JP2001264096A - Navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation system, capable of realizing low-cost navigation which dispenses with updating of information. SOLUTION: Power is taken from a car batter via a socket 15 and supplied to a cellphone 2 via a connector 12. At the same time, a GPS antenna 13 and a GPS positioning circuit part 14 are driven to acquire GPS positioning data, which is inputted to the cellphone 2. The cellphone 2 displays and guides it in voice, calls a navigation center system to receive a present position on a map and route guidance, and displays and outputs it in voice.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation system for determining a current position and navigating a route using a portable telephone.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, GPS (Global Pos)
An in-vehicle navigation device using an Ionizing System has been widely used. This type of navigation device incorporates a display and a map database in addition to the GPS positioning device, applies the positioning data of the GPS positioning device to the map information to display the current position, and when a destination is input, It has a function to search and guide the directions from the current position to the destination.

[0003]

However, this device is
The necessity of a fine liquid crystal display for displaying a map, a disk such as a CD-ROM or a DVD for storing a map database, and a drive device thereof are very expensive. In addition, there is a problem that a new road or a new traffic regulation cannot be coped with unless a disk such as a CD-ROM storing map information is periodically replaced.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a navigation system which can realize a low-cost navigation which does not require updating of information.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a navigation system including a mobile phone, a mobile phone onboard auxiliary device, and a navigation center device, wherein the mobile phone onboard auxiliary device is connected to a mobile phone. , GPS antenna, and GP received by the GPS antenna
A GPS positioning circuit for calculating positioning data based on the S signal, and control means for inputting the positioning data calculated by the GPS positioning circuit to the mobile phone via the connector,
The mobile phone transmits the positioning data input from the mobile phone in-vehicle auxiliary device to the navigation center device to receive the current position guidance information, and transmits the destination information to the navigation center device to receive the route guidance information,
The navigation center device is a communication unit that communicates with the mobile phone, and receives positioning data from the mobile phone, returns current position guidance information, and receives destination information.
Control means for determining a route from the current position to the destination and returning route guidance information for guiding the route.

At present, antennas and circuit elements for GPS positioning are inexpensive and small in size compared to a drive device for driving a fine liquid crystal display or a disk for a map database. Therefore, a GPS positioning device having a GPS antenna and a GPS positioning circuit is connected to a mobile phone, a map database is provided in the navigation center device, and the mobile phone transmits positioning data and destination information to the navigation center device, The device responds with route guidance information. The route guidance information is returned, for example, by voice and can be heard by the user via the mobile phone. Further, the route guidance information can be returned as text data and displayed on a small display of the mobile phone. As a result, an inexpensive and small navigation function can be realized. In addition, by appropriately updating the database of the navigation center device, the user can always obtain the route guidance information based on the latest information.

[0007]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a car adapter (vehicle assist device) of a portable telephone used in a navigation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The car adapter 1 includes a connector 12 connected to a connector of a mobile phone, a GPS antenna 13, a GPS positioning circuit 1
4, a socket 5 connected to the car battery, and cables 16 and 17 for connecting the connector 12, the GPS positioning circuit unit 14, and the socket 15. The GPS positioning circuit unit 14 includes a high-frequency circuit 14a, a digital circuit 14
b and the control unit 14c. High frequency circuit 1
Reference numeral 4a denotes a circuit which synchronizes with a microwave signal from a GPS satellite received by the GPS antenna 13, restores its code waveform, and performs AD conversion. The digital circuit 14b
Based on the phase of the AD-converted code, the circuit calculates the correct time and the distance to each satellite and restores various information. The control unit 4c calculates an accurate time and a distance to each satellite based on the phase of the AD-converted code, and calculates GPS positioning data indicating the current position based on the calculated time. The GPS positioning data is restored as described above. Processing such as correction based on various information, input of the GPS positioning data to the mobile phone 2, and the like are executed. Control unit 1
Reference numeral 4c denotes a microcomputer.

[0008] The cellular phone 2 converts the GPS positioning data represented by the latitude and longitude into a voice and informs the user of the GPS positioning data, and transmits the GPS positioning data to a navigation center 3 to be described later to provide a current position guide and route directions. Receive guidance. The current position guidance and the route guidance will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 2 is a view showing another embodiment of the car adapter. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the car adapter has the GPS antenna 13, the GPS positioning circuit unit 14, and the connector 12 formed separately. The mobile phone and the connector are connected together when the mobile phone is placed.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the portable telephone vehicle-mounted auxiliary device and the portable telephone. Figure (A)
5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the mobile phone. When the user performs a measurement operation (s01), a positioning command is input from the mobile phone 2 to the control unit 14c of the car adapter 1 (s02). The positioning operation may be performed by a key sequence or a selection operation from a menu screen. Since the GPS positioning data is returned from the car adapter 1 in response to the input of the positioning command (s03), the GPS positioning data is provided by voice guidance and displayed on the display (s04). Thereafter, the GPS positioning data can be transmitted to the navigation center 3 to receive the current position guidance and the route guidance. The operation will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1B is a flowchart showing the operation of the car adapter 1. When a positioning command is input from the mobile phone 2 (s11), the analog high-frequency circuit 1
The positioning circuit composed of the digital circuit 4a and the digital circuit 14b is activated (s12). Since these circuits consume a large amount of power, they are operated only during positioning. Then, a positioning operation is executed based on the GPS code data of each satellite input from the positioning circuit (s13), and GP, which is the operation result, is obtained.
Reply S positioning data to mobile phone 2 (s1
4). Thereafter, the positioning circuit is stopped to suppress power consumption (s15).

By the above operation, the user can know his / her current position (latitude / longitude) using the mobile phone 2 and the car adapter 1. Also, by connecting the following navigation center to the following mobile phone network, the mobile phone 2 and the car adapter 1 can be used to provide information on the current position indicating where the user is on the map and the optimal route to the destination. Can be received.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of a navigation center device used in the navigation system, and FIG.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a navigation center device and a navigation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The navigation center device 3 is connected to the mobile phone network 4 and is a device that returns current position guidance and route guidance in response to access from the mobile phone 2.
The communication control unit 31 is a device connected to the mobile phone network 4 and controls communication with the mobile phone 2. The voice analysis unit 32 is a processing unit that recognizes a voice signal input from the mobile phone 2 and converts it into code (text) data. That is, when the destination information or the like is input by voice from the mobile phone 2, the voice analysis unit 32 is a processing unit that converts this into data that can be processed by the central processing unit 34.
Information input as code data from the mobile phone 2 is input directly from the communication control unit 31 to the central processing unit 34.

The central processing unit 34, based on GPS positioning data and destination information input from the mobile phone 2,
Find your current location on the map and find the best directions to your destination. The central processing unit 34 has a database 35 composed of a map database and a destination database, and uses this to determine the current position and search for a route. The map database stores the layout of roads and buildings corresponding to latitude and longitude, and restricts traffic on each road (regulated speed, one-way traffic, prohibits right-turning, etc.)
And a type of the road (general ground road, elevated road, toll road, etc.). The destination database is a database that stores names, latitude / longitude data, telephone numbers, addresses, and the like for a plurality of buildings and areas (such as parks) that are likely to be destinations. The central processing unit 34 outputs the search result of the determined current position and the route as voice data and text data. The text data is directly input to the communication control unit 31. On the other hand, the voice data is input to the voice synthesizing unit 33, converted into a voice signal, and then input to the communication control unit 31. The communication control unit 31 returns the text data and the voice signal to the mobile phone 2 as the communication partner. Mobile phone 2
Communication with the navigation center device 3 is performed via the mobile phone network 4 and the base station 5 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation when the mobile phone 2 communicates with the navigation center device 3. 7 and 8 are flowcharts showing the operation of the navigation center device 3.

FIG. 6A shows an operation executed following the operation of FIG. 3A. That is, the car adapter 1
Then, after receiving GPS positioning data and displaying and outputting the data (s04), it is input whether or not the GPS positioning data is transmitted to the navigation center device 3 to receive the current position guidance (s21). This input is performed by a key sequence, an operation from a menu screen, or the like. If there is an operation not to receive the current position guidance, the process ends. If there is an operation to receive the current position guidance, a call is made to the navigation center device 3 (s22). The mobile phone 2 registers the telephone number of the navigation center device 3 in a predetermined storage area in advance, and automatically dials this telephone number when an operation for receiving the current position guidance is performed.

Since the navigation center device 3 responds to this call, the GP received from the car adapter 1
The S positioning data is transmitted to the navigation center device 3 (s23). The navigation center device 3 returns the current position guide determined by applying the GPS positioning data to the map database, and receives it (s24). The current location guidance is composed of text data and voice signals, and the content is, for example, "You are 200m north of Honmachi 3-chome intersection in Midosuji." This is output as a sound and displayed on the display (s25).

Then, it receives a selection of whether to receive the route guidance, that is, whether to input the destination (s2).
6). When the route guidance is not received, the telephone with the navigation center device 3 is cut off (s35) and the operation is ended. When the route guidance is received (s26), the input of the destination is accepted (s27) and transmitted to the navigation center device 3 (s28). The input of the destination is the name of the destination, a telephone number, an address, and the like, and the input method may be any of a key input and a voice input. The navigation center device 3 searches the destination in the destination database to determine the latitude / longitude data, applies the data to the map database, and searches for the optimal route based on the positional relationship between the current position and the destination. Then, this is returned to the mobile phone 2. The mobile phone 2 receives this (s29). This route guidance is composed of text data and a voice signal, and the contents include "Go south, turn left at Honmachi 3-chome intersection, turn right at the fourth traffic light, turn left at the third traffic light," and the like. This is output as sound and displayed on the display (s30).

Further, when the route to the destination is complicated and there are many route guidances, if the voice guidance is given at once, the user may not be able to remember all of them. The display may not be able to display all. For this reason, when the navigation center device 3 exceeds a predetermined amount (in this embodiment, the guidance of right / left turn exceeds four messages), the navigation center device 3 provides the route guidance in a plurality of times, and this route guidance is provided. In the next access, a registration ID is attached to the next access, and the subsequent route guidance is returned only by inputting the registration ID.

When the registration ID is received (s31),
This is output as sound and displayed on the display (s3
2) Store in the memory (s33). Then, the telephone with the navigation center device 3 is disconnected (s35), and the operation is terminated.

The operation for the user to input the registration ID is shown in FIG.
(A) and the flowchart of FIG.
It replaces the input of s21, s26, s27. The registration ID replaces the input of the destination for the navigation center device 3. That is, when the user inputs the ID, the mobile phone 2 automatically instructs the GPS positioning to the car adapter 1 and makes a call to the navigation center device 3 to receive the route guidance. When the user performs a predetermined operation, the registration ID stored in the memory at that time may be automatically transmitted to the navigation center device 3.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the navigation center device 3. The navigation center device 3 waits until there is access from the mobile phone 2 (s41). Hook off when there is access (s
42), and transmits a response message (s43). This response message is composed of a voice guide and a command to transmit GPS positioning data to the mobile phone. Since the GPS positioning data is transmitted from the mobile phone 2 in response to this, the GPS database is searched for the position of the GPS positioning data on the map database (s45), and the search result is returned as the current position guidance (S45). s46). This current position guidance is transmitted as a voice signal and text data as described above.

Subsequently, when the destination is transmitted (s47), when the destination is input, it is determined whether or not the input is a registration ID (s48). If it is not a registered ID, that is, if it is the name, telephone number, address, etc. of the destination, the destination database is searched for the latitude / longitude data (location) of the destination (s49), and a map is obtained using this location. Search the database and confirm the location on the map (s5
0). Based on the current position and the location of the destination, an optimal route is searched by referring to various types of traffic regulation information and road type information stored in the map database (s51), and route guidance information for guiding this route is obtained. It is created (s52).
Then, it is determined whether the number of messages in the route guidance information exceeds four (s53). If the number of messages is 4 or less, this is returned to the mobile phone 2 as it is (s54).
The hook is turned on (s58), and the process ends.

On the other hand, if the number of messages exceeds 4, the fifth and subsequent route guidance messages are registered in the buffer (s55), and a registration ID is generated for the stored contents of the buffer (s56). Then, the first four messages and the registration ID are returned to the mobile phone 2 (s57), the hook is turned on (s58), and the process ends.

If the destination information sent in s48 is a registered ID, the buffer identified by the registered ID is accessed, four messages are read from the beginning (s60), and the route guidance is provided. The message is returned to the mobile phone (s61). Like the first route guidance message, this route guidance is also transmitted by text data and voice signals. Next, the read four messages are deleted from the buffer (s62). When the buffered message has been completed, the buffer area is deleted, the registration ID is deleted (s64), the hook is turned on (s58), and the operation is terminated. If a message still remains, the hook-on is performed as it is (s58) and the operation ends.

In this embodiment, all route guidance messages are created and buffered at the first access, and the buffered messages are sequentially read out and returned at the next and subsequent accesses. In some cases, a person (accessing by a mobile phone) may deviate from the route for which the route is set. The flowchart of FIG. 8 shows the navigation center apparatus 3 for re-searching each time an access is made
It is a flowchart of FIG. In this flowchart, the same processing operations as those in the flowchart of FIG. 7 are denoted by the same s numbers, and description thereof is omitted. If the route guidance information exceeds four messages in s53, the location information (latitude / longitude data) of the input destination is buffered (s72), and a registration ID is generated for this location information (s73). If the location information has already been buffered, the processing of s72 and s73 is skipped (s7
1). If the created route guidance information is four messages or less, it is transmitted to the mobile phone 2 as it is (s
54), if the search is performed based on the registration ID (s75), the registration ID and the buffered location information are deleted (s76). Then, in s48, if the destination information received from the mobile phone 2 is not the registration ID, the process proceeds to s49.
If it is D, the location information of the destination is read from the buffer (s76), and the process proceeds to s51. As described above, the use of the registration ID also simplifies the operation of the user and the processing of the navigation center device even when the search is performed again each time the access is made.

In the above embodiment, the route guidance is transmitted from the navigation center apparatus to the portable telephone by voice and text four messages at a time, but the number of messages transmitted at one time is not limited to four. .
Alternatively, the route guidance may be transmitted at each turn while the telephone is connected. Detailed route guidance is required for the last 10 minutes after approaching the destination. Until then, send multiple messages and disconnect the phone each time. Alternatively, guidance may be provided at each turn while the telephone is connected.

In the above embodiment, the output of the GPS positioning data, the output of the current position guidance, and the output of the route guidance are performed by voice and text. However, only voice or text may be used.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a navigation system which can be used in an automobile with a simple configuration using a portable telephone.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a car adapter used in a navigation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing another configuration of the car adapter.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing operations of the mobile phone and the car adapter.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a navigation center device used in the navigation system.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of the navigation system.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation of the mobile phone.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the navigation center device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the navigation center device.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Car adapter, 2 ... Mobile telephone, 3 ... Navigation center apparatus, 4 ... Mobile telephone network, 5 ... Base station 12 ... Connector, 13 ... GPS antenna, 14 ... GPS
Positioning circuit unit, 15 ... (car battery) socket 31 ... Communication control unit, 32 ... Voice analysis unit, 33 ... Voice synthesis unit, 34 ... Central processing unit, 35 ... Database

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI Theme coat II (reference) H04Q 7/34 H04B 7/26 106A 9A001 F term (reference) 2C032 HB06 HB08 HB22 HB25 HD03 HD16 2F029 AA01 AB07 AB13 AC02 AC09 AC14 AC16 5H180 AA01 BB05 CC12 FF05 FF13 FF22 FF32 5J062 AA03 BB01 BB05 CC07 DD23 FF01 HH01 HH05 5K067 AA42 BB04 BB36 DD51 EE02 EE10 JJ52 JJ56 9A001 BB04 JJ10 JJ72 JJ78

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A navigation system including a mobile phone, a mobile phone in-vehicle auxiliary device, and a navigation center device, wherein the mobile phone in-vehicle auxiliary device includes a connector connected to the mobile phone, a GPS antenna, and a GPS antenna. Comprises: a GPS positioning circuit that calculates positioning data based on a GPS signal received by the mobile phone; and control means for inputting the positioning data calculated by the GPS positioning circuit to the mobile phone via the connector. The navigation center device transmits positioning data input from the in-vehicle auxiliary device to the navigation center device to receive current position guidance information, and transmits destination information to the navigation center device to receive route guidance information. A communication means for communicating with the telephone, and receiving positioning data from the mobile telephone; To return the current location information, receive the destination information,
Control means for determining a route from the current position to the destination and returning route guidance information for guiding the route.