JP2000258172A - Information presenting system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable considerable map information services to be provided even if a memory at the terminal becomes little or detailed maps cannot be downloaded. SOLUTION: A server 1302 comprises a retrieval engine 403 for retrieving a map from a map DB 405, based on a destination and the current position transmitted from a terminal 1306, a route calculator 406 for calculating a route leading to the destination, a map display position setting unit 408 for determining a spot where a guide route information contg. map data is to be down- loaded on the terminal 1306, based on the calculated route, and a curtail judging unit 412 for curtailing information to be transmitted, based on terminal information from the terminal 1306. This judging unit 412 has a priority defining table for defining the priority of each map element information contained in the map DB 405.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information terminal for accessing a network and a server system for providing the information. In particular, the present invention relates to accessing information on the Internet in various places such as at home, in a moving body such as a car, or while walking. The present invention relates to an information providing system including an information terminal capable of performing the information processing and a server that provides information in a form optimal for a place where the terminal is used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art JP-A-10-105053 and JP-A-7-262494 disclose network type map information providing systems (first and second prior arts). In the first related art, the map information is received in a predetermined area unit, and the map information of the next area is received before the vehicle departs from the area. After receiving the map information of the next area, the map data used before that is deleted. In the second related art, route information is stored in a center, and main information near the current location of the terminal is transmitted to the terminal based on the current location information and the destination location information transmitted from the terminal.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-122885 discloses a navigation device (third conventional technique). In the third conventional technique, a travel route is input from a route input computer to the navigation system body. When approaching a junction, the navigation system obtains a junction direction based on the travel route and the current location.

A navigation device is also disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-332993 (fourth prior art). The fourth conventional technique includes means for detecting an intersection in the middle of a recommended route, an intersection having a complicated shape, and the like.

[0005]

However, in the first prior art, the entire map of the next area is downloaded when approaching a break in the map. It is considered impossible. In this prior art, an example of erasing a used map is disclosed, but it is not before downloading the map data of the next area, so that it cannot be a measure for memory shortage. In addition, since the download is performed after approaching the break of the map, the user cannot refer to the map, for example, when the download cannot be performed at a place where communication is not possible such as in a tunnel or the like. In addition, even when the map is not always necessary, for example, when the user needs to follow the road, the map is downloaded, and the communication fee is considered to be high.

In the second prior art, a map near the current location of the terminal is downloaded from the server based on the location information of the terminal. Therefore, similarly to the first prior art, when a communication failure occurs at the time of downloading, Can not be downloaded to the map. Further, there is no description about how to deal with a case where the memory on the terminal side is insufficient, and it is considered that it is impossible to cope with a shortage of memory of the terminal.

In the third and fourth prior arts described above, since data of a map database held by a terminal is used,
Inability to respond to map updates such as adding or closing roads. Particularly, in the fourth prior art, the important point is only used for the enlarged display of the map, and if a change such as the addition of a road is made at the important point, the user is confused. Also, an external storage device for storing the map database is required, which makes the system expensive and
The package gets bigger.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has a server and a terminal mounted on a vehicle, which can provide a map information providing service from a server more efficiently and at a lower price. It is an object to provide an information providing system comprising:

Another object of the present invention is to provide means for preventing a burden on communication between a server and a terminal from increasing.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a means for optimizing the timing of downloading from a server in an information providing system.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a terminal mounted on a vehicle for guiding a route to a destination, and information including at least map data used for the route guidance to the terminal. In the information providing system including a server device that provides information, at least one of the terminal device and the server device determines a timing at which information including at least the map data is to be transmitted from the server device to the terminal device. It is characterized by comprising information provision timing determining means.

[0012] Here, the information provision timing determining means, for example, utilizing the position of the own vehicle, when the own vehicle reaches a preset position, sends information including at least the map data from the server device. The timing for downloading to the terminal is determined. Further, the information provision timing determining means uses at least one of resource information available at the time of the terminal device and information on a guidance route to a destination, and at least information including the map data. May be determined.

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, in an information providing system, one of the server device and the terminal device acquires resource information of the terminal device at that time, Means for calculating an information amount of information including at least the map data in accordance with the resource information, wherein the server device generates information to be transmitted to the terminal in accordance with the calculated information amount It is characterized by the following.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 13 shows an example of the overall configuration of the information providing system according to the present embodiment. In the system of the present embodiment, a server 1302 and a provider 1304 are connected to an Internet network 1301.
The terminal 1306 is provided in the vehicle 1305 and has a function of receiving a signal from a GPS satellite 1307 and detecting the current location. The server 1302 provides map data in response to a request from the terminal 1306. Terminal device 130
Reference numeral 6 denotes a mobile phone connected to a provider 1304 via a telephone network 1303 to access an Internet network 1301, and, for example, a server 1 according to the position of a terminal 1306.
The map is downloaded from 302.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of the terminal 1306 in the present embodiment.

The terminal 1306 includes a memory unit 101, a GPS unit 102, and a position determination unit 10 as shown in FIG.
3, input device 104, processing device 105, display control device 1
06, map display determination device 107, external storage device 108,
A communication device 109 and an audio output device 110 are provided.

The terminal 1306 receives data from the server 1302 through the communication device 109. The received data is stored in the memory unit 101 or the external storage device 108, and is used later.

The GPS unit 102 is for grasping the position of the vehicle 1305, and measures the latitude and longitude of the position of the vehicle 1305. Based on the latitude / longitude information measured by the GPS unit 102, the position determination device 103 calculates on which road and where it is. That is, the map information and the latitude / longitude information are mapped.

The map display judging device 107 judges whether or not the current position is a point where the map should be downloaded.

The display control device 106 sends display data to a display device already provided in the automobile. In the present embodiment, the terminal does not include the display device, but may have a configuration including the display device.

The input device 104 is used to input a destination and the like. As the input device 104, a remote controller is generally used. However, a tablet for handwriting input may be used instead of the remote control. Audio output device 11
0 outputs a message from the terminal 1306 or the server 1302 by voice.

Next, the processing process of the terminal 1306 and the server 1302 will be described with reference to FIG.

In this processing process, first, the terminal 1306
GPS unit 102 measures the position of the vehicle 1305 (step 201). Next, the user operates the terminal 1306 to set a destination, and the destination is stored in the memory 101 or the external storage device 108 (step 202).

Here, the reason why the destination is held by the terminal 1306 is to save the user from having to re-enter the destination when the car engine is turned off and restarted on the way. Setting the destination every time the power of the terminal 1306 is turned off by turning off the engine is burdensome for the user. Also, when the route is recalculated when it deviates from the original route, it is burdensome to set the destination each time. If the destination is held, it is known that the route is in the middle of the route. If the destination is not held, the destination is newly set instead of the route.

Next, using the communication device 109, the vehicle 130
The position and the destination of No. 5 are transmitted to the server 1302 (step 203). Note that a mobile phone is assumed as the communication device 109 here. At this time, it is assumed that the terminal 1306 has a function of automatically making a call to the server 1302 and automatically hanging up after the transmission is completed.

The server 1302 receives the position of the vehicle 1305 and the destination, and calculates a route to the destination (step 209). For the position and destination of the vehicle 1305, the latitude and longitude are transmitted to the server 1302, or the name of the place is transmitted and the server 1302 converts them into latitude and longitude.

Next, the terminal 1306 calculates a position at which a map is to be displayed (hereinafter referred to as a map display position) (step 210). As the map display position, for example, an intersection at which the car should turn is extracted. However, even at an intersection, if it is sufficient to go straight on the road, the map does not need to be downloaded, so that the map display position is not used in this case. In addition, not only intersections but also interchanges to be reached on expressways may be used as map display positions. Further, a point where a vehicle enters a road other than the same road name is also a map display position.
Alternatively, the existing navigation system may be configured to obtain the map display position by using a method of recognizing an intersection to be turned.

After calculating the route and the map display position, the server 1302 sends them to the terminal 1306 (step 211).

The terminal 1306 receives them and stores them in the memory unit 101 (step 204). The received route information is used to confirm whether the position of the vehicle 1305 is not off the route. At this point, the preparation is completed.

When the vehicle is running, the GPS unit 102 always measures the position of the vehicle 1305 (step 205).
The processing is executed according to the position of the vehicle 1305. Server 1
The map display position received from 302 is compared with the position of the own vehicle 1305, and the map display position, the map enlarged display point,
Determine whether it is a destination or other. If it is determined that it is out of the route, the process returns to step 203.

In the vicinity of the map display position, the communication device 10
9, the map data around the map display position is stored in the server 1
302. Specifically, when approaching the map display position, the server 1302 is automatically called to send a map data request to the server 1302 (step 213).
The server 1302 searches for a map corresponding to the request (step 214), determines the type of the requested map (step 215), and transmits a map of a preset default scale in the case of default. (Step 216) In the case of enlargement, an enlarged map is transmitted (Step 217).

The terminal 1306 receives the map data sent from the server 1302, and automatically terminates the call when the reception is completed. At this time, the server 1302 may determine from which user the data has been received based on the telephone number of the mobile phone. The received data is displayed on a display device (not shown) through the display control device 106 (step 206). When the position of the vehicle 1305 further approaches the map display position, the map is further enlarged and displayed (step 207).

This function can be enlarged by the terminal 1306 if the map data is vector data. On the other hand, if the map data is image data, the terminal 1306 cannot enlarge the map data, and thus requests the server 1302 for the enlarged map data.

When the vehicle reaches the destination, all the processes are completed. At this time, the route information and the destination stored in the terminal 1306 are deleted (step 212).

If it is another place, the display on the display device is deleted (step 208). That is, there is no need to display anything if the user is away from the map display position or destination. However, in addition to deleting the display, the vehicle 1305
May be displayed as information related to a landmark near the position of.

Further, it is not always necessary to download the map when the user arrives at the map display position. For example, if the terminal device 1306 comes to the position just before the map display position,
Tell them you want to download the map. In this method, a window 1601 is displayed, for example, as shown in FIG. At the same time, a sound such as "Download the map of the next area" may be played. On the other hand, if the user does nothing, the terminal 1306 starts downloading the map. If the user tells the input device 104 to cancel in any way, the download is not performed. As the input device 104, a remote controller or the like can be used.

The above-described processing is executed while the power of the terminal 1306 is turned on. For example, when the car engine is turned off, such as when taking a break in the middle of a route, the power of the terminal device 1306 may be turned off. Therefore, when the engine is restarted, it is checked whether the destination is held in the terminal 1306. If it is held, it means that the destination has not been reached, and the process is restarted from step 205. If the destination is not held, the process starts from step 201.

FIG. 3 shows an example of display transition in this embodiment.

The screen 301 is a display example when the vehicle is traveling straight along the road. Nothing is shown here,
Information related to a landmark near the position of the vehicle 1305 may be displayed. Examples of the landmark include a restaurant and the like. Information issued from a restaurant, for example, a menu or a price may be received and displayed on the display device.

The screen when approaching the map display position is the screen 302. Whether the vehicle has approached the map display position can be determined based on whether the distance between the position of the vehicle 1305 and the map display position is within a certain range. This can be obtained only by calculating the distance between the vehicle position 304 measured by the GPS unit 102 and the map display position 305. In this image example, the arrow 306 further indicates the direction in which the vehicle should travel. In the case of the screen 302, a left turn is shown from the map display position 305.

Further, when the user approaches the map display position 305, the vicinity of the intersection is further enlarged and displayed as in the screen 303. Also on the screen 303, the own vehicle position 304, the arrow 306
Is displayed. Also in the case of this enlarged display, the terminal 130
6 receives the vector data, the terminal device 1306 can enlarge the vector data. On the other hand, when the image data is received, the enlarged map is downloaded from the server 1302.

After the display is enlarged, when the vehicle turns at an intersection to be turned, the display of the map is terminated and the screen display is erased.
While the vehicle is on the road, nothing is displayed or information on landmarks is displayed.
Alternatively, a schematic map of the vicinity may be displayed as shown in FIG. This is similar to the above.

In order to display information about a landmark when approaching the landmark, the terminal 1306 needs to know the location of the landmark in advance, and therefore needs to receive the information from the server 1302 in advance. Then, it is necessary to constantly measure the position of the own vehicle to determine whether or not the vehicle has approached a landmark.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of the server 1302.

The server 1302 of this example is a communication device 40
1. Input receiving unit 402, search engine 403, member information database 404, map database 405, route calculation unit 406, image development unit 407, map display position determination unit 408, HTML conversion unit 409, charging control unit 410,
An image / vector determination unit 411 and a thinning determination unit 412 are provided.

In the server 1302 of this example, the terminal 1
All requests from 306 are received through the communication device 401. For the received data, the input receiving unit 402 determines what data has been received.

When the member information is received, it is determined whether the member is a member who can access the server 1302. If the member is not accessible, the terminal 1306 is notified not to provide the subsequent service. Alternatively, provide only image map data.

The member information is sent to the charging control unit 410. The charging control unit 410 refers to the member information in the member information DB 404 to determine which member is to be charged,
D is stored in the terminal 1306.

When data relating to the position of the vehicle 1305 and the destination is transmitted from the terminal user, the data is transmitted to the input receiving unit 402 through the communication device 401 of the server 1302 as in the case of the user information. Own car 13
The position and destination of 05 are represented by latitude and longitude. The destination may be an area code or a postal code around the destination instead of the latitude / longitude. In this case, the data is converted into latitude / longitude at a predetermined location such as the input receiving unit 402.

The input receiving unit 402 passes the position of the vehicle 1305 and the latitude / longitude data of the destination to the search engine 403. The search engine 403 searches the map DB 405 for map data and includes the target map data. An index (Index) in the map DB 405 corresponding to the storage address of the existing mesh is returned. Map DB405
May be a commonly used map database. However, it is desirable to hold vector map data.

After the index is determined, the index is sent to the route calculation unit 406 to calculate the route from the position of the vehicle 1305 to the destination. After calculating the route,
The route data is sent to the map display position determination unit 408,
The terminal 1306 determines the position where the map is downloaded.

The image / vector determining unit 411 for determining the type of map to be transmitted determines whether to provide an image map or a vector map depending on whether the accessing user is a member. If it is a member, it provides vector map data, and if it is not a member, it provides image map data. When the vector map is provided, the terminal device 1306 can freely enlarge or reduce the size. Therefore, even if the user wants a map of a scale different from the provided map, it is not necessary to download the map from the server 1302 each time. The burden is reduced.

If it is a member, it receives the index from the search engine 403, further receives the route information from the route calculation unit 406, and sends the route information and the vector map data of the map DB 405 to the communication device 401. The communication device 401 transmits the data to the terminal 1306. If it is not a member, the image / vector determination unit 411 uses the map DB
405 index and route data into image development unit 4
07, and the image developing unit 407 generates image data. The image data is placed on the map data,
The route is displayed in an overlapping manner. Image development unit 40
The image data created in step 7 is converted to HTML data by the HTML conversion unit 409. The HTML data is transmitted to the terminal 1306 via the communication device 401.

When data is transmitted to terminal 1306, charging control section 410 calculates which member is charged and how much. For example, it is possible to charge for free of charge when providing image map data and charge for providing vector map data.

In the case of image map data, the received terminal 1306 is not very effective even if it has functions such as enlargement / reduction. Therefore, for example, the screen 302 of FIG.
In the case of switching from the screen 303 to the screen 303, two image maps are downloaded and displayed, and the communication load increases, so that the communication fee also increases. Therefore, when image map data is provided, a configuration may be adopted in which only the communication fee is charged and the service fee is not collected.

In the case of vector map data, once downloaded, the image can be freely enlarged or reduced. Therefore, for example, when switching from the screen 302 to the screen 303, it is not necessary to download the map again, and the burden of the communication fee is reduced. . In addition, if map data including information for enabling three-dimensional display is used, three-dimensional display of a map and the like can be performed, and the map can be displayed in an easily viewable manner. Therefore, a service fee may be collected from a user who benefits from the vector map data.

For the three-dimensional display of the map, an existing technique called “bird view” may be used. This technique displays two-dimensional information as if viewed from obliquely above, and has been put to practical use in existing car navigation systems. This can be applied to map data received from the server 1302.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the billing information held by billing control section 310.

As the billing information, a member ID 801, a data amount 802, a map type 803, and an access date and time 804 are held. Such billing information is collected together on a predetermined closing date to determine a billing amount, sent to a financial institution contracted by the user, and automatically deducted from the user's account and paid.

Data transmitted from terminal 1306 to server 1302 includes member information, own vehicle position, destination, and the like. FIG. 5 shows a protocol for transmitting these data. FIG. 5A is for transmitting the own vehicle position and the destination from the terminal device 1306 to the server 1302. In this case, the command 501, the member ID 502, the own vehicle position 503, the destination 504, and the terminal information 505 are transmitted as one packet. FIG. 5B shows the terminal device 130.
6 requests the server 1302 for map data. In this case, the command 501 and the member ID 50
2. The destination 504, the scale 506, and the terminal information 505 are transmitted as one packet.

In both protocols, a command is added at the head. The command types include a route calculation request and a map information request. A 1-byte character code may be used as the command identifier. The member ID 502 is always attached when transmitting any data to the server 1302. Alternatively, the mobile phone number may be used as the member ID without attaching the member ID 502.

If the command is a route calculation request, the route calculation request command, member ID 502, own vehicle position 503, destination 504, and terminal information 505 are sent to the server 1302 as one packet. The member ID 502 is the server 1
This is the ID of a member who can be provided with vector map data from 302. If the member is not a member, the member ID 502 is a numerical value that is not used as an ID, such as a negative number. The vehicle position 503 and the destination 504 are latitude and longitude.

If the command is a request for map information, the command 501, member ID 502, destination 504, scale 506
As one packet and transmits it to the server 1302. The member ID 502 and the destination 504 are as described above. The scale 506 represents the length of the map in the vertical and horizontal directions in meters. The server 1302 executes the above processing according to the command at the head of the received packet.

The member ID 502 is entered only once when the terminal 1306 is started up, using a screen as shown in FIG. A ten key 606 displayed at the bottom of the screen is used for inputting the member ID 502. The entered number is I
When it is displayed in the D field 601 and the OK button 602 is pressed, it is stored in the memory 101. Clear button 6
Pressing 02 clears the display of the ID field 601. When the end button 604 is pressed, the member ID stored in the terminal 1306 is deleted. The BS button 605 is a so-called back space, and erases characters displayed in the ID field 601 one by one from the right end.

Also, without inputting the member ID, the OK button 6
When 02 is pressed, an arbitrary negative number is set in the member ID,
Stored in the memory 101. Alternatively, the member ID 502
, The telephone number of the mobile phone used as the communication device 109 may be used as the member ID.

FIG. 12 shows a configuration example of the member information DB 404. The member information DB 404 has a name 1201, a member I
D1202, mobile phone number 1203, financial institution name 120
4, a contact 1205 is included.

Before using the system, the member ID 1202 is issued by the service center in advance. The mobile phone number 1203 is the number of a mobile phone used as the communication device 109. This mobile phone number does not issue a member ID,
When used in place of the member ID, the member DB 40
4, but it is not always necessary to issue a member ID. The financial institution name 1204 is the name of the financial institution contracted by the user, and is a financial institution for withdrawing the service fee. However, this is not necessary in the case where the service fee is not deducted but is transferred from the user. The contact information 1205 is a user address and a wired telephone number, and is an address to which a bill and a receipt for a service fee are sent.

The destination is input using the screen shown in FIG. To do so, not only the place name, but also the area code or postal code of the telephone number of the destination may be input. The telephone number is entered in the telephone number field 701 and the postal code is entered in the postal code field 702. The place name is entered in the place name field 703. You don't have to enter everything, just one. A ten key 709 is used to input a telephone number and a postal code. Hiragana key 70 for place name input
8 is used. Each time one character is input, a candidate place name is displayed, and it is possible to select from there.

Next, processing when resources such as the memory of the terminal 1306 are insufficient will be described. In this embodiment,
If the terminal 1306 has insufficient memory, the server 130
Reference numeral 2 denotes a case where the map data is thinned and transmitted to the terminal 1306.

When requesting map data from the server 1302, the terminal 1306 transmits information on the resources of the terminal 1306 together. If there is no particular problem with the resource, no information about the resource is transmitted, but if the resource is insufficient, a packet with the memory capacity of the terminal 1306 is transmitted. This packet is processed by the input receiving unit 302 as described above.

The thinning determination section 31 of the server 1302
2 refers to the memory capacity received from the terminal 1306 and, if thinning is necessary, thins out the map data to be transmitted to the terminal 1306 and sends the data to the communication device 301. As a result, even a terminal having a small memory can receive a certain service even if it cannot receive all data.

For thinning, in the case of vector map data, only the main road is transmitted, and data excluding other narrow roads is transmitted. In the case of image map data, an image with a reduced resolution is transmitted.

Further, not only the map data but also other information sent together with the map data, for example, information relating to route guidance, is transmitted by reducing the amount of data to such an extent that the erroneous guidance does not occur. It may be.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a flow for determining whether to transmit vector data or image data. FIG. 9 shows a flow that also considers whether the user is a member.

Upon receiving the data (step 901), the server 1302 checks the member ID (step 902).
Determine if you are a member. If it is a member, it checks the terminal information (step 903), and if the memory is sufficient, the map DB 4
The vector map data of step 05 is transmitted to the terminal 1306 as it is (step 905). If you run out of memory,
The thinned vector map data of the map DB 405 is transmitted to the terminal 1306 (step 906).

If the user is not a member, the terminal information is checked (step 904). If the memory is sufficient, the map DB 40
5 is generated at the default resolution from the map data of No. 5 and transmitted to the terminal 1306 (step 90).
7). If the memory is insufficient, the image data is generated at a lower resolution than the default, and transmitted to the terminal 1306 (step 908).

In the above-described embodiment, each time data is needed, it is connected to the server 1302 to receive the data. However, instead of receiving data each time, the position and destination of the vehicle 1305 are stored in the server 130.
2, the data may be collectively received. Hereinafter, another embodiment of the information providing system to which the present invention is applied will be described.

The system of this embodiment has basically the same configuration as the system of the above embodiment, except for the processing flow described in detail below. FIG. 10 shows a flow of the system of the present embodiment for receiving data collectively.

In the present process, first, the GPS unit 102
After measuring the position of 305 (step 1001), a destination is set and stored in the terminal 1306 (step 10).
02). Next, a mobile phone or the like is used to make the vehicle 1305
Is transmitted to the server 1302 (step 1003).

After receiving these data, the server 1302 calculates a route to the destination (step 1011),
The map display position is calculated (step 1012). In the present embodiment, the following processing is different from the above embodiment.

Next, a map to the destination is searched, and maps other than those near the map display position are thinned out (step 1013).
A map around the position of the vehicle 1305, route data, a map display position, and a map to the destination are transmitted to the terminal 1306 (step 1014).

After receiving these data, terminal 1306 stores the data in memory 101 (step 100).
4). In the map data transmitted at this time, only information on the road is transmitted when the road is straight, and detailed information is transmitted on the vicinity of an intersection to be turned.

For example, when heading from Hitachi to a destination in Tokyo, first pass the Joban Expressway or National Route 6,
Only terminal information of Joban Expressway or National Route 6
6 and the other parts are not transmitted. Then, when you get off the Joban Expressway or get off Route 6,
The server 306 requests the server 1302 to calculate a route to the destination and a map to the destination.
Send to 306.

Note that the destination is the same as described above.
It is assumed that the user inputs data when the terminal device 1306 starts up, and holds the data until the terminal device 1306 arrives at the destination.

After receiving the data from the server 1302, the GPS unit 102 measures the position of the own vehicle 1305 and executes a process corresponding to the position of the own vehicle 1305 (step 1005).

When approaching the map display position, the vicinity of the map display position is displayed based on the received map data (step 1006). When the user is further approached, the display is further enlarged (step 1007). However, this process can be performed only when the vector map data is received from the server 1302. Alternatively, when the memory of the terminal device 1306 is small, only the information of the road to be passed first is received and detailed data around the map display position is not received. May be deleted, and detailed data in the vicinity of the map display position (for example, a radius of 1 to 5 km from the map display position) may be received.

Here, the route near the map display position may be calculated by the server 1302. If the member is a member, the route information is received from the server 1302. If the member is not a member, an image map showing the route on the map is displayed. Receive. Alternatively, if it is a member, it receives the vector map data near the map display position, and based on the vector map data, the terminal 1
A route calculation may be performed at 306.

If the vehicle is straight along the road, nothing may be displayed, information on landmarks in the vicinity may be displayed, or map information downloaded first may be displayed.

FIG. 11 shows an example of displaying a rough map on the route. On the screen 1101, the national highway 1
102, school 1103, post office 1104, own car position 11
05 is displayed, and other information is not displayed. If the display can be straight along the road, this level of display can assist the user.

[0091] Further, when it is sufficient to keep the vehicle straight along the road, the user may not be able to know how far to the next turn and feel uneasy. Even in such a case, if a certain landmark is displayed, it can be used as an indication of where one is. These pieces of information may be information downloaded when the route is determined, or may be received from the server 1302 when the user wants to confirm his / her location.

In the processing flow of FIG. 10, when the vehicle arrives at the destination, the route information, the member ID, and the map information stored in the terminal 1306 are deleted (step 100).
9), end all processing.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 10, the thinned data is sent in advance. Instead of thinning the data, priorities are assigned to the vector data in advance, and the priorities and the current time of the terminal are compared. May be configured to send data in accordance with the remaining memory capacity at the time. An example of the configuration will be described below.

For example, when the memory capacity of the terminal 1306 is small, only the main road data such as an expressway or a national road is transmitted, and if the memory capacity is sufficient, detailed road data is transmitted. That is, as shown in FIG. 17, for example, the priority of a main road such as an expressway or a national road is set high, and the priority of other roads is set low.

According to such a configuration, terminal 1306
If the memory is insufficient, it is possible to display a rough route to the destination on an expressway, a national road, or the like, and not to display other detailed roads.

The parameters for determining the priority include, for example, the type of road (for example, highway> national road> prefectural road> other), the distance from the vehicle position (the closer to the vehicle position, the higher the priority), and the distance from the route. (High priority around the route).

The server 1302 determines the values of these parameters for each piece of information included in the map data, and determines which data should be transmitted to the terminal 1306. More specifically, the thinning determination unit 412 determines the above-described priority.

[0098] The thinning-out determination unit 412 has a priority order definition table (for example, FIG. 17 for road priority order) in which download priorities are defined for each parameter. Next, the thinning-out determination unit 412 receives the route calculation result, and determines the priority of downloading in comparison with the priority order definition table.

When there are a plurality of parameters, the thinning-out judging section 412 determines which parameter should be given a higher priority and what combination should be used in accordance with the situation at that time.

For example, when downloading a route from Hitachi to Tokyo, the server 1302 prepares data of the Joban Expressway to Tokyo first. If the data amount does not exceed the allowable range on the terminal side, data of Route 6 to Tokyo is prepared. Further, if there is room in the memory of the terminal, other road information is prepared. Then, the server 13
02 transmits the road information to the terminal 1306.

In the case of road data of the same road, the closer to the own vehicle position, the higher the priority. For example, even in the same Joban Expressway, the priority of data in Hitachi city becomes higher, and the further away from Hitachi city, the lower the priority becomes.

If the entire route to the destination cannot be downloaded at once, the map data of the place where the car has passed is deleted from the terminal to make a free space in the memory, and the data that could not be downloaded is downloaded.

Another example of the above-described method of assigning priorities to map data to be downloaded will be described.

In this example, it is assumed that a detailed map only around the own vehicle position is downloaded, and a map to the destination is not downloaded. In this case, the priority order is not always high on the main road as described above, and the priority order may be dynamically set according to the download range.

For example, when downloading the route from Hitachi City to Tokyo as described above, the server 1302 prepares route data to the nearest interchange on the Joban Expressway. If the data amount is smaller than the free memory capacity of the terminal, the data on the Joban Expressway to Tokyo is prepared, and if the memory capacity is sufficient, the data on Route 6 is also prepared.

When the data preparation is completed, the server 1302 transmits the data to the terminal 1306. As described above, the priority is higher for the Joban Expressway data and the National Highway No. 6 data as the position is closer to the own vehicle position. Or,
The route road and the main road may be downloaded. That is, the priority order of a main road such as an expressway or a national highway is set next to the road that is the route.

FIG. 14 is an example of a route from Hitachi to Tokyo. The priority of the road information to be transmitted will be further described with reference to FIG. Here, it is assumed that the member user uses the terminal device 1306, and the vector map data is transmitted.

In the figure, a path from a start point 1401 to an end point 1402 is represented by a path 1403. Although details are not shown, it is assumed that the Joban Expressway is the route. After completing the route calculation, the server 1302 selects a road to be transmitted from the map meshes 1404 to 1410 including the route.

First, when transmitting only a route from the start point to the end point, a mesh 1404 close to the start point 1401 is used.
Extract the path inside. The capacity of the route data is checked, and if it is smaller than the memory capacity transmitted from the terminal 1306, the route of the mesh 1405 is extracted. Hereinafter, the route to the mesh 1410 is extracted within a range not exceeding the memory capacity of the terminal device 1306. Before the extracted total capacity exceeds the memory capacity of the terminal device 1306, the process ends and the route data is transmitted. Regarding the end timing of the processing, for example, the transmitted memory capacity of 8
0% or the like may be set as the threshold.

The route is extracted to the mesh 1410, and if there is room in the memory capacity of the terminal 1306, the
National roads are sequentially extracted from 404 to mesh 1410. If there is still enough memory, we will extract other roads. The end timing of the processing may be, for example, 80% of the memory capacity of the terminal device 1306 as described above.

An example in which route data is extracted with priority is shown in FIG.
It is shown in FIG.

FIG. 15A shows an example of map data stored in the server 1302. The map data includes a post office 1501, a police station 1502, a prefectural office 1503, a school 1
504 are included.

As a result of the route calculation by the server 1302, FIG.
It is assumed that a path 1505 shown in FIG. At this time, the data transmitted to the terminal 1306 is as shown in FIG.
It becomes the data shown in. That is, a post office 1501, a police station 1502, a school 1504, and a route 1505. Since the prefectural office 1503 is data that is not on the route 1505,
Do not send.

There is also a method of extracting the route data from a place near the starting point 1401 instead of extracting the route data with the highest priority as described above.

First, after extracting the route data of the mesh 1401, data of a road close to the route is extracted. For example, road data intersecting the route is extracted. Also,
Extracting the name of the intersection and the like is convenient for the user after transmission. When a road without an intersection such as a highway is a route, only the route data is extracted. However, since it is sufficient to proceed along a single road, there is almost no problem even if there is no other than route data. .

If there is room in the memory capacity of the terminal 1306, the same processing is next performed on the mesh 1402. If the memory capacity of the terminal 1306 has a margin, the same processing is performed for the mesh 1403 and thereafter. For example, when the memory capacity exceeds 80%, the processing is terminated and transmitted to the terminal 1306.

In order for terminal 1306 to download data before departure, the above processing may be performed, but not all data can be downloaded before departure. Data that could not be downloaded must be downloaded along the route. At that time, as described above, the data of the route that the car has traveled so far is transmitted to the terminal 1.
It is necessary to delete from the server 306 and receive new data from the server 1302. When the vehicle is in the middle of the route, the above-described processing may be performed by regarding the position of the own vehicle at that point as the starting point 1401.

The server 1302 has a terminal 1306.
In addition to the above memory capacity, another type of resource information in the terminal 1306 may be used to adjust the map data providing method. For example, as the resource information of the terminal 1306, in addition to the memory capacity described above, the communication rate, the type of display, and the like may be used as the terminal information as the server 13.
02, and the server 1302 uses the resource information directly or indirectly to determine the timing for sending the map data.

As an example, a case where map data is transmitted in consideration of a transmission time to the terminal 1306 will be described. That is, data that can be transmitted within a certain time is prepared, and the data is to be transmitted to the terminal 1306.

For example, if the communication rate is 9600 bps and the time until data reception is 30 seconds, the amount of data that can be transmitted within this time is 36 KB. So 36
The map data corresponding to the KB is prepared and transmitted to the terminal 1306. When preparing data, it is necessary to follow the above-mentioned priorities.

On the other hand, the terminal 1306 requests a map from the server 1302 at least 30 seconds before a map is needed. In this regard, it is sufficient to calculate the number of meters required to reach a point where a map is required from the speed and communication rate of the own vehicle.

For example, consider a case where it is desired to finish receiving a map when approaching an interchange to get off. The time until the interchange is approached is calculated from the vehicle speed, and at the same time, the available memory capacity of the terminal 1306 is checked.

Further, if the communication rate is known, the map request timing can be calculated from the three parameters of the vehicle speed, the memory capacity, and the communication rate. For example, vehicle speed 1
00km / h, memory free space 80KB, communication rate 96
Assuming that 00 bps, the time for receiving 80 KB data is about 66.7 seconds, so 1.85 of the interchange
It is sufficient to start data reception just before km. In practice, it is not necessary to use all of the free memory space, and the amount of data to be received may be smaller than 80 KB, so this distance may be slightly shorter.

In the above, it has been assumed that the terminal device 1306 connects to the server 1302 as necessary. Assuming that a communication fee is charged according to the connection time, connecting to the server 1302 as necessary reduces the communication fee. However, if it is assumed that a communication fee is charged according to the amount of communication, it is not always necessary to disconnect the connection, so that a service different from the above is possible.

That is, in the above description, the terminal 1306 downloads the route information, and the terminal 1306 also determines the download point. However, the route information and the download point are left in the server 1302, and the terminal 13
From 06, the vehicle position information, the vehicle speed, and the terminal information may be transmitted at regular time intervals to the server 1302, and the server 1302 side may determine whether to download the map. Alternatively, the present location vehicle information, vehicle speed, and terminal information may be transmitted to the server 1302 at regular intervals instead of at regular intervals. Alternatively, the server 1302 may be configured to appropriately determine the location where the map data is downloaded based on predetermined conditions.

According to the configuration in which the download timing is adjusted on the server 1302 side, the server 1302 issues a warning to the terminal 1306 when the car deviates from the route, or performs stable communication such as a tunnel. Since it is possible to avoid downloading at a place where an impossible or difficult situation is expected, a more efficient and reliable information providing service can be realized.

[0127] In each of the above embodiments, for simplicity of description, the case where one server 1302 has one terminal 1306 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. One server 1302 may provide a requested information while individually managing a plurality of terminals (a plurality of automobiles). For example, as shown in FIG. 13, the server 1302 may be configured by a server on the Internet, and may be configured to be compatible with a plurality of terminals.

Further, in each of the above embodiments, the configuration in which the map is downloaded by making a call from the terminal to the server has been described. Alternatively, the configuration may be such that the map is transmitted by making a call from the server to the terminal. Good. For example, when a route is calculated by the server, not only the map display position (map download position) but also the estimated passing time at each map display position is calculated. Further, when the server approaches the estimated passage time, the server calls the terminal device and transmits map data around the map display position passing at the time.

[0129]

According to the information providing system of the present invention, in order to always obtain the latest road information and to reduce the user's financial burden, a map is downloaded from a server on the network only when necessary. Means can be provided.

Further, according to the information providing system of the present invention, it is possible to receive the minimum map data providing service required for navigation even when the memory resources of the terminal receiving the information such as map data are small. Becomes

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a terminal device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing of a terminal and a server according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen generated by the process according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a server according to the present invention.

FIG. 5A is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a protocol for transmitting from a terminal device to a server. FIG. 5B is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a protocol for transmitting from the terminal device to the server.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a screen for inputting a user ID.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a screen for inputting a destination.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing billing information for a member.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing up to transmission of vector data or image data.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing of the terminal device and the server according to the present invention, in a case where map data is transmitted collectively.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a map display example of a main part.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of information stored in a member information DB.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an information providing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a map mesh and route information.

FIG. 15A is an explanatory diagram showing an example of map data stored in a server. FIG. 15B is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of map data and route information. FIG. 15C is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of data transmitted to a terminal device.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a screen before map download.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a priority order definition table.

[Description of Signs] 101 memory 102 GPS 103 position determination device 104 input device 105 processing device 106 display control device 107 map display determination device 108 external storage device 109 communication device 110 audio output device.

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Shigeru Matsuo 7-1-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Inside Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Shin Yoshitaka 7-1-1, Omika-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture No. F term in Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (reference) 2C032 HB22 HB25 HC08 HD03 2F029 AA02 AB07 AC02 AC18 5H180 AA01 BB05 FF05 FF22 FF25 FF27 FF32

Claims (24)

[Claims] 1. An information providing system comprising: a terminal mounted on a vehicle for guiding a route to a destination; and a server device for providing information including at least map data used for the route guidance to the terminal. Information providing system, wherein at least one of the device and the server device includes information providing timing determining means for determining a timing at which information including at least the map data is to be transmitted from the server device to the terminal device. . 2. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is provided from a destination setting unit for setting a destination, a position detecting unit for detecting a current position of the own vehicle, and the server device. Display control means for generating image data for route guidance using the received information and sending the generated image data to display means, and terminal-side communication means for communicating with the server device, wherein the information provision timing determination means Using the position of the vehicle detected by the position detection means,
Means for determining whether or not the vehicle has reached a preset position, and when it is determined that the vehicle has reached the preset position, information including at least the map data is transmitted from the server device to the server device. An information providing system for downloading to a terminal device. 3. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device asks the user whether to download information including at least the map data at the information providing timing determined by the information providing timing determining means. An information providing system, further comprising means for selecting. 4. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the server device determines whether a user of the terminal device is a member registered in the information providing system, As a result, if the member is a member, at least one of the image map data and the vector map data is provided to a corresponding terminal, and if the member is not a member, means for providing the image map data is provided. 5. An information providing system, comprising: a terminal device mounted on a vehicle for performing route guidance to a destination; and a server device for providing the terminal device with information including at least map data used for route guidance. One of the device and the terminal has means for acquiring the resource information at that time of the terminal and calculating an information amount of information including at least the map data according to the resource information. The information providing system, wherein the server device generates information to be transmitted to the terminal device according to the calculated amount of information. 6. The information providing system according to claim 5, wherein the resource information of the terminal is a memory capacity, a communication rate,
And an information providing system, which is at least one of display types on which display is performed. 7. The information providing system according to claim 2, wherein the preset position corresponds to a position where the terminal should display a map for route guidance and a position where the map should be displayed. Using the set position, the intersection at which the user of the terminal should turn, the position set corresponding to the intersection, and the guidance route determined based on the destination and the current position of the vehicle. An information providing system, wherein the information providing system is any one of set positions. 8. The information providing system according to claim 2, wherein the display control means of the terminal device is arranged such that, when the vehicle is located on a guidance route and at a position different from the preset position,
An information providing system which controls so that nothing is displayed on the display means, or controls so as not to perform detailed display. 9. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the server device and the terminal device determines whether a vehicle equipped with the terminal device has deviated from a guidance route. Means for recalculating the guidance route to the destination when it is determined that the guidance route is deviated, wherein the information provision timing determining means uses the recalculated guidance route, An information providing system for determining a point at which information including at least map data is to be provided to the terminal device. 10. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device includes a user setting unit that sets a user identifier of the terminal device, and assigns the identifier to a communication packet when communicating with the server device. An information providing system characterized by: 11. The information providing system according to claim 10, wherein said terminal further comprises a storage means for storing said user identifier and said destination until the vehicle arrives at said destination. Characteristic information providing system. 12. The information providing system according to claim 2, wherein said terminal uses a mobile phone as said terminal side communication means. 13. The information providing system according to claim 12, wherein said terminal-side communication means connects to said server device when communication is required, and disconnects said connection when communication is completed. An information providing system for controlling the mobile phone as described above. 14. The information providing system according to claim 10, wherein said terminal device uses a mobile phone as a communication means with said server device, and said user identifier includes a telephone number of said mobile phone. An information providing system characterized by being used. 15. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal further includes means for changing the received information so that the information received from the server device can be displayed three-dimensionally, An information providing system, wherein the display control means of the terminal device generates image data for stereoscopic display using the changed information. 16. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein said terminal device has means for calculating a route based on map data provided from said server device. 17. The information providing system according to claim 5, wherein the server device includes means for generating route information on a guidance route to a destination to be transmitted to the terminal device, and generating the route information. Means for assigning a priority to each map element data to be included in the map data constituting the route information, and generating route information to be transmitted at each time according to the priority. Delivery system. 18. The information providing system according to claim 17, wherein in the priority order, a road used as a guidance route has the highest priority. 19. The information providing system according to claim 18, wherein in the priority order, one of a main road and a road existing around the road used as the guidance route is set as a second priority order. An information providing system characterized by: 20. The information providing system according to claim 19, wherein said main road is one of an expressway and a national road. 21. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein said information providing timing determining means includes information on resource resources available at that time of said terminal and information on a guidance route to a destination. , Using at least one,
An information providing system, wherein a timing for transmitting information including at least the map data is determined. 22. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the server device calculates a route of the vehicle, and determines a position to transmit map data on the calculated route. Map data transmission position determining means, and passing time estimating means for estimating a time at which the vehicle passes the determined map data transmitting position, wherein the information provision timing determining means is arranged in the server device. An information providing system, wherein the transmission timing is determined so as to transmit map data at a time determined corresponding to the predicted passing time. 23. A terminal of an information providing system comprising: a terminal mounted on a vehicle for guiding a route to a destination; and a server for providing the terminal with information including at least map data used for the route guidance. Destination setting means for setting a destination; position detecting means for detecting the current position of the own vehicle; and image data for route guidance using the information provided from the server device, and generating the image data for display. Display control means for sending, terminal-side communication means for communicating with the server device, and information provision timing determination means for determining timing at which information including at least the map data should be transmitted from the server device to the terminal device. A terminal device for an information providing system, comprising: 24. A server device of an information providing system, comprising: a terminal device mounted on a vehicle for guiding a route to a destination; and a server device for providing information including at least map data used for the route guidance to the terminal device. A server-side communication unit that communicates with the terminal device; a map data storage unit that stores map data; and the information transmitted from the terminal device that indicates a destination and a current position. Processing means for generating information including at least data and transmitting the information to the terminal via the server-side communication means; timing for transmitting information including at least the map data from the server to the terminal; And an information provision timing determining means for determining the information provision timing.