JP2012032284A - Navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display an image equal to an image that a user actually views on a screen of a navigation device.SOLUTION: A navigation system includes: the navigation device 100 having current position detection means, route search means, travel condition detection means of detecting travel conditions when a vehicle travels nearby a predetermined point, first transmission means of transmitting position information on the predetermined point and the travel conditions, first reception means of receiving an image for distribution nearby the predetermined point, and display means of displaying the image for distribution; and an information distribution server device 200 having first storage means of storing a plurality of image data nearby the predetermined point while relating them to associated information and the position information on the predetermined point, second reception means of receiving the position information on the predetermined point and the travel conditions, image retrieval means of retrieving image data for distribution based upon the position information on the predetermined point and the travel conditions, and second transmission means of transmitting the image data for distribution.

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation system having a navigation device mounted on a vehicle and an information distribution server device connected to a communication network.

  Since the guidance screen by the navigation device is a display screen by schematic drawing, the schematic diagram representing the actual guidance intersection and the actual intersection are visually different. When a plurality of intersections are continuous at a short interval, the determination as to which of these intersections corresponds to the guidance intersection is misleading, and there is a risk of erroneous determination. Therefore, it is preferable that an actual photographic image such as a guidance intersection is displayed on the screen of the navigation device. This can be realized by using a video information providing system that can send video information at a location designated by the user to the navigation device in real time. Such a video information providing system is already known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2007-179553 A

  However, even at the same intersection, the visibility may be different between, for example, daytime and nighttime depending on the time zone when the image was taken. If the time zone in which the video information provided by the video information providing system of Patent Document 1 was shot is daytime and the time zone during which the user passes through the intersection is nighttime, does the intersection correspond to the guidance intersection? There is a problem that the judgment about is confusing.

  A navigation system according to the present invention is a navigation system including a navigation device mounted on a vehicle and an information distribution server device connected to a communication network. The navigation device includes a current location of the vehicle, a current date and time, and a traveling direction of the vehicle. Current location detection means for detecting the vehicle, route search means for searching for a travel route from which the vehicle travels from the departure point to the destination, and current location detection means for detecting that the vehicle is traveling near a predetermined point on the travel route. A driving condition detecting means for detecting the driving condition of the vehicle, a first transmitting means for transmitting the position information of the predetermined point and the driving condition to the information distribution server device, and the vicinity of the predetermined point from the information distribution server device. First receiving means for receiving distribution image data corresponding to the distribution image in the first reception means, and received by the first receiving means. Display means for displaying a distribution image corresponding to the distribution image data, and the information distribution server device stores a plurality of pieces of image data corresponding to the plurality of images photographed in the vicinity of the predetermined point. First storage means for storing each related information of image data and position information of a predetermined point in association with each other, second receiving means for receiving the position information of the predetermined point and traveling conditions from the navigation device, (2) An image search means for searching for image data for distribution from among a plurality of image data stored in the first storage means, based on the position information of the predetermined point received by the receiving means and the running conditions; And second transmission means for transmitting the distribution image data retrieved by the means to the navigation device.

  According to the present invention, an image equivalent to what the user actually sees can be displayed on the navigation device.

It is a figure which shows the whole navigation system structure in this Embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates the composition of a navigation device. It is a system block diagram of an information delivery server apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the picked-up image data acquisition and transmission processing procedure which CPU of a navigation apparatus performs. It is a flowchart which shows the picked-up image data reception and storage processing procedure which the data processing part of an information delivery server apparatus performs. It is a flowchart which shows the image data reception and display processing procedure for delivery which CPU of a navigation apparatus performs. It is a figure which illustrates an acquisition image display point. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen which displays an acquired image in a navigation apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the image data transmission process procedure for a distribution which the data processing part of an information delivery server apparatus performs. It is a figure which shows an example of the candidate image data of the image data for delivery extracted in the process of the image database for delivery stored in the database of an information delivery server apparatus.

  An embodiment of a navigation system according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a navigation system according to the present embodiment.

  The navigation system shown in FIG. 1 includes a vehicle 10 equipped with a navigation device 100, an information distribution server device 200, a base station 300, and a wide area communication network 40.

  The information distribution server device 200 is connected to the wide area communication network 40 via a network interface, receives a captured image data from a plurality of navigation devices 100 mounted on a plurality of vehicles 10, and the received captured image data. It has a function of creating a database and managing it, a function of searching distribution image data in response to a request from the navigation apparatus 100, and distributing it to the navigation apparatus 100, and the like.

  The base station 300 has a function of providing a wireless communication service to a mobile terminal such as the navigation device 100 and is connected to the wide area communication network 40 as a gateway node.

  The navigation device 100 mounted on the vehicle 10 transmits photographed image data, a distribution image data request, and the like to the information distribution server device 200 connected to the wide area communication network 40, and the distribution image from the information distribution server device 200. Data is received via wireless communication with the base station 300.

  Since the navigation apparatus 100 mounted on each vehicle 10 transmits captured image data such as an intersection to the information distribution server apparatus 200, the information distribution server apparatus 200 captures an intersection or the like captured from a different vehicle 10 at the same point. Image data is collected. The information distribution server device 200 associates the photographic image data with the photographic condition data and creates a distribution image database. Upon receiving the distribution image data request from the navigation device 100, the information distribution server device 200 searches for the distribution image data that matches the travel point and travel conditions of the vehicle 10 on which the navigation device 100 is mounted, and the navigation device 100. Send to. Receiving this, the navigation apparatus 100 displays an image such as an intersection generated based on the received distribution image data on the screen.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the navigation device 100. The CPU 110 is an arithmetic processing device that controls the entire navigation device 100, and the CPU 110 and its peripheral devices are connected to each other via a bus. The peripheral devices include a main storage device 115, an auxiliary storage device 140, a display module 150, a camera control device 160, and a communication module 170. The main storage device 115 has a work memory that is a work area of the CPU 110 and a program memory in which a control program is stored.

  In the CPU 110, signals from the current position detection device 120, the sensors 125, and the user input device 130 are input. The current position detection device 120 is, for example, a GPS sensor, a gyro sensor, or a vehicle speed sensor, and the current position and current date and time can be specified by an input signal from the current location detection device 120. The sensors 125 include a sunshine sensor, a wiper cycle measurement sensor, and the like, and weather and time zones can be estimated from illuminance and rainfall intensity output from these sensors. The user input device 130 is, for example, a touch panel, a push button switch around the panel, a remote control, and a joystick.

  The auxiliary storage device 140 is a storage device that stores road map data and POI (Point Of Interest) information used for navigation processing. The auxiliary storage device 140 is, for example, a hard disk drive, a CD or DVD storing road map data, a flash memory, other recording media, and a reading device thereof.

  In road map data, a single road is represented as link string data by defining intersections as nodes and defining links between nodes. Therefore, the link string data is composed of node data and link data. In the road map data, node data and link data are classified and stored in mesh area units together with mesh codes. The mesh area refers to each divided area when the road map is divided into predetermined ranges. A number for identifying the mesh area is stored in the mesh code storage area. In the link string data storage area, node position coordinates, link numbers representing links between nodes, and position coordinates of interpolation points that further divide the links are stored. These position coordinates are used as shape data for map display and locator processing.

  The display module 150 displays image data including characters, graphics, photos, and the like output from the CPU 110 on the screen. The communication module 170 performs communication with the information distribution server device 200 via the base station 300 and the network 40 via the antenna.

  The camera control device 160 performs shooting control of the camera 165 attached to the vehicle 10 and reading control of the shot image data. The camera 165 shoots a landscape in front of the vehicle 10 viewed by a passenger sitting in the front seat of the vehicle 10 in accordance with shooting control by the camera control device 160 and generates shot image data. The camera 165 outputs the captured image data to the navigation device 100 in accordance with the readout control of the captured image data by the camera control device 160.

  FIG. 3 is a system block diagram of the information distribution server device 200. The information distribution server device 200 transmits and receives communication messages to and from the navigation device 100 via the wide area communication network 40 and the base station 300 using the network interface 210. The wide area communication network 40 may be composed of, for example, one or a plurality of telephone networks, or may be composed of the Internet or a service integrated communication network. The network interface 210 may be configured to correspond to any of the telephone network, the Internet, and the service integrated communication network, or may be configured to correspond to any one of them. The platform 220 is an OS that controls application software and hardware. The platform 220 includes driver software for the network interface 210. Each application software 230 to 260 operates on the platform 220.

  The maintenance operation function unit 230 translates a command input when an operator accesses the information distribution server device 200 and delivers it to the platform 220 for maintenance and operation of the information distribution server device 200.

  The communication message processing unit 240 analyzes a communication message received by the information distribution server device 200 from the navigation device 100 and creates a communication message that the information distribution server device 200 transmits to the navigation device 100. The communication message includes, for example, photographed image data and distribution image data request received by the information distribution server device 200 from the navigation device 100, and distribution image data transmitted from the information distribution server device 200 to the navigation device 100. .

  The data processing unit 250 collates the captured image data received from the navigation device 100 with the road map data, evaluates the image quality of the captured image, various information received together with the captured image data, the road map data collation result, The distribution image database is stored in the database 260 by associating the image quality evaluation result with the captured image data. Further, based on the reception of the distribution image data request from the navigation apparatus 100, the database 260 is searched, and distribution image data for the navigation apparatus 100 is determined through image evaluation of the distribution image. The database 260 stores road map data, management data such as the version of the road map data, and image data for distribution to the navigation device 100. The configuration of the road map data is the same as the road map data stored in the auxiliary storage device 140 of the navigation device 100 described above.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the captured image data acquisition / transmission processing procedure executed by the CPU 110 of the navigation device 100. For example, when the ignition switch of the vehicle 10 is turned on, execution of the processing procedure shown in this flowchart is started. In step S <b> 410, the current position detection device 120 detects the current position of the vehicle 10, the current date and time, the traveling direction of the vehicle 10, and the vehicle speed of the vehicle 10. The current position is represented by a combination of latitude and longitude, for example.

  In step S420, it is determined whether or not the current position of the vehicle 10 is a shooting point. The shooting location is acquired by, for example, reading shooting location data set in advance in the navigation device 100 from the auxiliary storage device 140. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S430. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step S410.

  In step S430, the camera control device 160 is instructed to cause the camera 165 to photograph the scenery in front of the vehicle 10. In step S440, the camera 165 captures the scenery and acquires captured image data output to the camera control device 160.

  In step S450, illuminance and rainfall intensity are detected based on the output information of the sensors 125. The illuminance changes according to the weather and the time zone, and the appearance of the scenery in front of the vehicle 10 also changes. Although the weather can be specified by detecting the illuminance, it is preferable that the weather is specified with high accuracy by detecting the rainfall intensity.

  In step S460, the vehicle type information of the vehicle 10 is acquired. Since the scenery in front of the vehicle 10 differs depending on the vehicle type, that is, the shooting altitude of the camera 165 is different, the captured image data and the vehicle type information are preferably associated with each other. The vehicle type information is acquired, for example, by reading vehicle type data preset in the navigation device 100 from the auxiliary storage device 140.

  In step S470, information on the current position of the vehicle 10, the current date and time, the traveling direction of the vehicle 10, the vehicle speed of the vehicle 10, the information on the illuminance and the rainfall intensity, the vehicle type information, etc. Shooting data obtained by associating shooting condition data is transmitted to the information distribution server device 200 via the communication module 170.

  In step S480, it is determined whether or not the ignition switch of the vehicle 10 is turned off. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step S410, and if the determination is affirmative, the execution of this processing procedure ends.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a captured image data reception / storage processing procedure executed by the data processing unit 250 of the information distribution server device 200. For example, when an information distribution service start instruction is input to the information distribution server device 200, execution of the processing procedure shown in this flowchart is started. In step S510, it is determined whether image data has been received from the navigation device 100. The shooting data is transmitted from the navigation device 100 in step S470 described above, and includes shooting image data and shooting condition data. In step S510, if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S520. If the determination is negative, the process of step S510 is repeated until a positive determination is obtained.

  In step S520, the shooting condition data included in the shooting data is collated with road map data stored in the database 260. The shooting condition data includes information on the current position of the vehicle 10 on which the navigation device 100 that transmitted the shooting data is mounted, the current date and time, the traveling direction of the vehicle 10, and the vehicle speed of the vehicle 10, information on illuminance and rainfall intensity, Vehicle type information is included. Among these, the link data and the node data included in the road map data stored in the database 260 can be associated based on the current position and the traveling direction of the vehicle 10. Therefore, the link number where the vehicle 10 is currently traveling, the node number of the node through which the vehicle passes next, and the distance to the node can be specified. In this way, by collating the shooting condition data with the road map data, the link number, the node number, and the distance to the next node are associated with the shot image data.

  In step S530, the image quality of the captured image data included in the captured data is evaluated, and ranks such as A, B, C,... Are associated with the captured image data. For this image quality evaluation, for example, a known evaluation method such as contrast evaluation can be used. Note that this image quality evaluation need not be applied to the implementation of the present invention, and in this case, the process of step S530 is skipped.

  In step S540, the road map data matching result in step S520 and the image quality evaluation result in step S530 are associated as related information in addition to the shooting condition data associated by the navigation device 100 with the shot image data. Create an image database for distribution. The generated distribution image database is stored in the database 260.

  In step S550, it is determined whether or not there has been an instruction to end the information distribution service. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step S510, and if the determination is affirmative, the execution of this processing procedure ends.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a delivery image data reception / display processing procedure executed by the CPU 110 of the navigation device 100. For example, when the ignition switch of the vehicle 10 is turned on, execution of the processing procedure shown in this flowchart is started. In step S610, the current position detection device 120 detects the current position of the vehicle 10, the current date and time, the traveling direction of the vehicle 10, and the vehicle speed. The current position is represented by a combination of latitude and longitude, for example.

  In step S615, it is determined whether a route search instruction has been issued. The route search instruction is given by the occupant of the vehicle 10 via the user input device 130, for example. If the determination is affirmative, the route is searched in step S620. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step S610.

  In step S625, it is determined whether route guidance has been started. If the determination is affirmative, the current position of the vehicle 10, the current date and time, the traveling direction of the vehicle 10, and the vehicle speed of the vehicle 10 are detected in the same manner as in step S 610. If the determination is negative, the determination is affirmative. The process of step S625 is repeated.

  In step S635, it is determined whether or not the current position of the vehicle 10 is in the vicinity of the acquired image display point. The acquired image display point is a point at which an image acquired based on distribution image data received from the information distribution server device 200 in the process of step S655 described later is displayed. The acquired image display point will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an acquired image display point. The vehicle 10 travels on a planned travel route 500 including a left turn at an intersection 590. In the example shown in FIG. 7, the acquired image display points are four points. Specifically, for example, a point P ₁ 100 m before, a point P ₂ 30 m before, and a point P ₃ 10 m before the intersection 590, and intersection 590 is a point _{P 4} immediately after the pass. Among these, the image displayed at the acquired image display points P ₁ , P ₂ and P ₃ before the vehicle 10 passes through the intersection 590 has a landscape spreading forward at the acquired image display points P ₁ , P ₂ and P ₃ . Since these images are included, an intersection 590 is included in each of these images. The image to be displayed at the point P _4, contains scenery extending forward (the traveling direction of the planned travel route 500) in the preceding vehicle 10 has left.

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. In step S635, if the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S640. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step S630. In step S640, the illuminance and the rainfall intensity are detected based on the output information of the sensors 125. The illuminance changes according to the weather and the time zone, and the appearance of the scenery in front of the vehicle 10 also changes. Since it is preferable to display an acquired image that is close to how the actual landscape looks, the illuminance is detected. Although the weather can be specified by detecting the illuminance, it is preferable that the weather can be specified with high accuracy by detecting the rainfall intensity.

  In step S645, the vehicle type information of the vehicle 10 is acquired. Since the scenery in front of the vehicle 10 differs depending on the photographing altitude, the appearance differs depending on the vehicle type. Therefore, in the process of step S655 described later, it is preferable to receive the distribution image data according to the vehicle type information. The vehicle type information is acquired, for example, by reading vehicle type data preset in the navigation device 100 from the auxiliary storage device 140.

  In step S650, a distribution image data request is transmitted to the information distribution server apparatus 200. In the distribution image data request, the current position of the vehicle 10, the current date and time, and the progress of the vehicle 10 detected in step S630 immediately before it is determined in step S635 that the current position of the vehicle 10 is in the vicinity of the acquired image display point. Information on the direction and the vehicle speed of the vehicle 10, information on illuminance and rainfall intensity, and traveling condition data such as vehicle type information are included. The distribution image data request is a communication message for requesting the information distribution server device 200 to distribute a distribution image corresponding to such traveling condition data.

  In step S655, it is determined whether image data for distribution has been received. In the case of negative determination, the process of step S655 is repeated until an affirmative determination is obtained. In the case of positive determination, in step S660, the acquired image is displayed on the screen of the display module 150 based on the distribution image data received in step S655. To do. The display of the acquired image will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen that displays an acquired image in the navigation device 100. On the left half of the display module 150 screen, a route guidance screen 510 including a vehicle icon 50 that travels on a guidance route 550 that turns left at a guidance intersection is displayed. The name of the guidance intersection is displayed as “XX intersection”. An acquired image 520 is displayed on the right half of the display module 150 on the screen. The acquired image 520 is an image corresponding to a landscape in front of the vehicle 10 on which the navigation device 100 is mounted. In the example illustrated in FIG. 8, the acquired image 520 includes a guidance intersection “XX intersection”. That is, the route guidance screen 510 and the acquired image 520 are displayed on the screen of the display module 150 in contrast.

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. In step S665, it is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the acquired image was displayed in step S660. If the determination is affirmative, it is estimated that the vehicle 10 has passed the acquired image display point, and the process proceeds to step S670. If the determination is negative, the process of step S665 is repeated until a positive determination is obtained.

  In step S670, it is determined whether the route guidance started in step S625 has ended. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step S630. If the determination is affirmative, the execution of this processing procedure ends.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a delivery image data transmission processing procedure executed by the data processing unit 250 of the information delivery server device 200. For example, when an information distribution service start instruction is input to the information distribution server device 200, execution of the processing procedure shown in this flowchart is started. In step S910, it is determined whether a distribution image data request from the navigation apparatus 100 has been received via the network interface 210 or the like. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S920. If the determination is negative, the process of step S910 is repeated until a positive determination is obtained.

In step S920, distribution image data corresponding to the distribution image data request is obtained, and the distribution image database stored in the database 260 is searched.
In this search, an image evaluation calculation is performed on the distribution image data candidates extracted based on the running condition data included in the distribution image data request, and the image with the highest evaluation is determined as the distribution image. Details of this search processing will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of candidate image data for distribution image data extracted in the process of searching for a distribution image database stored in the database 260 of the information distribution server device 200. Candidate images I ₁ , I ₂ , I ₃ , and I _{4 of the} distribution image data are extracted. For each candidate image, the image evaluation value and the related information described above in the description of step S540 in FIG. 5 are represented as candidate image data. In FIG. 10, since the link number is represented by the node numbers at both ends, the node number is not described.

  The image evaluation value represents the degree of coincidence between the running condition data included in the distribution image data request received in step S910 and the related information associated with each candidate image data. The degree of coincidence is calculated based on the sum of deviations between the items of the driving condition data and the items of the related information associated with the candidate image data, and the value when the coincidence is 100 is 100. When obtaining the deviation, each item may be weighted.

  Returning to the flowchart of FIG. In step S930, the distribution image data determined in step S920 is transmitted to the navigation device 100 via the network interface 210 or the like. In step S940, it is determined whether or not there has been an instruction to end the information distribution service. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step S910. If the determination is affirmative, the execution of this processing procedure ends.

The navigation system of the present embodiment described above has the following operational effects.
(1) The navigation system according to the present embodiment is a navigation system including a navigation device 100 mounted on a vehicle 10 and an information distribution server device 200 connected to a communication network 40.

The navigation device 100 detects the current location of the vehicle 10, the current date and time, the current position detection device 120 that detects the traveling direction of the vehicle 10, and the CPU 110 that searches for a travel route on which the vehicle 10 travels from the departure point to the destination (step S620). When the current position detection device 120 detects that the vehicle 10 is traveling in the vicinity of predetermined points P _{1 to} P ₄ on the travel route, the CPU 110 detects the travel condition of the vehicle 10 (step S630, S640, S645), the communication module 170 and the CPU 110 (step S650) for transmitting the position information and the traveling conditions of the predetermined points P _{1 to} P ₄ to the information distribution server device 200, and the predetermined points from the information distribution server device 200 communication module that receives the distribution image data corresponding to the distribution image of P ₁ to P ₄ near Having Le 170 and CPU110 (step S655), the display module 150 and the CPU110 displays a distribution image corresponding to the distribution image data received by the communication module 170 and CPU110 and (step S660).

The information distribution server device 200 obtains a plurality of pieces of image data corresponding to a plurality of images photographed in the vicinity of the predetermined points P _{1 to} P ₄ , each related information of the plurality of image data, and the predetermined points P _{1 to} P. stored in association with the position information of ₄ database 260 and the data processing unit 250 (step S520), the network interface 210 and receives the position information and the traveling conditions of the predetermined point _P 1 to P ₄ from the navigation device 100 Based on the data processing unit 250 (step S910) and the location information and travel conditions of the predetermined points P _{1 to} P ₄ received by the network interface 210 and the data processing unit 250, the data is stored in the database 260 and the data processing unit 250. Data processing for retrieving distribution image data from a plurality of image data Parts having 250 (step S920), the network interface 210 and the data processing unit 250 transmits the distribution image data retrieved by the data processing unit 250 to the navigation device 100 (step S930).

  Since it comprised as mentioned above, the image equivalent to what the passenger | crew of the vehicle 10 actually sees can be displayed on the navigation apparatus 100 on a screen.

(2) The navigation device 100 further includes a CPU 110 (step S625) for guiding the vehicle 10 according to the travel route 500 searched by the CPU 110, and the predetermined points P _{1 to} P ₄ are intersections of guidance points guided by the CPU 110. It is located in the vicinity of 590. For this reason, the occupant can easily determine the intersection 590 of the guidance point and steer the vehicle 10 according to the route guidance.

(3) The display module 150 and the CPU 110 display a section of the travel route 550 in the vicinity of a predetermined point in contrast to the acquired image 520 along with the acquired image 520 based on the distribution image. Therefore, the occupant can determine that the intersection that is actually visually recognized is the intersection 590 of the guidance point.

(4) The distribution image data corresponds to a plurality of distribution images at a plurality of points P _{1 to} P ₄ near a predetermined point. Therefore, the occupant can more accurately determine that the intersection that is actually visually recognized is the guidance point intersection 590.

(5) The navigation device 100 includes a camera control unit 150 and CPU110 by photographing a scene ahead of the vehicle 10 to acquire the captured image data (step S430 and S440) at a predetermined point _P 1 to P _4, the road map data And the auxiliary storage device 140 that stores the positional information of the predetermined points P _{1 to} P ₄ in association with the road map data, and the camera control device 150 and the CPU 110 at the predetermined points P _{1 to} P ₄ Information distribution server device 200 includes CPU 110 (steps S410, S450, and S460) that detects shooting conditions when shooting, shooting image data, position information of predetermined points P _{1 to} P ₄ , and shooting condition data related to shooting conditions. A communication module 170 and a CPU 110 (step S470) for transmitting to To.

The information distribution server device 200 receives the captured image data, the positional information of the predetermined points P _{1 to} P ₄ , and the imaging condition data, and the data processing unit 250 (step S510), based on the captured image data. A data processing unit 250 (step S540) that generates a plurality of distribution image data and generates related information based on the shooting condition data.

  Due to the above configuration, the server device 200 can collect and manage a large amount of captured image data from the plurality of vehicles 10.

(6) The information distribution server device 200 further includes a data processing unit 250 (step S530) that evaluates the image quality of the captured image corresponding to the captured image data received by the network interface 210 and the data processing unit 250. The data processing unit 250 (step S920) searches for image data for distribution based on the position information of the predetermined points P _{1 to} P ₄ , the degree of coincidence, and the image quality. For this reason, the information distribution server device 200 can distribute image data for distribution having a high image quality evaluation to the vehicle 10.

---- Modified example ---
(1) The image evaluation value is calculated as a degree of coincidence based on the sum of deviations between each item of the driving condition data and each item of the related information associated with each candidate image data. However, the degree of correlation between a plurality of candidate image data may be included. Since there may be a large error in detection of the current position of each vehicle 10 by the current position detection device 120, a candidate image having a low correlation degree can be obtained by including the degree of correlation between a plurality of candidate image data in the image evaluation value. Can be eliminated.
(2) The navigation apparatus 100 transmits a distribution image data request to the information distribution server apparatus 200 every time the vehicle 10 reaches the acquired image display points P _{1 to} P ₄ . However, to transmit the distribution image data request triggered by the approaching within a predetermined distance to the intersection 590, collectively receive four images worth of the distribution image data corresponding to the acquired image display point P ₁ to P ₄ It's also good. In that case, the display timing of the acquired image is controlled on the navigation device 100 side.

10 Vehicle 40 Wide Area Communication Network 50 Vehicle Icon 100 Navigation Device 110 CPU
115 Main storage device 120 Current position detection device 125 Sensors 130 User input device 140 Auxiliary storage device 150 Display module 160 Camera control device 165 Camera 170 Communication module 200 Information distribution server device 210 Network interface 220 Platform 230 Maintenance operation function unit 240 Communication Message processor 250 Data processor 260 Database 300 Base station 500 Scheduled travel route 510 Route guidance screen 520 Acquired image 550 Guide route 590 Intersection

Claims (10)

A navigation system comprising a navigation device mounted on a vehicle and an information distribution server device connected to a communication network,
The navigation device
Current location detection means for detecting the current location of the vehicle, the current date and time, and the traveling direction of the vehicle;
Route search means for searching for a travel route on which the vehicle travels from a departure place to a destination;
Travel condition detection means for detecting a travel condition of the vehicle when the current location detection means detects that the vehicle is traveling near a predetermined point on the travel route;
First transmission means for transmitting position information of the predetermined point and the traveling condition to the information distribution server device;
First receiving means for receiving distribution image data corresponding to the distribution image in the vicinity of the predetermined point from the information distribution server device;
Display means for displaying the delivery image corresponding to the delivery image data received by the first receiving means;
The information distribution server device
A first memory that stores a plurality of image data corresponding to a plurality of images photographed in the vicinity of the predetermined point in association with each related information of the plurality of image data and position information of the predetermined point. Means,
Second receiving means for receiving position information of the predetermined point and the traveling condition from the navigation device;
The distribution image data is searched from the plurality of image data stored in the first storage unit based on the position information of the predetermined point received by the second receiving unit and the traveling condition. Image search means;
A navigation system comprising: a second transmission unit configured to transmit the distribution image data retrieved by the image retrieval unit to the navigation device. The navigation system according to claim 1,
The travel condition includes the current date and time and the traveling direction detected by the current location detection means, illuminance information input from the sensor of the vehicle to the navigation device, and vehicle type information regarding the vehicle type of the vehicle,
The related information is associated with information on a shooting direction and illuminance when each of the plurality of images is shot, information on a shooting date and time when each of the plurality of images is shot, and each of the plurality of images. Vehicle type information,
The navigation system characterized in that the image search means searches the distribution image data based on the position information of the predetermined point and the degree of coincidence of the travel condition and the related information. The navigation system according to claim 1 or 2,
The navigation device
Route guidance means for guiding the vehicle according to the travel route searched by the route search means;
The navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined point is located in the vicinity of a guidance point guided by the route guidance means. The navigation system according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The said display means displays the area of the said predetermined | prescribed point vicinity in the said driving | running route with the said image for delivery as contrasted with the said image for delivery. The navigation system according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The distribution image data corresponds to a plurality of distribution images at a plurality of points in the vicinity of the predetermined point. The navigation system according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The navigation device
Photographing means for photographing a landscape in front of the vehicle at the predetermined point to obtain photographed image data;
Second storage means for storing first map data and storing positional information of the predetermined point in association with the first map data;
Photographing condition detecting means for detecting photographing conditions when the scenery is photographed by the photographing means at the predetermined point;
A third transmission means for transmitting the photographed image data, the positional information of the predetermined point, and the photographing condition data relating to the photographing condition to the information distribution server device;
The information distribution server device
Third receiving means for receiving the photographed image data, position information of the predetermined point, and the photographing condition data;
A navigation system further comprising: generating means for generating the plurality of image data based on the captured image data and generating the related information based on the imaging condition data. The navigation system according to claim 6, wherein
The information distribution server device
Quality evaluation means for evaluating the image quality of the captured image corresponding to the captured image data received by the third receiving means;
The navigation system characterized in that the image search means searches the delivery image data based on position information of the predetermined point, the degree of coincidence, and the image quality. The navigation system according to claim 6 or 7,
The shooting conditions include information on shooting direction and illuminance when the landscape is shot, information on shooting date and time when the landscape was shot, and vehicle type information of the vehicle on which the landscape was shot,
The first storage means stores second map data together with the plurality of image data, and stores the captured image data, position information of the predetermined point, and the related information in association with the second map data. ,
The navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the generation unit generates the related information based on the photographing condition data and the second map data.   The navigation apparatus used for the information system of any one of Claims 1-8. The information delivery server used for the information system of any one of Claims 1-8.

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