JP2001201353A - Navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation device capable of providing information related to the nearest facility belonging to a desired category without performing complicated operations. SOLUTION: A facility information preparing part 18 repeatedly searches at predetermined timings for facilities belonging to the category designated by a user nearest to present position of a vehicle calculated by a vehicular position calculating part 30, and it produces plotting data for displaying facility information such as position and name of retrieved facilities. This plotting data for displaying the facility information is inputted into an image composing part 22 and it is superposed and synthesized on plotting data of map information in the periphery of the vehicle itself's position for displaying this composite image in a screen of a display device 7.

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 displaying map information around the position of a vehicle and providing guidance on various facilities near the travel route of the vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In general, an on-vehicle navigation device detects the current position of a vehicle, reads map data near the vehicle from a data storage medium such as a CD or DVD, and displays the data on a screen. In addition, a vehicle position mark indicating the position of the vehicle is displayed at a predetermined position on the screen, and map data in the vicinity is scrolled according to the progress of the vehicle around the vehicle position mark. The map information can be understood.

[0003] Also, many of recent navigation devices search for desired facilities from various facilities existing around the position of the vehicle, for example, convenience stores and restaurants, and search results in order of distance from the position of the vehicle. The nearest facility search function to display is provided. For example, various facilities are classified in advance by genre, such as convenience stores and restaurants, and when a user specifies a genre to which a facility to be searched belongs, information on the facilities belonging to this genre is displayed in order of proximity to the own vehicle position. Is done. This facility information includes the distance from the vehicle position to each facility and the facility name, and the user sees this facility information,
It is possible to know in which direction and how far the desired facility is located from the position of the own vehicle.

[0004]

By the way, in the nearest facility search function in the conventional navigation device, a user who wants to search for a facility satisfying a predetermined condition needs to perform a predetermined operation each time, and belongs to a desired genre. There has been a problem that a complicated operation is required to obtain information on the nearest facility. For example, the user operates an operation unit such as a remote control (remote control) unit to perform at least an instruction to use the nearest facility search function, an instruction to select a genre including the facility to be searched, and an instruction to execute a search. And many key operations must be performed.

[0005] In addition, conventional navigation devices often have a function of displaying the location of each facility included in a genre specified in advance with a predetermined mark image on a display screen. If used, even if there is a desired facility outside the display screen, the user does not know the existence of this facility, so it is not always sufficient to know the location of the desired facility close to the vehicle position. Was not.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and has as its object to provide a navigation device which can obtain information on the nearest facility belonging to a desired genre without performing complicated operations. Is to do.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a navigation device according to the present invention includes a facility belonging to a genre designated by genre designating means.
The facility search means repeatedly searches for a vehicle close to the current position detected by the vehicle position detection means at a predetermined timing, and searches by the facility search means together with map information around the current position of the vehicle detected by the vehicle position detection means. The predetermined facility information for guiding the location of the facility is displayed on the screen by the display means. The facility around the own vehicle position belonging to the genre specified in advance is repeatedly searched, and the facility information of the searched facility is displayed on the screen along with the surrounding map information, so that the user must perform complicated operations. Information about the nearest facility belonging to the desired genre can be obtained.

The above-mentioned facility information includes the name of the nearest facility searched and the distance from the current position of the vehicle to the nearest facility, and is displayed on the display screen by the above-mentioned display means in the traveling direction of the vehicle. It is desirable to display the facility information on the site. By setting the display position of the facility information behind the traveling direction of the vehicle, it is possible to prevent the display of the map information ahead of the traveling direction of the vehicle from being hindered.

The facility information includes the name of the nearest facility searched and the distance from the current location of the vehicle to the nearest facility, and the display means described above displays the current location of the vehicle on the display screen. As a criterion, it is desirable to display the facility information in the direction in which the searched nearest facility exists. Since the facility information is displayed in the searched direction of the nearest facility, it is possible to know in which direction the nearest facility is located without checking the details of the facility information.

[0010] It is desirable that the facility specifying means specifies the searched nearest facility as a transit point or a destination, and that the route searching means searches for a traveling route from the current position of the vehicle to the nearest facility.
Since a search for a traveling route to the nearest facility on which the facility information is displayed is performed, by running the vehicle along this traveling route, it is possible to reliably arrive at the nearest facility.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(1) Overall Configuration of Navigation Apparatus FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied. The navigation device shown in FIG. 1 includes a navigation controller 1 for controlling the whole, a DVD 2 on which various map data necessary for map display, route search, and the like are recorded, and a disk reading device 3 for reading the map data recorded on the DVD 2. A remote control (remote control) unit 4 as an operation unit for the user to input various instructions; a GPS receiver 5 for detecting a position and a direction of the vehicle; and an autonomous navigation sensor 6
And a display device 7 for displaying map information, guidance routes, and the like.

The above-described disk reading device 3 can load one or a plurality of DVDs 2 and reads map data from any one of the DVDs 2 under the control of the navigation controller 1. The loaded disk is not necessarily a DVD, but may be a CD.
Alternatively, both a DVD and a CD may be selectively loaded.

The remote control unit 4 includes a search key for giving a route search instruction, a route guidance mode key used for setting a route guidance mode, a destination input key, up / down / left / right cursor keys, a map scale / enlargement key, and a display screen. Various operation keys such as a setting key for fixing the item at the upper cursor position are provided, and an infrared signal corresponding to the operation state of the key is transmitted to the navigation controller 1. Also,
Using the remote control unit 4, an operation instruction for designating a genre of a facility (for example, a convenience store, a restaurant, a public facility, or the like) to which facility information is to be guided is also provided.

The GPS receiver 5 receives radio waves transmitted from a plurality of GPS satellites and performs three-dimensional positioning processing or two-dimensional positioning processing to calculate the absolute position and direction of the vehicle (vehicle direction is the current 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 direction, and a distance sensor that outputs one pulse every predetermined traveling distance. Calculate the bearing.

The display device 7 displays map information around the own vehicle together with a vehicle position mark, a departure point mark, a destination mark, etc., based on the drawing data output from the navigation controller 1, or guides the user on this map. Or show directions.

(2) Detailed Contents of Map Data Next, details of the map data recorded on the DVD 2 will be described. The map data recorded on the DVD 2 is in units of rectangular figures separated by predetermined longitude and latitude, and the map data of each figure is specified by specifying a figure number and can be read out. It becomes possible. The map data for each map leaf includes a "drawing unit" composed of various data necessary for map display and a "road unit" composed of data necessary for various processes such as map matching, route search, and route guidance. And "intersection unit" including detailed data such as intersections. 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 data of the background layer includes facility detailed data such as the location (longitude / latitude) of the surrounding facility and the type of business.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of the facility detail data. As shown in the figure, the facility detailed data corresponding to each facility includes “facility type” indicating the genre of the facility (the above-mentioned convenience store or the like) and “facility name character string” for displaying the name of the facility. ”,“ Longitude / latitude ”where the facility is located, and the like.

(3) Details of Navigation Controller
Configuration Next, a detailed configuration of the navigation controller 1 shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The navigation controller 1 includes a data buffer 10 for displaying predetermined map information, facility information, and the like on the display device 7, a map readout control unit 12, a map drawing unit 14, a VRAM 16, a facility information creation unit 18, an image synthesis unit 22, A vehicle position calculation unit 30, a route search processing unit 32, a guidance route drawing unit 34, and a mark image drawing unit for performing calculation of a vehicle position, map matching processing, route search processing, and route guidance processing and displaying the results. 36, a remote control unit 60 for displaying various operation screens for the user and transmitting operation instructions from the remote control unit 4 to the respective units, a cursor position calculation unit 62, and an operation screen generation unit 64.

The data buffer 10 temporarily stores map data read from the DVD 2 by the disk reading device 3. When the vehicle position is calculated by the vehicle position calculation unit 30, the map read control unit 12 sends a read request for map data in a predetermined range including the vehicle position to the disk reading device 3, and outputs a map necessary for map display. Data is read from the DVD 2 and stored in the data buffer 10.

The map drawing section 14 creates map drawing data necessary for display based on drawing units included in the map data stored in the data buffer 10. The created map drawing data is stored in the VRAM 16.

The facility information creating unit 18 guides the nearest facility by creating predetermined facility information including the location of the facility belonging to the genre selected in advance by the user. Specifically, the facility information creation unit 18 is selected by the user based on the map data (facility detail data and the like) stored in the data buffer 10 and the own vehicle position calculated by the vehicle position calculation unit 30. Of the facilities belonging to the genre, the facility located closest to the own vehicle position is repeatedly searched at a predetermined timing, and drawing data necessary for displaying facility information corresponding to the facility is created. In the present embodiment, as the facility information, a "facility name", a "distance" from the own vehicle position, and a "direction" based on the own vehicle position are considered. A specific display example of the facility information created and displayed by the facility information creating unit 18 will be described later.

The image synthesizing unit 22 converts the map drawing data read from the VRAM 16 and the drawing data output from each of the facility information creating unit 18, the guidance route drawing unit 34, the mark image drawing unit 36, and the operation screen generating unit 64. The images are superimposed on each other, and the synthesized drawing data is displayed on the display device 7.
Output to

The vehicle position calculation unit 30 calculates the position of the vehicle based on the detection data of the GPS receiver 5 and the autonomous navigation sensor 6, and when the calculated vehicle position is not on the road of the map data. Then, a map matching process for correcting the own vehicle position is performed. The route search processing unit 32 searches for a traveling route that connects a preset destination or transit point and a departure point under predetermined conditions. For example, under various conditions such as the shortest distance and the shortest time, a guidance route with the lowest cost is set. As typical methods of route search, the Dijkstra method and the horizontal search method are known.

The guide route drawing unit 34 is provided with a route search processing unit 3
2 to create guide route drawing data for displaying the guide route set in step 2 on the map information. The mark image drawing unit 36 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 above-mentioned remote control unit 4 and remote control control section 60 serve as genre specifying means, the GPS receiver 5, autonomous navigation sensor 6, and vehicle position calculating section 30 serve as vehicle position detecting means, and the facility information creating section 18 serves as facility searching means. In addition, the map drawing unit 14, the VRAM 16, the facility information creating unit 18, the image synthesizing unit 22, and the display device 7 correspond to display means, respectively. Further, the remote controller unit 4 and the remote controller controller 60 correspond to facility designating means, and the route search processor 32 corresponds to route searching means.

(4) Operation of Navigation Apparatus The entire navigation apparatus and the navigation controller 1 have the above-described configurations. Next, the operation of the navigation apparatus when guiding the nearest facility will be described.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the guide operation of the nearest facility performed by the navigation device of the present embodiment, and mainly shows the operation procedure performed by the facility information creating unit 18.

The facility information creating section 18 periodically determines whether or not the user has operated the remote control unit 4 to give an instruction to display facility information on facilities belonging to a specific genre ( (Step 100) When this display instruction is given, the genre of the facility designated by the user is acquired (Step 101). For example, one or more genres such as "convenience store" are designated.

Next, based on the map data (facility detailed data) stored in the data buffer 10, the facility information creating unit 18 selects the genre acquired in step 101 from the various facilities existing around the own vehicle position. The facility to which the vehicle belongs is extracted (step 102), the distance between each extracted facility and the vehicle position is calculated, and the facility closest to the vehicle position (nearest facility) is specified (step 103). As described above, the location (longitude / latitude) of each facility is included in the facility detail data, and the current vehicle position is calculated by the vehicle position calculation unit 30. Therefore, the facility information creation unit 18 The distance between each facility and the position of the vehicle can be calculated based on the position data.

When the nearest facility is specified, the facility information creating unit 18 specifies in which direction the closest facility is based on the position of the own vehicle (step 104). FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a method of obtaining the direction of the nearest facility based on the position of the own vehicle. In the present embodiment, based on the longitude and latitude corresponding to the host vehicle position G and the longitude and latitude corresponding to the nearest facility P, the distance between the own vehicle traveling direction indicated by an arrow in FIG. The angle α is calculated, and the direction of the nearest facility P is specified by the angle α.

Next, the facility information creating section 18 creates drawing data corresponding to the facility information. The created drawing data of the facility information is combined with the drawing data of the map information and the like by the image combining unit 22, and predetermined facility information is displayed on the screen of the display device 7 (step 105). As described above, in the present embodiment, the facility information superimposed on the map information includes the “facility name” of the nearest facility, the “distance” to the nearest facility, and the nearest facility based on the vehicle position. Contains the "direction" of the location. In this,
The “facility name” is obtained from the facility detailed data shown in FIG. As the “distance”, a value calculated when the nearest facility is specified in step 103 described above is used. The “direction” is described in step 1 described above.
It is represented by displaying an arrow inclined by α ° from the traveling direction of the own vehicle using the angle α specified in 04. For example, in the case where the nearest facility P exists at the position shown in FIG. 4 described above, and in the case of a so-called heading-up display in which the traveling direction of the vehicle is always on the upper side of the screen, the diagonally rightward forward direction The direction of the nearest facility P is indicated by displaying the indicated arrow.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of facility information. As shown in FIG. 5, on the screen of the display device 7, map information around the vehicle position indicated by the vehicle position mark 100 is displayed. In the present embodiment, facilities are further superimposed on this map information. If the information 120 and the location of the nearest facility are included in the screen, the nearest facility mark 110 is displayed. In the display example shown in FIG. 5, “○ ×” of the convenience store is displayed as the nearest facility.
It is assumed that "Store" is being guided. The facility information 120 described above includes a facility name 120a, a distance 120b, and an arrow 120c. With these displays, the user can find that the name of the nearest convenience store is “○ × store”, and Can be grasped that the distance of is “0.8 km”. Further, based on the direction indicated by the arrow 120c, the user can visually recognize that there is the above-mentioned “XX store” in the diagonally forward right direction when viewed from the own vehicle position.

Next, the facility information creating unit 18 determines whether a predetermined time (for example, one second) has elapsed (step 106). If the predetermined time has elapsed, the facility information creating unit 18 returns to step 102, and after the process of extracting the facilities belonging to the genre acquired in step 101 from among the facilities existing around the own vehicle position, Is repeated. As described above, the step 10 is executed every predetermined time.
By repeating the second and subsequent operations, the facility information can always be updated with new contents corresponding to the current position of the own vehicle, and the nearest facility can be guided using the new facility information.

If the predetermined time has not elapsed, a negative determination is made in step 106 described above, and then the facility information creating unit 18 issues an instruction to change the genre of the facility desired to be set as a guidance target. Is determined by the user via the remote control unit 4 (step 107). If the genre change instruction has been issued, the process returns to step 101, and the operations after the process of acquiring the selected genre are repeated.

If the genre change instruction is not issued, a negative determination is made in step 107, and then the facility information creating unit 18 uses the instruction to stop displaying the facility information via the remote control unit 4. It is determined whether or not it has been performed by a person (step 108). When the instruction to stop the display of the facility information is issued, the process returns to step 100, and is in a standby state until the next instruction to display the facility information is issued. If the instruction to stop displaying the facility information is not issued, a negative determination is made in step 108, the process returns to step 106, and the operation after determining whether or not the predetermined time has elapsed is repeated.

As described above, in the navigation device of the present embodiment, among the facilities belonging to the genre designated in advance, the facilities which are close to the current position of the vehicle are repeatedly searched by the facility information creating unit 18 at a predetermined timing. Since the facility information 120 including the searched facility name, the distance from the own vehicle position, the direction, and the like is displayed together with the map information around the own vehicle position, the user can perform the desired operation without performing a complicated operation. Information on the nearest facility belonging to the genre can be obtained.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the embodiment described above,
The closest facility was identified by calculating a straight line distance based on the longitude and latitude corresponding to the own vehicle position and the position of the nearest facility, but taking into account the travel time along the actual travel route, etc. The nearest facility may be specified. Specifically, for example, when the facility determined to be closest to the own vehicle position determined by the straight line distance is located behind the own vehicle in the traveling direction, even if the straight line distance is the shortest, However, as an actual traveling route, a U-turn or a right and left turn is performed several times toward the facility, which is not necessarily the shortest in terms of traveling time. It is also conceivable that the direction to another facility located is the shortest in terms of travel time. In such a case, more accurate guidance of the nearest facility can be provided by taking into account the travel time along the actual travel route. The information on the travel time is included in various types of data prepared for route search in a general navigation device, for example, in the present embodiment, included in the above-described road unit, and the nearest facility in consideration of the travel time is used. Guidance can be easily realized by using these route search data.

In the above embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the facility information 120 for guiding the nearest facility is displayed at a predetermined position on the upper left of the screen. The display position of 120 is not limited to this, and may be displayed at another position that does not hinder other displays required for the navigation operation.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a modification of the display position of the facility information 120. As an example, the facility information 120 is located behind the vehicle position mark 100 (the position below the horizontal position on the screen). The displayed example is shown.
As shown in FIG. 6, in the case of a so-called heading-up display in which the traveling direction of the vehicle is always on the upper side of the screen, the map information behind the vehicle position mark 100 is not so important information for the user. By displaying the facility information 120 at the position, the limited display area can be used more effectively, and it is possible to prevent the display of the map information ahead in the traveling direction of the vehicle from being hindered.

The display position of the facility information 120 for guiding the nearest facility may be set in accordance with the direction in which the nearest facility to be guided exists. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the direction in which the nearest facility to be guided exists and the display position of the facility information 120. As an example, four directions corresponding to the directions in which the closest facilities to be guided exist are shown. An example in which display positions (1) to (4) are set is shown. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the relationship between the angle α indicating the direction of the nearest facility to be guided and each of the display positions shown in FIG. 7. It is divided into four parts. FIG.
Correspond to the display positions (1) to (4) shown in FIG. 7 on a one-to-one basis. That is, as shown in FIG. 4 described above, since the direction of the nearest facility to be guided is specified as the angle α, the position of the nearest facility P specified by this angle α is determined by the area (1) shown in FIG. ) To (4), the display position can be set. In the example shown in FIG. 8, since the position of the nearest facility P is included in the area (2), the facility information 120 on this nearest facility P is displayed at the display position (2) shown in FIG. Become. As described above, by setting the display position of the facility information 120 corresponding to the direction of the nearest facility, it is possible to visually grasp in which direction the nearest facility exists without checking the details of the facility information. Can be.

In the above embodiment, the facility information 1
The information indicated by 20 is facility name, distance, and direction 3
However, the facility name may be omitted.
It is considered that the user is well aware of the genre of the facility that he / she has actively specified in order to display the facility information. It may be sufficient if the distance and direction of are guided. In such a case, by guiding only the distance and direction from the own vehicle position as the facility information, it is possible to reduce the processing required for image display and to display the display area required for displaying the facility information 120. Can be reduced.

Depending on the distance from the position of the vehicle to the nearest facility, the location of the nearest facility may deviate from the display area of the map information corresponding to the vicinity of the position of the vehicle. Alternatively, the display may be switched to map information having a display area around the nearest facility. Specifically, by setting the read center position when reading the map drawing data stored in the VRAM 16 by the image synthesizing unit 22 in accordance with the location (longitude and latitude) of the nearest facility, the vicinity of the nearest facility is set. The corresponding map information can be displayed. Thus, even when the location of the nearest facility deviates from the display area of the map information corresponding to the vicinity of the own vehicle position, the user does not need to perform complicated operations such as scrolling of the map information, and can perform the operation of the nearest facility. The traveling route can be confirmed by looking at the map information corresponding to the surrounding area.

Further, the route guidance may be performed by giving a predetermined operation instruction by the user on the route to the nearest facility where the facility information is displayed. For example, when the route guidance is being performed, a predetermined operation instruction is given via the remote control unit 4, and the route search processing unit 32 performs the route search again using the nearest facility as a transit point. A predetermined navigation operation may be performed by finding a new guidance route. If no route guidance has been performed, the route search processing unit 32 performs a new route search using the own vehicle position as the departure point and the nearest facility for which guidance is being performed as the destination. A predetermined navigation operation may be performed according to the route. By performing such processing, even when the user stops at the nearest facility located off the current travel route, the user can reliably arrive at the target nearest facility without getting lost. it can.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, facilities around the position of the vehicle belonging to the genre designated in advance are repeatedly searched, and the facility information of the searched facilities is displayed on the screen. Thus, the user can obtain information on the nearest facility belonging to a desired genre without performing a complicated operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of facility detailed data.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a guide operation of a nearest facility.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a method for obtaining the direction of the nearest facility based on the position of the own vehicle.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of facility information.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a modification of a display position of facility information.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a direction in which the nearest facility to be guided is present and a display position of facility information.

8 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between an angle α indicating the direction of the nearest facility to be guided and each display position illustrated in FIG. 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 navigation controller 4 remote control (remote control) unit 5 GPS receiver 6 autonomous navigation sensor 7 display device 10 data buffer 12 map reading control unit 14 map drawing unit 16 VRAM 18 facility information creation unit 22 image synthesis unit 30 vehicle position calculation unit 32 Route search processing unit 60 Remote control unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A genre in which various facilities are classified,
Genre designating means for designating one or a plurality of genres; vehicle position detecting means for detecting the current position of the vehicle; detecting by the vehicle position detecting means in the facilities belonging to the genre designated by the genre designating means Facility search means for repeatedly searching for a location close to the current position of the vehicle at a predetermined timing; and map information around the current position of the vehicle detected by the vehicle position detection means, and the facility search means. A display means for displaying predetermined facility information for guiding the location of the facility on a screen. 2. The facility information according to claim 1, wherein the facility information includes a name of the facility searched by the facility search means and a distance from a current position of the vehicle to the facility. A navigation device, wherein the facility information is displayed on the display screen behind the traveling direction of the vehicle. 3. The facility information according to claim 1, wherein the facility information includes a name of the facility searched by the facility search means and a distance from a current position of the vehicle to the facility. A navigation apparatus, wherein the facility information is displayed on the display screen in a direction in which the facility searched by the facility searching means exists, based on a current position of the vehicle. 4. The facility designating means according to claim 1, wherein the facility searched by the facility search means is designated as a transit point or a destination, and the facility designating means is provided based on a current position of the vehicle. A navigation device, further comprising: route search means for searching for a traveling route to the designated facility.