JP2001056228A - Navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily and safely make a route change as desired by a user during set route guide travel by performing specified operation to an operating part during the branch guide processing period of a route guide processing part in the middle of the route guide of an own vehicle based on a searched route, and re-searching a route to the destination by a route search processing part. SOLUTION: As its own vehicle approaches a branch guide point, a route guide processing part 35 requests an operation control part 42 to make an enlarged view display on a display part 8 and to carry out branch guide processing such as to inform a driver. The operation control part 42 turns on a microphone 10 to permit speech input to a speech recognition processing part 48. Upon the input of a speech command, the speech recognition processing part 48 transmits it to a route search processing part 34 through the operation control part 42. The route search processing part 34 judges whether the inputted speech is a re-search command, and in the case of the re-search command, the route search processing part 34 re-searches a route to the destination from a link in a different direction from a route preset from the branch guide point, as a new starting point on the basis of the re-search command and stores it in a route guide memory 36.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation device for specifying the position of a vehicle using a GPS satellite receiver, a self-contained navigation device, and the like, and guiding a route to a destination.
The driver and the like can easily and safely change the route while guiding the route to the set destination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, a navigation device detects the position and direction of a vehicle using a GPS receiver, a gyro, or the like. , A guide route is calculated, the position of the vehicle and its surroundings are displayed on a display such as an LCD, and the map is scrolled to guide the vehicle position to the destination.

[0003] In setting a destination, the user can set the navigation device to search a route desired by the user to some extent by setting some points as waypoints in advance.

[0004]

However, even if a waypoint is set, it is difficult to set a route desired by the user in the navigation device. For example,
The waypoint on the way is in the direction of travel of the vehicle to the destination,
Even if the vehicle is located on the right side of the road and the median is aligned with the road, the vehicle may still be guided to the left side of the road, and in this case, the navigation device has already reached the stopover. As a result, the guidance to the next transit point is started, and the guidance to the transit point that the user on the opposite side of the road really wants to reach may be interrupted. Therefore, in order to set a desired route, the user needs to perform a troublesome operation such as setting a plurality of extra (redundant) waypoints to search for the desired route.

[0005] Further, even if the user drives the vehicle in the direction in which he / she wants to proceed, ignoring the set route, the navigation device is generally configured to give priority to map matching to the already set route. In particular, if you are driving on a road that runs parallel to the route of the set route,
In some cases, a deviation occurs between the actual position of the vehicle and the position of the vehicle displayed on the display in the map matching, resulting in inaccurate route guidance.

Further, when it is detected that the position of the vehicle deviates from the set route by a user's operation, a general navigation device uses a route set from the detected own vehicle position. In such a case, a reroute search is performed to return the vehicle to a new route, and a search on a new route that the user really desires cannot be performed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and has as its object to provide a navigation device with a function of easily and safely changing a route desired by a user during guidance traveling of a set route. Is to be added to

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a vehicle position detecting unit for specifying a vehicle position, an operation unit for setting a destination, and a route to the set destination. A route search processing unit that searches for the vehicle, a route guidance processing unit that guides the vehicle based on the route information searched by the route search processing unit, and displays the position of the vehicle, a map around the vehicle, and set route information. By performing a predetermined operation on the operation unit during the branch guidance processing by the route guidance processing unit during the route guidance of the own vehicle based on the searched route of the navigation device having the display unit, the route search processing unit The problem can be solved by re-searching the route to the destination.

[0009]

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a navigation device according to the present invention. The navigation apparatus shown in FIG. 1 includes a navigation controller 1 for controlling the whole, a CD-ROM 2 on which various map data necessary for map display, route search, and the like are recorded, and a CD-ROM 2.
A disk reading device 3 for reading map data recorded in the ROM 2, a remote control unit (hereinafter referred to as a remote control unit) 4 and a microphone 10 functioning as an operation unit for a driver or the like to input various instructions; The vehicle includes a GPS receiver 5 and an autonomous navigation sensor 6 for detecting a vehicle direction, and a display device 7 for displaying a map image and an operation instruction area superimposed on the map image.

The above-described disk reading device 3 can be loaded with one or a plurality of CD-ROMs 2, and any one of the CD-ROMs 2 is controlled by the navigation controller 1.
-Read map data from the ROM 2. For example,
The map data recorded on the CD-ROM 2 is in units of figures separated by predetermined longitude and latitude, and the map data of each figure can be specified and read by specifying a figure number. Becomes In addition, the map data for each map includes a drawing unit composed of various data necessary for map display, a road unit composed of road layer data necessary for various processes such as map matching, route search, and route guidance. And an intersection unit composed of detailed data of the intersection. Further, the above-described drawing unit includes data of a background layer necessary for displaying a building or a river, and data of a character layer necessary for displaying a municipal name, a road name, and the like.

The remote control unit 4 is operated by a driver or the like, and the light receiving section 9 provided on the display device 7 receives operation information of the remote control unit 4. The information is transmitted to the control unit 42. The operation control unit 42 of the navigation controller 1 operates each function in the navigation controller 1 based on the transmitted operation information, and displays the control status on the display unit 8 of the display device 7 as necessary.

The microphone 10 transmits voice information generated by a driver or the like to a voice recognition processing unit 48 provided in the navigation controller 1, and the voice recognition processing unit 48 recognizes the transmitted voice information and processes the recognized driving information. An instruction from a person or the like is transmitted to the operation control unit 42. The operation control unit 42 operates each function in the navigation controller 1 based on the transmitted operation information, and displays the control status on the display unit 8 of the display device 7 as necessary.

The GPS receiver 5 receives radio waves transmitted from a plurality of GPS satellites, performs three-dimensional positioning processing or two-dimensional positioning processing, and calculates the absolute position and direction of the vehicle (vehicle direction is at the present time. Is calculated based on the own vehicle position and the own vehicle position one sampling time ΔT before), and these are output together with the positioning time. The autonomous navigation sensor 6 includes an angle sensor such as a vibrating gyroscope that detects the vehicle rotation angle as a relative bearing, and a distance sensor that outputs one pulse for each predetermined traveling distance. Detect orientation.

Next, a detailed configuration of the navigation controller 1 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The navigation controller 1 includes a map buffer 12 for displaying a predetermined map image on the display unit 8 of the display device 7 based on the map data read from the CD-ROM 2, a map reading control unit 14, a map drawing unit 16, a VRAM 18, A reading control unit 20, an image synthesizing unit 22, and a vehicle position calculating unit 3 for calculating the own vehicle position, performing a map matching process, a route searching process, and a route guiding process and displaying a result thereof;
2, a route search processing unit 34, a route guidance processing unit 35, a guidance route memory 36, a guidance route drawing unit 38, a mark image generation unit 40, and various operation screens are displayed to the user,
An operation control unit 42 for inputting and outputting various control signals and data between the remote control unit 4 and a voice recognition processing unit 48 for recognizing voice information of an operator such as a driver; a coordinate calculation unit 44; 46, and an operation screen generation unit 50.

The map buffer 12 includes the disk reading device 3
Is for temporarily storing the map data read from the CD-ROM 2 by the above method. Map reading control unit 1
When the center position of the screen is calculated by the control unit 4, an instruction to read map data in a predetermined range including the center position of the screen is sent from the map reading control unit 14 to the disk reader 3, and the map data necessary for displaying the map is stored on the CD-ROM. The data is read from the ROM 2 and stored in the map buffer 12. For example, map data corresponding to four sheets including the screen center position is read and stored in the map buffer 12.

The map drawing section 16 creates a map image necessary for display based on the drawing unit included in the map data of the map stored in the map buffer 12. The created map image data is stored in the VRAM 18 and read out by the read control unit 2.
By 0, map image data for one screen is read.
The image synthesizing unit 22 adds a mark image generation unit 40 and an operation screen generation unit 5 described later to the read map image data.
Image data output from 0 are superimposed to perform image synthesis, and the synthesized image is transmitted to the portable information terminal device 8 and displayed on the screen.

The vehicle position calculation unit 32 sequentially stores positioning position (own vehicle position) data output from the GPS receiver 5, and also outputs the relative position and direction of the own vehicle output from the autonomous navigation sensor 6. Calculates absolute vehicle position and bearing from Further, the vehicle position calculation unit 32 determines whether or not these vehicle positions are present on the road in the map data, and corrects the calculated vehicle position when the vehicle position is off the road ( Map matching processing). As typical methods of map matching, pattern matching and projection are known.

The route search processing unit 34 sets a corresponding point as a route search destination based on the setting of destination position data by an operation of the driver or the like on the remote control unit 4 or the voice recognition processing unit 48. Then, the vehicle position corrected by the map matching process of the vehicle position calculation unit 32 is set as a departure place, stored in the guidance route memory 36, and stored in the guidance route memory 36. A search is made for a traveling route connecting the ground and the destination under predetermined conditions. For example, a guidance route that minimizes the cost under various conditions such as the shortest time, the shortest distance, and the priority on general roads is set. As a typical method of the route search, the Dijkstra method and the horizontal search method are known. In this way, the guidance route set by the route search processing unit 34 is stored in the guidance route memory 36.

The route guidance processing unit 35 includes the route search processing unit 3
The vehicle is guided along the guidance route based on the guidance route set by Step 4, and the position of the own vehicle transmitted from the vehicle position calculation unit 32 is determined on the guidance route. When it is detected that the vehicle has deviated, an instruction for rerouting to re-guide the own vehicle to the guidance route is transmitted to the route search processing unit 34.

The guidance route drawing unit 38 stores the guidance route memory 3
6 from the guidance route data stored in
Those included in the map area drawn on the RAM 18 are selected, and a guide route which is superimposed on a map image and is emphasized in a predetermined color and thick is drawn. The mark image generation unit 40 generates a vehicle position mark at the own vehicle position after the map matching processing, or generates a cursor mark having a predetermined shape.

The operation control section 42 monitors the reception state of the data sent from the remote control unit 4, and performs a predetermined control operation based on the monitoring result. The operation information transmitted from the remote control unit 4 is received by the light receiving unit 54 of the display device 7 and transmitted to the operation control unit 42.

The operation screen generation section 50 forms an image of a predetermined operation screen when an operation instruction from the remote control unit 4 or the voice recognition processing section 48 is transmitted from the operation control section 42. This image is combined with a map image or the like by the image combining unit 22, and the combined image is displayed on the display unit 8 of the display device 7.

The navigation device according to the present invention has the above-described configuration, and its operation will be described below.

The navigation controller 1 has a GPS
Based on the position and direction information from the receiver 5 and the autonomous navigation sensor 6, the vehicle position calculation unit 32 specifies the own vehicle position, and based on the specified position information, the map reading control unit 1
4 reads the map information from the CD-ROM 2 to the disk reader 3 and stores it in the map buffer 12. The map information stored in the map buffer 12 is converted by the map drawing unit 16 into a format to be displayed on the display unit 8 of the display device 7,
It is stored in the VRAM 18.

In FIG. 2 (a), the destination TP and the transit point KP, whose own vehicle position is specified and which is recognized by the voice recognition processing unit 48 based on a voice signal input from the remote control unit 4 or from the microphone 10, are shown. Is input to the operation control unit 42 of the navigation controller 1, and the operation control unit 42 calculates the coordinates of the destination TP and the stopover KP by the coordinate calculation unit 44, and outputs the result to the route search processing unit 34.
To communicate.

The route search processor 34 searches for a guide route based on the coordinates of the destination TP and the waypoint KP, stores the search result in the guide route memory 36, and draws the result by the guide route drawing unit 38. Is stored in the VRAM 18 in which the map information is stored, and at the same time, the route guidance processing unit 35 starts the route guidance of the own vehicle position. VRAM1
The map information and the guidance route stored in 8 are read out by the readout control unit 20 and displayed on the display unit 8 of the display device 7 together with the map information by bold lines shown in FIG. FIG. 2B is a diagram in which the guidance route is represented by nodes N1 to Nn represented by branch points such as intersections on the route and links connecting the nodes.

Here, the route to the stopover point KP is such that, after going straight through the nodes N1 to N3, turning left at the node N4,
After going straight on N5, turn right at node N6, and then go to node N6 and node N
A route is set in which the vehicle returns to the node N6 after arriving at the stopover point KP on the link between the nodes 11. However, if there is a median strip on the road that is the link between the nodes N6 and N11 where the via point exists, and the via point KP is on the right side of the road, etc., this route does not actually reach the via point KP. State. In addition, U from transit point KP
Turns are also very difficult.

The route desired by the user with respect to this route is, for example, the route shown in FIG. According to the present invention, the change of the guidance route to the route shown in FIG. 3A is performed as follows.

First, in FIG. 2, the own vehicle position (departure point) is on the link to the node N1. Destination TP
The route guidance up to is performed based on the guidance direction at each point of these links. At each branch point of the nodes N1 to N3, the direction of route guidance is the straight traveling direction, and at the subsequent node N4, branch guidance to the left is performed.

Here, in the initially set guidance route of FIG. 2A, branch guidance to the left is performed at the node N4. This branch guidance is performed when the own vehicle position moves on a link between the nodes N3 and N4 reaching the node N4 and approaches a predetermined distance from the node N4. Is the operation control unit 4
2, the operation control unit 42 displays an enlarged view on the display unit 8 of the display device 7 for branch guidance based on the request of the route guidance processing unit 35 (see FIG. 5A) and the driver by voice. And so on.

The branch guidance process by the operation control unit 42 is also transmitted to the voice recognition processing unit 48, and the voice recognition processing unit 48 turns on the microphone 10 so that voice input from a driver or the like is enabled. In the state, when there is an input from the driver or the like (in this case, a voice input in the “right direction”), the direction of the branch guidance at the next node N4 is changed from the already set left direction in accordance with the recognized voice command. To the right,
The navigation route to the destination after moving the node N4 to the right is searched again. This new route is shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), the node N4 goes to the right, passes through the link to the node N10, selects the left link at the node N10, goes to the next node N11, and the left link at this node N11. Is selected, and the route is guided by selecting the rightward link where the destination is set by the node N6 via the route point KP set on the selected link.

FIG. 4 shows the above details as an operation flow of each section of the navigation controller 1. In FIG. 4, first, when the own vehicle approaches the branch guidance point, the route guidance processing unit determines in step 101 that the display unit 8
The operation control unit 42 is required to perform a branch guidance process such as displaying an enlarged view to the user or notifying the driver of voice. When this process is requested, the operation control unit 42 performs a process of turning on the microphone 10 so that the voice recognition processing unit 48 can input a voice. In this process, the voice recognition unit is set to the waiting state for accepting the route re-search command in step 102.

In step 103, the voice recognition processing unit 48 determines whether or not a voice command has been input. If there is a voice command, the voice recognition processing unit 48 transmits the input command to the route search processing unit 34 via the operation control unit 42. The route search processing unit 34 determines whether or not the voice input in step 203 is a re-search command, and when determining that the voice is a re-search command, transmits the command content to the route search processing unit 34. .

Here, whether or not the command is a re-search command is determined by a link in the traveling direction set by the input command and a link in the traveling direction based on the already set route information. For example, in FIG.
Node of branch guidance point with route information that has already been set
If the link to the left is set as the heading of the vehicle in N3 and the input command is similarly to the left,
The route search processing unit 34 does not recognize this command as a re-search command and does not search again for a route.

Based on the re-search command, the route search processor 34 determines in step 204 the route from the next branch guide point to a destination having a link in a direction other than the previously set route as a new departure point. A re-search is performed, and the searched result is stored in the route guidance memory 36 in the next step 205.

If it is determined in step 103 that there is no command input, and there is no command input, step 10
Then, it is determined whether or not the branch guidance process has been completed. If not, the process returns to step 103. Here, if the branch guidance processing has been completed, the reception of the re-search command is terminated, and the guidance on the already set route is continued.

Even if a command is input in step 103, if it is determined in step 203 that the command is not a re-search command, the process proceeds to step 104,
It is determined whether the branch guidance has ended.

FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing the above operation in an enlarged view displayed on the display unit 8. FIG. 5 (a)
FIG. 4 is an enlarged display diagram when the vehicle approaches the link L4 shown in FIG. 2B on the original search route. The voice recognition processing unit 48 turns on the microphone 10 so as to enable voice input based on the branch guidance processing, and sets a state in which commands can be transmitted to the operation control unit 42 and the route search processing unit 34. Here, as shown in FIG. 5B, when a command is input from the driver or the like via the microphone 10, the voice recognition processing unit 48 transmits the input command to the route search via the operation control unit 42. The information is transmitted to the processing unit 34. Route search processing unit 34
If the command transmitted from the voice recognition processing unit 48 is a re-search command, the destination extending from the node of the branch guide point subject to the branch guide processing to the destination starting from the link based on the re-search command Explore new routes for
Display on the display unit 8 of the display device 7 (FIG. 5)
(See part (c)).

Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described with respect to a new route search process during the branch guidance processing period, the present invention provides a route search process that can be performed only during the branch guidance processing period. The present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is also possible to re-search for a route starting from a link other than the guidance route that branches off from the next branch point to which the link on which the vehicle is traveling is heading.

In order to realize the above, according to the present invention, for example, a switch 11 is provided on the microphone 10, and when the switch 11 is operated (turned on), the voice recognition processing section 48 is operated in the same manner as in the case of the enlarged view display. The same operation is performed with the route change input reception waiting state. In this case, for example, when the switch 11 is pressed while the own vehicle is on the link between the node N3 and the node N2 reaching the node N3 in FIG. 2, the voice recognition processing unit 48 waits for a re-search command input. Then, the process is notified to the operation control unit 42 at the same time. In this state, while the vehicle is traveling on the link between the node N3 and the node N2, the microphone 1
0 is transmitted to the route search processing unit 34 via the operation control unit 42 by the voice recognition processing unit 48,
When the route search processing unit determines that the command is a re-search command, the own vehicle advances from the next branch point (the driver or the like wants to advance).
A new link is set, and a route from the link to the destination is searched for by the route search processing unit 34. The searched result is stored in the route guidance memory 36,
The route guidance processing unit 35 performs route guidance based on the new guidance route.

As described above, the driver or the like operates the microphone 10 to
One embodiment of the present invention in which a route change input is made to the speech recognition processing unit 48 has been described. This route change input is performed not only by the operation of the speech recognition processing unit 48 described above but also by, for example, FIG. Can be input by a stick controller 53 provided in the remote control unit 4 shown in FIG.

In FIG. 7, a stick 53 mounted on the remote control unit 4 is marked with a four-way arrow mark. Here, the light emitting unit 51 of the remote control unit 4
By setting the arrow on the side as the traveling direction of the own vehicle and pushing the stick controller 53 in a direction other than the guidance route displayed on the display unit 8 during the period in which the enlarged view is displayed on the display unit 8 of the display device 7, The direction input by the stick controller 53 is recognized by the operation control unit 42 of the navigation controller 1, and the route search processing unit 34 can re-search for a new route based on a command from the driver or the like.

Further, the stick controller 53 may be provided with a switch function, for example, by vertically pressing the stick controller head 54 to have the same function as the switch 11 provided on the microphone 10.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, a navigation route which has been set by the navigation device from the branch point during the enlarged map display period of the branch point guidance to the node of the guide route which has already been set is determined. In order to perform a route search with another node as a starting point, the device switches to a re-search command input acceptance waiting state by a switch operation, and the re-search command is issued while traveling on the node to the next branch point. Since the route is accepted, even during route guidance, another route can be re-searched by a simple operation, and the route guidance can be performed on the route to which the user is directed. In addition, since the route can be changed even during route guidance, there is an effect that it is not necessary to perform a troublesome operation such as setting a plurality of redundant route points to set a desired route.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an initial route search result by navigation.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a result of a route re-search during an enlarged view display period.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a processing flow of a route re-search.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view display image diagram

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a route re-search result by a button operation.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a remote control unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Navigation controller 2 CD-ROM 3 Disk reader 4 Remote control unit 5 GPS receiver 6 Autonomous navigation sensor 7 Display device 8 Display screen unit 9 Light receiving unit 10 Microphone 11 Switch 12 Map buffer 34 Route search processing unit 35 Route guidance processing unit 36 Guidance route memory 42 Operation control unit 48 Voice recognition processing unit 51 Light emitting unit 53 Joystick 54 Joystick head N1 to Nn Branch point (node) KP Via point TP Destination

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle position detecting unit for specifying a vehicle position, an operation unit for setting a destination and the like, a route search processing unit for searching for a route to the set destination, and the route search processing unit A navigation device comprising: a route guidance processing unit that guides the own vehicle based on the route information searched by the user; and a display unit that displays the own vehicle position, its surrounding map, and the searched route information. By performing a predetermined operation on the operation unit during a branch guidance processing period that is processed by the route guidance processing unit when the own vehicle position approaches a branch guidance point on the route that has been routed,
A navigation device, wherein the route search processing section performs a re-search for a route to a destination. 2. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined operation on the operation unit is performed by voice input to a voice recognition unit of the navigation device. 3. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising input means for enabling a re-search of the route by said route search processing unit even during a period other than a branch guidance processing period by said route guidance processing unit. Navigation device.