JP2002005680A - Apparatus and method for navigation and recording medium with software for navigation stored thereon - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation technique which can reduce a user operation load and facilitate judging and selecting of facility types of automatically allotting icons to facilities. SOLUTION: There are provided an absolute position/azimuth-detecting part 1, absolute azimuth-detecting part 2, vehicle velocity detecting part 3, main CPU and its peripheral circuit 4, memory group M, user interface part 9, display part 10, input part 11, CD-ROM control part 12, FM multi receiving and processing part 13, and light/wave beacon receiving and processing part 14. To the main CPU and its peripheral circuit 4 are set with a present position- calculating part 40, destination-designating part 41, route-calculating part 42, guide part 43, facility-extracting part 44 for extracting facilities, facility-selecting part 45 for selecting facilities, point-registering part 46 for registering facility data of the facilities, icon searching part 47 for searching icon data, and icon display control part 48 for making icons displayed on the display part 10.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in navigation technology, and more particularly, to a navigation device and method having an improved function of displaying a destination such as a facility, and a recording medium recording navigation software.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the advance of digital technology, a navigation technology for guiding a mobile body such as an automobile has become widespread. For example, an in-vehicle navigation system calculates an optimal route to a given destination based on data such as roads pre-recorded on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM, and uses GPS navigation or the like. While displaying a map near the position of the vehicle to be calculated in real time on the screen, guidance such as turning right or left is provided by a display screen or synthesized voice.

[0003] The use of such a navigation system starts with setting a destination facility. However, a normal system can not only search for a destination by scrolling a map displayed on a screen but also search for a destination. In order to make the setting quickly, a name search function is incorporated in a database in which the names of a large number of facilities are recorded in advance, and by searching this database, a destination search function for finding a desired facility is incorporated. With the facility searched in this way, the coordinates and name of the location where the facility exists can be registered in the registered location list by the user performing a predetermined operation. Furthermore, the facility registered as a point can be called by the user selecting the facility name from the list displayed as needed.

By the way, in order to facilitate such a calling operation, an icon corresponding to the type is allocated to each facility in advance by a user's input operation, and this icon is displayed when a list is displayed. , As a guide when selecting the target facility. Also, the icons allocated in this way are
When the facility was displayed on the map, it was displayed at the corresponding point, so that the location and type of the facility on the map could be confirmed.

[0005]

By the way, in the above-mentioned prior art, the number of facilities displayed in a list increases as the point registration is repeated, and it becomes difficult to find and call out the required facilities. . In order to cope with this, it is conceivable that icons corresponding to the types are allocated to all facilities and those having the same type are put together, thereby facilitating the search. However, in order to do this completely, the user must always perform the work of allocating icons when registering all points, which is very troublesome.

[0006] The present invention has been proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. The purpose of the present invention is to automatically assign icons to facilities,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a navigation system and method capable of reducing the user's operation load and facilitating facility type determination and selection, and a recording medium recording navigation software.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a map information storing means for storing a map on a route to be guided, and a current position calculating means for calculating a current position. Destination designating means for designating a facility on the map as a destination; route calculating means for calculating a route from the current position to the destination; and a route calculated by the route calculating means on the map. A facility information storage unit that stores facility information that is information about the facility on the map, and an icon information storage that stores icon information according to the attribute of the facility on the map. Means, from among the facilities whose facility information is stored in the facility information storage means,
A facility selecting means for selecting a facility designated by the destination designating means; a facility information of the facility selected by the facility selecting means; and a destination based on the icon information stored in the icon information storing means. An icon search means for searching for an icon corresponding to the attribute of the facility designated as, and an icon display control means for displaying the icon searched by the icon search means on the display means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the method of the first aspect, wherein the step of storing a map on a route to be guided, the step of calculating a current position, A navigation method comprising: a step of designating a facility on a map as a destination; a step of calculating a route to reach the destination from the current position; and a step of displaying the calculated route on a display together with the map. A step of storing facility information that is information relating to the facility on the map; a step of storing icon information corresponding to the attribute of the facility on the map; Selecting the designated facility, and according to the attribute of the facility designated as the destination based on the facility information and the icon information of the selected facility. Retrieving an icon, search icons, characterized in that it comprises a step of displaying on the display means.

According to the above-described inventions of the first and third aspects, the facility set as the navigation destination is automatically provided with an icon corresponding to the attribute, and displayed. It is possible to easily confirm and determine a destination by displaying an icon without having to assign an icon.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the first aspect, an extraction condition input unit for inputting an extraction condition of a facility whose facility information is stored in the facility information storage unit, and the extraction condition input unit Facility extraction means for extracting a facility that matches the extraction conditions input by the facility, and a point registration means for registering facility information of the facility selected by the facility selection means from the facilities extracted by the facility extraction means. It is characterized by having.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the invention according to the second aspect is grasped from the viewpoint of a method. In the navigation method according to the third aspect, a facility extraction condition in which facility information is stored is input. The method is characterized by including a step, a step of extracting a facility that matches the input extraction condition, and a step of registering facility information of a facility selected from the extracted facilities.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, the invention of the second or fourth aspect is viewed from the viewpoint of a computer-readable recording medium. A map is stored, a current position is calculated, a facility on the map is designated as a destination, a route for reaching the destination from the current position is calculated, and the calculated route is displayed on the display means together with the map. In a recording medium on which navigation software is recorded, the software is stored in the computer.
Storing facility information that is information on the facility on the map, storing icon information corresponding to the attribute of the facility on the map, inputting an extraction condition of the facility where the facility information is stored, and inputting the extraction condition. The facility specified as the destination is selected based on the facility information and the icon information of the selected facility, and the facility specified as the destination is selected from the extracted facilities. An icon corresponding to the attribute is searched, and the searched icon is displayed on the display unit.

[0013] In the invention according to the second, fourth or fifth aspect of the present invention, the facility is registered in advance so that the facility can be easily designated as a destination. Since an icon is automatically assigned in accordance with the attribute, the operation burden on the user can be reduced, and the facility whose location has been registered can be easily called by displaying the icon.

[0014]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. Note that a portion related to information processing in this embodiment is typically realized by controlling a computer with software.
The software in this case realizes the operation and effect of the present invention by physically utilizing the hardware of the computer, and the conventional technology is applied to the common parts with the conventional technology. However, in this case, since the types and configurations of hardware and software, the range of processing by software, and the like can be variously changed, in the following description, a virtual circuit block that realizes each function of the present invention and the embodiment will be described. Used.

[1. Configuration of Embodiment] The present embodiment shows a navigation device (referred to as the present device) mounted on an automobile as a moving body for guiding a route, and a navigation method executed on the present device. It can also be understood as a recording medium on which navigation software for realizing these is recorded.

[1-1. Overall Configuration] As shown in the functional block diagram of FIG.
, Relative azimuth detecting unit 2, vehicle speed detecting unit 3, main CP
U and its peripheral circuits 4, a memory group M, a user interface unit 9, a display unit 10, an input unit 11,
ROM control unit 12, FM multiplex reception and processing unit 13,
Optical / radio beacon receiving and processing unit 14 and voice recognition unit 1
5 is provided.

The absolute position / azimuth detecting unit 1 calculates the absolute position coordinates and azimuth on the ground surface of the current position of the vehicle (called the own vehicle) on which the apparatus is mounted, that is, the own vehicle position. For this reason, for example, it is a part for receiving a GPS radio wave transmitted from a GPS satellite with an antenna or a receiver. The relative azimuth detecting unit 2 is a part for detecting the relative azimuth of the own vehicle using a gyro or the like. The vehicle speed detector 3 is a part that calculates the speed of the own vehicle by processing a vehicle speed pulse obtained from the vehicle.

The main CPU and its peripheral circuits 4
Is a part that functions as a control circuit that controls the entire apparatus. The memory group M is a variety of memories necessary for the operation of the present apparatus. For example, a program is stored therein, and the ROM 5 accessed by the main CPU at the time of startup or the like, the main program is loaded, and a work area is provided. DRAM (Dynamic RAM) 6, SRAM (Static RAM) 7 for holding the memory contents when the power is turned off to on (the battery is backed up even when the main power is off), VRAM for the display unit 10
(Video RAM) 8 and the like.

The display section 10 is a section for outputting various kinds of information such as a map, operation menu buttons, a facility name list, and a Japanese syllabary panel on a liquid crystal display screen (not shown) or voice synthesis. The input unit 11 is a part for the user to input information such as a command from a switch or a joystick on a front panel or a remote controller. For example, a desired point on a map, a menu button, a facility name list, a Japanese syllabary panel Can be selected. The display unit 10 can be used as an input unit in the same manner as the input unit 11 by directly touching an arbitrary point on the map, a menu button, a facility name list, a Japanese syllabary panel, or the like, on the map displayed on the screen. It also has a function as a touch panel that can play a role. The user interface unit 9 is a user interface that connects the display unit 10 and the input unit 11 with the main CPU and its peripheral circuits 4 using an I / O control circuit, a driver, and the like.

The CD-ROM control unit 12 controls the CD-ROM
This is a means for reading the database recorded in the ROM. The contents of the database are centered on map data,
For example, it includes route search data indicating a road network structure, display data indicating a landmark such as a gas station, and the like, and also includes facility data.
The facility data is of a record type having the name of the facility as a record name, and includes data items such as an ID relating to the type of facility such as a parking lot or a tennis court (hereinafter referred to as a type ID), and the location of the facility. The coordinates etc. are included. Further, the program is stored in the ROM 5 and the DRAM 6
The application read above includes, in addition to the basic information necessary for operating the apparatus such as the menu button and the Japanese syllabary panel, an icon table which is information on icons predetermined according to each type ID. include.

The storage area for the information such as the database and the program can be freely set.
All or part of this information is stored in ROM5 in advance.
May be stored on the CD-ROM side. Further, the recording medium is not limited to a CD-ROM. For example, a DVD-ROM that is read by a DVD-ROM control unit may be used.

The FM multiplex reception and processing unit 13
M broadcast wave and VICS (registered trademark) included in this broadcast wave
This is the part that receives traffic information. Further, the optical / radio beacon reception and processing unit 14 is a part that receives traffic information of VICS included in an optical beacon or a radio beacon when passing under a transmission facility installed on a road. The traffic information includes information such as traffic congestion, accidents, regulations, construction, travel time to the destination, and the like. Further, the voice recognition unit 1
Numeral 5 is a means for inputting an utterance from the user and recognizing the voice.

[1-2. Role of Main CPU and its Peripheral Circuit] Furthermore, the main CPU and its peripheral circuit 4
By the operation of the software as described above, the current position calculating unit 40, the destination specifying unit 41, the route calculating unit 42,
A guiding unit 43, a facility extracting unit 44, a facility selecting unit 45,
It is configured to serve as a point registration unit 46, an icon search unit 47, an icon display control unit 48, a scroll display control unit 49, and a drawing unit 50.

The current position calculating section 40 is a means for calculating the current position of the own vehicle, that is, the own vehicle position.
Specifically, the vehicle position is calculated by combining GPS navigation positioning and autonomous navigation positioning. Here, the GPS navigation positioning is to calculate the current position using information obtained from the absolute position / azimuth detecting unit 1 based on radio waves from artificial satellites. In the autonomous navigation positioning, the current position is calculated using information obtained from the relative azimuth detecting unit 2 and the vehicle speed detecting unit 3 based on the geomagnetism and the speed of the own vehicle.

The route calculation unit 42 is means for calculating an optimum route from the current position of the vehicle to the facility designated by the destination designation unit 41 based on the route search data. In addition, the guide unit 43 includes the route calculation unit 42
Current position calculation unit 40 for the route calculated by
Is a means for guiding the vehicle by a synthesized voice or screen display based on the current position or the like which is sequentially calculated by the user.

The facility extracting section 44 is a means for extracting a facility name matching the extraction condition input by the user from the facility data. The facility selecting section 45 is a means for selecting a facility selected by the user from the facility names extracted by the facility extracting section 44. The point registration unit 46 stores the facility data corresponding to the facility name selected by the facility selection unit 45 in the SRA
This is a means for performing point registration by storing it in M7. The icon search unit 47 is means for picking up icon data corresponding to the facility name selected by the facility selection unit 45 with reference to the type ID of the facility and the icon table. The icon display control unit 48 is a means for displaying the icons picked up by the icon search unit 47 together with a corresponding facility name or a map around the facility.

The scroll display control section 49 includes a display section 10
Is a means for performing control for displaying a place to be viewed by moving the screen display in up, down, left and right directions. The drawing unit 50
This is a means for drawing display contents displayed on the display unit 10 based on information passed from other units.

[2. Operation of Embodiment] The embodiment configured as described above operates as follows. First,
In the present embodiment, the destination designation unit 41 calculates the current vehicle position calculated by the current position calculation unit 40 based on information from the absolute position / direction detection unit 1, the relative direction detection unit 2, and the vehicle speed detection unit 3. The best route to the specified destination is
The route calculation unit 42 calculates based on the route search data,
The navigation unit 43 has a function as a normal navigation device, such as a function of the guide unit 43 guiding a route using synthesized speech or screen display, and a function of searching and displaying a map around a coordinate location of a destination designated by the destination designation unit 41. are doing.

Further, the present embodiment has an icon display function associated with destination search and point registration. Hereinafter, as a representative example of a destination search, a case of searching from the name of a facility will be described with reference to explanatory diagrams of FIGS. 2 and 3 and flowcharts of FIGS. 4 and 5.

[2-1. Point registration] First, the procedure of icon display performed together with the registration of the searched destination point will be described. That is, when the apparatus is started, the icon table is stored in a predetermined storage area (hereinafter, referred to as DRAM) in the DRAM 6 or the like together with the application program.
(Called simply "memory"). Then, in accordance with the user's input operation, a Japanese syllabary panel is displayed on the display unit 10 as shown in FIG. The user can use this 5
Using the zero sound panel, for example, an extraction (search) condition of “Kurari” is input and a search button is selected. Then, the facility extraction unit 44 selects from the facility data
A list of facility names containing the characters "Kurari" is extracted,
It is displayed on the display unit 10 as shown in FIG.

When the user selects, for example, "Kinki Clary" (the type is tennis court) from the facility names displayed in the list, "Kinki Clary" is selected by the facility selecting section 45 (step 401). ). Then, the type ID of the tennis court corresponding to the record name "Kinki Clary" of the facility data is held in the memory (step 402). At the same time, “Kinki Clary” is designated by the destination designation unit 41, and a map centering on the coordinate location of “Kinki Clary” is searched and displayed on the display unit 10 as shown in FIG.

When the user performs an input operation for requesting point registration while the map around the facility is displayed on the display unit 10 (step 403), the icon search unit 47 is displayed.
Refers to the icon table, picks up icon data corresponding to the type ID read in the memory from the icon table, and as shown in FIG.
The icon display control unit 48 displays the icon (like a tennis court) at the destination on the map on the display unit 10 (step 404). Also,
The point registration unit 46 stores the facility data (name, coordinates, type ID, etc.) for which the point registration was requested in the area of the registered point list on the SRAM 7 (step 405). The icon display control unit 48 displays the icon at the registered location on the map until the facility data whose location has been registered is cleared from the SRAM 7.

The procedure of steps 403 to 405 is
The following may be changed. That is, when “Kinki Clary” is selected by the facility selection unit 45, the icon search unit 47 picks up icon data matching the type ID stored in the record of “Kinki Clary” from the icon table, and The icon display control unit 48 displays the icon on the map.

When the user performs an input operation for requesting point registration, the point registration unit 46 stores the facility data (name, coordinates, type ID, etc.) for which point registration has been requested into the SRA.
It is stored in the area of the registered point list on M7. In this case, as in the above case, the icon display control unit 48 displays the icon at the registered point on the map until the registered facility data is cleared from the SRAM 7.

[2-2. Calling of Registered Location List] Next, the procedure of displaying an icon corresponding to the call of the registered location list will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. That is, when the user inputs a display request for the registered spot list (step 501), the icon search unit 47 picks up icon data matching the type ID of each spot from the icon table (step 502). Then, as shown in FIG.
An icon corresponding to each point is displayed on the display unit 10 together with the registered point list stored above (step 503). This icon is the same as that displayed on the map as described above.

[3. Effect of Embodiment] As described above, in the present embodiment, icons are automatically set and displayed for each type of point in the registered point list, so that it becomes easy for the user to search for a facility to call. In addition, since the icon assignment conventionally performed by the user by his / her own selection can be automatically performed only by performing normal point registration from the search operation, the user operation can be simplified. In addition, by rearranging the list of registered spots based on the assigned icons, it is possible to further easily search for a facility to be called.

[4. Other Embodiments] The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example,
By storing the icon data together with the facility data on the SRAM 7 at the time of the point registration, it is possible to register and call the icon data together with the facility data.

The settings of the color, shape and size of the menu display, item display, icon display, and the like can be freely changed. Further, the content of each item for search is not limited to the example shown in the above embodiment. Further, the facility designated as the destination is not limited to artificial facilities, but may be any kind of natural things or customary place names.

Further, the input operation by the user can be performed by voice input from the voice recognition unit 15 in the above embodiment. Further, the present invention can be applied to a navigation device other than a vehicle-mounted navigation device.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention,
By automatically allocating icons to facilities, it is possible to reduce the operation burden on the user and record navigation technology, that is, a navigation device and method, and navigation software capable of facilitating type determination and selection of facilities. Recording medium can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a screen display of point registration in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen display example of a registration list with icons in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure of icon display corresponding to point registration in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure of displaying an icon corresponding to a call of a registration point list in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Absolute position / azimuth detecting part 2 ... Relative azimuth detecting part 3 ... Vehicle speed detecting part 4 ... Main CPU and its peripheral circuit M ... Memory group 5 ... ROM 6 ... Dynamic RAM (DRAM) 7 ... Static RAM (SRAM) 8 ... VideoRAM (VRAM) 9 ... User interface unit 10 ... Display unit 11 ... Input unit 12 ... CD-ROM control unit 13 ... FM multiplex reception and processing unit 14 ... Optical / radio wave beacon reception and processing unit 15 ... Speech recognition unit 40 ... Current Position calculation unit 41 destination designation unit 42 route search unit 43 guide unit 44 facility extraction unit 45 facility selection unit 46 point registration unit 47 icon search unit 48 scroll display control unit 49 drawing unit 401 and later … Each step of the procedure

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C032 HB22 HC08 2F029 AA02 AB01 AB07 AB09 AC02 AC04 AC13 AC14 5E501 AA23 AC15 AC33 BA05 EA11 EB05 FA04 FA14 FA48 5H180 AA01 BB02 BB04 BB13 EE18 FF04 FF05 FF12 FF33 FF22FF

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. Map information storage means for storing a map on a route to be guided, current position calculation means for calculating a current position, destination specification means for specifying a facility on the map as a destination, In a navigation device having a route calculation means for calculating a route to reach a destination from a position, and a display means for displaying the route calculated by the route calculation means together with the map, information on facilities on the map A facility information storage unit that stores certain facility information; an icon information storage unit that stores icon information corresponding to the attribute of the facility on the map; and a facility in which the facility information is stored in the facility information storage unit. Facility selecting means for selecting a facility designated by the destination designating means; facility information of the facility selected by the facility selecting means; Based on the stored icon information in the storage unit, and icon search means for searching an icon corresponding to the attribute of the facility specified as the destination, it has been the icon retrieved by the icon retrieval means,
A navigation device comprising: an icon display control unit that causes the display unit to display an icon. 2. An extraction condition input unit for inputting an extraction condition of a facility whose facility information is stored in the facility information storage unit, and a facility extraction for extracting a facility that matches the extraction condition input by the extraction condition input unit. 2. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for registering facility information of the facility selected by the facility selecting means from the facilities extracted by the facility extracting means. . 3. A step of storing a map on a route to be guided, a step of calculating a current position, a step of specifying a facility on the map as a destination, and a step of reaching a destination from the current position. In a navigation method including a step of calculating a route and a step of displaying the calculated route together with the map on a display unit, a step of storing facility information that is information on a facility on the map, and a facility on the map. Storing the icon information according to the attribute of the selected facility; selecting the facility designated as the destination from the facilities in which the facility information is stored; based on the facility information and the icon information of the selected facility. Searching for an icon corresponding to the attribute of the facility designated as the destination, and displaying the searched icon on the display means. Navigation method which comprises the step of, the. 4. A step of inputting facility extraction conditions in which facility information is stored; a step of extracting facilities that match the inputted extraction conditions; and a facility of a facility selected from the extracted facilities. 4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of registering information. 5. A route for storing a map on a route to be guided by a computer, calculating a current position, designating a facility on the map as a destination, and reaching the destination from the current position. And a computer-readable recording medium storing navigation software for displaying the calculated route together with the map on a display means, the software causing the computer to store facility information that is information about facilities on the map, Icon information corresponding to the attribute of the facility on the map is stored, the extraction conditions of the facility in which the facility information is stored are input, the facilities that match the input extraction condition are extracted, and from among the extracted facilities, A facility designated as the destination is selected, and the facility designated as the destination is selected based on the facility information and the icon information of the selected facility. To find the icon corresponding to the attribute, the search icons, recording medium storing a navigation software, characterized in that to be displayed on the display means.