JP2002216300A - Navigation assist device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To eliminate complicating of a display when a plurality of marks are concentrated, without performing complicated operations before or during navigation and particularly specifying colors or shapes of the marks when inputting them. SOLUTION: Data representing display forms of marks to be displayed are changed in accordance with elapsed time from a display start time (mark input time) of the marks, and the color and size of the marks and characters added to the marks are changed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation assistance device which displays a predetermined mark on a display such as a CRT together with a chart.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in a wake display device called "video plotter" or "radar plotter", various marks are displayed on a display. For example, lighthouses, bayshore land facilities,
Marks indicating wreck, Setai, own ship, other ship, MOB (Man Over the Boat) indicating the position where the person fell from the ship, and other arbitrarily set marks are displayed on the display along with the coastline and contour line. You.

[0003]

In a conventional navigation assist device such as a wake display device, the mark on the display has a very important meaning for position confirmation, especially at sea where there are few landmarks. However, when a user repeatedly makes and reciprocates in the same sea area and inserts a mark for the purpose of instruction (marking at a predetermined position), a large number of marks are displayed or overlapped in close proximity on the screen. as a result,
Sometimes it was very difficult to see. Of course, if the shape and color of the mark can be changed arbitrarily, such a problem will be solved, but the change operation is troublesome, and the user can insert the mark without changing the shape and color of the mark. Was normal. Therefore, it often happens that a large number of marks of a predetermined shape and color are displayed.

Further, it is only necessary to delete unnecessary marks from marks already inputted.
It became complicated as the number of marks already entered increased.

[0005] An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation assistance device which solves such conventional problems and makes it easy to identify marks without performing complicated operations before or during navigation. Is to do.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a mark storage means for storing information relating to a display form of a mark to be displayed and a position of the mark, and displaying the mark in accordance with the storage contents of the mark storage means. Mark display means, the mark storage means stores a mark display start time or an elapsed time from the mark display start time, and the mark display means, according to the elapsed time from the mark display start time. To change the color, shape and size of the mark, or the characters added to the mark.

As described above, by automatically changing the color, shape and size of the mark or the character to be given to the mark according to the elapsed time from the display start time of the mark, the mark can be displayed before or during navigation. Even if you do not specify the color of
For example, the color, shape, size, or the character assigned to the mark changes automatically every hour, so that even if a large number of marks are displayed on a chart, for example, it is easy to identify each mark.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The construction of a navigation assistance device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a front view of a display unit of the navigation assistance device. In FIG. 1, 1
Is a display, 2 is a keyboard, and 3 is a trackball. The display 1 displays a latitude / longitude line, a shoreline, a self-propelled track, and a plurality of marks (Ma to Mm). In the drawing, a straight line or a curve displayed so as to connect between marks is a self-propelled trace, and a broken line is a planned route. Each of Ma to Mi is an event mark inserted for some kind of position recording. These event marks are marks that have been inserted at the position of the own ship at the time the mark insertion operation was performed. Mj is a mark indicating the current position of the ship, and Mk is a mark previously input as a destination.
The destination mark is inserted before the start of navigation or during navigation by inputting numerical values of latitude and longitude, or by specifying the position of the cursor by specifying the position of the cursor using a trackball.

In this example, the value of the numeral assigned to the mark decreases with the passage of time. The latest value is 06. Every time a certain time elapses, 06 →
It changes from 05 → 04 → 03 → 02 → 01 → 00, and remains at 00 thereafter.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the entire navigation assistance device. In FIG. 2, the processor 10 includes a ROM and a RAM therein, and executes various processes described later. The display control circuit 11 includes a display memory therein, generates a display signal according to the content written in the display memory, and displays the display signal on the display 1.
Give to. The RTC 13 is a clock circuit that measures the current date and time. The processor 10 determines when this RTC
Read the contents of the time measurement by. Further, the RTC 13 gives an interrupt signal to the processor 10 at a predetermined timing.

The GPS receiver 14 measures the position of the ship.
The processor 10 reads positioning data via the interface 15. The compass 16 measures the heading.
The processor 10 reads the heading data via the interface 17. As shown in FIG. 1, the keyboard 2 and the trackball 3 are provided for inputting numerical values of latitude and longitude and other inputs, and the processor 10 reads the operation contents via the interfaces 19 and 21.

The memory card 22 has previously written chart data and the like, and the processor 10 reads the chart data via the interface 23.

FIG. 3 shows a memory (R) in the processor.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a mark table stored in AM) or written into a memory card 22. This mark table corresponds to “mark storage means” of the present invention.
The mark table corresponds to the position (latitude, longitude) at which the mark was inserted, and the “mark display start time” of the present invention.
It consists of the date and time (year, month, day and time) when the mark was inserted, a mark code defined for each mark type (symbol), and attribute information that determines the display mode when the mark is displayed.
The mark code determines the mark symbol, and the attribute display information determines the mark display color, size, shape, or the character to be added to the mark and displayed.

FIGS. 4 to 7 are flowcharts showing the processing procedure of the processor. As shown in FIG. 4, if there is any event input, a process corresponding to the input is executed. For example, when a trackball is operated, the cursor display position on the screen is changed according to the operation amount. Further, if any key input is performed, a process corresponding to the key operation is performed. Further, for example, when an interruption is generated from the GPS receiver, the own ship position data obtained by the GPS receiver is read, the display position of the own ship mark is updated, and the wake display is also updated. If an interrupt is issued from the RTC, a process for changing the display content of the mark display is performed as described later.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the contents of processing according to the mark symbol selection operation by the key operation. First, the symbol selection operation of the mark from the keyboard is read, and the code of the selected mark is temporarily stored for later writing in the mark table.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when an operation for inputting a mark is performed. First, before this insertion operation, if the position where the mark should be inserted is specified by the cursor by operating the trackball,
The latitude / longitude corresponding to the cursor position is calculated. If such an input position is not specified, GP
The own ship position read from the S receiver is set as the mark insertion position. Thereafter, the current date and time are read from the RTC, and new data is written to the mark table based on the information. At this time, the mark attribute information is data indicating that the mark is a newly inserted mark.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing RT at each mark display update timing.
9 is a flowchart illustrating processing performed by an interrupt from C. At the mark display update timing, the data of the insertion date and time in the mark table is read, the elapsed time from the insertion date and time to the present is calculated, and the attribute data of the corresponding mark is changed according to the elapsed time. For example, it is displayed in red immediately after being inserted, and then changed from purple to blue. Also, the size of the mark is gradually reduced with the passage of time. In addition, as shown in FIG. 1, the number displayed as a subscript of the mark is changed from 06 → 05 →
04 → gradually change.

After updating the mark table, all marks are displayed again according to the contents of the mark table. Display control circuit 1 for mark display pattern
When writing to the display memory in 1, a mark with the oldest insertion date and time is written first, and a new mark is written later. This prevents the inconvenience that the display positions of the marks are dense and the new mark is overwritten with the old mark and disappears.

As described above, by changing the display content of each mark in accordance with the lapse of time after the insertion of the mark, each mark can be displayed without any special operation by the user when the mark is inserted or after the insertion. , And whether the mark is the latest mark can be easily identified.

In the example described above, the display start time (insertion date and time) of the mark is stored, and the elapsed time from the value to the present time is obtained. However, the display start time of the mark is determined for each mark. It is also possible to write the elapsed time from the time to the mark table and update the value sequentially. That is, when updating the display of the mark, the attribute data of the corresponding mark may be updated according to the elapsed time in the mark table, and the mark may be displayed according to the attribute data.

[0021]

According to the present invention, even if the color of the mark is not specified before or during navigation, for example, the color, shape, size, or the character assigned to the mark is changed every hour. Since it changes automatically, even if many marks are displayed on the chart, it is easy to identify each mark. Further, it becomes easy to identify the passage of time of each mark and whether or not the mark is the latest mark.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an appearance and a display example of a display unit of a navigation assistance device.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a mark table.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the overall processing procedure of the navigation assistance device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for selecting a mark symbol.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when a mark insertion instruction is issued.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure at a timing when a mark display should be updated;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1-Display 2-Keyboard 3-Trackball M-Mark

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C032 HB22 HC09 HC13 HC22 HC28 HD01 HD03 HD04 HD16 2F029 AA04 AB07 AB13 AC02 AC04 AC06 AC08 AC14 AC19 AC20 5H180 AA25 CC12 FF05 FF22 FF27 FF35

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Mark storage means for storing information on a display mode of a mark to be displayed and a position of the mark,
A navigation aid provided with mark display means for displaying a mark in accordance with the contents stored in the mark storage means, wherein the mark storage means stores a mark display start time or an elapsed time from the mark display start time. The navigation assisting device is characterized in that the mark display means changes a color, a shape, a size, or a character added to the mark in accordance with an elapsed time from a display start time of the mark and displays the mark.