JP2001141498A - Vehicle navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle navigation system wherein the location of a shop, etc., which a user wants to store is stored regardless of advancing direction of a vehicle. SOLUTION: When a voice specifying a direction different from a vehicle's current advancing direction together with a voice specifying a particular point such as convenience store, teahouse are inputted (step S2, YES), a control circuit stores the direction and specified point as well as the location coordinates for the input voices in a memory (step S6 and S7). If the advancing direction corresponds to the specified direction when the vehicle's current position approaches the location coordinate (steps S9, S10, YES), the fact that the vehicle is approaching the specific point is reported on a display device as well as through a voice output device (step S12).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicular navigation apparatus having a voice recognition function for recognizing a user's voice input and performing various operations based on the voice recognition result.

[0002]

In such a navigation device, for example, when the user wants to store the location of a store or coffee shop that the user sees and likes during driving of the vehicle, the name of the store or coffee shop is spoken. For example, when a vehicle approaches a previously stored position in a later run when a vehicle approaches, a voice guidance function such as "I'm about to do it soon" is available. .

[0003] However, such a function can only be stored in the lane side corresponding to the traveling direction of the vehicle. Therefore, for example, when a store or the like located in the opposite lane is seen during traveling, the position cannot be stored, and there is a problem that convenience is not good.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular navigation apparatus capable of storing a position of a store or the like that a user wants to store regardless of the traveling direction of the vehicle. Is to do.

[0005]

According to the vehicle navigation apparatus of the first aspect, the notification control means includes a voice for designating a direction different from the current traveling direction of the vehicle and a specific point (for example, a convenience store or the like). Is input, the direction, the designated point, and the position coordinates at which these sounds were input are stored in the storage means. If the traveling direction of the vehicle corresponds to the designated direction when the current position of the vehicle approaches the position coordinates, the notifying unit notifies that the vehicle is approaching the designated point.

[0006] That is, conventionally, for example, when a driver finds a store or a coffee shop on the roadside in the opposite lane to the traveling direction during traveling of a vehicle, the driver stores the information in a navigation device. However, it was not possible to notify later when they traveled on the road where they are located on the roadside. On the other hand, according to the present invention, it is possible to cope with the case where the point to be stored and notified is located on the road side of the opposite lane, so that the convenience is improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the notifying means is configured as a voice output means for notifying the designated point by voice based on the voice recognition result by the voice recognition function unit. The notification can be easily recognized by hearing even during driving of the vehicle.

According to the vehicle navigation apparatus of the third aspect, the notifying means is constituted as a display means for notifying the designated point by displaying on the screen based on the speech recognition result by the speech recognition function section. Can also be confirmed on the screen.

According to the vehicle navigation apparatus of the fourth aspect, when the search mode is set, the notification control means searches the map data with the designated point as a search point. Is notified by the notifying means, it is possible to search for and notify the designated point located on the road side of the opposite lane.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 4, which shows the overall electrical configuration of a car navigation device (car navigation) 1, a car navigation device 1 has a position detector 2, a map data input device 3, an operation switch group 4, and a control circuit (notification control means) to which these are connected. 5 and the like.

Further, the control circuit 5 is connected to an external memory 6, a display device (notification means, display means) 7 such as a display, a remote control sensor 8, an audio output device (notification means, audio output means) 9, and the like. I have. The control circuit 5 is configured as a microcomputer, and specifically includes a well-known CPU, I / O (both not shown), and a memory (storage means) such as a ROM and a RAM. )
5a and the like. These components are electrically connected to each other via a bus line.

The position detector 2 is a well-known geomagnetic sensor 1
0, gyroscope 11, distance sensor 12, and GP
S (Global Positioning System) A GPS receiver 13 that detects the position of the vehicle based on radio waves from a satellite is provided. Each of the sensors 10 to 13 generates an error having a different property.
By referring to the information from, each information is used while making corrections as necessary. Note that, depending on the required accuracy, a configuration may be made using a part of the sensors 10 to 13 or a steering sensor, a wheel sensor, or the like may be added.

The map data input device 3 is a device for inputting various data including map data and landmark data, so-called map matching data for improving position detection accuracy, and the like. CD-R as data storage medium
Although OM is generally used, DVD (Digital Ver.
satile Disk) or a memory card may be used.

The display device 7 is composed of, for example, a color liquid crystal panel. The screen displays map data input from the map data input device 3, and displays a position detector on the map data. A marker indicating the current position of the vehicle input from 2, and additional data such as a guide route and a mark of a set point are superimposed and displayed.

When the position of the destination is input from a remote control sensor 8 via a remote control terminal (hereinafter referred to as a remote controller) 14 or via a group of operation switches 4, the car navigation system 1 starts from the current position. There is also provided a so-called route guidance function for automatically selecting an optimal traveling route to the destination and displaying the route as a guidance route. in this way,
As a method for automatically setting an optimum route, for example, the Dijkstra method is known. As the operation switch group 4, for example, a touch switch or a mechanical switch formed integrally with the display device 7 is used, and is used for various input operations.

The audio output device 9 outputs a ROM in which data of output audio is stored, a reproduction IC for reading out audio data from the ROM and performing D / A conversion, and outputs a D / A converted audio signal. It is composed of speakers and the like. The voice output device 9 performs navigation guidance, warning, and the like by voice according to a control signal given from the control circuit 5.

A voice recognition device (voice recognition function unit) 1
When a voice generated by the driver is input to a microphone 16 mounted on a steering column or the like, the voice 5 analyzes and recognizes the voice, and outputs a recognition result to the control circuit 5.

Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing the contents of control of a part according to the gist of the present invention executed by the control circuit 5. When the vehicle is traveling using the navigation system (step S1), the control circuit 5 determines whether or not the voice recognition has been started (step S2).
Is determined, and if not started, “NO” is determined and the process proceeds to step S8 to acquire the current position information of the vehicle from the position detector 2. Then, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is approaching a memory point to be described later (step S9). If not, the process returns to step S1.

For example, when the control circuit 5 detects that voice recognition has been started by a driver's ON operation of a PTT (Push To Talk) switch (not shown), the process proceeds to step S.
It is determined as "YES" in 2 and the process moves to step S3. In step S3, the control circuit 5 determines whether the current setting is “register” (“YES”) or “search” (“NO”).
Judge. This setting is set by the driver operating the operation switch group 4 in advance. If “register” is set, the process proceeds to step S4,
As in step S8, the current position information of the vehicle is acquired from the position detector 2. Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the voice recognized by the voice recognition device 15 includes the voice of "the opposite side" (step S5).

[0020] That is, the driver may be a shop such as a coffee shop or a convenience store, or a point with a sharp curve or a narrow road, a point with poor visibility or a point of falling rocks, a point where a child should be careful to jump out, or a place where orvis is set up. If you see a point that seems to be dangerous, such as at the lane opposite to the direction of travel of the vehicle, for example, "an opposite coffee shop", "an opposite curve", "an opposite child jumps out", It is possible to designate and register the point by uttering such as "attention of falling rock on the opposite side" or "orbis on the opposite side".

For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the driver utters "an opposite side coffee shop" at an arbitrary point, the control circuit 5
Determines "YES" in step S5, and stores in the internal memory 5a the current position coordinates obtained in step S4 and the link information such as the link ID, the start and end coordinates, and the link angle included in the position information. At the same time, 180 degrees are added to the voice recognition result of the "café" and the link angle obtained in step S4 and stored (step S6).

On the other hand, in step S5, if the point seen by the driver is on the lane side in the traveling direction of the vehicle, simply say "cafe". Then, the control circuit 5
Determines "NO" in step S5, and proceeds to step S7 to store only the read positional information and the voice recognition result of "café".

The control circuit 5 proceeds to steps S8 and S9 following step S6 or S7. Then, by comparing the current position data of the vehicle obtained from the position detector 2 with the position information of the designated point stored in the internal memory 5a, it is determined whether or not the vehicle has approached the link. If the link of the stored ID is not approached, the determination is “NO” and the process proceeds to step S1. Then, when the voice recognition is started again, "YES" is determined in the step S2, and the above processing is repeated.

In step S9, when the vehicle approaches the link of the ID in which the current position of the vehicle is stored, the control circuit 5 sets "YE".
S ”, and proceeds to step S10 to determine whether the current traveling direction of the vehicle matches the link angle of the link. That is, in the position information obtained in step S8, if the direction in which the vehicle is currently traveling is the opposite direction to the link angle of the traveling link, 180 degrees is set as the default stored link angle. The added value is provided to the control circuit 5. Therefore, if the traveling direction and the link angle are different, the control circuit 5 determines “NO” and shifts to step S1, and if they match, “YE”.
S ", and then proceeds to step S11.

In step S11, the control circuit 5
The vehicle waits until the vehicle approaches 300 m before the stored position coordinates of the designated point, and as shown by a broken line in FIG.
When the vehicle approaches m, "YES" is determined, and a warning is issued by the display device 7 and the audio output device 9 (step S12).
The warning is performed by marking the designated point with a cursor on the screen of the display device 7 and displaying “cafe” in characters, and outputting a voice such as “soon, coffee shop” by the voice output device 9 based on the voice recognition result. Do it by doing.

On the other hand, if the setting is "search", "NO" is determined in the step S3, and the process shifts to the step S13 (see FIG. 2). That is, when “search” is set, when the driver wants to find a store or a restaurant such as a convenience store while driving the vehicle, for example, the driver utters a voice like “an opposite convenience store”, It is possible to search for such stores.

In step S13, it is determined whether or not the voice recognized by the voice recognition device 15 includes the voice of "both sides ...". If the voice is included, it is determined as “YES”, and both lanes are searched from the current position of the vehicle toward the traveling direction (step S1).
4). That is, when map data in a predetermined range from the current position to the front is read from the map data input device 3, a search (search) is made as to whether there is, for example, a convenience store to be searched in the map data. If there is a convenience store, the control circuit 5 determines “YES” in step S15 and performs a notification operation (step S16).

The notification operation is performed, for example, by three times from the current position of the vehicle.
If there is a convenience store about 00 m ahead, the point is marked with a cursor on the screen of the display device 7 and the characters “convenience store” are displayed. There is a voice. Then, it is determined whether or not the driver has performed a search end setting operation (step S17).
ES ”, and proceeds to step S1. If the search is not completed, the process proceeds to step S14 and the search is continued.

If it is determined in step S13 that the recognized voice does not include the voice of "both sides ...", the control circuit 5 determines "NO" and shifts to step S18. In step S18, similarly to step S4, the voice recognized by the voice recognition device 15 is "opposite ..."
It is determined whether or not the voice is included. If the voice is included, the determination is “YES”, and the process proceeds to step S19. In steps S19 to S22, the same search processing as in steps S14 to S17 is performed on the opposite lane to the traveling direction from the current position of the vehicle. Do.

If it is determined in step S18 that the recognized voice does not include the voice of "opposite side ...", the control circuit 5 determines "NO" and shifts to step S13 to proceed to steps S13 to S16. In, the same search processing as in steps S14 to S17 is performed on the traveling lane side from the current position of the vehicle.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the control circuit 5 outputs a voice ("opposite side ...") for designating a direction opposite to the current traveling direction of the vehicle and stores such as coffee shops and convenience stores. When a voice specifying a specific point such as a dangerous area is input, the direction, the specified point, and the position coordinates where these voices are input are stored in the memory 5a, and the current position of the vehicle is stored in the position coordinates. If the traveling direction corresponds to the designated direction when approaching the display device, the display device 7 and the audio output device 9 indicate that the vehicle is approaching the designated point.
To notify.

Therefore, unlike the related art, the driver memorizes and
Even if the point to be informed is located on the road side of the opposite lane, it is possible to respond. Also, the driver
Even during driving of the vehicle, the notification can be easily recognized by hearing through the audio output device 9, and the convenience is improved. In addition, it is possible to improve driving safety by registering and notifying a dangerous area or the like that requires relatively high attention when traveling, more flexibly than before.

Further, according to the present embodiment, the designated point is displayed on the screen of the display device 7 and notified based on the speech recognition result by the speech recognizer device 15, so that the designated point can be confirmed also on the screen. Can be. In addition, when the search mode is set, the control circuit 5 searches the map data using the designated point as a search point, and when the search point exists, the display device 7 or the audio output device 9.
Therefore, the designated point located on the road side of the opposite lane can also be searched and notified.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings, and the following modifications or extensions are possible. The notification means may be only one of the display device 7 and the audio output device 9. The time point for notifying that the vehicle is approaching the designated point is not limited to 300 m before, and may be changed as appropriate. The direction different from the current traveling direction of the vehicle is not limited to the opposite direction of 180 degrees, but may be a direction of a diagonally branched road or the like. The function of executing the search mode may be provided as needed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flow chart showing an example of control of a control circuit of a car navigation device, mainly showing registration and notification processing of a designated point according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing control contents centered on a search process of a designated point by the control circuit;

FIG. 3 is a plan view for explaining the operation of registration and notification of a designated point and showing a running state of a car;

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the car navigation device.

[Explanation of symbols]

5 is a control circuit (notification control means), 5a is a memory (storage means), 7 is a display device (notification means, display means), 9 is a voice output device (notification means, voice output means), and 15 is a voice recognition device ( Voice recognition function unit).

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G10L 15/28 F term (reference) 2C032 HB11 HB22 HC08 HC16 HC31 HD11 2F029 AA02 AB01 AB07 AB13 AC02 AC09 AC13 AC18 AC20 5D015 AA01 AA05 KK02 5D045 AB17 5H180 AA01 BB12 BB13 CC12 CC27 FF04 FF05 FF22 FF25 FF33 FF38

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle navigation device comprising a voice recognition function unit for recognizing an input user's voice, and performing various operations based on the voice recognition result. When a voice that specifies a specific point is input along with a voice that specifies a different direction,
The direction, the designated point, and the position coordinates at which these sounds were input are stored in storage means, and when the current position of the vehicle approaches the position coordinates, the traveling direction of the vehicle corresponds to the designated direction. If so, a notification control means for notifying that the designated point is approaching by a notification means is provided. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit is configured as a voice output unit that notifies the designated point by voice based on a voice recognition result by the voice recognition function unit. Navigation device. 3. The display device according to claim 1, wherein the notification unit is configured to display the designated point on a screen based on a voice recognition result obtained by the voice recognition function unit. 3. The vehicle navigation device according to 2. 4. When the search mode is set, the notification control unit searches the map data with the specified point as a search target, and the search target exists and the current position of the vehicle approaches the search target. 4. The vehicular navigation device according to claim 1, wherein, in the case where the information is provided, the notification is performed by the notification unit.