JP2000230832A - Route guidance apparatus for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a route guidance apparatus for a vehicle which can effectively adjust the sound volume of guidance speech. SOLUTION: When guidance speech is supplied to a speaker 34a, a voice control part 30 separates the speaker 34a from an audio device 40, and outputs the guidance speech from the audio device. An input concerning voice adjustment is inputted by image plate touch while the adjustment picture image is displayed on a display part 28. When a signal is switched over to the speaker 34a by the voice control part 30, a voice output is switched over in the state that the voice output is eliminated, in order to operate a mute circuit 40a.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a route guidance device for a vehicle which performs route guidance by voice, and more particularly to a volume control thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various devices for reducing the burden on a driver have been studied and are now mounted on vehicles. Among them, there is a route guidance device for guiding a route to a destination. This route guidance device has a function of notifying a driver of a route to be selected when passing through a junction such as an intersection, and a device that guides the driver by voice is known.

On the other hand, a vehicle is usually equipped with audio equipment such as a radio, a TV, and a cassette deck, and is provided with audio output means such as a speaker. For this reason,
It is considered preferable that sound for route guidance is also output from an audio speaker. The route guidance by voice is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-1-17819.

[0004]

However, the properties of the output from the audio device and the guidance voice for route guidance are completely different. That is, the purpose of the guidance voice is only to hear the content, but the output from the audio device may be music or the like, and the purpose is not always to hear the content clearly. Therefore,
It is not preferable to set the same volume as the audio equipment.
Also, the ease of hearing the guidance voice depends on the size of the running noise,
It changes depending on the influence of the environment inside the vehicle, such as the level of the output from the audio device, and there is also an individual difference in the desired volume of the guidance voice.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a vehicular route guidance apparatus capable of effectively adjusting the volume of a guidance voice.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a vehicular route guidance apparatus for outputting route guidance by voice from a speaker for audio equipment such as a radio, and a guidance voice for generating a guidance voice signal for route guidance. A generating unit, amplifying means for amplifying and outputting a guide voice signal from the guide voice generating unit to a predetermined signal level, and volume setting means for setting an output signal level from the amplifying means by an external operation. A switch for selecting one of an output from an audio device and an output from the amplifying unit and supplying the selected switch to the speaker; and switching the switch at a timing of outputting a guide voice to output a guide voice from the speaker. And a control unit, wherein the volume of the guidance voice output from the speaker can be adjusted independently of the volume of the output from the audio device. At the same time, the audio device has a sound volume adjusting means at an output stage thereof, and the control unit controls the sound volume adjusting means prior to switching of a switch to mute an output signal from the audio device. Features.

[0007] In addition, a plurality of speakers are provided, and a signal supplied to one of the speakers is switched by the switch.

[0008] A speaker to which a signal is supplied via the switch is arranged on the driver's seat side.

[0009]

As described above, in the present invention, the speaker is shared by the audio equipment and the route guidance device, but the volume of the guidance sound is adjusted independently. Therefore, it is possible to perform the route guidance by voice at a volume suitable for the user's preference. Furthermore, after muting the output from the audio,
By switching to the output of the guidance voice, it is possible to prevent the generation of a pop sound at the time of switching.

Further, by using only one of the plurality of speakers for outputting the guidance voice, the guidance voice can be confirmed while listening to the output of audio equipment such as music.

Further, by outputting the guidance voice from the speaker on the driver's seat side, the driver can easily hear the guidance voice.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present apparatus. A map information storage unit 10 that stores information such as roads, place names (intersection names), building names, and river names is provided, and the stored map information can be read as needed. I have. In addition, a satellite navigation system (hereinafter referred to as GPS) for measuring the current position of the vehicle
A GPS receiver 14 that uses the GPS receiver 14, a direction sensor 16 that detects the traveling direction of the vehicle based on the geomagnetism, and a distance sensor 17 that detects the traveling distance based on the number of rotations of the wheels. The current position measuring unit 12 determines the current position of the vehicle based on the detection result. Further, information from the steering sensor 19 is also input, and is used for map matching or the like in which the current position is corrected to the position of the intersection on the map when the intersection turns right or left.

When performing route guidance to a destination, the destination is instructed on a screen of a display unit to be described later by the input unit 18 or is input by a place name or the like, and the current position calculated by the current position measuring unit 12 is calculated. The route from the position to the destination is calculated by the route calculation unit 22 included in the arithmetic control unit 20, and the calculated route is stored in the route storage unit 24. Note that an appropriate route search method is employed for calculating the route.

After inputting the destination and determining the route, actual route guidance is performed. The route guidance unit 26 included in the arithmetic control unit 20 reads the map information around the own vehicle from the map information storage unit 10 and superimposes the current position and traveling direction of the own vehicle with the route stored in the route storage unit 24. Is displayed on the display unit 28.

The display unit 28 is provided in an instrument panel near the driver's seat.
To check the position of the vehicle and obtain information about the future route. FIG. 2 shows an example of this display. In FIG. 2, the selected route is indicated by a thick solid line 100, and the other roads are indicated by a thin solid line 102. The position of the host vehicle is indicated by a circle 104 and the traveling direction is indicated by a wedge-shaped arrow 106. For road markings,
The distinction can be made not only by the line thickness but also by changing the color.

At the intersection 10 where the position of the own vehicle is to be re-routed
When the distance approaches 8, the display screen changes as shown in FIG. 3, and the intersection name 110 and the distance 112 to the intersection are displayed. At the same time as the display switching, the route guidance unit 26 instructs the voice control unit 30 to generate a voice corresponding to the route guidance at the intersection. The voice control unit 30 includes a voice storage unit 32
The information stored as digital data is read out, converted into an analog signal, and the speaker 34 is driven. Then, from the speaker 34, "about 300 m ahead **
* Turn left at the intersection. And the like, and instruct the driver to guide the route. This voice instruction is performed at predetermined intervals until the vehicle passes through the intersection. For example, when traveling on a road with two or more lanes, the first time 700 m before the intersection,
The final guidance will be provided 300m before the second 100m. These guidance voices are stored in the voice storage unit 32 as digital data for each phrase. Therefore, when outputting a guidance voice, a plurality of voices are read out and synthesized into a phrase, and a speaker 34 is used as a guidance signal.
Output from The output timing of the guidance voice is detected by the route guidance unit 26, and the voice control unit 30 performs processing for voice output.

In the present embodiment, the display unit 28 has a screen constituted by a touch panel.
Function as That is, the driver can input data by touching a place name or the like displayed on the display unit 28. The input unit 18 includes a menu key 18a for returning to a menu screen for selecting a process such as inputting a destination and adjusting a volume, and a map key 18 for displaying a map.
b, a current location / guidance key 18c for returning to a screen displaying the current location or requesting guidance in that state, an air conditioner key 18d for displaying an air conditioner adjustment screen, an audio key 18e for displaying an audio adjustment screen, and the like. Is provided.

In this embodiment, voice guidance is output using an audio speaker 34. That is, there are four speakers 34 for audio, and one of them (the right front speaker 34 arranged on the driver's seat side).
a) is used for guidance voice. For this reason, the output from the audio 40 is connected to three speakers 34, but the right front speaker 34 a is connected to the audio 40 via the audio control unit 30. Therefore, when the voice control unit 30 does not output the guidance voice,
The output from the audio 40 is supplied as it is to the speaker 34a.
0 instead of the output from the speaker 34a.
To supply. Therefore, the audio output from the speaker 34a is stopped, and the guidance voice is output from here.
The three speakers other than the speaker 34a in the speaker 34 are not affected by the output of the guidance voice.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration for outputting an audio signal from the audio control unit 30. The digital audio data read out from the audio storage unit 32 is temporarily stored in a RAM (not shown) or the like, and after being subjected to a process such as phrase synthesis, is converted into serial data as a D / A converter 30a.
And converted into an analog audio signal. Then, the analog audio signal is amplified by the amplifier 30b to a predetermined magnitude specified by the volume signal, and supplied to the switch 30c. That is, the amplifier 30b amplifies the signal at a constant rate, but the attenuation rate for the output signal is determined by the volume signal.
As a result, an output signal having a level corresponding to the volume signal is obtained.

The switch 30c selects one of an audio signal and a guidance voice from the amplifier 30b and supplies it to the speaker 34a. Normally, the switch 30c supplies an audio signal to the speaker 34a. ing. Only when the guidance voice is output, the amplifier 3
Select the signal from 0b. This switching is performed by the voice control unit 30 based on a signal from the route guidance unit 26.

The magnitude of the output signal from the amplifier 30b is determined by the volume signal input thereto. The volume signal is determined by touching the volume adjustment display displayed on the display unit 28. That is, the menu screen of the display unit 28 is as shown in FIG. 5, and there is a display for audio adjustment at the bottom of the menu screen. By touching the display of "OFF", the attenuation rate becomes 128 dB, and by touching the display of "small", the amount of attenuation in the amplifier 30b is changed in a direction to increase by a predetermined amount, and the display of "large" is displayed. By touching, the amount of attenuation is changed in a direction to decrease by a predetermined amount.

Between the display "low" and the display "high", there are seven levels of display of the volume, and the volume can be set corresponding to this display. That is, by touching the display “small” and the display “large”, the attenuation rate is 2, 6, 1
The amplifier 3 is set to 4, 18, 22, 26, and 30 dB.
The volume signal supplied to 0b is changed, and the volume can be adjusted.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the speaker 34
Although a is shared with the audio, the volume adjustment is completely independent, and the driver can set the volume of the guidance voice to his or her preference by adjusting the volume on the menu screen.

Further, in this embodiment, a mute circuit 40a is provided at the output stage of the audio 40. Then, the voice control unit 30 outputs the guidance voice, that is, prior to switching of the switch 30c, the mute circuit 30c.
To operate the circuit to attenuate the signal supplied to the speaker 34a. For this reason, when the switch 30c is switched, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a pop noise. When the output of the guidance voice is completed, the switch 30c is switched to the audio side, and then the mute by the mute circuit 40a is released. As a result, the audio output of the right front speaker 34a is restored.

The menu screen can be displayed at any time by pressing the menu key 18a, and the volume can be adjusted when desired.

[0027]

As described above, according to the vehicle route guidance apparatus of the present invention, the volume of the guidance voice can be adjusted independently of the volume of the audio. Therefore, route guidance can be performed at a volume that suits the user's preference. Furthermore, by muting the output from the audio and then switching to the output of the guidance voice, it is possible to prevent a pop sound from occurring at the time of voice switching. Furthermore, the driver can easily hear the guidance voice by outputting the guidance voice from the speaker on the driver's seat side.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of route guidance.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of route guidance near an intersection.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration for audio output of an audio control unit 30;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a sound adjustment display on a menu screen.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 map information storage unit 20 arithmetic control unit 30 voice control unit 34 speaker 40 audio

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) // G09B 29/10 G10L 3/00 Q (72) Inventor Yuki Morimoto 10 Takane, Fujiimachi, Anjo-shi, Aichi Prefecture Address Aisin AW Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toru Ito 1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Inside Toyota Motor Co., Ltd. (72) Koji Kishi 1 Toyota Town Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Toyota Motor Stock In company

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A route guidance device for a vehicle for outputting route guidance by voice from a speaker for an audio device such as a radio, comprising: a guidance voice generating unit for generating a guidance voice signal for route guidance; Amplifying means for amplifying the guidance voice signal from the unit to a predetermined signal level and outputting the amplified signal; volume setting means for setting an output signal level from the amplifying means by an external operation; and output from an audio device. A changeover switch for selecting any one of the outputs of the amplifying means and supplying the selected sound to the speaker; and a control unit for switching the switch at a timing of outputting the guidance sound and outputting the guidance sound from the speaker. The volume of the guidance voice output from the speaker can be adjusted independently of the volume of the output from the audio device. The audio device has a volume adjusting unit in an output stage thereof, and the control unit controls the volume adjusting unit and mutes an output signal from the audio device before switching the switch. Route guidance device for vehicles. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of speakers, wherein a signal supplied to one of the plurality of speakers is switched by the switch. 3. The vehicle route guidance device according to claim 2, wherein a speaker to which a signal is supplied via the switch is disposed on a driver's seat side.