26 for detecting a traveling distance from the number of rotations of wheels, and the like.

The information storage device 3 is a book of map data, intersection data, node data, road data, photo data, registration point data, guidance point data, destination data, telephone number data, search programs, etc. necessary for route guidance. All data files and control programs necessary for the navigation device, such as a program for performing a search based on a traveling locus including the processes shown in the flowcharts described in the embodiments, a program for executing a search according to the number of registrations, and a control program are recorded.
It comprises a D-ROM 3a and a memory card 3b which stores the locus of a road every time it travels and stores locus data which can be used for route search. In the present embodiment, the various control programs are stored in the CD-ROM 3a, but may be stored in the first ROM provided in the central processing unit 4 described later.

The central processing unit 4 is provided with a CPU 40 for executing various arithmetic processes and a flash memory for reading and storing a program from a CD of an information storage device. This flash memory erases an existing program and makes it rewritable even if the program of the CD is changed. Further, the first ROM 41 storing a program (program reading means) for performing program check and update processing of the flash memory, searched route guidance information such as set destination point coordinates, road number, etc., and data being processed. A second RAM 42 for temporarily storing the display information data necessary for route guidance and map display
A ROM 43, an image memory 44 in which image data used for screen display on the display is stored, and an image processor for extracting image data from the image memory 44 based on a display output control signal from the CPU 40, performing image processing, and outputting to the display. 45, a voice processor 4 for synthesizing a voice, a phrase, a sentence, a sound, etc. read from the RAM 42 based on a voice output control signal from the CPU, converting the synthesized voice into an analog signal, and outputting the analog signal to the speaker 16.
6. A communication interface 47 for exchanging input / output data by communication, a sensor input interface 48 for taking in a sensor signal of the current position detecting device 2, a clock 49 for entering date and time in internal diagnostic information, and the like. There is. Here, route guidance is performed by screen display and voice output, and the presence or absence of voice output is configured to be selectable by the driver.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the structure of main data files stored in the CD-ROM 3a shown in FIG. FIG. 2A shows a guide road data file in which data necessary for calculating a route and performing route guidance by the route calculating means is stored. For each of the number n of roads, a road number, a length, a road It consists of address and size data of attribute data and shape data, and address and size of guidance data. The road number is set for each direction (outbound and return) for each road between the branch points. As shown in FIG. 2B, when each road is divided into a plurality of nodes (nodes), the shape data has coordinate data including east longitude and north latitude for each of the number m of nodes.

As shown in FIG. 2C, the guidance data includes intersection (or branch) name, attention point data, road name data, road name data address, size and destination data address, and size. It consists of data.

As shown in FIG. 2D, the destination data is composed of a destination road number, a destination name, an address of destination name voice data, a size and a destination direction data, and travel guidance data. The destination name includes a direction name. In addition, destination direction data is invalid (do not use destination direction data), unnecessary (do not guide), go straight,
It is data indicating information on the right direction, diagonally right direction, right returning direction, left direction, diagonally left direction, and left returning direction.

Next, the flow of processing of the vehicle navigation device based on the data stored in the information processing device 3 will be described with reference to FIG.

When the program of the route guidance system is started by the CPU 51 of the central processing unit 4, the current position is detected by the current position detecting device 2, the data stored in the information storage device 3 is read, and the current position is determined. The peripheral map is displayed as the center, and the name of the current position is displayed (step S1). Next, a destination is set using a target name such as a place name or a facility name, a telephone number, an address, a registered point, and the like (step S2), and a route search from the current position to the destination is performed (step S3). When the route is determined, the route guidance / display is repeated until the vehicle arrives at the destination while tracking the current position by the current position detecting device 2 (step S4). Next, the trajectory data of the present invention stored in the memory card 3b of FIG. 1 will be described. In the system of the present invention, a memory card for storing the data on the roads that have been traveled as trajectory data is connected, and when searching,
In addition to the data stored in the CD-ROM 3a, locus data can be used.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of node data stored as trajectory data. The point where the azimuth has changed by a predetermined angle or more in order to represent the trajectory of a road on which the vehicle has traveled is taken as the coordinates of its east longitude and north latitude. Numbers are sequentially assigned and stored as nodes. The intersection number is an identification number for identifying a node having a branch as an intersection. For example, a node having no branch is “0”, and a node having a branch is “1”.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of link data stored as locus data, in which lines connecting nodes are registered as links. A link has a start point node number and an end point node number. Therefore, if lines have the same direction and the lines between the same nodes have opposite directions, the start point node and the end point node are replaced with each other. The number of times of running is the number of times of actual running, and is updated every time running. The number of registrations by the user operation is for not only the number of times the vehicle has actually run, but also for remembering the number of times when the user gives a particular instruction and using it for calculation of the search cost and the like. The length of the link is the distance between the nodes, and the average vehicle speed is a value obtained by accumulating the respective speeds because the number of times of running is known. The date and time of running data is the date and time of the last running, or the data of the history of running. Road identification is CD-ROM 3a
The roads registered in the CD-ROM 3a are identification codes for providing a relationship with the road data stored in, and there are roads as guidance targets and those not subject to guidance such as narrow roads. This identification code is for identifying whether the road is a guidance target or a road not registered in the CD-ROM 3a. In the case of the data that can be guided by the data of the CD-ROM in the road identification, the road number in the map data of the CD-ROM is registered, so that the search result by the CD-ROM data is linked. Since the link has a length sufficiently shorter than that of the road registered in the CD-ROM, the start position and the end position of the road in the map data represent where on one road the distance exists.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the structure of intersection data stored as trajectory data, in which a node having a branch is registered as an intersection node. The number of ingress links indicates how many links are included in one intersection, and the advancing link is a link that can proceed to the ingress link. Referring to FIG. 7A showing the relationship between nodes and links, and FIG. 7B showing the relationship between links and intersection nodes, for example, at an intersection node of four crossroads, four ingress links, one ingress link The number of advancing links for is 3. Each advancing link number is assigned to each approaching link number, the number of times of traveling in the approaching to advancing direction, the average time required for passing such as waiting for a signal or turning left or right, date and time data of traveling (date and time of last passing, or passing) History data) is registered.

Next, the route search process of the present invention using CD-ROM data and trajectory data will be described. FIG. 8 shows the selection process of the search method. At the start of the search, a menu screen is displayed for route search by CD-ROM data.
A route search based on trajectory data can be selected.

Next, the route search process using the CD-ROM data and the trajectory data will be described with reference to FIGS. In FIG. 9, when the route search by CD-ROM data is selected and the destination is set on the menu screen (step 101), the CPU 51 of the central processing unit 4 activates the program of the route guidance system. Then the cd
-Rom data is read out and a route search is performed (step 102). For example, as shown in FIG. 10A, a route R1 from the point A to the destination B is searched. On this route, for example, when it is desired to perform a route search based on the trajectory data between the points C and D, the route search based on the trajectory data is selected and the point D on the route R1 is set as the destination (step 103, Step 104), the locus data is read, a peripheral link search is performed with the departure point node (point C) as a search start point, and the search is performed until the point D on the route R1 is reached (steps 105-1).
07). Route R2 after the search based on the trajectory data is completed
Is searched for, the current position is recognized (step 108),
While registering the travel path (step 109), route R2
The guide along the route is carried out until the point D is reached, and after reaching the point D, the route R1 is guided (step 110, step 111).

In the above description, a part of the search route based on the CD-ROM data is replaced with the search based on the locus data, but the search based on the CD-ROM data is P1, P2 ... To Q1, Q2
......, P1 → Q as shown in FIG. 10 (b)
The respective searches such as 1 → P2 → Q2 ... May be connected in time series, or the search based on the trajectory data may be performed independently.

Next, the trajectory data registration process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining updating of the data shown in FIGS. 4 to 6. The current location is recognized and the road data or CD- that is registered as trajectory data.
The road data stored in the ROM is compared (step 201). Since the node data has coordinates, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is currently running on the road data by comparison with the coordinates (step 202). If the current location is on the road data, it is judged whether or not the previous current location (previous node) is on the road data (step 203), and if the previous current location is also on the road data, the node is passed at the time of passing the node. The number of times of running of the link (between the previous node and the passing node) (see FIG. 5) is added (step 204, step 20).
5) If the passed node is an intersection node, the number of times of traveling in the traveling direction at the intersection is added (step 206,
Step 207). If the current position is not on the registration locus at the previous time in step 203, it means that the node has entered the registered node, so this node is registered as an intersection (step 208). In step 202, if the current location is not on the registered trajectory, it is determined whether the previous current location is on the registered trajectory (step 209). If the previous current location is also not on the registered trajectory, it means that the vehicle is running on a new road. Perform node addition processing (step 21)
0). In step 209, if the previous current position is on the registered locus, it means that the registered node has branched to an unregistered road, so the intersection registration process is performed (step 211).

Next, the intersection registration process will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is a process flow showing an example of the intersection registration process (step 211 in FIG. 11) when the registered road deviates from the unregistered road. It is determined whether or not the point deviating from the registered road is the node (step 301), and if the deviating point is the node B, as shown in FIG. 13A, the number of times the link with the node A has traveled. Is added (step 302), and a new link number is generated for an unregistered road (step 303). Node B at the off point
Is not registered as an intersection node, node B is set as an intersection node (step 304, step 30).
5) At the same time, the traveling direction information at the intersection node is registered with the link number generated in step 303 (step 306). If the point C deviated in step 301 is not a node, the link L between the nodes AJ and B is divided into L1 and L2 as shown in FIG. 13B. The links that were divided at this time have inherited the number of times that they have run. A new node C is registered (step 307), and the number of running times of the link L1 that has passed through among the divided links is added (step 308). A new link number is generated for an unregistered road (step 309), node C is set as an intersection node (step 310), and the traveling direction information at the intersection node is registered with the link number generated in step 309 (step). 311).

FIG. 14 is a processing flow for explaining an example of the intersection registration processing (step 208 in FIG. 11) when the unregistered road merges with the already registered road or the already stored road. It is determined whether or not the point where the road that has already been registered or stored has joined the road is a node (step 401), and FIG.
As shown in, if the merged point is a node, a new link number is generated for the merged unregistered road (step 402). If the confluence point is not set as an intersection node, the node is set as an intersection node (step 40
4) Register the entry link information at the intersection node with the generated link number. If the merged point in step 401 is not a node, the link L including the merged point is divided into links L1 and L2 as shown in FIG. The links that were divided at this time have inherited the number of times that they have run. A new node is registered (step 406), and the number of times of travel of the passed link L2 among the divided links is added (step 407). A new link number is generated for the unregistered road (step 408), the node is set as an intersection node (step 409), and the entry link information at the intersection node is registered with the generated link number (step 410).

Next, the node addition processing will be described with reference to FIG. As described with reference to FIG. 11, the node addition process is a process performed when the vehicle is traveling on a new road, and it is determined whether the azimuth change angle is equal to or more than a predetermined value (step 501). As shown, the previous position where the azimuth change angle has changed by a predetermined value or more is registered as a node (step 502), and a new link number is generated for an unregistered road (step 503). On the other hand, when the azimuth change angle is small as shown in FIG. 17B, the node addition process is not performed because it is not necessary to add even a long distance from the previous node.

Next, the peripheral search processing in which the required time is the search cost will be described with reference to FIG. First, let v be the search cost of the search start node nd (step 60).
1). The search cost v is a variable for weighting and calculating the cost for each link connected to one intersection. It is determined whether the node nd is an intersection node (step 602). If the node nd is an intersection node, the number of advancing links to the search approach link of the node nd is set to nout (step 603), and the process for nout is not completed (step 603). 604), the number of times of traveling in the approach → traveling link direction is extracted from the intersection data (step 605), and the number of times of traveling at the intersection is not 0 (step 60)
6) The time required to pass the intersection (passage required average time) is added to the variable v (step 607), and the internode (link) required time (value obtained by dividing the distance of the link by the average vehicle speed) is added (step 607). 608), and let the result be the search cost of the traveling link. The above processing is repeated until the processing for nout is completed. If the number of times of travel is 0 in step 606, there is a possibility that entry is prohibited, and therefore no search is performed.
In step 602, if the node nd is not an intersection node, a link having the node nd as a starting point is searched from the link data and the number of times of travel is extracted (step 6
10, step 611), if the number of times the link has run is not 0 (step 612), the internode required time is added to the variable v to search the cost (steps 613 and 614). If the number of times of travel is 0, there is a possibility of one-way traffic, so no search is performed. Thus, when the search is completed, the search start node is updated. At this time, the node with the lowest cost is selected from the nodes under search, and such processing is performed until the destination node is reached. By this process, the route search with the shortest required time is performed.

Since the number of registrations by the user operation is set in the link data, it is possible to perform the route search in consideration of the user's preference by reducing the time required between nodes according to the number of user operations. is there.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a navigation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a main data file stored in a CD-ROM.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of the entire system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of node data.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of link data.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration example of intersection data.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating relationships between nodes and links and between links and intersection nodes.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating selection of a search processing method.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a flow of route search processing of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of route search of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a trajectory data registration processing flow.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an intersection registration processing flow.

FIG. 13 is a diagram for explaining intersection registration processing.

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an intersection registration processing flow.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining intersection registration processing.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a node addition processing flow.

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining a node addition process.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a peripheral link search processing flow.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 input / output device, 2 current position detecting device, 3 information storage device, 4 central processing device, 11 touch switch, 12
... Display, 13 ... Printer, 16 ... Speaker, 2
1 ... GPS receiver, 22 ... beacon receiver, 23 ...
Data transmitting / receiving device, 40 CPU, 41 first ROM,
42 RAM, 43 second ROM, 44 image memory,
45 image processor, 46 audio processor, 47
Communication interface, 48: Sensor input interface, 49: Clock

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A navigation device for a vehicle, wherein a traveling locus of a vehicle is registered as road data, and a route is searched based on the registered road data and the road data stored in the information storage means. 2. A current position detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle, an input means for inputting information necessary for calculating a destination and a route, and all data necessary for performing route guidance are stored. The information storage means, a route calculation means for calculating a route to the destination based on the information input by the input means and the data stored in the information storage means, and the route calculated by the route calculation means Route information storage means and guide means for performing route guidance based on the route stored in the route information storage means, wherein the information storage means has trajectory data storage means for storing travel trajectory data, The vehicle navigation device, wherein the calculating means is capable of performing a route search based on the traveling locus data. 3. The vehicle navigation device according to claim 2, wherein the route calculation means performs the shortest route search based on the required intersection time stored in the intersection data. 4. The vehicular navigation device according to claim 2, wherein the route calculation means performs a shortest route search based on a required time between nodes that have traveled in the past. 5. The traveling locus data includes node data added when the angle of azimuth change is larger than a predetermined value, and data generated and registered when the node is added, such as length, number of registrations, and average vehicle speed data. 5. The link data for connecting the nodes having the above, and the intersection data including the data including the number of times of traveling and the average time required for passage for each traveling link with respect to the ingress link, comprising the node having the branch. The vehicle navigation device according to claim 1.