JP2001141501A - Point setter and navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To take required information in from a home page provided, for example, through the internet to be ulitized for a navigation system such as destination setting. SOLUTION: A CPU 11 in an on-vehicle unit 10 side data-changes a received character data to display a character sequence or a numeral sequence with an expression form discriminable by a user, and displays it on a display 16, when the CPU 11 determines that the character sequence or the numeral sequence presumed as a phone number, a postal code number, an address, a facility name or the like of a specified facility and the like is included in the character data in the internet home page received from the outside of a vehicle. When the user assigns one of the character sequence or the numeral sequence by an input means 14, a CPU 21 in an information center 20 side retrieves a position data of a point corresponding to the character sequence or the numeral sequence while making reference to a destination data 224 using it as a retrieving key. The CPU 11 receiving a retrieved result sets it as a guide destination in the navigation system to search automatically a route from a present position detected by a sensor means upto the destination.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a point setting device and a navigation device, and more particularly to a navigation device which can be used for setting a destination by referring to a homepage on the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the spread of the Internet has been remarkable and various kinds of information can be easily obtained by referring to various homepages.

On the other hand, a navigation device that automatically searches for a route from a current position of a vehicle detected by GPS or the like to a destination specified by a user and guides the vehicle along the searched route is also rapidly spreading. Also known is a so-called communication navigation system in which an in-vehicle navigation device and an information center are connected by data communication means such as a mobile phone so that information necessary for route search and other processing is obtained from the information center. It is.

When a destination is set in a navigation device, it is generally performed by inputting the name, telephone number, address, etc. of the destination on a vehicle-mounted display using a touch panel or the like. If the user's decision has not been made yet, it is difficult to set a destination by such a method.

[0005] The navigation device has a function of displaying major facilities (gas stations, restaurants, convenience stores, hotels, banks, etc.) near the current position, but within a predetermined distance range centered on the current position. Only facilities can be displayed, for example, if you are currently in Tokyo but want to go to Yokohama and eat at a delicious restaurant from now on, use the above function to search for the desired restaurant Can not do it.

Further, an internal storage device such as a hard disk and a ROM provided in the vehicle-mounted navigation device, a CD-R, and the like.
The amount of information that can be stored in an external storage device such as an OM or a DVD is limited, and the amount of information stored in an information center when configured as a communication navigation system is not infinite. It is virtually impossible to store all the information that can be done.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-10 / 1999 discloses a method of acquiring information requested by a user by referring to various homepages on the Internet and using the information for a navigation device.
1653. According to this conventional technique, information (HTML file) obtained via the Internet is analyzed to determine a descriptor for character display (normal tag) and a descriptor for navigation function (extended tag),
It is configured to perform normal character display based on the descriptor of the normal tag and execute a navigation function such as destination setting based on the descriptor of the extended tag.

[0008]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned prior art, the H obtained via the Internet is required.
If the TML file does not include an extended tag description for the navigation function, the information cannot be used for the navigation function such as destination setting. This only requires the homepage creator to create an HTML file including the extended tag description, with the intention that the information is used for executing the navigation function. . In other words, such a homepage is a special one created for a navigation device after all, and when viewed from the user side of the navigation device, only a small part of the homepage can be used for destination setting and the like. However, it is not always possible to respond to user requests.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, and obtains necessary information from a homepage obtained via the Internet, for example, and makes it available for a navigation function such as destination setting. With the goal.

That is, the present invention according to claim 1 is a storage means for storing position data of each point in association with a specific character string or numeric string, a receiving means for receiving character data, and a receiving means for receiving the character data. Determining means for determining whether or not the specific character string or number string related to the position data is included in the character data, and when it is determined that the specific character string or number string is included, Data changing means for changing received character data so that the character string or the numeric string is displayed in an expression form identifiable by a user, display means for displaying the received character data changed by the data changing means, and display means Input means operated by the user to specify a character string or a number string displayed in the user-identifiable expression form in the received character data displayed on the A point setting device, characterized by comprising a position data confirming means for reading the position data of the point corresponding to the specified character string or numeric string from the storage means, the by force means.

In this point setting device, the storage means is in the storage device 22 in the communication navigation system of the embodiment to be described later, the receiving means is in the communication control device 23, the determining means and the data changing means are in the CPU 11, and the position data confirming means is The display means is provided on the display device 16 by the CPU 21,
The input means corresponds to the input device 14, respectively.

[0012] The present invention according to claim 2 is a sensor means for detecting the current position of the vehicle, storage means for storing the position data of each point in association with a specific character string or a number string,
Receiving means for receiving character data from outside of the vehicle, determining means for determining whether or not the character data received by the receiving means includes a specific character string or numeral string related to the position data; and Data change means for changing received character data so that the character string or the number string is displayed in an expression form identifiable by the user when it is determined that the character string or the number string is included, and the data change Display means for displaying the received character data changed by the means, and a user operated to designate a character string or a number string displayed in the user-identifiable expression form in the received character data displayed on the display means. Input means, and position data searching means for reading out from the storage means position data of a point corresponding to the character string or the number string specified by the input means. A navigation apparatus characterized by comprising a, a route searching means for automatically searching for a route to a point position data retrieved by the positional data retrieval means from the detected current position by the sensor means.

In this navigation device, the sensor means is provided in the sensor 13 in the communication navigation system of the embodiment to be described later, the storage means is provided in the storage device 22, the reception means is provided in the communication control device 23, the determination means, the data change means and the route. The search means corresponds to the CPU 11, the position data search means corresponds to the CPU 21, the display means corresponds to the display device 16, and the input means corresponds to the input device 14, respectively.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the second aspect, the sensor unit, the data change unit, the display unit, and the input unit are provided in the vehicle unit, and the storage unit, the reception unit, the position data search unit, and the route search. Means are provided in the information center, and the on-vehicle unit and the information center are connected to each other by a communication means so as to be able to transmit and receive data.

Here, the communication means is a communication control device 24 in a communication navigation system of an embodiment to be described later.
15 and the communication means 30.

According to a fourth aspect, in the navigation device according to the second or third aspect, the character data received by the receiving means is in an HTML file format of an Internet homepage.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the fourth aspect, the data changing unit inserts a specific tag before and after a character string or a number string included in the HTML file received by the receiving unit, so that the character is changed. A sequence or a number sequence can be specified by a user using an input unit.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the second aspect, the data changing means specifies a character string or a number string included in the character data received by the receiving means by using a specific symbol. It is characterized in that the numeric string is displayed on the display means in a user-identifiable expression form.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to any one of the second to sixth aspects, the determining means includes a telephone number, a postal code, an address, and a facility name of a specific facility in the character data received by the receiving means. It is characterized in that it is determined whether or not a character string or a number string that can be estimated to be at least one selected from the group consisting of is included.

[0020]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of a communication navigation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 10 is an on-vehicle unit, 20 is an information center, and these are mobile phones (including PHS and car phones).
And so on so as to be able to transmit and receive data via communication means 30 such as.

The on-vehicle unit 10 has a central processing unit (CPU) 11 for performing various data processing and operation control of each unit, and a ROM and a RAM connected to the CPU 11 by bus lines such as a data bus and a control bus. , A timer, and the like. The ROM is a read-on memory in which various data and programs for controlling by the CPU 11 are stored in advance, and the RAM is a random access memory used by the CPU 11 as a working memory.

The storage device 12 stores data and programs necessary for various data processing executed by the CPU 11 and operation control of each unit. Specifically, a route for automatically searching for a recommended route from the current position to the destination is stored. A navigation program 121 used for executing search processing and other various navigation functions (including execution of processing according to flowcharts described later), for browsing Internet information received by the information center 20 and transmitted as it is via the communication means 30. Browser program 122 as software, destination data 123 storing absolute coordinates of facilities and points that can be set as destinations and their names, telephone numbers, addresses, postal codes, etc., and communication control device 1 described below.
5, a communication control program 124 for controlling the functions of
In addition, various programs or data 125 necessary for processing by the CPU 11 are stored.

The storage device 12 includes a floppy disk, hard disk, CD-ROM, optical disk, magnetic tape,
It is composed of various storage media such as an IC card, an optical card, a DVD, etc. and its driving device, but the above-mentioned various programs or data may be stored in a single storage medium, or one or more programs or data may be stored. , Different types of storage media may be used. Especially various data 12
In the case where data unique to the user is stored as 5, the data can be stored in a storage medium such as a portable IC card or a floppy disk, and other programs and data can be stored in a hard disk.

The sensor 13 is provided for detecting the state of various parts of the vehicle (engine, transmission, door, window, wiper, air conditioner, etc.) and the state inside and outside the vehicle (vehicle interior temperature, outdoor temperature,
Although various devices are provided for detecting weather, road surface conditions, etc., what is particularly important in this embodiment is a current position detecting device for detecting an absolute position of a vehicle, and a GPS receiving device for measuring a vehicle position using an artificial satellite. A device, an azimuth sensor, a steering angle sensor, a distance sensor, a beacon receiving device for obtaining position information from a beacon arranged on the road, and the like are used alone or in any combination. The GPS receiver and the beacon receiver can perform position measurement independently, but in order to enable position measurement in places where reception by these devices is not possible, an azimuth sensor (geomagnetic sensor, gyro, wheel sensor, etc.), a snake It is preferable to use a combination of an angle sensor, a distance sensor, and the like. For more accurate current position detection, a D-GPS (Differential GPS) that receives a correction signal for a positioning error transmitted from a predetermined base station and corrects the current position may be used. Since all of these receiving devices and sensors are publicly known, further detailed description will be omitted. In addition, the sensor 1 as a current position detecting device
Reference numeral 3 denotes sensor means for detecting the current position of the vehicle according to the present invention.

The input device 14 is used especially for the user to set the destination of the vehicle, and specifically includes a touch panel,
Keyboard, mouse, light pen, joystick,
It is composed of an infrared remote controller, a voice recognition device, and the like.

The communication control device 15 is a communication control program 1
Controlled by the CPU 11 on the basis of the data 24, it enables data transmission to and from the information center 20 via the communication means 30, and can be specifically configured as a modem.

The display device (display) 16 is a CPU 1
1 for displaying the result of the processing by the user as information that can be visually recognized by the user.
RT or the like is used. When the display device 16 is configured as a touch panel, the display device 16 can also have a function as the input device 14.

The processing results of the CPU 11 displayed on the display device 16 include, for example, a recommended route from the current location searched based on the navigation program 121 to the destination, and a reception route that can be browsed based on the browser program 122. There is Internet information (homepage). In addition, a map around the current location or an arbitrary point, a selection menu screen for selecting an operation desired by the user, such as inputting a destination, or a vehicle inside and outside the vehicle imaged by a CCD camera (considered to be a type of the sensor 13). The image is also displayed on the display device 16.

On the other hand, the information center 20 similarly has a central processing unit (CPU) 21 and a ROM, a RAM, and a ROM connected to the CPU by bus lines such as a data bus and a control bus.
A timer or the like is provided to perform various data processing. This CP
In the present invention, U21 is a determining means for determining whether or not the character data received by the receiving means includes a specific character string or a numerical string related to the position data, and a specific character string or a numerical string The data changing means is configured to change the received character data so that the character string or the number string is displayed in an expression form that can be identified by the user when it is determined that the character string is included.

The storage device 22 connected to the CPU 21
Similar to the above-described storage device 12, the storage device is configured by a single or a plurality of types of storage media, and searches for a corresponding facility or the like by referring to the following destination data 224 using a character string specified by the user as a search key (FIG. Destination search program 22 for performing S310 and S312) of the described flow
1. An http server program 222 for transmitting and receiving Internet information, and communication control devices 23 and 2 described below.
Communication control program 223 for controlling the functions of
It stores the absolute coordinates of facilities and points that can be set as destinations, destination data 224 storing the names, telephone numbers, addresses, postal codes, and the like, and other various programs or data 225 required for processing by the CPU 21.

The communication control devices 23 and 24 are controlled by the CPU 21 based on a communication control program 223, and can be specifically configured as a modem. The communication control device 23 is distributed as an HTML file through a telephone line. To receive Internet information,
The communication control device 24 enables data transmission / reception with the in-vehicle unit 10 via the communication means 30.

To set a destination in the communication navigation system according to the present embodiment, as in the prior art,
“Destination setting” is selected from the selection menu screen displayed on the display device 16, and the destination name is set by inputting the name, address, telephone number, etc. of the desired destination via the input device 14. In addition to the above, it is possible to find and set a desired destination from the Internet information. The Internet information is temporarily acquired by the information center 20 via the communication control device 23 and transmitted to the on-vehicle unit 10 via the communication control device 24, the communication means 30, and the communication control device 15, and the CPU 11 The character information processed based on the
Will be displayed. When a destination desired by the user is found in the displayed character information, the user can specify the telephone number, postal code, facility name, address, and the like of the destination by using the input device 14 such as a touch panel. . C
The PU 11 reads out the position data (coordinates) of the designated destination from the destination data 123 and sets it as the guidance destination of the navigation device.

In order to enable the destination setting from the Internet information, the CPU 11 of the vehicle-mounted unit 10
A character string that can be information for specifying a destination such as a telephone number, a postal code, a facility name, and an address is extracted from the Internet information, and the user can input and set the character string as a destination via the input device 14. It must be displayed on the display device 16 so as to indicate that there is. Hereinafter, the processing for this will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS.

In this embodiment, since the Internet information received by the information center 20 is transmitted to the vehicle-mounted unit 10 via the communication means 30 or the like, C
The PU 11 waits for data reception from the information center 20 in S100 of the flowchart of FIG. When data such as HTML is received (S100: Yes), this H
A predetermined character string (or character) is extracted from data such as TML (S102, S208). In this embodiment, the received HTML data includes a character string indicating a telephone number, a character string indicating a postal code, and a character string indicating an address. Are sequentially determined, and whether or not a character string indicating a facility name is included. If it is determined that the corresponding character string is included, the character string is clickable so that the user can specify it. Set (described later).

First, in S102, the received HTML
It is determined whether or not there is a character “0” in the data. If there is a character "0" (S102: Yes), it is determined whether or not the character string following the character "0" is a nine-digit number string (S104). At this time, if the character string following "0" includes parentheses "(", ")", a hyphen "-", or a space, they are ignored. When a 10-digit number string starting with “0” is thus confirmed (S1
06: Yes), the CPU 11 recognizes this numeric string as a telephone number, and makes a clickable setting (S108).

Next, in S110, the received HTM
It is determined whether or not there is a character "@" or "zip code" in the L data. If the character "@" or "zip code" is included (S110: Yes), the character string following the character is a combination of a three-digit number string + a character "-" (hyphen) + a four-digit number string. It is determined whether or not there is (S11
2). In this determination, the presence or absence of "-" is not considered, and when there is a space, it can be ignored. Character "〒"
Alternatively, when it is confirmed that the character string following the “zip code” is the above combination (S112: Yes), the CPU 11
Recognizes this character string as a postal code and sets it as clickable (S114).

Moving on to the flowchart of FIG.
0, characters such as "city", "road", "fu", "prefecture",
It is determined whether there is a “city”, “ward”, “town”, “village”, “county”, or the like. When these characters are included (S2
00: Yes), it is determined whether or not a predetermined number of characters following that character, for example, 30 characters include a number (that is, an address) (S202). When the number is included in the 30 characters (S202: Yes), the CPU 11 recognizes the character string from the prefecture, the municipalities, or the county to the area immediately before the number as an address, and sets the address as clickable (S20).
4).

Next, in S206 and S208,
It is determined whether the character string extracted in S102 includes, for example, “stock company”, “store”, “station”, “country club”, “golf club”, and the like. If the extracted character string includes the character “stock” at the beginning or end (S206: Yes), the character string “stock company XX” or “xx company” is used as the facility name. Recognizing that there is, clickable setting is made (S212). When the end of the extracted character string is “shop”, “station”, “country club”, or “golf club” (S208: Y
es) recognizes a character string ending with that character as a facility name and sets it as clickable (S212). As the name of the golf course, "country club" or "golf club" may be used at the head, and when these characters are included at the head similarly to the case of "stock company" (S206). It is determined that the name is a facility name (S208: Yes), and clickable setting can be performed (S212).

After performing the above-described processing for all the characters included in the received HTML data as described above, the processing shifts to the processing shown in the flowchart of FIG.

That is, first, the HTML data received in S300 is displayed on the screen of the display device 16. Regarding the displayed HTML data, a character string (or a numeric string, which is assumed to be a character string hereinafter, including a numeric string when it is simply referred to as a character string) of a telephone number, a postal code, an address, and a name of a facility or the like that can be a destination has already been included. (S104, S110, S200, S206, S206)
208), and the character strings of the telephone number, postal code, address, and name certified based on the determination result are clickable (S108, S114, S20).
4, S212).

Here, the "clickable setting" will be described. If, for example, "<P> Phone number is 03-1234-5678. </ P>" is acquired as HTML data, the HTML data is used as it is in the browser. When displayed on the display device 16 based on the program 122, "Phone number is 03-1234-5678" is displayed as the original data. Note that <P> and </ P> are symbols called tags indicating that a character string sandwiched therebetween is a lump. With such a display, the user can only visually recognize the information,
Phone numbers cannot be set (input) as destination data. That is, the telephone number in this case is not “clickable”.

On the other hand, in S10 of the flow of FIG.
When the numeral string of “03-1234-5678” in the HTML data is recognized as a telephone number and “clickable set” by the processing of 4 to S108, the numeral string is expressed differently from other parts. Processing necessary for displaying the image in the form is performed, and the image is displayed on the display device 16. In this case, as an expression form, for example, only the part of the number string identified as the telephone number is underlined, the number string part is displayed in a color different from other display parts,
It is conceivable that the character is displayed in a different size or font from the other characters in an emphasized manner, or a specific symbol is added. Data processing necessary for displaying the character on the display device 16 in such an expression form is performed. Therefore, the user can recognize this numeral string portion as a telephone number such as a destination, and can designate the numeral string with the input means 14 such as a touch panel. Such a process is referred to as “clickable setting” in this specification as compared to a mouse operation. CPU11
As a specific method of “clickable setting” by, a numeric string recognized as a telephone number is sandwiched between specific tags (for example, <PHONE>, </ PHONE> in the following example), and the HTML original data is written as “<P> Phone number is <PHONE> 03-1234-56
78 </ PHONE>. </ P>". The corrected data is stored in RAM connected to CPU11.
To be stored.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG.
When a clickable character string in the HTML data displayed in No. 6 is specified by the user via the input unit 14 (S302: Yes), then in S304, is a link destination set for the specified character string? Determine whether or not. In some cases, a link destination that can be specified by the user is already set in the received original HTML data itself. In this case, the character string specified by the user in S302 is clickable by a process unique to the present embodiment. Set (S108, S114, S204, S2
12) It is necessary to determine whether the character string is a character string or a character string indicating a link destination that has already been set in the original HTML data. When it is determined that the link destination is set in S304 (S304:
Yes) connects to the specified link destination (S30).
6), end the process.

When the link destination is not set for the character string specified by the user (S304: No), it means that the character string is clickable, and is acquired (S308). ). The acquired character string is transmitted from the CPU 11 of the on-vehicle unit 10 to the CPU 21 of the information center 20 via the communication control device 15, the communication means 30, and the communication control device 24.

In accordance with the destination search program 221, the CPU 21 of the information center 20 searches for facilities and the like corresponding to the obtained character string using the obtained character string as a search key (S3).
10). Specifically, a search is performed to determine whether or not the destination data 224 stored in the storage device 22 corresponds to the obtained character string, and the search result is obtained (S31).
2). That is, when a facility corresponding to a character string such as a telephone number, a postal code, an address, and a name specified by the user is searched, the data of the facility stored as the destination data 224, in particular, the absolute coordinates thereof are used. Is read and obtained as a search result. The search result is transmitted to the CPU 11 of the vehicle-mounted unit 10 via the communication control device 24, the communication means 30, and the communication control device 15.

The CPU 11 of the on-vehicle unit 10 executes S3
In S14, it is confirmed in S314 that the search result acquired by the CPU 21 of the information center 20, that is, the location data of the facility corresponding to the user-specified character string has been input.
When the acquisition of the data of the facility (destination) corresponding to the character string such as the telephone number, postal code, address, and name specified by the user in S314 is confirmed (S314: Yes),
The CPU 11 sets the facility as a destination of the route search (S316). Also, various data (facility name,
In addition to the address, postal code, telephone number, etc., a photograph of the facility, a map of the surrounding area, etc.) are displayed on the display device 16 and the user is notified that this is set as the guide destination of the navigation device (S318). If the corresponding facility cannot be searched, a message such as "No corresponding facility is found" is displayed and the user is prompted to set a destination by another method.

The processing according to this flow is completed as described above.
After the destination is set in this way, the CPU 11 sends the sensor 13
To perform a process of automatically searching for a recommended route from the current position detected by the method to the destination. Since this processing is publicly known, detailed description is omitted.

In the flow of FIG. 4, the act of the user specifying a clickable character string is regarded as an intention to set a facility or the like corresponding to the specified character string as a guidance destination of the navigation device. When acquiring the position data of the destination in S314, the CPU 11 immediately sets this as the destination of the route search (S31).
6) As described above, prior to S316, the name of the searched facility is displayed on the display device 16, and also, "Do you want to set as a destination?" Or "Destination setting"
May be displayed to request the user to make a final confirmation as to whether or not to set this facility as a destination. In this case, when the user confirms the intention to set the destination via the input means 14 such as a touch panel, the CPU 1
1 sets the facility as a destination (S316).

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and may take various forms within the scope of the invention defined by the appended claims. sell. For example, S
Although the notification to the user in 318 is made by displaying the fact on the display device 16, a speaker is provided in the in-vehicle unit 10, and instead of or in combination with the display on the display device 16, a notification from the speaker is provided. The above notification can be made by voice.

In the above embodiment, the CPU 11 of the on-vehicle unit determines whether a character string or a number string indicating a telephone number or the like is included in the received character data (determination means), and the character string is included. Although it has been described that this is set to be clickable (data changing means) when it is determined that the
It is also possible to configure so as to perform the processing in U21. In this case, the received character data changed by the CPU 21 is transmitted to the communication control unit 24, the communication unit 30, and the communication control unit 15
To the CPU 21 to display the same on the display device 16.

Although the above embodiment is an example of a configuration as a communication navigation system, all processing may be performed on the vehicle-mounted unit 10 side. In this case, the determination unit, the data change unit, the position data search (confirmation) unit, and the route search unit in the present invention are performed by the CPU 11 of the vehicle-mounted unit 10, and the destination search program 221 and the http server program 222
Is a storage device 12 (constituting storage means in the present invention)
And a communication control device 23 (which constitutes a receiving means in the present invention) for acquiring Internet information is provided on the in-vehicle unit 10 side.

Further, in the above embodiment, the Internet information is used as the information used by the user for setting the destination. However, the present invention is not limited to this.
Any information can be used as long as it has a data format that allows clickable setting.

As a process of extracting a predetermined character string (or a numeric string) from the HTML data in S102, for example, a line feed symbol, a space, a comma, etc. are set as delimiters, and a character string sandwiched between delimiters from the HTML data is set. An extraction process may be performed. In this case, the process from S104 is performed on the extracted character string.

Further, in the above embodiment, in S200, the “city”, “road”, “fu”,
“Province”, “City”, “District”, “Town”, “Village” or “County”
Is detected, and when it is detected in S200 to S204 that a number is included within a predetermined number of characters (for example, 30 characters) following these characters, a character string from the character to the number is stored in the address. Although it was described as being set as clickable, if characters such as prefectures are detected from a character string sandwiched by delimiters, whether the character string further includes characters of municipalities and counties, and
It may be configured to detect whether or not a number is included in the character string, and when the number is detected, a character string from the prefecture to the number may be recognized as an address and clickable.

In the above-described embodiment, HTML data has been described as an example of document data (character data, character string data) to be clickable. However, so-called text format document data may be used, or a specific word processor may be used. Document data in a dedicated format, document data in a mail format, or other document data may be used. For example, the text string of the telephone number can be clickable for the text document data "I called 0312345678". In this case, when the user specifies the clickable telephone number on the edit screen of the text-format document data “I called 0312345678”, the destination corresponding to the specified telephone number, as in the above embodiment. It is possible to acquire setting data (such as location data of a facility corresponding to a telephone number), and use the acquired destination setting data to set a destination of the navigation device.

Here, the document data is a document (50
Sound, alphabets, etc.)
It can include numbers and symbols.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, by setting the clickable setting such that a character string (or a numeric string) identified as a telephone number or the like is sandwiched by a specific tag, the portion sandwiched by the tag is set. It has been described that a telephone number or the like indicated by a character string is clickable. Alternatively or together with this, a character string identified as a telephone number or the like is stored in a clickable map (for example, a telephone number character string clickable map when a telephone number is identified, and an address character string clickable map when an address is identified). If the facility name is identified, it is added to the facility name string clickable map if the facility name is identified, and if the postal code is identified, it is added to the postal code string clickable map) and the display color of the identified character string is changed (for example, telephone If the number is identified, the display color is changed to the telephone number only.If the address is identified, the display color is changed to the address only.If the facility name is identified, the display color is changed to the facility name only.The postal code is identified. If it is, the display color is changed to the postal code only) and stored in the buffer. After the identification process for the entire HTML data is completed, the display is performed based on the data in the buffer. It may be so.

In the above embodiment, when a clickable character string for which no link destination is set is specified by the user, the specified character string is transmitted to the information center (as a search key). explained. Instead, the user may specify an arbitrary character string from a document or a character string displayed on the display device, and transmit the specified character string as a search key to the information center. The operation of the information center having received the designated character string is the same as in the above embodiment.

The present invention can be applied not only to the setting of a destination, but also to the setting of an intermediate point (a point to which the vehicle must travel to the destination) and other arbitrary points.

[0060]

According to the present invention, necessary information can be fetched from various homepages obtained via the Internet, for example, and used for a navigation function such as setting a destination. For example, as in the example described in connection with the prior art at the beginning, if you are currently in Tokyo but want to go out to Yokohama and eat at a delicious restaurant, the Internet with a huge amount of information By opening an appropriate homepage from the information, it is possible to find the restaurant desired by the user,
This can be set as the destination. The homepage may contain information such as restaurant names, addresses, telephone numbers, etc., which are included in normal navigation equipment, as well as various information such as introduction of some menus, prices, atmosphere of the store, availability of reservations, etc. The user can accurately find a desired restaurant with reference to these.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a communication navigation system as one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a telephone number recognition process and a postal code recognition process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an address recognition process and a facility name recognition process performed subsequent to the process of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a destination search / setting process performed subsequent to the process of FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 in-vehicle unit 11 central processing unit (CPU) 12 storage device 13 sensor 14 input device 15 communication control device 20 information center 21 central processing unit (CPU) 22 storage device 23, 24 communication control device 30 communication means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification FI theme coat ゛ (Reference) 9A001 (72) Inventor Takashi Sugawara 2-19-12 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Inside Equos Research Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Satoshi Kitano 2--19-12 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Equos Research Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Yamakawa 2-19-12 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Equos Co., Ltd. F-term in the research (reference) 2F029 AA02 AB01 AB07 AB09 AC02 AC04 AC12 AC13 5B075 ND07 NK31 PP02 PP03 PP07 PP13 PQ02 UU13 UU16 5B089 GA25 HA10 HA11 JA36 JB02 JB22 KB06 KC44 KC47 KH12 LB02 AC05 EB14 CB14 A17 EB02 A03 EB14 BB05 BB12 BB13 CC04 EE01 FF04 FF05 FF22 FF27 FF33 FF35 FF38 9A001 BB01 BB03 BB04 BB05 CC05 DD02 DD10 DD13 FF03 HH17 HH25 HH31 JJ14 JJ25 JJ26 JJ27 JJ77 JJ78 KK02 KK31 KK37 KK57

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A storage means for storing position data of each point in association with a specific character string or a numeric string, a receiving means for receiving character data, and a character data received by the receiving means relating to the position data. Determining means for determining whether or not a specific character string or a number string is included; and when the specific character string or a number string is determined to be included, the user Data changing means for changing the received character data so as to be displayed in an identifiable expression form; display means for displaying the received character data changed by the data changing means; and An input unit operated by a user to specify a character string or a number string displayed in the user-identifiable expression form; and the character string or the number specified by the input unit. Or a position data confirming means for reading out position data of a point corresponding to the numeral string from the storage means. 2. Sensor means for detecting the current location of the vehicle;
Storage means for storing the position data of each point in association with a specific character string or numeric string; receiving means for receiving character data from outside the vehicle; and specifying the character data received by the receiving means in relation to the position data. Determining means for determining whether or not the character string or the number string is included, and enabling the user to identify the character string or the number string when it is determined that the specific character string or the number string is included. Data changing means for changing the received character data so as to be displayed in a simple expression form, display means for displaying the received character data changed by the data changing means, and the user in the received character data displayed on the display means An input unit operated by a user to specify a character string or a number string displayed in an identifiable expression form; and the character string specified by the input unit. Is a position data searching means for reading out the position data of the point corresponding to the numeral string from the storage means, and a path search for automatically searching for a route from the current position detected by the sensor means to the position of the position data searched by the position data searching means. And a navigation device. 3. An in-vehicle unit includes a sensor unit, a data change unit, a display unit, and an input unit, a storage unit, a reception unit, a position data search unit, and a route search unit in an information center. It is characterized by being connected to the information center by a communication means so as to be able to transmit and receive data. 4. The navigation device according to claim 2, wherein the character data received by the receiving means is in an HTML file format of an Internet homepage. 5. The data changing unit inserts a specific tag before and after the character string or the number string included in the HTML file received by the receiving unit to display the character string or the number string on the display unit. 5. The navigation device according to claim 4, wherein the navigation device is displayed in a user-identifiable expression form. 6. The data change unit specifies a character string or a numeric string included in the character data received by the receiving unit with a specific symbol, and identifies the character string or the numeric string to the display unit by user identification. 3. The navigation device according to claim 2, wherein the navigation device is displayed in a possible expression form. 7. The method according to claim 7, wherein the determining unit includes a telephone number, a postal code, a postal code, etc. of a specific facility in the character data received by the receiving unit.
7. The method according to claim 2, wherein it is determined whether or not a character string or a number string that can be estimated to be at least one selected from the group consisting of an address and a facility name is included. Navigation device.