JP2000180193A - Navigator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigator which can reflect regulation information obtained from outside for a route after the route is calculated. SOLUTION: After a route to a destination is calculated (S2), whether or not traffic information is received from the outside is judged (S3). When the received traffic information includes regulation information (YES in S6), regulation information data on a memory is updated (S7). If the regulation information indicates a regulation on the calculated route (YES in S8), a warning to a driver is generated (S9). Whether or not it is necessary to calculate the route again is judged (S10). If it is necessary, it is guided to the driver and the route is calculated again (S11 and S12).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation device, and more particularly to a navigation device capable of providing guidance in consideration of received regulation information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-095488 discloses that the latest map information such as terrain change, new road construction, or closed roads is acquired from the outside through communication, and the built-in map data is automatically updated to update the latest map data. A device capable of displaying a map is disclosed.

[0003] Also, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-178682 discloses that
A route calculation method using a bucket method is disclosed.

[0004]

However, the prior art merely records and updates the restriction information, such as road closures, obtained by communication from outside as map data, and receives the restriction information after the route calculation is performed. However, there is a problem that the information cannot be reflected on the calculated route.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device that can reflect obtained information on a calculated route.

[0006]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a navigation apparatus, comprising:
The information processing apparatus includes a calculating unit that calculates a route to a destination, an obtaining unit that obtains regulation information from outside, and a processing unit that performs data processing so that the obtained restriction information is reflected on the calculated route.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a navigation device in which the obtained regulation information is reflected on the calculated route.

[0008] Preferably, the navigation device further comprises a warning means for giving a warning when the obtained regulation information is information on the calculated route.

By giving a warning in this manner, it is possible to alert the driver that there is a regulation.

[0010] More preferably, the navigation device comprises:
Determining means for determining whether or not recalculation of the route to the destination is necessary when the control information is obtained by the obtaining means; and re-determining the route to the destination based on the determination result of the determining means. Recalculation means for performing calculation.

When the recalculation is performed as described above,
Even after the route is once calculated, a more accurate route to the destination can be obtained based on the obtained regulation information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a navigation device includes: an acquiring unit for acquiring a location where regulation information exists from outside; an identification unit for identifying a current position of a vehicle; Warning means for giving a warning when approaching.

According to the present invention, for example, even when the route is not calculated, the driver can be alerted when the vehicle approaches the place where the regulation information exists.

[0014]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an appearance of a traffic information providing system in one embodiment. Referring to the figure, a traffic information providing system includes a road beacon 100 installed on a road and a road beacon 100
And an information center 200 connected via a communication line (public line or dedicated line). The information center 200 stores link traffic information corresponding to a route network having a link (hereinafter, referred to as “traffic information link”) connecting major intersections as a constituent unit. The link traffic information includes regulation information such as road closure and one-way traffic.

The link traffic information is provided from the information center 200 to the road beacon 100 at regular intervals via a communication line. The link traffic information is transmitted from the road beacon 100 to the receiver 10 of the vehicle 300 by FM multiplex broadcasting.
Sent to

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific example of the regulation information included in the link traffic information. Referring to the figure, the regulation information includes a mesh number, a traffic information link number, a type of regulation information, a validity period start date and time, a validity period end date and time,
It consists of a start time and an end time.

The route network is divided into a plurality of areas by a mesh, and each area is assigned a mesh number. Each traffic information link is provided with a traffic information link number. In the columns of “mesh number” and “traffic information link number” of the regulation information shown in FIG. 2, the mesh number of the area to which the traffic information link subject to regulation belongs and the traffic subject to regulation The traffic information link number of the information link is recorded.

Further, the "kind of regulation information" shown in FIG.
In the column, the type of restriction (for example, whether the width is reduced, whether the road is closed, or the right turn is prohibited) is recorded.

In the "valid period start date and time" and "valid period end date and time" columns of FIG. 2, information (year, month, day, hour, and minute) indicating when the regulation is performed is recorded.

In the columns of "start time" and "end time" in FIG. 2, the time from when to when the regulation is performed in a day (or whether it is performed all day) is recorded.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle navigation device 1 mounted on the vehicle 300 and its auxiliary devices. Referring to the figure, a vehicle navigation device 1 displays a storage device 2 for storing road map data for display, road map data for route calculation, and the like, and displays a route (route) calculated superimposed on a road map. Display device 3
An input unit 4 for inputting a destination, etc., a vehicle speed sensor 5 for detecting a vehicle speed of the vehicle, a direction sensor 6 for detecting a direction in which the vehicle is facing, and a G for receiving a signal from a GPS satellite.
A PS receiver 7, a distance sensor 8 for detecting a distance traveled by the vehicle, a beacon receiver 9 for receiving traffic information from a beacon, an FM multiplex broadcast receiver 10, and a speaker for outputting a sound for warning and the like. 18 are connected.

Vehicle navigation device 1 has a memory control unit 11 for reading data from storage device 2, a display control unit 12 for controlling display device 3, and an input process for input processing from input unit 4. Unit 13, a vehicle position detecting unit 14 that detects a current position of the vehicle by receiving signals from a vehicle speed sensor 5, a direction sensor 6, a GPS receiver 7, and a distance sensor 8, and controls output of sound to a speaker 18. , A dynamic route calculation processing unit 16 that calculates a route from information on the current position of the vehicle and the destination, and traffic received via the FM multiplex receiver 10 and the beacon receiver 9. And a controller 17 for storing information (including regulation information).

The controller 17 includes a CPU 171 for controlling the controller 17, an SRAM 172,
AM 173 and a write /
And a readable storage device 174.

The storage device 2 stores display road map data and route calculation road map data as described above. The display road map data is data for causing the display device 3 to display a road map.

The route calculation map data is data of a route network used for calculating a route.
The route network data of the route calculation map data is also divided into a plurality of regions by the mesh. The route network data of the route calculation map data is
A link that connects a node corresponding to a road intersection or the like is used as a constituent unit. Since this link is different from the “traffic information link” in the information center 200 described above, it is distinguished by calling it “navi link”.

The storage device 2 stores a link length, a link travel time (link cost), a road type, regulation information, and the like corresponding to each of the navigation links.

When various calculation conditions such as a destination are input by the driver via the input unit 4, the input destination data and the like are stored in the DRAM 173. The route calculation map data is read from the storage device 2. A route between the navigation link closest to the destination and the navigation link closest to the current position detected by the vehicle position detection unit 14 is calculated using, for example, a bucket method or the like, while taking into account the regulation information of each navigation link. Is done. The calculated route is superimposed and displayed on the road map displayed on the display device 3.

Further, there may be a case where a road is newly closed due to road construction or a new traffic regulation is added. In order to utilize such restriction information for route calculation, it is not sufficient to use only the restriction information of each navigation link stored in the storage device 2. Therefore, when the above-mentioned regulation information is provided from the road beacon 100, the regulation information data is updated by storing the information in the writable storage device 174. If the new regulation is on the calculated route, that fact is warned, and if necessary, the route calculation is performed again. If the storage device 2 is writable, such information may be stored in the storage device 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of the route calculation road map data stored in the storage device 2. Referring to the figure, the route calculation road map data is obtained from the mesh number, the navigation link number, the link length, the travel time, the road type, and the pointer to the regulation information given to each of the navigation links. Be composed.

The mesh number indicates the mesh number of the area to which the navigation link belongs, and the navigation link number indicates the number assigned to the navigation link. The link length indicates the actual length of the navigation link. The travel time indicates the average travel time of the navigation link. The road type indicates whether the road indicated by the navigation link is a national road or a prefectural road. The pointer to the regulation information is a pointer indicating at which address of the storage device 174 the regulation information for the navigation link is written.

FIG. 5A is a diagram showing a specific example of the regulation information stored in the storage device 174. Storage device 17
4, only the regulation information received from the outside such as the road beacon 100 is recorded. The regulation information shown in FIG. 5A corresponds to the regulation information indicated by the pointers to the five regulation information shown in FIG.

Referring to FIG. 5A, the restriction information includes the presence or absence of the restriction information in the navigation link, the number of the restriction information, and a pointer to the contents of the restriction information. The pointer to the content of the restriction information specifies at which address of the storage device 174 the content of the restriction information is stored.

FIG. 5B is a diagram showing a specific example of the contents of the regulation information stored in the storage device 174. Referring to the figure, the content of regulation information is the content (type) of regulation information.
, Valid period start date and time, valid period end date and time, start time and end time. This data is the same as the data included in the regulation information (FIG. 2) received from the road beacon 100.

According to the data shown in FIGS. 4 and 5A and 5B, the width of the link with the navigation link number "0365" is restricted and the right turn is prohibited with the link of "0366". It is specified what is being done.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conversion table stored in the storage device 2. The conversion table associates the traffic information link with the navigation link. That is, the mesh number and the traffic information link number of the traffic information link, and the mesh number and the navigation link number of the corresponding navigation link are stored in association with each other.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation performed in the vehicle navigation device 1. In this flowchart, a process is performed in the case where regulation information not stored in the storage device 2 is obtained from the road beacon 100. Hereinafter, processing performed in each step will be described.

(Step S1) When the vehicle engine is started and the vehicle navigation device 1 is turned on, the vehicle navigation device 1 checks the regulation information data stored in the storage device 174, and the time limit has passed. If there is regulatory information, delete it from the data. Here, it is assumed that the data of FIG. 4 is stored in the storage device 2 as the road map data for route calculation, and the data shown in FIG. 5 is stored in the storage device 174 as the regulation information data.

The data of the regulation information in FIG. 5 is data obtained by the reception from the road beacon 100 performed before.

(Step S2) After inputting various route calculation conditions, the driver inputs a route calculation instruction signal. Then, the vehicle navigation device 1 becomes the storage device 2
From the storage device 174 and the route calculation map data from the storage device 174 to perform the route calculation.

(Step S3) During traveling of the vehicle, the vehicular navigation device 1 always determines whether or not traffic information is received.

(Step S4) If no traffic information has been received, it is determined whether the vehicle has reached a predetermined point for route guidance, for example, an intersection on the route, on the assumption that the route has been calculated. It is determined whether or not.

(Step S5) If it is determined that the vehicle has arrived at the predetermined point, the driver is instructed to the driver on the shape of the intersection and the direction to guide by using the display screen of the display device 3 or the voice from the speaker 18.

(Step S6) If it is determined in step S3 that traffic information has been received while the vehicle is running, it is determined whether or not the traffic information includes regulation information.

(Step S7) If the regulation information is included, it is determined whether the received regulation information is already stored in the storage device 174 by referring to the regulation information data stored in the storage device 174. Is done. Then, if the received regulation information is not stored in the storage device 174, addition and updating of the regulation information to the storage device 174 are performed.

For example, when the received traffic information is the information shown in FIG. 2, the traffic information is stored in the storage device 174 while referring to the conversion table between the traffic information link and the navigation link shown in FIG. 5 is updated as shown in FIG.

That is, for example, the mesh number “1036” of the regulation information and the traffic information link numbers “0156” and “0157” of FIG. The numbers are converted into numbers “0364” and “0365”.

The links specified by these navigation link numbers correspond to the links indicated by and in FIGS. 4 and 5 (A), and thus the received restriction information is added to the information of the link.

As a result, the data shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B are converted as shown in FIGS. 8A and 8B. That is,
The number of cases of the link restriction information has increased from “0” to “1”, and the number of cases of the link restriction information has increased from “1” to “2”. As a result, the value of the pointer to the content of the regulation information is also changed. That is, the contents of the two pieces of regulation information (“decrease in width” and “no traffic”) correspond to the link.

(Step S8) It is determined whether the received regulation information is related to the route calculated in step S2.

(Step S9) If the regulation information relates to the calculated route, the driver is informed of the fact. For example, using the speaker 18, a warning such as “Please note that there are traffic restrictions in the section from XX to XX on the route.”

(Step S10) If the regulation information at step S9 is information such as "no traffic", it is necessary to recalculate the route calculated at step S2. In step S10, it is determined whether or not the route needs to be recalculated.

(Step S11) If the route needs to be recalculated, the driver is notified of this. For example, the speaker 18 outputs a voice such as "The section between XX and XX on the route is closed, so the route is requested again."

(Step S12) The route is recalculated in consideration of the newly received regulation information.

As described above, according to the navigation device in the present embodiment, the regulation information obtained after the route (route) is calculated is reflected on the route, so that a preferable route can be obtained.

Further, when there is a restriction on the route, a warning and a recalculation of the route are automatically performed, so that the usability is good.

Even if the route has not been calculated, the vehicle navigation device 1 obtains the location where the regulation information exists from the outside, identifies the current position of the vehicle, and moves the vehicle closer to the location where the regulation information exists. A warning can be issued when

For example, referring to FIG. 9, when the current position of the vehicle (own vehicle position) approaches a restricted (traffic prohibited) link, a warning is issued from speaker 18 as "Walk straight ahead at next intersection." Please turn right or left. "You can warn the driver of the restriction information by outputting a voice. By issuing such a warning, the driver can easily know the regulation information at the destination of the vehicle.

It should be noted that the embodiment disclosed this time is an example in all respects and is not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a traffic information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a specific example of regulation information included in link traffic information.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle navigation device 1 mounted on a vehicle 300 and an accessory device thereof.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a specific example of route calculation road map data stored in a storage device 2;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a specific example of regulation information data stored in a storage device 174.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conversion table stored in a storage device 2.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation performed by the vehicle navigation device 1.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a specific example of regulation information stored in a storage device 174 after an update has been performed.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a vehicle approaches a regulated link.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 vehicle navigation device 2 storage device 9 beacon receiver 10 FM multiplex broadcast receiver 16 dynamic route calculation processing unit 17 controller 100 road beacon 174 storage device 200 information

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A calculating means for calculating a route to a destination, an obtaining means for obtaining control information from outside, and a data processing so that the obtained control information is reflected on the calculated route. Carrying out processing means,
Navigation device. 2. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a warning unit that issues a warning when the obtained regulation information is information on the calculated route. 3. A determining means for determining whether or not a route to the destination needs to be recalculated when the restriction information is obtained by the obtaining means, and based on a result of the determination by the determining means. 3. The navigation device according to claim 1, further comprising: recalculation means for recalculating a route to the destination. An acquisition unit for acquiring a location where the regulation information exists from outside; an identification unit for identifying a current position of the vehicle; and a warning for giving a warning when the vehicle approaches the location where the regulation information exists. And a navigation device.