JP2002091423A - On-vehicle navigation device and method for displaying operation menu - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multi-language correspondence on-vehicle navigation device wherein an order of displaying a list is changed according to a language to be used; a target item can easily be found; and the operability is excellent, and to provide a method for displaying an operation menu. SOLUTION: Character data of a reference language (for example, English) and those of other languages corresponding to the character data of the reference language are stored in a character data storage means. When a language other than the reference language is set as a language to be used, the device extracts display items from the character data of the reference language before referring to the character data storage means, and translates those character data into the character data of the language to be used. Then, the device sorts the translated character data in alphabetical order and displays on a display device.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-language in-vehicle navigation system which can be operated in a set language among a plurality of languages, and an operation menu for operating the in-vehicle navigation system. Display method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An in-vehicle navigation device is a map data storage device such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disk) in which map data is recorded, a display device, a gyro, and a GPS (Glob).
al Positioning System) It has a vehicle movement detecting device for detecting the current position and current direction of the vehicle such as a receiver and a vehicle speed sensor. Then, the map data including the current position of the vehicle is read from the map data storage device, a map image around the vehicle position is drawn based on the map data, and a vehicle position mark (location) is displayed on the map image. Then, scroll the map image according to the movement of the vehicle, fix the map image on the screen and move the vehicle position mark so that you can see at a glance where the vehicle is currently traveling I have.

[0003] In addition, usually, a car navigation system is equipped with a route guidance function that allows a user to easily travel to a desired destination without making a mistake on a road. According to this route guidance function, the lowest cost route from the starting point to the destination using the map data is automatically searched by performing a simulation calculation such as the horizontal search method or the Dijkstra method, and the searched route is guided. The route is stored as a route, and during driving, the guidance route is drawn on the map image in a different color from the other roads and displayed thicker, or displayed on the screen, or a certain distance to the intersection where the vehicle should change the route on the guidance route When approaching the inside, the user is guided to the destination by drawing an arrow indicating the course at the intersection where the course is to be changed on the map image and displaying the arrow on the screen.

The cost is a value obtained by multiplying a constant according to a road width, a road type (such as a general road or an expressway), a right turn, a left turn, and the like based on the distance, a predicted traveling time of the vehicle, and the like. , The degree of appropriateness as a guidance route is quantified. Even if there are two routes having the same distance, the cost differs depending on whether the user specifies, for example, whether to use a toll road, or gives priority to distance or time.

A map stored in a map data storage device such as a CD-ROM has a longitude width of an appropriate size according to a scale level such as 1/12500, 1/25000, 1/50000, and 1/100000. Roads and the like are stored as a coordinate set of vertices (nodes) represented by longitude and latitude. A road is formed by connecting two or more nodes, and a portion connecting the two nodes is called a link. The map data includes (1) a road layer including a road list, a node table, an intersection configuration node list, and the like; (2) a background layer for displaying roads, buildings, parks, rivers, and the like on a map screen; 3) It is composed of a character / symbol layer for displaying characters such as administrative division names such as municipal names, road names, intersection names and building names, and map symbols.

In recent years, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) -ROM having a storage capacity equivalent to several CD-ROMs has been used as a storage medium of a map data storage device. As a result, it has become possible to store map data in a wider area than ever before, and position data of sightseeing spots and public facilities that are likely to be destinations. by the way,
In Europe and the like, it is common to travel by car to other countries. As described above, in the in-vehicle navigation device,
Since a large-capacity storage medium such as a DVD-ROM has come to be used for the map data storage device, a guide route is searched by setting a facility in another country as a destination, and the destination is determined along the guide route. The vehicle can be guided to the ground.

[0007] Further, in-vehicle navigation devices for Europe support a plurality of languages such as English, German, French, Spanish, and Dutch, and the language to be used is set in the in-vehicle navigation device in advance. After all,
The in-vehicle navigation device can be operated in a set language (hereinafter referred to as a working language).

[0008]

The inventor of the present application considers that the above-mentioned conventional multilingual in-vehicle navigation apparatus has the following problems. 2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional multilingual in-vehicle navigation device, generally, English is used as a basic language, and a process of converting the basic language into a used language is performed. For example, when the destination is set using the hierarchically structured operation menu, if English is set as the language to be used, FIG.
As shown in (a), a list of country names is displayed in alphabetical order in English. Usually, the display screen of the navigation device is not so large, so that the display device can display only a few country names at a time, but by scrolling the list, other country names can be displayed on the screen. When displaying the list in English in this way, the country names are arranged in alphabetical order, so you can intuitively find which side of the list the target country is located, and easily search for the target country Can be.

However, when a language other than English is set as the language used, each item (country name in this example) in the list shown in FIG. 1A is only converted to the language used. As shown in FIG. 1B and FIG. 1C, the order is not alphabetical. For this reason, it becomes difficult to search for a target item. In a vehicle-mounted navigation device, items are often displayed in a list when setting a destination or performing other operations. In the case where items other than the country name are displayed in a list, the characters are converted to the language used in the same manner as described above, but the items are displayed in alphabetical order in English.

From the above, it is an object of the present invention to provide a multilingual in-vehicle navigation system in which the order of the list display changes according to the language used, the target item can be easily found, and the operability is good. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for displaying an operation menu.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An on-vehicle navigation device according to the present invention detects a current position of a vehicle, displays guidance information on a display device as the vehicle moves, and guides the vehicle to a destination. Character data storage means for storing character data of a reference language and character data of another language corresponding to the character data of the reference language; Language setting means for setting a language to be set, and character data to be displayed are extracted from the character data of the reference language stored in the character data storage means, and the used language set in the language setting section is extracted. Convert to character data,
Control means for rearranging in alphabetical order and displaying on the display device.

In the present invention, character data of a reference language and character data of another language corresponding to the character data are stored in the character data storage means. If a language other than the reference language is set to be normally used, the control unit extracts the display items from the character data of the reference language, and then refers to the character data storage unit to store the character data. Convert to the character data of the language used.
Then, the converted character data is rearranged in alphabetical order and displayed on the display device.

In this manner, the items are displayed in the alphabetical order of the languages used on the display device, so that it is possible to intuitively know on which side of the list the target item is located, and to select the target item. Can be easily found. The method of displaying an operation menu of the vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the present invention includes an item extracting step of extracting a display item from character data of a reference language, a determining step of determining whether a normally used language is the reference language, A character data conversion step of converting the character data of the display item extracted in the item extraction step into character data of the normally used language when it is determined to be negative in the determination step, and a character converted in the character data conversion step The method includes a sorting step of sorting data in alphabetical order and a displaying step of displaying the character data on the display device in the sorted order.

In the present invention, after extracting the display items from the character data of the reference language, it is determined whether or not the normally used language is set as the reference language. If the result of the determination is negative, the character data in the reference language is converted into character data in a language that is normally used, and then sorted and sorted in alphabetical order. In this manner, the display device displays a list in which the items are arranged in alphabetical order in the set language, so that the user can easily find the target item.

In the present application, the alphabet is
The word order of the language (A, B, C for English, A, I, U, E, O, ... for Japanese).

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention. 1 is D that stores map data for many countries
VD-ROM. The DVD-ROM 1 has position data indicating the position of a sightseeing spot, a public facility, or the like as a destination, or character data for displaying an operation menu or guidance information in a specified language from among many languages. Is also stored. That is, in the present embodiment, the DVD-ROM 1 storing the map data also functions as the character data storage unit. In the present embodiment, the DVD-ROM 1
Character data such as French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Dutch corresponding to English character data is stored with English as a basic language.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a navigation device body 10 to be described later.
Is an operation unit for operating. The operation unit 2 is provided with a joystick for moving a cursor, an “enter” button, and other operation buttons. 3 is GPS
This is a GPS receiver that receives a GPS signal sent from a satellite and detects the longitude and latitude of the current position of the vehicle. 4
Is a self-contained navigation sensor. The self-contained navigation sensor 4 includes an angle sensor 4a such as a gyro for detecting a vehicle rotation angle,
A traveling distance sensor 4 that generates a pulse at every constant traveling distance
b. 7 is a liquid crystal display,
The navigation device body 10 displays a map around the current position of the vehicle on the display device 7, displays a guidance route from the departure point to the destination, a vehicle position mark, and other guidance information.

The navigation apparatus main body 10 comprises the following. Reference numeral 11 denotes a buffer memory for temporarily storing map data and other data read from the DVD-ROM 1. Reference numeral 12 denotes an interface connected to the operation unit 2, 13 denotes an interface connected to the GPS receiver 3, and 14 denotes an interface connected to the self-contained navigation sensor 4.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a control unit constituted by a microcomputer, and reference numeral 16 denotes a used language setting unit for setting a normally used language. The control unit 15 controls the interface 1
The current position of the vehicle is detected based on the information input from the third and the fourth memory 14, predetermined map data is read from the DVD-ROM 1 to the buffer memory 11,
Various kinds of processing are performed, such as searching for a guidance route from a departure place to a destination under search conditions set using the map data read out at step S1.

The normal language is set in the language setting section 16 by a user or a service person at a store. When displaying an operation menu or displaying guidance information, the control unit 15 displays the language in the language set in the language setting unit 16. Reference numeral 17 denotes a map drawing unit for generating a map image using the map data read into the buffer memory 11, and reference numeral 18 denotes an operation menu for generating various operation menus and various marks such as a vehicle position mark and a cursor according to an operation situation. This is a mark generation unit.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a guide route storage unit for storing the guide route searched by the control unit 15, and reference numeral 20 denotes a guide route drawing unit for drawing the guide route. The control unit 1 is stored in the guidance route storage unit 19.
5 are recorded from the starting point to the destination. When displaying the map, the guide route drawing unit 20 reads the guide route information (node sequence) from the guide route storage unit 19 and draws the guide route in a color and line width different from those of other roads.

An image synthesizing unit 21 is a map drawing unit 17.
The display device 7 superimposes the various marks and operation menus generated by the operation menu / mark generation unit 18, the guidance route drawn by the guidance route drawing unit 20, and the like on the map image drawn by. In the navigation device thus configured, the control unit 15 detects the current position of the vehicle from the GPS signal received by the GPS receiver 3 and the signal input from the self-contained navigation sensor 4. And DVD-R
The map data around the current position of the vehicle is read from the OM 1 and stored in the buffer memory 11. Map drawing unit 17
Generates a map image based on the map data read into the buffer memory 11, and displays a map image around the current position of the vehicle on the display device 7.

The control unit 15 detects the current position of the vehicle based on signals input from the GPS receiver 3 and the self-contained navigation sensor 4 as the vehicle moves, and displays the current position on the display device 7 according to the detection result. The vehicle position mark is superimposed on the displayed map image, and the vehicle position mark is moved with the movement of the vehicle, or the map image is scroll-displayed. Further, when the user operates the operation unit 2 to set a destination, the control unit 15 sets the current position of the vehicle as the departure point, and determines the lowest cost route from the departure point to the destination by using the map data of the DVD-ROM 1. Use to explore. Then, the route obtained by the search is stored in the guidance route storage unit 19 as a guidance route,
The guidance route is superimposed on the map image and displayed. Also,
As the vehicle travels, the control unit 15 appropriately outputs guidance information in a set language and guides the vehicle to travel along the guidance route to the destination.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a method for displaying an operation menu according to the embodiment of the present invention. In addition,
In the following example, a case will be described in which a destination is set using an operation menu having a hierarchical structure. For example, the first level displays a list of country names, the second level displays a list of state or prefecture names, the third level displays a list of city (municipal) names, and the fourth level displays addresses. Then, the destination is set by the user selecting the corresponding item at each level.

First, in step S11, display items are extracted. For example, at the first level, a country where the map data is included in the DVD-ROM 1 is extracted. in this case,
The control unit 15 extracts items to be displayed (character data of a country name) from character data of a basic language (English) included in the DVD-ROM 1. Next, the process proceeds to step S12, where it is determined whether the language used in the language setting unit 16 is the basic language. If the basic language (English) is set as the language to be used, the process proceeds to step S15, and the items extracted in the basic language are sorted in alphabetical order. Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S16, and the items extracted in the sorted order are displayed on the display device 7 in the basic language. FIG. 4 shows a display example when English is set as the working language.

On the other hand, when a language other than the basic language is set as the language to be used, the process proceeds from step S12 to step S13. Then, referring to the correspondence between the character data of the reference language and the character data of the working language stored in the DVD-ROM 1, the character data of the display item extracted in the basic language is converted into the character data of the working language. . Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S14, in which the character data of the item converted into the language used is sorted in alphabetical order.
Then, the process proceeds to step S16, and the items are displayed in the use language on the display device 7 in the sorted order. In FIG.
FIG. 6 shows a display example when German is set as the working language, and FIG. 6 shows a display example when French is set as the working language.

Thereafter, when a desired country name is selected by the user from the displayed list of country names, a second-level menu is displayed on the display device 7. That is, the control unit 1
5 extracts the state or prefecture name of the selected country from the DVD-ROM 1 according to the flowchart of FIG. 3, and displays a list of these state or prefecture names in alphabetical order in the language used.

In this way, the user sets a destination by selecting desired items from the items displayed on the display device 7. In this case, since the items displayed on the display device 7 are sorted in the alphabetical order after being converted into the language used, it is possible to intuitively know on which side of the list the target item is located. The target item can be easily found.

In the above embodiment, a case has been described in which a destination is set by sequentially selecting a country name, a state or prefecture name, a city name, and an address from an operation menu having a hierarchical structure. The method for setting the destination of the navigation device is not limited to this. In the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention, the destination can be set by a method other than the above, for example, from the genre of the facility (sightseeing spot, cultural facility, leisure facility, government office, accommodation facility, etc.).
Also in this case, after each item is converted into the language used, it is sorted in alphabetical order and displayed on the display device 7. Further, the operation menu display method of the present invention can be applied to a case where a plurality of items are displayed on a display device in addition to a case where a destination is set.

[0030]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The character data storage unit stores character data of the reference language and character data of another language corresponding to the character data. If a language other than the reference language is set to be normally used, the control unit extracts the display items from the character data of the reference language, and then refers to the character data storage unit to convert the character data into the language used. To character data. Then, the converted character data is rearranged in alphabetical order and displayed on the display device. Thus, the items are displayed in alphabetical order of the language used on the display device, so that it is possible to intuitively know on which side of the list the target item is located, and to easily find the target item. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 (a) is a representation of country names in English, FIG.
FIG. 1B is a diagram showing notation of country names in German, and FIG. 1C is a diagram showing notation of country names in French.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a method for displaying an operation menu according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a list of country names when English is set as a working language;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a list of country names when German is set as a working language.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of a list of country names when French is set as a working language.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... DVD-ROM, 2 ... Operation part, 3 ... GPS receiver, 4 ... Self-contained navigation sensor, 7 ... Display device, 10 ... Navigation device main body, 11 ... Buffer memory, 15 ... Control part, 16 ... Language setting part , 17: map drawing unit, 18: operation menu / mark generation unit, 19: guidance route storage unit, 20: guidance route drawing unit.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 3/00 654 G06F 3/00 654B 3/14 340 3/14 340C F-term (Reference) 2F029 AA02 AB01 AB07 AB13 AC02 AC09 AC14 AC16 AD07 5B069 AA12 BA04 BB16 CA18 DC16 5B075 NR15 PP13 PQ02 PQ46 PQ77 UU13 5C082 AA12 AA13 BA02 BA12 BA26 BA35 BB02 BB12 BB13 BB22 BB32 BB42 BC06 CA33 DA34 DA07 DA14 DA14 DA86 DA87 DA89 MM09 5E501 AA23 BA13 CA04 CB04 DA15 EA10 EB05 FA05 FA14

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An in-vehicle navigation device for detecting a current position of a vehicle, displaying guidance information on a display device as needed as the vehicle moves, and guiding the vehicle to a destination, comprising: character data in a reference language; Character data storage means for storing character data of another language corresponding to character data of the reference language; use language setting means for setting a normally used language from the basic language and the other language; Extracting character data to be displayed from character data of the reference language stored in character data storage means,
Control means for converting the data into character data of the language used in the language setting section, sorting the data in alphabetical order, and displaying the data on the display device. 2. A method for displaying an operation menu of an in-vehicle navigation device, comprising: an item extracting step of extracting display items from character data of a reference language; and a determining step of determining whether or not a normally used language is the reference language. A character data conversion step of converting the character data of the display item extracted in the item extraction step into character data of the normally used language when it is determined to be negative in the determination step; A method for displaying an operation menu of an in-vehicle navigation device, comprising: a sorting step of sorting alphabetical character data in alphabetical order; and a display step of displaying the character data on a display device in the sorted order.