DE10057978A1 - Motor vehicle navigation system in which target destinations can be input from an electronic address and telephone directory which is both convenient and time saving - Google Patents

Abstract

Motor vehicle navigation system with electronic map, GPS system, etc. in which the target destinations can be input using data or data records from an electronic telephone or address directory as well as by the usual manual or other methods of inputting. The electronic directory can be in the form of a CD-ROM used with a local CD-ROM drive or can be accessed remotely via a suitable network.

Description

The invention relates to a navigation system for road vehicles according to Preamble of claim 1.

In known navigation systems u. a. considering the Destination data determining the destination (in particular country, town and street) and their Assignment to the geographical location of a CD-ROM, for example stored electronic card as well as taking into account that of a GPS unit supplied geographic data about the current location of the vehicle a determination of the route and the output of the driving instructions to the user.

The invention aims to improve these known navigation systems. To solve this problem, a navigation system is according to the Claim 1 trained.

In the navigation system according to the invention are used to determine the destination additionally the entries or data of an electronic business directory used, for example in such a way that the data in this electronic business directory for each entry in addition to the existing name Address data (country, city, street, etc.) from the system as destination data or Destination address are processed.

The electronic business directory is then also on one, for example Data carrier stored, which is read in a reading device of the system, for example on a CD-ROM. In addition to or instead of this, however, there is also the possibility that the electronic business directory on a fixed computer is stored, the data of which is then transmitted by the navigation system via a radio Data transmission path can be accessed.  

"Geographical name" means in the sense of the invention name of the place that Street etc.

"Geographic data" in the sense of the invention mean the data that the define the respective geographical location and the data supplied by the GPS system correspond. Developments of the invention are the subject of the dependent claims.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the figure, which shows a road vehicle navigation system according to the invention in a schematic functional diagram. In the figure, 1 is generally a road vehicle which has the navigation system, which is generally designated by 2. The latter contains a central data processing and control unit 3 , which is supported, for example, by a microprocessor and to which a number of functional elements are assigned, namely:

• - A display and input unit 4 , which is located in the cockpit of the vehicle and via which the user can enter information about the destination, for example using a keyboard, and on which visual instructions to the user via a display and / or acoustically via a loudspeaker the route calculated by the system 2 ;
• - A GPS unit 5 for determining the current location and the direction of travel of the vehicle;
• - A reading unit 6 in the form of a CD-ROM drive for reading out data from electronic maps and city maps that are on a storage medium, for example on a CD-ROM 6 'as data records with the geographical name (place, street, etc.) and assigned geographical data are stored;
• - Another reading unit 7 also in the form of a CD-ROM drive for reading out further data from a commercial address or business directory from a data carrier, for example from a CD-ROM 7 ', these additional data or data sets including the complete address , namely company name and company address (place, street etc.) as well as an industry note;
• a read memory 8 , in particular for storing programs;
• - A read and write memory 9 for reading in and reading out data, and a transmitting and receiving unit 10 , via which the navigation system 2 can enter into a bidirectional data exchange with an external database 11 if required or at the instigation of the system or the user.

The above-described navigation system 2 initially works in the same way as conventional systems, ie the user has the option, inter alia, of entering the destination or the destination address as a geographical name, namely place, street, using the keyboard of the display and input unit 4 , and is then from System 2 with appropriate processing of the data from the electronic map read in the drive 6 and taking into account the location determined by the GPS unit or the geographic data of this location in the usual way by optical and / or acoustic display to the desired destination.

The system also offers the possibility of selecting the destination, for example, by selecting a specific company from the electronic business directory (disk 7 ') located in the drive 7, it then also being possible to make this selection by entering several search terms, for example the industry, the geographical name, etc. The selected company is then shown with the complete address on the display of the display unit 4 . After confirmation by the user, this address is then treated as the destination address in the usual manner by the navigation system 2 , with this destination address taking into account the associated geographic data stored in the CD 6 and the geographic data provided by the GPS system about the actual position of the vehicle calculates the route and initiates the relevant driving information optically or acoustically on the display and input unit.

The advantage of the system described is that, while maintaining the usual functions and largely also while maintaining the usual hardware and software training of a vehicle navigation system, the possibility is created in a particularly simple manner to determine the destination by entering an address of a company stored in the electronic business directory , an authority etc., in particular also by selection, whereby essentially only by means of appropriate programming the system 2 then adopts the address selected from the electronic business directory as the destination address and processes it in the usual manner.

Via the transmitting and receiving unit 10 , which is formed, for example, by a cell phone already present in the vehicle, the required data about companies that are not yet contained in the business directory CD7 'and / or changes etc. can be obtained from the central database 11 called up and stored in the memory 8 so that these updated data are then available for the system 2 .

The invention has been described above using an exemplary embodiment. It it goes without saying that numerous changes and modifications are possible without that this leaves the inventive idea on which the invention is based.

For example, instead of drives 6 and 7, it is also possible to provide other reading units suitable for reading corresponding data carriers. Furthermore, it is possible, for example, to use only a single reading unit or a single drive, in which case both the geographical names and the associated geographic data and the company data of the electronic business directory are stored on a single data carrier.

Furthermore, of course, there is also the possibility that the company data is in any case transmitted from the central database 11 to the navigation system 2 in question, so that the company data is always available in the current form.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

1

road vehicle

2

navigation system

3

Computing and control unit

4

Display and input unit

5

GPS unit

6

.

7

drive

6

'

7

'CD-ROM

8th

read-only memory

9

Read and write memory

10

Sending and receiving unit

11

central database

Claims (4)

1. Navigation system for vehicles with an arithmetic and control unit ( 3 ) which, taking into account a destination address and corresponding first geographical data taken from an electronic geographic map and determining the respective location of the vehicle and supplied by a GPS unit, a second geographic data route determined and provides optical and / or acoustic driving instructions on an output, characterized in that the system also takes into account data or data records from an electronic business directory. 2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the records of electronic business directory each contain address data, and that this Address data from the system can be used as the destination address. 3. System according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by a reading unit, for example a drive ( 7 ) for, for example, a data carrier formed by a CD-ROM or other storage medium for the electronic business directory. 4. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized by a transmitting and receiving device ( 10 ) for a data connection to a central computer on which the electronic business directory is stored.