JP2000046576A - Device and method for guiding moving body and machine- readable recording medium where program is recorded - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To present a route which is easy for a user to see by the moving body guiding device such as a car navigation system. SOLUTION: A map DB 5 is stored with geographic information on landmarks and a route movement history (frequency of visiting landmarks) of a user is stored in the user profile 4. A route search part 6 makes a route search in consideration of not only the contents of the map DB 5, but also the contents of the user profile 4 to search a route including more landmarks that the user knows well even if the movement distance becomes slightly long. A guidance sentence generation part 7 generates a guidance sentence to be presented to the user at each landmark in the searched route and stores it in a guidance sentence storage part 10. A communication part 1 outputs the guidance sentence to be presented at the said landmark among guidance sentences in the guidance sentence storage part 10 to an input/output means 8 according to the position detection result of a position detecting means 9 when the user reaches the landmark in the route.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile object guidance technology for searching for a route to a destination and presenting the route to a user, and more particularly, for searching for a route in consideration of a user's route movement history. The present invention relates to mobile object guidance technology.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A car navigation system and the like are well known as a moving object guiding device for guiding a moving object to a destination. In this type of conventional mobile object guidance device, a route with the shortest moving distance is searched for by the Dijkstra method or the like and is presented to the user (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 7-294276 and 8). −94
No. 369).

[0003]

As described above, according to the conventional technique, a route with the shortest moving distance is searched for and presented to the user. ) And routes that include many landmarks that have not been passed very easily. For this reason, the conventional technique has a problem in that extra nerves are often used in order to avoid getting lost or overlooking a landmark. In other words, it is desirable for the user to present a route that passes through many well-known landmarks, even if the moving distance is slightly longer, because the user does not get lost or use extra nerves. However, in the related art, such a search is impossible because the route search is performed only by considering the shortest moving distance.

[0004] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a route that is easy for the user to understand by performing a route search in consideration of the route movement history of the user.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. Hei 7-294276 and Hei 6-96389 disclose a technique for changing the content of a guide text presented to a user in accordance with the user's route movement history. There is no description of performing a route search in consideration of a user's route movement history.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in order to achieve the above object, not only the contents of a map database storing geographical information of a plurality of landmarks but also a user route movement stored in a user profile are stored. A route search unit that searches for a route to the destination in consideration of the history (the number of visits to the landmark) is also provided. With this configuration, a route that includes many landmarks that the user is familiar with is searched for, so that the risk of getting lost, fatigue of nerves, and the like can be reduced.

Further, according to the present invention, when a user is guided to a destination by a guide message, the guide message can be generated in a degree desired by the user. A guide sentence generating unit that generates information necessary for generating a guide sentence based on the contents of the map database and the searched route, and further generates a guide sentence of each level of detail based on the generated information; A communication unit that outputs a guidance message having a degree of detail requested by the user when presenting the guidance message stored in the guidance message storage unit to the user;

Further, according to the present invention, a user profile, a map database, a route search unit, a guide text generation unit, and the like are provided in a navigation server in order to make the hardware which must be owned by the user individual simple and inexpensive. And a guidance sentence storage unit, a data processing unit, and the like are arranged in a base station, so that the above devices can be used by a plurality of users. As a result, the user transmits the user ID and the request wirelessly and receives the guidance sent from the base station by wireless, the terminal wireless communication unit, presents the guidance to the user, and receives the request from the user. Since it is only necessary to own a portable terminal having only input / output means for inputting, it is possible to make the hardware which must be owned by an individual user simple and inexpensive.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1, according to a first embodiment of the present invention, a communication unit 1, a task information management unit 2, a task storage unit 3, a user profile 4, a map database (map DB) 5 , Route search unit 6 and guidance sentence generation unit 7
, An input / output unit 8, a position detection unit 9, and a guidance sentence storage unit 10. The units 1 to 10 shown in FIG. 1 are inside a notebook personal computer owned by the user,
Provided collectively in the car.

[0011] The map database 5 stores geographical information of each landmark location. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the map database 5, and shows a case where the geographical information of each location serving as a landmark shown in FIG. 3 is stored.

Referring to FIG. 2, a map database 5 includes a place ID for identifying a place, a place name indicating a place name, a latitude and a longitude of the place, and another place adjacent to the place and which can go straight. A place name of a place (adjacent place) and a value of an adjacent distance indicating a distance cost between the adjacent place are stored. Here, the adjacent distance indicates the sum of the absolute value of the latitude difference and the absolute value of the longitude difference between the location and the adjacent location. Note that the types of data stored in the map database 5 are not limited to those in FIG. 2. For example, buildings existing near landmarks, height information such as elevations of landmarks, business hours of stores existing near landmarks, roads Width, night brightness, etc. may be included.

The user profile 4 stores the route movement history of the user. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the user profile 4, where the name of a place visited while the mobile guidance device is operating, the number of visits, the latest date and time of visit to the place, and the purpose The place name of the place as the ground is stored. However, when the same place name is stored in the user profile 4, the latest date and time when the place was visited is indicated by the date and time stored closer to the file end.

The position detecting means 9 has a function of detecting the current position of the moving body (target to be guided) by the existing GPS or the like.

The input / output means 8 has a function of inputting a request from the user to the communication section 1 and a function of presenting information from the communication section 1 to the user by screen information, voice information, and the like.

The communication unit 1 has a function of passing a user's request input from the input / output unit 8 to the task information management unit 2 and a function of acquiring the position detection result of the position detection unit 9 at regular time intervals. 2 and the guidance sentence stored in the guidance sentence storage unit 10 are transmitted to the input / output unit 8 when it is determined that the user has visited the position where the guidance sentence is presented based on the detection result of the position detection unit 9. It has the function of outputting to

The task information management unit 2 has a function of processing a request from a user passed from the communication unit 1 and a route search unit 6.
A function of storing the searched route list in the task storage unit 3, a function of deleting information indicating a landmark that has already passed from the route list stored in the task storage unit 3,
When the user makes a mistake in the route, a function (reroute function) for causing the route search unit 6 to perform a route search again is provided.

The route search section 6 has a function of searching for a route from the current position to the destination based on the route movement history stored in the user profile 4 and the geographical information stored in the map database 5. Have. That is, the route search unit 6 searches for a route in consideration of not only the geographical information stored in the map database 5 but also the route movement history of the user, so that even if the travel distance is slightly longer, Search for routes that include many well-known landmarks.

The guidance sentence generation unit 7 uses a route list provided from the route search unit 6 and geographic information stored in the map database 5 to generate a guidance sentence in a natural language, The guide text storage unit 1 associates the text with position information indicating the position where the guide text is presented to the user.
0 is stored.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

When the user turns on the power, each unit of the apparatus starts operating.

When the power is turned on, the communication unit 1 sets the current position (indicated by latitude and longitude) detected by the position detecting means 9 for a predetermined time (for example, one second) as shown in the flowchart of FIG. The information is input every time and passed to the task information management unit 2 (steps A1, A2, and A5 are YES). The communication unit 1
If there is a guidance sentence to be output in the guidance sentence storage unit 10, a process of outputting the guidance sentence to the input / output means 8 (YES in step A3, A4), or if a request from the user is input Is a process of passing the request to the task information management unit 2 (YES in step A6, A7), and a process of outputting the information to the input / output unit 8 when the information to the user is passed from the task information management unit 2 ( Step A8 is YE
S, A9) are also performed, but at the time when the power is turned on, there is no guidance sentence, no request from the user is input, and no information to be presented to the user is passed, so the position is determined every predetermined time. Processing of inputting the position detection result of the detection means 9 and passing it to the task information management unit 2 (step A1,
A2 and A5 are repeated).

The task information management section 2 receives the position detection result of the position detection means 9 from the communication section 1 every time the task information management section 2 receives the position detection result shown in FIGS.
The processing shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, the task information management unit 2
Refers to the map database 5, and the map database 5
It is determined whether the user has visited any of the locations registered in (1) (step B1). This determination is based on the latitude and route of each location stored in the map database 5 and the latitude and current position of the current position output from the position detecting means 9.
This is performed by determining whether or not there is one that matches the longitude. However, if the position of the moving object does not change due to a signal stop or the like, the latitude and longitude passed this time from the communication unit 1 and the last time passed from the communication unit 1 are used in order not to judge that the location has been visited many times. If the latitude and longitude are the same, it is determined that the user has not visited the location registered in the map database 5.

If it is determined that the user has not visited any of the locations registered in the map database 5 (step B1: NO), the process is terminated (FIG. 7).
On the other hand, if it is determined that the user has visited any of the locations registered in the map database 5 (FIG. 6, step B1 is YES), The number of visits and the latest visit date and time are updated (step B2).

The processing in step B2 will be described in detail. First, the user profile 4 is searched from the file end to the file head using the place name of the visited place as a search key. Then, if the corresponding record can be found, the number of visits in the record is increased by +
1 and change the date and time to the current date and time. On the other hand, if the corresponding record cannot be found even after searching the file header, the record including the current date and time, the place name of the place visited, the number of visits “1”, and the destination “null” is stored in the user. It is added after the last record in profile 4.

When the process of step B2 is completed, the task information management unit 2 stores the task number in the task storage unit 3. It is determined whether or not is registered (step B3). If it is registered, the processing after step B4 is performed.
The task storage unit 3 stores the task number. Is not stored, the task information management unit 2 ends the processing (FIG. 7). That is, the task information management unit 2 performs the above-described processing (steps B1 and B2) every time the position detection result is passed until a request from the user is input. With this process, the user profile 4 contains
The number of visits of the user to each place is left as a history.

Next, the operation for guiding the user from the current location to the destination will be described.

When requesting guidance to a destination, the user first uses the input / output means 8 to request a "destination list request".
Enter The “destination list request” includes a condition that the destination must satisfy. The conditions include, for example, the location name of the destination, 1K from the current location.
m, a place near a convenience store, and the like.

When the "destination list request" is input (FIG. 5, step A6 is YES), the communication section 1 inputs the position detection result of the position detecting means 9, and transmits it to the "destination list request". The pair is passed to the task information management unit 2 (step A7).

As a result, the task information management unit 2
As shown in the flowchart of FIG.
All the place names of the places satisfying the condition indicated by the "destination list request" are acquired, and the acquired list of place names is passed to the communication unit 1 (steps C1 and C2). For example, if the place name of the place that satisfies the condition is “place 5, place 6”, a list including the two place names is passed to the communication unit 1.

When the list of place names is passed (FIG. 5, step A8 is YES), the communication section 1 passes the list to the input / output means 8 (step A9). Thereby, the input / output means 8
Displays a list of place names in a format that allows the user to select a place name as the destination from the list, and when the user selects the place name as the destination, the destination designation including the place name is displayed. Request ”is input to the communication unit 1. For example, if the place name selected by the user is “place 6”, the input / output means 8 passes a “destination designation request” including the place name “place 6” to the communication unit 1.

The communication unit 1 performs the above-mentioned place name “place 6”
Is received (FIG. 5, step A6 is YES), a position detection result is input from the position detecting means 9, and the task information management unit pairs the destination detection request with the "destination specification request". 2 (step A7).

As a result, the task information management unit 2
As shown in the flowchart, the location name of the location closest to the location indicated by the location detection result paired with the "destination designation request" is acquired with reference to the map database 5 (step D1). For example, if the position detection result is (0, 0), the location name “location 1” is acquired.

Next, the task information management section 2 stores the task No. in the task storage section 3 as shown in FIG. “1”, the current location name “location 1”, and the destination location name “location 6” are registered (step D2).

Thereafter, the task information management unit 2 stores the current date and time “5 /
26 16:30 ", a record including the current location name" location 1 ", the number of visits" 20 ", and the destination location name" location 6 "is added (step D3). The number of visits is
Before adding this record, search from the end of the file using the place name "place 1" as a search key.
It is calculated by adding 1 to the obtained number of visits.
If the record including the place name “Place 1” is not stored in the user profile 4, the number of visits is “1”.

Further, the task information management unit 2 passes the location name “location 1” of the current location and the location name “location 6” of the destination to the route search unit 6 (step D4).

When the location name "place 1" and "place 6" of the current location and the destination are passed, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, the adjacent distance (route cost) between the nodes (locations) is acquired, and in step E2, the number of visits of the user is acquired by referring to the user profile 4, and in step E3, the route cost is visited. Correction is made according to the number of times, and in step E4, a route from the current location to the destination is searched using the corrected route cost by, for example, the well-known Dijkstra method, and the route list is stored in the task information management unit 2 and the guidance sentence generation unit. Pass to 7.

The Dijkstra method refers to locations 1, 2,..., N
And the route cost W of the road going straight from the place i to the place j
When ij is given for each i, j, this is a method of finding the shortest distance from location 1 to each location. The initial value of the shortest distance from the place 1 to each place is D1 = 0, D2 = D
Assuming that 3 =... = Dn = ∞, starting from i = 1, the distance for a place j that has not been visited is Dj ← min (Di + Wi).
j, Dj). Visit location i where this distance is the minimum and repeat. If the location immediately before visiting the location with the minimum distance is stored, the shortest route can be obtained by tracing the location in reverse.

Here, the correction of the route cost performed in step E3 will be described in detail.

For example, in the middle of the Dijkstra method, it is necessary to select the place 3 or the place 6 from the place 2 in FIG. In FIG. 2, the route cost from location 2 to location 3 is “1”.
5 ”, and the route cost from location 2 to location 5 is“ 1 ”.
3 ", the route from the place 2 to the place 5 is selected unless the route cost is corrected. However, by correcting the route cost according to the number of visits in step E3, the place 3 that has been visited 40 times so far is preferentially selected over the place 5 that has been visited only eight times so far. (See the contents of the user profile 4 in FIG. 4).

In step E3, the original route cost indicated by the map database 5 is corrected according to the number of visits. The correction is performed by, for example, the following equation (1). In equation (1), α is an arbitrary constant.

Route cost = original route cost + {1 / (number of visits + 1)} * α (1)

Now, assuming that α = 100, from location 2 to location 3
When the route cost after the correction to the location and the route cost from the location 2 to the location 5 after the correction are obtained, "17.4" and "2
4.1 ", and the route cost to the place 3 is smaller. As a result, in step E4, it is possible to select a route from the place 2 to the place 3 where the user is familiar.

In step E4, for example, as a route from the current location “place 1” to the destination “place 6”,
"Place 1" → "Place 2" → "Place 3" → "Place 4" →
If “location 6” is searched, the task information management unit 2
Passes the following route list (A) to the task information management unit 2 and the guidance sentence generation unit 7.

[0045]

Here, three elements in {} indicate {place name, latitude, longitude}.

When the path list of (A) is passed, the task information management section 2 refers to the task storage section 3 and receives the subtask No. as shown in the flowchart of FIG. It is determined whether or not is registered (step F1).

Then, the subtask No. Is registered, the subtask No. is registered. (Step F3). If the route list is not registered, the task list is stored. (Step F2). In this example, as shown in FIG. Is not stored, the task information management unit 2 sends the task No. Is stored in correspondence with the route list. Here, for example, in order to reduce the storage capacity for holding the route list and simplify the program processing, the task information management unit 2 refers to the map database 5 and acquires the place ID corresponding to the place name, Only the numerical value in the place ID may be stored in the task storage unit 3. As described above, when only the numerical value part in the place ID is stored in the task storage unit 3, the contents of the task storage unit 3 are as shown in FIG. That is, the route list “place 1 → place 2 → place 3 → place 4 → place 6”
Numerical part "1,2,3,4,6" of location ID corresponding to
Only will be stored as the route list.

On the other hand, when the guide sentence generation unit 7 receives the route list of (A), as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
A guidance sentence in a natural language is generated, and is associated with the position information so that the guidance sentence is the guidance sentence to the (n + 1) th node other than the last node (step G1).

The guidance text is generated as follows using a template, for example.

For the first node in the route list, a guidance sentence ““ First ”+“ second node ”+“ go to ”” is generated, and for the second node in the route list,
"Please go to" First "+" 3rd node "+""
Is generated, and thereafter, this is repeated. When the current node is the last node, "+"
A guidance sentence “final node” + “arrived at” is generated.

When the route list of (A) is given, the guide text generated by the guide text generation unit 7 and the position information added thereto are as shown in (B) below.

(0,0), “First, go to“ Place 2 ”” (10,0), “Next, go to“ Place 3 ”” (10,15), “Next, (Go to “Place 4”) (25, 10), “Go to“ Place 6 ”” (27, 22), “You have arrived at the desired“ Place 6 ”...… (B)

Thereafter, the guide sentence generating unit 7 determines whether or not a guide sentence is stored in the guide sentence storage unit 10 (step G2). In the case of this example, since the guidance text is not stored in the guidance text storage unit 10, the guidance text generation unit 7 stores the guidance text and the position information generated in step G1 in the guidance text storage unit 1.
0 is stored (step G5).

Each guidance sentence stored in the guidance sentence storage unit 10 is output to the input / output means 8 by the communication unit 1 when the user reaches the position indicated by the position information added to the guidance sentence. Is presented to the user. That is,
As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, the communication unit 1 refers to the guidance sentence storage unit 10 every time the position detection result of the position detection unit 9 is input, and inputs the guidance sentence storage unit 10 from the position detection unit 9. If there is a guidance message to which position information matching the detected position detection result is added, the guidance message is output to the input / output unit 8 (YES in step A3, A4). For example, if the guidance message storage unit 10 stores the five guidance messages and the position information shown in (B) above and the position detection result (10, 15) is input from the position detection unit 9, " next,
Please proceed to "Place 4"".

On the other hand, the task information management section 2 judges whether or not the user has passed the position indicated by the route list stored in the task storage section 3 based on the position detection result of the position detection means 9. (FIG. 6, step B8).
In this example, as shown in FIG. Exists, and the subtask No. Does not exist, the task becomes a processing target (Step B3 is Y
ES and B4 are NO and B6).

If it is determined in step B8 that the place where the user has passed is present in the route list, the information indicating the place where the user has passed is deleted from the route list, and
The current position is updated (step B10). On the other hand, if it is determined in step B8 that the file does not exist, a reroute process is performed (step B9). The reroute processing will be described later in detail.

When the route list becomes empty as a result of the deletion in step B10 (YES in step B11)
Since the guidance process has been completed, the task information management unit 2 deletes the task stored in the task storage unit 3 and deletes the guidance text stored in the guidance text storage unit 10 (FIG. 7). , Step B12 is YES, B13).

By the way, when being guided to the destination “location 6” designated by the “destination designation request”, it may be necessary to stop at another location. In such a case, the user inputs “sub destination list request” from the input / output unit 8. This request includes conditions that the place to call (sub-destination) must meet.

When the “sub destination list request” is input from the input / output unit 8, the communication unit 1 converts the request and the position detection result of the position detection unit 9 into task information as shown in the flowchart of FIG. Transfer to the management unit 2 (Step A6 is YES, A
7).

When the “sub-destination list request” is passed, the task information management unit 2 performs the following processing as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
The subtask No. is stored in the task storage unit 3. Is not stored and the task No. Is stored (steps H1 and H2 are NO and YES, respectively), step H
4 is performed, otherwise, an error notification indicating that the request cannot be accepted is output to the communication unit 1 (step H3). Upon receiving the error notification, the communication unit 1 passes the error notification to the input / output unit 8 and presents it to the user.

In step H4, referring to the map database 5, all the place names of the places satisfying the condition indicated by "Zab destination list request" are acquired. In the next step H5, the acquired list of place names is transmitted to the communication unit. Pass to 1.

The communication section 1 passes the place name list of the sub-destination to the input / output means 8 and presents it to the user (step A8 in FIG. 5 is YES, A9). Is selected, a "sub destination designation request" including the location name of the sub destination (for example, location 5) is transmitted to the communication unit 1.
Pass to.

When the "sub destination designation request" is passed, the communication unit 1 passes the "sub destination designation request" and the position detection result of the position detecting means 9 to the task information management unit 2 as a pair (step A6 is YES, A7).

As a result, the task information management unit 2
As shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6, referring to the map database 5, the location name of the location closest to the location indicated by the location detection result paired with the "sub destination designation request" (for example, location 1) (Step I1).

Next, the task information management unit 2 stores the subtask No. in the task storage unit 3 as shown in FIG.
"1", the location name of the current location "location 1", and the location name of the sub destination "location 5" are registered (step I2).

After that, the task information management unit 2 adds a record including the current date and time, the location name “location 1” of the current location, the number of visits, and the location name “location 5” of the destination to the user profile 4 (step). I3). The number of visits is
This is obtained in the same manner as in step D3 described above.
Further, the task information management unit 2 passes the current location name “location 1” and the destination location name “location 5” to the route search unit 6 (step I4).

The route search unit 6 creates a route list of a route from “place 1” to “place 5” in the same manner as described above, and passes it to the task information management unit 2 and the guidance sentence generation unit 7 (FIG. 11). , Steps E1 to E4).

The task information management unit 2 sets the current location “location 1”
When the route list from the user to the sub-destination “place 5” is passed, the sub task No. Are registered, so that the subtask No. is registered as shown in FIG. And register the route list (FIG. 12, step F)
1 is YES, F3).

On the other hand, when receiving the above route list, the guide sentence generating unit 7 generates a guide sentence in a natural language and associates the guide sentence with the position information as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 14 (step G1). .

Thereafter, the guide sentence generating unit 7 determines whether or not a guide sentence is stored in the guide sentence storage unit 10 (step G2). In the case of this example, since the guidance sentence for guiding the user to the destination “place 6” is stored in the guidance sentence storage unit 10, the guidance sentence generation unit 7 performs the process of step G3. .

At step G 3, the new guidance text (the guidance text for guiding the user to the sub-destination) includes a place name that is not included in the guidance text already registered in the guidance text storage unit 10. It is determined whether or not. In this example,
The new guide message includes the place name “place 5”, and the registered guide message does not include the place name “place 5”, and the determination result in step G3 becomes YES. After clearing the guidance sentence storage unit 10, the generation unit 7 stores the guidance sentence created in step G1 and the position information in association with each other in the guidance sentence storage unit 10 (steps G4 and G5).
If the determination result of step G3 is NO, the guidance sentence generation unit 7 ends the processing.

Each guidance sentence for guiding the user to the sub-destination stored in the guidance sentence storage unit 10 is also used when the user reaches the position indicated by the position information added to the guidance sentence. It is output to the input / output means 8 by the communication unit 1.

On the other hand, the task information management section 2 determines whether or not the user has passed the position indicated by the route list stored in the task storage section 3 based on the position detection result of the position detection means 9. (FIG. 6, step B1 is Y
ES, B8). In this example, the task storage unit 3 stores
As shown in FIG. And subtask No. Exists, so that the subtask becomes a processing target (YES in step B3, YES in B4, B5).

If it is determined in step B8 that the place where the user has passed is present in the route list, the information indicating the place where the user has passed is deleted from the route list stored in the task storage unit 3 and the current position is deleted. Is updated (step B10).

When the path list of the subtask becomes empty as a result of the deletion in step B10 (step B1)
(1 is YES, step B12 in FIG. 7 is NO), it is determined whether or not the destination of the subtask exists in the task route list (step B14). When it is determined that the task exists, the destination of the subtask and a place before the destination are deleted from the task route list, and the subtask registered in the task storage unit 3 is deleted (step B16). On the other hand, if it is determined that the task does not exist, a request for a route search from the sub destination to the original destination is requested to the route search unit 6, and the tasks registered in the task storage unit 3 are searched. The subtask is deleted (step B15).

Next, the operation when the user deviates from the route indicated by the mobile guidance device will be described.

As shown in the flow chart of FIG. 6, when the task information management unit 2 determines that the user has visited any of the locations registered in the map database 5 (step B1 is YES), It is determined whether or not the location is included in the path list of the task or the subtask that is currently being processed (for example, a task) (step B8). If not included, it is determined that the user has deviated from the route, and a reroute process is performed (step B9).

In the reroute processing, the task information management unit 2 sets the current location in the task registered in the task storage unit 3 as a new current location, and sets the destination in the task storage unit 3 as a new destination. , Requesting the route search unit 6 to search for a route from the new current location to the new destination. At this time, the contents of the task route list are deleted. The operation after the route search unit 6 searches for a route is the same as in the case described above.

FIGS. 18 to 21 show a specific example of a change in the contents of the task management unit 3 related to the reroute processing.

As shown in FIG. 18, the task storage unit 3 holds a route list from the current location “place 1” to the destination “place 3”.
Moved to “Place 2” from, but as shown in FIG.
If the user moves to “place 5” without going from “place 2” to “place 3”, the task information management unit 2 refers to the route list in the task storage unit 3 , And requests the route search unit 6 to search for a route from the current location “place 5” to the destination “place 3”. Then, the route list is deleted as shown in FIG. 20, and the route list newly received from the route search unit 6 is stored in the task storage unit 3 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 22 is another specific example of the user profile 4 different from FIG. Here, in addition to the current location, the destination, the date and time, and the number of times, information such as operation, state, and surrounding landmarks are stored in association with each other. Among these information, for example, the operation is obtained from the user's electronic scheduler or the like,
The state is obtained from various sensors such as a moving speed, a thermometer, a pulse form, and a sphygmomanometer, and the surrounding landmarks are obtained from a location adjacent to the map database 5. At the time of realization, the type of data is not limited to this, and other information, for example, information such as personal information accompanying another user from the current location of another user and the degree of congestion around the user may be obtained and added.

When the contents of the user profile 4 are as shown in FIG. 22, the route search unit 6 performs a route search, for example, when the operation is “sales” and the state is “hurry”. If there is, the processing of selecting only the shortest route without changing the cost due to the number of visits is performed, or the shade is not bright unless the temperature is “30 ° C.” or more, the blood pressure is “130” or more, and the state is “rush”. It is possible to perform processing such as selecting the route while reducing the cost of the road.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 23, the difference between the second embodiment of the present invention and the first embodiment shown in FIG. And a communication unit 1a in place of the communication unit 1. Due to this difference in the configuration, the present embodiment allows a user to be presented with guidance messages of different levels of detail in response to a user request.

The guidance sentence generating section 7a includes a detail level changing section 71.
And a sentence generation unit 72.

The detail level changing section 71 generates information necessary for generating guide texts of the detail levels 1, 2, 3 based on the contents of the map database 5 and the route list passed from the route search section 6. , Sent to the sentence generation unit 72. Here, the detail level of the guidance text output in the first embodiment is 1, the guidance text in which the information of the direction between nodes is added to the guidance text of the detail level 1 is the detail level 2, and the detail level 2 is The guide text in which information on the distance between nodes is added to the guide text of is referred to as detail level 3.

The sentence generation section 72 generates guide texts of the detail levels 1, 2, and 3 based on the information passed from the detail level change section 71 and the template defined for each detail level. It has a function of storing in the storage unit 10.

When a request for changing the degree of detail is not input from the user through the input / output means 8, the communication unit 1a guides the route using a predetermined fixed level of detail, for example, a guidance message with a level of detail 1. However, when a request for changing the degree of detail is received from the user through the input / output means 8, the guidance message storage unit 10
Has a function of performing a route guidance by using a guide message of the degree of detail requested by the user among the guide messages stored in the.

Next, the embodiment and the operation will be described.

Upon receiving the route list from the route search unit 6, the detail level changing unit 71 first generates information indicating the positional relationship between the node n in the route list and the next node n + 1. This information is generated as follows, for example. Here, for convenience of processing, the latitude / longitude information is converted into X, Y coordinates on a two-dimensional plane, and if “current node X value <next node X value, and current node Y value> next node Y value, the next node is "Northeast" of the current node, "If current node X value <next node X value, and current node Y value = next node Y value, next node is" east "of current node," current node X value <next If the node X value and the current node Y value <the next node Y value, the next node is “southeast” of the current node, “the current node X value> the next node X value, and the current node Y value <the next node Y value Then, the next node is “northwest” of the current node, and “current node X value> next node X value, and if current node Y value = next node Y value, the next node is“ west ”of the current node”, “current node Node X value> next node X
If the current node Y value> next node Y value, the next node is “southwest” of the current node, and “current node X value = next node X”
If the current node Y value <the next node Y value, the next node is “north” of the current node, and the “current node X value = the next node X”
If the current node Y value> the next node Y value, the next node is calculated in eight directions of east, west, north, south, northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest, such as "south" of the current node.

The method of calculating the positional relationship is not limited to this. For example, 16 directions including north-northwest and south-southeast may be used. It may be calculated in the forward, backward, left and right traveling directions.

Next, the detail changing unit 71 generates information indicating the distance between the node n in the route list and the next node n + 1. This information is generated using, for example, the adjacent distance stored in the map database 5. The distance between the nodes may be expressed, for example, in meters. Alternatively, the moving speed of the user may be calculated from the movement history of the user profile 4, and the required time (= distance (meter) /
The moving speed may be calculated and expressed in time. In addition, it is not represented by a numerical value. For example, if the distance is less than 10 m, it is “slightly”; if it is 10 m or more and less than 100 m, “for a while”;
If it is more than km, it may be expressed in a natural language such as "suddenly".

When the degree-of-detail changing section 71 generates information indicating the positional relationship and the distance between adjacent nodes in the path list, it passes them and the path list to the sentence generation section 72.

Thus, the detail level changing unit 71 generates a guide message with a detail level of 1, 2, 3 and stores it in the guide message storage unit 10.

The guidance sentence of the detail level 1 is generated in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

The guide text of the detail level 2 is generated as follows using, for example, the template for the detail level 2 and the information passed from the detail level changing section 71.

For the first node in the route list, the natural words "" first "+" second node "+" to "+" positional relationship between first and second nodes "+" go to " A guidance sentence in a language is generated, and for the second node in the route list, ““ Next ”+“ third node ”+“ to ”+“ second ”
A guidance sentence in a natural language of "positional relationship between the node and the third node" + "please go to" is generated, and thereafter, this is repeated, and when the current node is the last node, the "target" + "Last node" + "Arrive at""in a natural language.

For example, if the contents of the task storage unit 3 are as shown in FIG. 13 and the contents of the map database 5 are as shown in FIG.
Is output as follows.

“First, go east” to “place 2” “Next, go north” to “place 3” “Next, go east to“ place 4 ” "Please go" north "to" Place 6 "." Arrive at the desired "Place 6"

Thereafter, the sentence generation unit 72 generates a guidance sentence of the detail level 3 as follows using the template for the detail level 3 and the information passed from the detail level changing unit 71.

For the first node in the route list, "" first "+" second node "+" to "+" positional relationship between first and second nodes "+" to "+" distance "+" Generate a guidance sentence in natural language "Please proceed", and add "Next" + "Third node" to the second node in the route list.
+ “To” + “the positional relationship between the second node and the third node” +
A guidance sentence in a natural language of “ni” + “distance” + “please go” is generated, and thereafter, this is repeated, and when the current node is the last node, the “target” +
A guidance sentence in a natural language of “final node” + “arrived at” is generated.

For example, if the distance is calculated in meters, the sentence of detail 3 output by the sentence generation unit 72 to the guidance sentence storage unit 10 is as follows.

"First, go to" Place 2 "and go" east "to" 10m "
Proceed. "Next, proceed to" Place 3 "" North "" 15m "." Next, proceed to "Place 4""East""15m"."" Next, "Place Proceed "14m" to "north" to "6""Arrive at destination" Place 6 ""

When there is no “detailed degree change request” from the user, the communication section 1 a reads out a guide message with a predetermined level of detail from the guide message storage section 10 and outputs it to the input / output means 8. The user does nothing if the degree of detail of the guidance sentence presented by the input / output means 8 is desired,
If the request is not desired, a “detailed degree change request” including the desired level of detail is input from the input / output means 8. Thereby, the communication unit 1 a reads out the guidance message of the detail level indicated by the detail level change request from the guidance message storage unit 10 and outputs the guidance message to the input / output unit 8. In the case where there is no request for changing the level of detail from the user, instead of outputting a guidance message of a predetermined level of detail to the input / output means 8, the user may have previously requested the level of detail by changing the level of detail. It is also possible to manage how many times the guidance message has been requested and output the guidance message with the most detailed level of detail.

At the time of realization, the type of information acquired by the detail level changing unit 71 to generate the guide text of each level of detail is not limited to this. For example, a marker (for example, , A building, etc.), the sentence generation unit 72 can generate a guidance message “Go west” to “Place 2” with a “convenience store nearby”, and generate a map database. By adding an altitude item to “5” and referring to the information, it is possible to acquire the uphill from the distance and the altitude difference between “place 3” and “place 4”. 4 "
A guidance sentence "Please proceed on the" uphill "of" 50 m "with" gradient of 5% "to" north "" can be generated.

In this embodiment, even if the output guidance text is difficult for the user to understand, the detail level can be dynamically changed according to a request from the user. The reason is that when generating the guidance text, various information about the route is added to the guidance text using the map database 5.

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 24, the third embodiment of the present invention includes a navigation server 11, a plurality of base stations 12-1 to 12-n, and a portable terminal 13.

The portable terminal 13 includes an input / output unit 8 for receiving a request from the user and presenting information from the terminal wireless communication unit 132 to the user, and a user ID transmitting unit for transmitting a user ID for identifying the user. 131, a terminal wireless communication unit 132 for transmitting / receiving a request from the input / output unit 8, a user ID from the user ID transmission unit 131, and information from the base station wireless communication unit 121 by means of wireless, optical, ultrasonic, or the like. Have. In the present embodiment, information is exchanged wirelessly between the base stations 12-1 to 12-n and the mobile terminal 13.

The base station 12-1 is connected to the terminal radio communication unit 132
, And a base station wireless communication unit 121 that transmits and receives information from the data processing unit 122 by wireless or the like.
The position detecting means 9 for detecting the position of a base station such as an existing GPS, a request received from the base station wireless communication unit 121, and the server communication unit 123 by adding the position of the base station received from the position detecting means 9 to the user ID. The data processing unit 122 outputs the guidance sentence received from the server communication unit 123 to the guidance sentence storage unit 10, extracts the guidance sentence from the guidance sentence storage unit 10 at an appropriate timing, and outputs it to the base station wireless communication unit 121. The guidance sentence storage unit 10 that holds the guidance sentence received from the data processing unit 122 until there is an output request from the data processing unit 122 and the information from the data processing unit 122 includes:
Information to which a base station ID for identifying a base station received from the base station ID transmitting means 124 is added;
and a server communication unit 123 for transmitting and receiving information from the server b. Note that the other base stations have the same configuration.

The navigation server 11 includes the communication unit 1
b, task information management unit 2a, task storage unit 3, user profile 4a, map database 5a, route search unit 6
a, a guide sentence generating unit 7b.

The task information management section 2a has a function of performing the processing performed by the task information management section 2 shown in FIG. 1 for each of a plurality of users.

As shown in FIG. 25, the route profile of each user is stored in the user profile 4a.
The example of FIG. 25 illustrates the route movement history of the user whose user ID is “2F”.

The map database 5a has a base station ID as shown in FIG. 26, in addition to the geographic information held by the map database 5 shown in FIG. keeping.

The route search unit 6a has the same function as the route search unit 6 shown in FIG. 1, but when performing a route search, the route search history of each user stored in the user profile 4a is used. The difference from the route search unit 6 is that only the route movement history of the user to be processed is extracted and a route search is performed using the extracted history.

In this embodiment, the structure of the mobile guidance device is larger than that of the first and second embodiments, and the navigation server 11, base stations 12-1 to 12-n, and portable terminal 13 are different from each other. User ID transmitting means 1 for transmitting a user ID for identifying a user
31, a base station ID transmitting means 124 for transmitting a base station ID for identifying a base station, a navigation server 11, base stations 12-1 to 12-n, and a mobile terminal 13
It is different in that it has a server communication unit 123, a base station wireless communication unit 121, and a terminal wireless communication unit 132 for exchanging information between them.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that a plurality of users are carrying portable terminals each having the same configuration as portable terminal 13 and moving.

When the power of the portable terminal 13 is turned on, the terminal wireless communication unit 132 transmits the user ID (here, “2F”) transmitted by the user ID transmitting means 131 at predetermined time intervals.
Is output wirelessly.

User ID “2” output from portable terminal 13
F "indicates that the user approaches base station 12-1 (e.g.,
(Within a few meters) within the base station 12-1.

When the base station radio communication unit 121 receives the user ID “2F”, the data processing unit 122 receives the position detection result (for example, 0, 0) of the position detection unit 9.
Is passed to the server communication unit 123, and the server communication unit 1
23 is a user ID “2F”, a position detection result (0, 0)
The base station ID transmitted by the base station ID transmitting means 124
(For example, lnavi001) is transmitted to the navigation server 11.

The information sent from the base station 12-1 is received by the communication unit 1b in the navigation server 11 and passed to the task information management unit 2a. Thereby, the task information management unit 2a stores the user profile 4
The number of visits to “place 1” corresponding to the position detection result (0, 0) among the number of visits of the user ID “2F” stored in “a” is incremented by one. The above processing is performed every time the base stations 12-1 to 12-n receive the user ID output from the mobile terminal 13.

Next, the operation when the user requests guidance to the destination will be described. In this case, the user first inputs “destination list request” from the input / output unit 8 as in the first embodiment described above.

The terminal wireless communication section 132 responds to the “destination list request” from the input / output section 8 by the user ID transmission section 131.
And outputs the user ID "2F". Note that the terminal wireless communication unit 132 keeps transmitting the “destination list request” and the user ID until the reception completion is notified from the base station 12-1.
“2F” is repeatedly output.

The base station radio communication unit 12 in the base station 12-1
When receiving the “destination list request” and the user ID “2F”, the mobile terminal 13 based on the user ID “F2”
And notifies the data processing unit 122 of the received information.

The data processing section 122 adds the position detection result (0, 0) of the position detecting means 9 to the above information and passes it to the server communication section 123. Here, the data processing unit 122 holds the user ID “2F” so that a message (destination list) to the user, which is received from the server communication unit 123 later, can be delivered to the user.

The server communication unit 123 includes the data processing unit 12
2, "Destination list request" received from user ID
“2F”, the base station ID “l” is added to the position detection result (0, 0).
navi001 ”is added to the navigation server 11.
Send to

Communication unit 1b in navigation server 11
Receives the above information, and outputs it to the task information management unit 2a. Here, the communication unit 1b transmits the message (destination list) to the server communication unit 123 later so that the base station ID can be distributed to the base station 12-1.
“Lnavi001” is held.

The task information management section 2a is provided with the server communication section 1
When a "destination list request" is received from 23, the same processing as in the first embodiment of the present invention is performed, a place name list of destination candidate places is created, and the list is passed to the communication unit 1b.

The communication unit 1b outputs the “place name list” received from the task information management unit 2a to the server communication unit 123 on the base station 12-1 having the stored base station ID “lnavi001”. , The server communication unit 123,
The “place name list” received from the communication unit 1b is sent to the data processing unit 122, and the base station wireless communication unit 121 converts the “place name list” received from the data processing unit 122 into
Mobile terminal 13 having stored user ID “2F”
Output to the terminal wireless communication unit 132 above.

The terminal radio communication section 132 outputs the “place name list” received from the base station radio communication section 121 to the input / output means 8, and the user can read the “place name list” displayed on the input / output means 8. Select one of the place names.

Now, for example, if the user sets the place name “place 6”
Is selected, the input / output unit 8 sends a “destination designation request” including the place name “place 6” to the terminal wireless communication unit 132.
Will be passed to. Thereby, the terminal wireless communication unit 132
Outputs the "destination designation request" including the place name "place 6" received from the input / output means 8 with the user ID "2F" added. Note that the terminal wireless communication unit 132 continues to output the “destination designation request” and the user ID “2F” until receiving a reception completion notification from any of the base stations.

Now, for example, the base station radio communication unit 121 in the base station 12-1 sets “Destination designation request” and user ID “2”.
If F ″ is received, the base station wireless communication unit 121
These are passed to the data processing unit 122 and the mobile terminal 1
3 is notified of the completion of reception.

The data processing section 122 adds the position detection result (0, 0) of the position detecting means 9 to the information received from the base station radio communication section 121, and outputs the information to the server communication section 123. Adds the base station ID “lnavi001” to the information received from the data processing unit 122 and outputs the information to the communication unit 1b.

The communication section 1b outputs the information received from the server communication section 123 to the task information management section 2a.

The task information management section 2a stores the information shown in FIG. 27 in the task storage section 3 based on the information received from the communication section 1b.
As shown in FIG. “1”, user ID “2”
F ", the current location" location 1 ", and the destination" location 6 ", and the current location" location 1 "in the information on the user ID" 2F "stored in the user profile 4a.
Is incremented by one. Further, the task information management unit 2a
Outputs the current location, destination, and user ID received from the communication unit 1b to the route search unit 6a.

The route search unit 6a determines that the current location “place 1”, the destination “place 6”, the contents of the map database 5a, and the user ID stored in the user profile 4a is “2”.
A route search is performed based on the route movement history of F ", and a route list is generated. The generated route list is added with the user ID" 2F "to provide a guidance sentence generating unit 7b and a task information management unit 2a. Output to

Now, for example, it is assumed here that the route list generated by the route search unit 6a is “place 1 → place 2 → place 3 → place 4 → place 6”.

In the guide sentence generating section 7b, the detail level changing section 71
b generates information necessary for generating guidance texts of the detail levels 1, 2 and 3 with reference to the contents of the map database 5a, and the sentence generation unit 72b generates the information generated by the detail level change unit 71b. The guide texts of the detail levels 1, 2, and 3 are generated based on the and the template of each detail level. For example, the sentence generation unit 72
The guide text of the detail level 3 generated by b is as follows.

"First, go to" Place 2 "and go" east "to" 10m "
Proceed. "Next, proceed to" Place 3 "" North "" 15m "." Next, proceed to "Place 4""East""15m"."" Next, "Place Proceed "14m" to "north" to "6""Arrive at destination" Place 6 ""

Thereafter, the sentence generating section 72b adds the base station ID of the base station existing at the place where the guide text is presented to the user and the user ID “2F” to each of the guide texts described above, and the communication section 72b. 1b.

The communication unit 1b transmits the guidance message of various levels of detail from the guidance message generation unit 7b and the base station I to make the n-th node other than the last node a guidance message to the (n + 1) th node.
When D and the user ID are received together, for example,
To the server communication unit 123 of the base station 12-1 indicated by the base station ID “lnavi001” at “location 1”,
Proceed to “Location 2” and proceed to “East” “10m” ”and send the base station ID“ ln ”at“ Location 2 ”
server communication unit 1 of the base station 12-2 indicated by “avi002”
23, a guidance message “Please proceed“ 15 m ”to“ North ”to“ Place 3 ”” is sent, and the base station 12-3 indicated by the base station ID “lnavi003” at “Place 3” is sent.
To the server communication unit 123 of “Next,“ East ”to“ Place 4 ”
To "Please go 15m".
The server communication unit 123 of the base station 12-4 indicated by the base station ID “lnavi004” at “location 4”
Send a guidance message “Go north” “14 m” to “Place 6” and send the base station ID “ln” at “Place 6”.
server communicator 1 of the base station 12-6 indicated by “avi006”
23, a guidance message "Arrive at destination" Place 6 "" is sent.

Base stations 12-1 to 1 to which the guidance message has been sent
The server communication unit 123 of 2-4 and 12-6 includes the communication unit 1b
And outputs the guidance message and the user ID “2F” to the data processing unit 122. The data processing unit 122 stores the information received from the server communication unit 123 in the guidance message storage unit 1.
Store to 0.

FIGS. 28 to 32 show base stations 12-
It is the figure which showed the example of the content of the guidance sentence memory | storage part 10 in 1-12-4 and 12-6.

FIG. 28 shows base station 1 located at “location 1”.
2-1 shows the contents of the guidance sentence storage unit 10 on FIG.
Shows the contents of the guidance sentence storage unit 10 on the base station 12-2 located at "location 2", and FIG. 30 shows the guidance sentence storage unit located on the base station 12-3 located at "location 3". FIG. 31 shows the content of the base station 12- located at "location 4".
4 shows the contents of the guidance sentence storage unit 10 on FIG.
The content of the guidance sentence storage unit 10 on the base station 12-6 located at "location 6" is shown. As described above, the guidance sentence storage unit 10 holds the user ID and the guidance text of each level of detail (the guidance texts 1, 2, and 3 respectively have the levels of detail 1, 2, and 3).

The base station radio communication section 121 in the base station 12-i (1 ≦ i ≦ n) outputs the user I
When D is received, it is passed to the data processing unit 122.

When the data processing unit 122 receives the user ID, it inputs a guidance message for the user ID from the guidance message storage unit 10 and passes it to the base station radio communication unit 121. still,
If the user has requested the degree of detail of the guide text, the guide text of the requested level of detail is passed to the base station wireless communication unit 121, and if not requested, predetermined predetermined details are provided. The base station radio communication unit 121
Do for

The base station radio communication unit 121 passes the guidance sent from the data processing unit 122 to the terminal radio communication unit 132 on the portable terminal 13 whose user ID matches. The user operates the terminal wireless communication unit 132 through the input / output unit 8.
Refer to the guidance sent from and move accordingly.

The task information management section 2a is provided with the communication section 1
b, each time the user passes through a node on the route, the corresponding node in the route list held in the task storage unit 3 is deleted and stored. When the node list becomes empty, it is determined that the task has been completed, and the guidance process is terminated.

In the present embodiment, the mobile object guiding device of the user can be reduced in size. The reason is that a configuration in which most of the components related to the route search are distributed to a server and a plurality of base stations is adopted. In the present embodiment, a plurality of users can be simultaneously guided.
The reason is that when the route task is held, the route information can be presented only to the user by holding the user ID for identifying the user in association with the user.

FIG. 33 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of the mobile object guiding apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 and 23.
Computer 331, recording medium 332, storage device 3
33. The recording medium 332 is a disk, a semiconductor memory, or another recording medium, and stores a program for causing the computer 331 to function as a mobile guidance device.

In the case of realizing the mobile object guiding device shown in FIG. 1, the program recorded on the recording medium 332 is
It is read by the computer 331 and its operation is controlled so that the communication unit 1, the task information management unit 2, the route search unit 6, the guidance sentence generation unit 7, the input / output unit 8, the position detection shown in FIG. Means 9 is realized. In addition, the task storage unit 3, the user profile 4, the map database 5, and the guidance sentence storage unit 10 are realized on a storage device 333 including a disk device or the like.

In the case of realizing the mobile object guiding device shown in FIG. 23, the program recorded on the recording medium 332 is read by the computer 331 and the operation is controlled to cause the computer 331 to execute the program. 23
Communication unit 1a, task information management unit 2, route search unit 6, guidance sentence generation unit 7a, input / output unit 8, position detection unit 9
To achieve. In addition, the task storage unit 3, the user profile 4, the map database 5, and the guidance sentence storage unit 10 are realized on a storage device 333 including a disk device or the like.

[0155]

The first effect is that a route including many landmarks to which the user is accustomed is searched for, so that the risk of getting lost and the fatigue of nerves can be reduced. The reason is that a route search unit that searches for a route to a destination is provided in consideration of not only the contents of the map database but also the route movement history of the user stored in the user profile.

The second effect is that when guiding the user to the destination by using the guidance message, the degree of detail of the guidance message can be set as desired by the user. The reason is that, when generating the guidance text, the information necessary to generate the guidance text of a plurality of levels of detail is generated based on the contents of the map database and the searched route, and further based on the generated information. And a communication unit that outputs a guidance message of a degree of detail requested by the user when presenting the guidance message stored in the guidance message storage unit to the user. It is because it has.

A third effect is that hardware that must be owned by the user can be simple and inexpensive. The reason is that a configuration in which most of the components related to the route search are distributed to the navigation server and a plurality of base stations is adopted.

A fourth effect is that a plurality of users can be simultaneously guided. The reason is that the guidance sentence for each user generated by the guidance sentence generation unit of the navigation server is added to the guidance sentence storage unit in the corresponding base station with a user ID indicating which user the guidance sentence is for. When the user ID is received from the mobile terminal at each base station, the received user ID of the plurality of guidance texts stored in the guidance text storage unit is stored.
Is transmitted to the portable terminal.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a map database 5;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing geographical information that is meant by the contents of a map database 5 shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a user profile 4;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a processing example of a communication unit 1;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example of a task information management unit 2 when a position detection result is received.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing example of a task information management unit 2 when a position detection result is received.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a processing example of the task information management unit 2 when receiving a destination list request.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing example of the task information management unit 2 when a destination designation request is received.

10 is a diagram showing a task number stored in a task storage unit 3. FIG. , A current position, and a destination are stored.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a processing example of a route search unit 6;

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a processing example of a task information management unit 2 when a route list is received.

13 is a diagram showing a task number stored in the task storage unit 3. FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a state in which a current location, a route list, and a destination are stored.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a processing example of a guidance sentence generation unit 7;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing a processing example of the task information management unit 2 when a sub destination list request is received.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a processing example of the task information management unit 2 when a sub destination designation request is received.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a state in which information on subtasks is stored in the task storage unit 3 in addition to information on tasks.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of contents of a task storage unit 3;

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the task storage unit 3 when the user has deviated from the guidance route.

FIG. 20 is a diagram showing an example of contents of a task storage unit 3 when a route list is deleted by a reroute process.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing the task storage unit 3 after the reroute processing is completed.
It is a figure showing the example of contents of.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing another example of the contents of the user profile 4;

FIG. 23 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a user profile 4a.

FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a map database 5a.

27 is a diagram showing a task number stored in the task storage unit 3. FIG. , User I
It is a figure showing the state where D, the present location, and the destination were registered.

FIG. 28 shows a base station 12 located at a place name “place 1”.
3 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a guidance sentence storage unit 10 in FIG.

FIG. 29 shows a base station 12 located at a place name “place 2”.
3 is a diagram showing an example of contents of a guidance sentence storage unit 10 in FIG.

FIG. 30 shows a base station 12 located at a place name “place 3”.
3 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a guidance sentence storage unit 10 in FIG.

FIG. 31 shows a base station 12 located at a place name “place 4”.
4 is a diagram showing an example of contents of a guidance sentence storage unit 10 in FIG.

FIG. 32 shows a base station 12 located at a place name “place 6”.
6 is a diagram showing an example of contents of a guidance sentence storage unit 10 in FIG.

FIG. 33 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration according to the first and second embodiments.

[Description of References] 1, 1a, 1b Communication unit 2, 2a Task information management unit 3, Task storage unit 4, 4a User profile 5, 5a Map database (map DB) 6, 6a Route search unit 7 , 7a, 7b guide text generators 71, 71b detail changer 72, 72b sentence generator 8, input / output means 9, position detection means 10, guide text storage unit 11, navigation server 12-1 to 12- n base station 121 base station wireless communication unit 122 data processing unit 123 server communication unit 124 base station ID transmitting unit 13 portable terminal 131 user ID transmitting unit 132 terminal wireless communication unit 331 computer 332 recording Medium 333: Storage device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2F029 AA02 AB07 AB13 AC02 AC08 AC09 AC13 AC14 5H180 AA01 BB04 CC12 EE01 FF05 FF13 FF22 FF25 FF32 FF33 FF38

Claims (15)

[Claims] 1. A mobile guidance apparatus for searching for a route to a destination and presenting the route to a user, comprising: a user profile storing a history of route movement of the user; and geographical information of a plurality of landmarks. And a route search unit that searches for a route to the destination based on the contents of the user profile and the contents of the map database. . 2. The geographic information stored in the map database includes a route cost of a plurality of landmarks to another landmark that can go straight from the landmark, and the route movement history stored in the user profile is ,
The route search unit corrects the route cost stored in the map database based on the number of visits related to the route cost, and uses the corrected route cost. The mobile object guidance device according to claim 1, further comprising a configuration for searching for a route to the destination where the route cost is minimized. 3. A position detecting means for detecting a current position of the user, and a natural language to be presented to the user at each landmark on the searched route based on the route searched by the route searching unit. A guidance sentence generating unit that generates a guidance sentence according to: a guidance sentence storage unit that stores each guidance sentence generated by the guidance sentence generation unit; based on a position detection result of the position detection unit, the user When the route search unit determines that the user has arrived at the landmark on the route searched, the guidance sentence to be presented to the user by the landmark is output from the guide sentence stored in the guidance sentence storage unit. The mobile object guidance device according to claim 1, further comprising: a communication unit; and input / output means for presenting a guidance sentence output from the communication unit to a user. 4. The guide sentence generating unit generates information necessary for generating a guide sentence of each level of detail based on the contents of the map database and the route searched by the route search unit. And a sentence generation unit that generates a guidance sentence of each level of detail based on the information generated by the detail level variation unit, wherein the communication unit stores each of the guidance sentences stored in the guidance sentence storage unit. The mobile object guidance device according to claim 3, further comprising a configuration for outputting a guidance message of the degree of detail requested by the user from among the guidance messages of the degree of detail. 5. A mobile guidance system comprising a mobile terminal carried by each of a plurality of users, a base station installed at each of a plurality of landmarks, and a navigation server for transmitting and receiving information to and from each of the base stations. An apparatus, wherein the navigation server comprises: a user profile in which a route movement history for each user is stored; a map database in which geographical information of each landmark is stored; and a user according to a request from the user. A route search unit that searches for a route to a destination based on the route movement history of the requesting user and the contents of the map database among the route movement histories stored in the profile; Based on the route to the requesting user searched by the search unit, the requesting source is located at each landmark on the searched route. A guide sentence generating unit that generates a guide sentence in a natural language to be presented to the user; and each guide sentence generated by the guide sentence generator is set as a landmark that presents the guide sentence to the requesting user. A communication unit that adds a user ID indicating that the message is a guidance message about the requesting user to the base station, and transmits the information from a mobile terminal carried by the user. A base station wireless communication unit that receives the received request and user ID and transmits a guidance message to the user, and transmits a request from the user received by the base station wireless communication unit to the navigation server. A server communication unit that receives a guidance message from the navigation server; a guidance message storage unit that stores the guidance message received by the server communication unit; When a user ID is received from a user, if a guidance message for the user is present in the guidance message storage unit, the guidance message is transmitted to a mobile terminal carried by the user using the base station wireless communication unit. An input / output means for inputting a request from a user and presenting a guidance sentence to the user; and a request from the input / output means and assignment to the own mobile terminal. And a portable wireless communication unit for receiving the guidance sent to the mobile terminal transmitted from the base station, and presenting the guidance to the user using the input / output unit. Mobile object guidance device. 6. The geographical information stored in the map database includes a route cost of each of a plurality of landmarks with respect to another landmark that can go straight from the landmark, and a route movement history stored in the user profile. Is
The route search unit includes the number of visits to a landmark for each user, and when searching for a route to a destination according to a request from a user, the route search unit calculates a route cost stored in the map database. A correction is made based on the number of visits related to the route cost of the requesting user, and a route to the destination where the route cost is minimized using the corrected route cost is configured to be searched. The mobile object guidance device according to claim 5, wherein 7. The detail sentence generating unit generates information necessary for generating a guide sentence of each detail level based on the contents of the map database and the route searched by the route search unit. And a sentence generation unit that generates a guidance sentence of each level of detail based on the information generated by the detail level change unit, wherein the data processing unit is stored in the guidance sentence storage unit. 6. The mobile object guidance device according to claim 5, further comprising: outputting a guidance message of the degree of detail requested by the user from among guidance messages of each level of detail for the requesting user. 8. A mobile object guidance method for searching for a route to a destination and presenting the route to a user, wherein a route movement history of the user is stored in a user profile, and the route to the destination is determined. When searching, a mobile object guidance method characterized by searching for a route to the destination based on the contents of the user profile and the contents of a map database storing geographical information of a plurality of landmarks. . 9. The map database stores, as geographical information, a route cost of each of a plurality of landmarks with respect to another landmark that can go straight from the landmark, and stores, as the route movement history in the user profile, When the number of visits to the landmark is stored and the route to the destination is searched, the route cost stored in the map database is corrected based on the number of visits related to the route cost, and the corrected 9. The mobile object guidance method according to claim 8, wherein a route to the destination at which the route cost is minimized is searched using the route cost. 10. A guide sentence in a natural language to be presented to the user at each landmark on the searched route based on the searched route, and the generated guide sentence is stored in a guide sentence storage unit. When the user arrives at a landmark on the searched route, a guidance sentence to be presented to the user with the landmark among the guidance sentence stored in the guidance sentence storage unit. The moving object guidance method according to claim 8, wherein the method is presented to a user. 11. When generating a guidance sentence, information necessary to generate a guidance sentence having a plurality of levels of detail is generated based on the contents of the map database and the searched route,
Further, a guidance message of each level of detail is generated based on the generated information, and when the guidance message stored in the guidance message storage unit is presented to the user, the guidance message of the degree of detail requested by the user is generated. The method according to claim 10, further comprising outputting. 12. The portable terminal, wherein the portable terminal is carried by a plurality of users, a base station is installed at each of the plurality of landmarks, and a navigation server for transmitting and receiving information to and from each of the base stations is installed. , The base station,
A mobile object guidance method for guiding a user to a destination by exchanging information with the navigation server, wherein the mobile terminal sends out a user ID assigned to the mobile terminal, The base station that has received the request among the base stations transmits a request from the user to the navigation server, and the navigation server transmits a request from the user via the base station. When receiving the, the route movement history for the user stored in the user profile where the route movement history for each user is stored, and the contents of the map database in which the geographic information of each landmark is stored A route to the destination based on the searched route, and then, based on the searched route, each of the routes on the searched route. A guidance message in a natural language to be presented to the requesting user at the demark, and furthermore, each generated guidance message is set to a location where the guidance message is presented to the requesting user. The base station receives the guidance message with the user ID added thereto, and transmits the guidance message to the guidance message storage unit. If the guidance message for the user is stored in the guidance message storage unit when the user ID is stored and received from the portable terminal carried by the user, the guidance message is stored in the portable terminal carried by the user. And the mobile terminal presents a guide sent to the user from the base station to the user. 13. The map database stores, as geographical information, a route cost of each landmark with respect to another landmark that can go straight from the landmark, and stores a route movement history for each user in the user profile. Storing the number of visits to the landmark, and searching for a route to the destination, the route cost stored in the map database is calculated as the number of visits related to the route cost of the requesting user. 13. The mobile object guidance method according to claim 12, wherein a route to the destination where the route cost is minimized is searched using the corrected route cost. 14. In the navigation server,
When generating guidance texts, information necessary to generate guidance texts of a plurality of levels of detail is generated based on the contents of the map database and the searched route, and further based on the generated information. The base station generates a guidance sentence of the degree of detail, and transmits the guidance sentence stored in the guidance sentence storage unit to a portable terminal carried by the user, the details requested by the destination user. The mobile object guidance method according to claim 12, wherein the guidance message of the degree is transmitted. 15. A computer having a user profile in which a route movement history of a user is stored and a map database in which geographical information of a plurality of landmarks is stored. A route search unit that searches for a route to the destination based on the position search unit; a position detection unit that detects the current position of the user; A guide sentence generating unit that generates a guide sentence in a natural language to be presented to the user at each landmark; a guide sentence storage unit that stores each guide sentence generated by the guide sentence generating unit; When the user determines that the user has arrived at a landmark on the route searched by the route search unit based on the detection result, A communication unit that outputs a guidance message to be presented to the user at the landmark among the guidance messages stored therein, and an input / output unit that presents the guidance message output from the communication unit to the user. A machine-readable recording medium that records a program.