JPH10132593A - On-vehicle navigation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To utilize information from the user who actually drives a vehicle. SOLUTION: At the time of driving a vehicle, the user obtains travelling information, such as a route or a required period of time, written to a disk. Then, the user inputs a destination by using operation keys to initially confirm identification data on the disk, and a computing circuit outputs current position information (steps 51 and 53). Subsequently, past travelling information such as a starting point or destination is retrieved until fully or partly consistent data is found (steps 54 and 55). A retrieved route reaching the destination for the shortest time is defined as a shortest time route (step 57), and is displayed on a display screen (step 58). Information from the user who actually drives a vehicle can be fully utilized to determine the shortest time route with great accuracy, depending on road conditions.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an on-vehicle navigation device. More specifically, an information recording means for recording traveling information (traveling history) of the own vehicle is provided, and an in-vehicle route capable of calculating a highly accurate shortest time route corresponding to road conditions based on recorded past traveling information is provided. The present invention relates to a navigation device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, various navigation devices have been developed for use in automobiles. For example, the Global Positioning System (GPS)
m)), the own vehicle position is determined, a road map near the own vehicle position is read out from a large-capacity storage device such as a CD-ROM device, and the own vehicle position is displayed on a CRT screen together with map information. There is something.

[0003] GPS is a system that measures the time required for radio waves emitted from a plurality of artificial satellites to reach a receiving point, and obtains a current position based on a distance from a satellite orbit. This GPS is inexpensive and has higher accuracy than other positioning sensors, and is therefore applied to many in-vehicle navigation devices.

[0004] Also, currently marketed on-vehicle navigation devices are provided with an automatic route search function. That is, when the user sets the destination, the shortest route to the destination is calculated based on the current position obtained by the GPS, and this is displayed on the display map of the CRT.

[0005]

By the way, in the conventional in-vehicle navigation device, the shortest time route is calculated based on information such as the distance on the map and the regulated speed. However, the time until the vehicle actually reaches the destination is a fluid one that varies depending on traffic conditions, time zones, and the like.

For this reason, even if the vehicle travels on the shortest route displayed on the CRT, the vehicle often does not always arrive at the displayed time. Furthermore, it is conceivable that the route displayed on the CRT has traffic congestion or the like and the vehicle arrives earlier when traveling on another route that is a circuitous route.

[0007] From the above, it is conceivable to calculate the shortest time route in consideration of traffic information provided through FM radio waves or the like in order to make the shortest time route correspond to road conditions. However, such traffic information is provided only for main arterial roads, and when traveling on a road other than arterial roads, the shortest time route corresponding to road conditions is not always calculated.

[0008] On the other hand, when the user actually drives in a car, the user can empirically obtain information about the time required to pass through a congested place, a detour to avoid congestion, and the like. However, since the CD-ROM device of the conventional in-vehicle navigation device is exclusively for reproduction, such information is not recorded and is not used when the user travels on the same route again.

In view of the above, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and it is possible to obtain a more accurate shortest time route corresponding to road conditions based on information obtained by actual running of a user. The present invention proposes an in-vehicle navigation device.

[0010]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the present invention, an arithmetic processing means for calculating a current position, a road map based on road map information is displayed, and the current position is displayed on the road map. Display means for displaying, and information recording / reproducing means for reproducing the map information and recording the traveling information. When the destination is set, the shortest time route is calculated based on the recorded traveling information. The shortest time route is displayed on the display means.

[0011] When the user drives the car, travel information such as the route and required time at that time is recorded by the information recording / reproducing means. Thereafter, when the user inputs a destination point, the information on the current position is calculated by the arithmetic processing means. Next, from the past driving information, the starting point,
Data in which the destination point or the like completely or partially matches is searched. The route that arrives at the destination in the shortest time among the searched routes is determined as the shortest route and is displayed on the display means.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, an embodiment of a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the navigation device 1 of the present embodiment. This navigation device 1 is a disk device for recording and reproducing (information recording and reproducing means).
2. It has an MD (mini disk) drive, for example. This disk stores road map information converted into vector data, and also writes information obtained when the user actually travels, as described later.

The disk device 2 is a disk controller 3
The map information is read from the disk based on the
This is supplied to an arithmetic circuit (arithmetic processing means) 5 via the buffer memory 4. On the other hand, the GPS receiver 6 receives signals (navigation messages) transmitted from a plurality of artificial satellites and decodes time data included in the signals. The time data is based on the GPS time (time at which the atomic clock ticks) held by each satellite, and is supplied to the arithmetic circuit 5.

The arithmetic circuit 5 calculates the distance between the artificial satellite and the vehicle from the difference between the supplied time data and the current time of the internal clock. By calculating the distance between the own vehicle and a plurality of artificial satellites in this way, the current position of the own vehicle on the earth is specified.

The calculated current position information is supplied to the display controller 7. The display controller 7 displays a road map on a display device (display means) 9 based on road map information supplied from the disk device 2 via the buffer memory 4 based on a command from the system controller 8. The current vehicle position is displayed on the display map based on the position information.

Here, the recording operation of the travel information (travel history) by the travel of the user will be described. First, a user mounts a recording disk in the disk device 2. At this time, the ID of the disk is read and stored. The next time the disc is mounted, the ID of the disc is compared with the stored ID. This is to alert the user by performing a predetermined display when a different disk is loaded in order to continue recording on one disk.

Then, the user sets a destination using the operation keys 11. When the car actually starts running, data such as the position, running speed, date, and time of the car is recorded on the disk device 2 via the buffer memory 4.
As the user travels in this manner, travel information is accumulated on the disk mounted on the disk device 2.

Next, the determination operation of the arithmetic circuit 5 for obtaining the shortest time route based on the accumulated traveling information will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Operation key 11 by the user
When the destination is input, it is first determined whether or not the ID of the disk mounted on the disk device 2 is appropriate (step 51). If the ID is different from the set ID, the disk is different. Is displayed (step 52).

If the disc ID is correct, the information on the current position is calculated by the arithmetic circuit 5 and set as the starting point (step 53). Subsequently, data in which the departure point, destination point, holiday or weekday, and time zone completely match are searched from the past travel information (step 54).

Here, considering the data on weekdays and holidays on holidays, traffic conditions are significantly different between holidays and weekdays, and congestion is generally concentrated in the morning and evening hours on holidays. This is because the shortest time route that matches the actual situation cannot be calculated without taking such data into consideration.
Note that in certain areas such as heavy snowfall areas and sightseeing spots, traffic conditions vary depending on the season and weather, so items related to the season or weather may be added to the search condition.

If there is no data that completely matches in step 54, data is searched for data in which a part of the route matches and holidays, weekdays, and time zones match (step 55). This is because the shortest time route may be obtained by combining a plurality of data recorded when traveling on different days.

If there are a plurality of data relating to partially matching routes, they are combined to determine whether a route from the starting point to the destination can be constructed (step 56). If there is no data on the partially matching route or if the route cannot be configured, an indication is made that the corresponding data does not exist (step 52). If a route can be constructed from the data, the route that arrives at the destination in the shortest time among the routes is determined as the shortest time route (step 57).

Then, the determined shortest time route is displayed on the display map on the display (step 5).
8). At this time, the route is displayed on the displayed map in a color different from the color of the road. Thus, the user can grasp the route at a glance.

At the same time, the expected required time is displayed in the corner of the display. In the case where data of traveling the same route a plurality of times is recorded, an average of these actual traveling times may be displayed as the estimated required time.

As described above, the information about the passage time of the congested main road and the detour to avoid the congestion when the user actually drives by car is recorded on the disk, so that the user can travel the same route again. In this case, the shortest time route corresponding to the road situation can be obtained based on this information.

In particular, when the user commutes by car or regularly delivers to a certain customer, the departure point, destination point and time zone are almost the same, so that a more accurate shortest time route can be established. You can ask.

The shortest route displayed by the user operating the operation key 11 is deleted from the screen, and
The subsequent routes may be displayed sequentially. In this case, the user can compare a plurality of higher-order routes and determine the shortest time route based on his / her experience.

Further, a function for selecting and deleting data recorded on the disk is provided, and if data that no longer conforms to the road conditions or data with an old date is deleted due to the expansion of the road width or the opening of the bypass, an erroneous data will be obtained. It is possible to prevent the shortest time route from being calculated.

Further, even if the route from the starting point to the destination cannot be constructed in step 56,
For sections with data, the required time is used, and for sections without data, the required time is calculated based on the distance on the map and the regulated speed, etc. It is also possible to ask.

In this case, the display device 9 displays a section with data and a section without data in different colors. As a result, it is possible to provide the user with objective judgment information regarding the accuracy of the displayed shortest time route.

By the way, with respect to the processing for obtaining the shortest time route described above, for example, a road traffic information communication system (VI
CS (Vehicle Information and Communication System)
Considering the traffic information according to m)), a more accurate shortest time route is required. This traffic information is provided through FM radio waves or the like.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the navigation device 21 using VICS. The configuration of this navigation device 21 is almost the same as the example of FIG.
Further, a VICS receiver (traffic information receiving means) 22 is provided. The VICS receiver 22 receives traffic information provided by FM multiplex broadcasting or the like. The received VICS information is supplied to the arithmetic circuit 5, and is used for processing for finding the shortest time route.

FIG. 4 shows the determining operation of the arithmetic circuit 5 for finding the shortest time route based on the accumulated driving information and traffic information. In FIG. 6, the same processing is performed until data of a completely traveled route or a partially matched data is retrieved from the data on the route traveled in the past (steps 51 to 5).
6).

Next, for a plurality of searched routes, F
It is determined whether or not there is traffic jam or obstacle information corresponding to each route from traffic information about traffic jams, accidents, construction, traffic regulations, and the like provided by M multiplex broadcasting or the like (step 71).

If there is congestion or an obstacle in a certain section of a certain route, the required time of the entire route is corrected based on the required time of passage based on the VICS information (step 7).
2). If there is no corresponding traffic jam or obstacle in any section of the route, the required transit time is not corrected.

Then, the route that has arrived at the destination in the shortest time among the routes is determined as the shortest route (step 73). The determined shortest time route is displayed on the display map on the display together with the expected required time (step 74).

As described above, according to the present invention, by using the traffic information in addition to the data obtained when the user has traveled in the past, a highly accurate shortest time route corresponding to the road situation can be obtained.

Since the in-vehicle navigation devices 1 and 21 according to the present invention use a portable disk as a recording medium, if a disk recorded by another vehicle is mounted on the disk device of the own vehicle, other devices can be easily obtained. Car driving information can be used. Therefore, it is possible to easily follow the route in the shortest time even if the route has not traveled yet.

When a large number of automobiles are operated at the same time, such as a transportation company or a taxi company, a communication device is connected to the navigation device of each vehicle, and travel information is transferred between each other using radio waves. Is also good. In this case, a highly accurate, shortest time route in real time is obtained by utilizing data of another vehicle that has just passed the same route.

Further, the traveling information transferred by the communication device may be collectively managed by another computer. In this case, not only the calculation of the shortest time route, but also the operation management of the vehicle, for example, the management of fuel efficiency and maintenance can be easily performed.

In the present invention, the calculation of the current position is performed by GPS.
Was used, but the current position by inertial navigation may be specified. Although the MD drive is used as the disk device 2, another information recording / reproducing device such as a PD drive may be used.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, the information recording means for recording the traveling information of the own vehicle is provided, and the shortest time route is calculated based on the past traveling information.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the shortest time route is determined on the basis of the information on the time required to pass through a congested place and the information on the detour to avoid congestion, which is obtained by the user actually driving by car. Thus, it is possible to calculate a highly accurate shortest time route corresponding to road conditions. In addition, when traffic information and the like are taken into consideration, there is an effect that it is possible to calculate a more accurate shortest time route.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a navigation device 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a process of obtaining a shortest time route according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a navigation device 21 according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process for obtaining a shortest time route according to the first embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 21: navigation device, 2: disk device, 5: arithmetic circuit, 6: GPS receiver, 9
... Display device, 22 ... VICS receiver

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI G09B 29/00 G06F 15/21 C

Claims (4)

[Claims] An arithmetic processing means for calculating a current position; a display means for displaying a road map based on the road map information and a current position on the road map; When the destination is set, the shortest route is calculated based on the recorded travel information, and the shortest route is displayed on the display unit. An in-vehicle navigation device characterized in that: 2. Processing means for calculating a current position, display means for displaying a road map based on the road map information and displaying the current position on the road map, wherein the map information is reproduced and the travel information is displayed. It has information recording / reproducing means to be recorded, and means for receiving traffic information. When a destination is set, the shortest time route is calculated based on the recorded traveling information and the traffic information, and the display means An in-vehicle navigation device, wherein the shortest time route is displayed. 3. The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1, wherein said arithmetic processing means calculates a current position based on position information from a GPS device. 4. The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 2, wherein said arithmetic processing means calculates a current position based on position information from a GPS device.