JP2003085684A - Measuring device, and traveling time or traveling distance measuring method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To highly accurately measure traveling time and traveling distance. SOLUTION: In a navigation device 1 relating to this invention, a CPU 11 displays a beacon selection picture at a display device 18 when an instruction to measure the traveling time and the traveling distance is inputted from an input device 17. Then, when a beacon at the measurement start spot and a beacon at the end spot are selected, the CPU 11 sets the selected beacons as a start beacon and an end beacon. After setting, the CPU 11 starts measurement of the time and the distance at the time of receiving radio waves or light from the start beacon, and ends the measurement of the time and the distance and displays measured results on the display device 18 at the time of receiving the radio waves or the light from the end beacon.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a measuring device, a traveling time or a traveling distance measuring method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to measure a traveling time or a traveling distance between two arbitrary points, a navigation device registers a starting point and an ending point in advance, and when the starting point is reached, the measurement is started, It was possible to measure by ending the measurement when reaching the end point. In addition, regarding the traveling time, use a stopwatch etc. to manually start the measurement when you reach the starting point,
It is also possible to measure the time by manually ending the measurement when the end point is reached.

[0003]

However, in the measurement by the navigation device, in order to determine that the start point and the end point have been reached, the current position information calculated from the sensor or the receiver and the coordinates stored in the navigation device are used. It will be determined by comparing with the information. Therefore, the measurement result may deviate significantly depending on the accuracy of the navigation device. Further, in the measurement by a manual operation of a stopwatch or the like, it is dangerous for the driver to operate while driving. Even if the passenger in the vehicle operates the stopwatch, an error of about 1 to 2 seconds will occur.

An object of the present invention is to measure traveling time and traveling distance with high accuracy.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 1 is a beacon position storing means for storing position information of a beacon installed on a road, and a position by the beacon position storing means. Measurement section setting means for setting a beacon as a measurement start point and a beacon as an end point from among the beacons in which information is stored, a reception means for receiving a signal from the beacon, and a reception section received by the reception means When it is determined that the signal received by the determining means is a signal transmitted from the start beacon, and a determining means that determines whether the signal is a signal transmitted from the start beacon or the end beacon. In addition, the measurement start means for starting time or distance measurement and the signal received by the determination means are transmitted from the end beacon. If it is determined that the signal,
The present invention is characterized by comprising a measurement ending means for ending the time or distance measurement and a display means for displaying the measurement result.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the measurement starting means starts measurement of time and distance, and the measurement end means ends measurement of time and distance. It has a feature.

The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2.
In the invention described above, the measuring device is a navigation device.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, further comprising a measurement section storage means for storing a measurement section, wherein the measurement section setting means is the measurement section storage means. By setting the measurement section stored in, the beacon installed at the start point of the measurement section is set as the start beacon, and the beacon installed at the end point of the measurement section is set as the end beacon.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the step of storing the position information of beacons installed on the road, and the beacon serving as the start point and the end point of the measurement among the beacons in which the position information is stored are used. A step of setting a signal, a step of receiving a signal from a beacon, a step of determining whether the received signal is a signal transmitted from the start beacon or the end beacon, and the received signal is A step of starting time or distance measurement when it is determined that the signal is transmitted from the start beacon,
When it is determined that the received signal is the signal transmitted from the end beacon, the step of ending the time or distance measurement and the step of displaying the measurement result are included.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

First, the structure will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a navigation device 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the navigation device 1 includes a CPU 11, a beacon receiver 12, a GPS unit 13, an autonomous navigation unit 14 having a distance sensor 14a and an angle sensor 14b, a memory 15, and a storage device 1.
6, an input device 17, and a display device 18, and these units are connected by a bus.

CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11
Reads various control programs stored in the storage device 16 and centrally controls the operation of each part of the navigation device 1 in accordance with the control programs. Also, the CPU 11
Is a program that reads various processing programs for navigation stored in the storage device 16 based on various data input from the beacon receiver 12, the GPS unit 13, the autonomous navigation unit 14, the input device 17, and the like, and reads the programs. In accordance therewith, various processes including a traveling time / distance measuring process which will be described later are executed, and the processing result is stored in a predetermined area of the memory 15 or displayed on the display device 18. The CPU 11 has a function as a measurement section setting unit, a determination unit, a measurement start unit, and a measurement end unit.

That is, the CPU 11 causes the display device 18 to display a beacon selection screen when an instruction to measure the travel time and the travel distance is input from the input device 17 when executing the travel time / distance measuring process. Then, when the beacon serving as the measurement start point and the beacon serving as the end point are selected, the selected beacon is set as the start beacon and the end beacon. After setting, when the radio wave or light from the start beacon is received, the CPU 11 starts measuring the time and distance, and when the radio wave or light from the end beacon is received, the time and distance measurement is finished and the measurement result is displayed. Display on the device 18.

The beacon receiver 12 is equipped with a beacon antenna (not shown) and the like, receives light and radio waves transmitted from beacons installed on the road, and CPU 1
Output to 1. The beacon receiver 12 has a function as a receiving means.

The GPS (Global Positioning System) unit 13 includes a GPS antenna and the like (not shown).
The GPS unit 13 receives GPS signals transmitted from a plurality of GPS satellites with a GPS antenna, detects the absolute current position (latitude, longitude) of the vehicle based on the received signals, and outputs it to the CPU 11.

The autonomous navigation unit 14 includes a distance sensor 14
a, and an angle sensor 14b. The distance sensor 14a detects a pulse signal output according to the rotation of the vehicle and calculates the moving distance of the vehicle. Angle sensor 14
In b, the angular velocity of the vehicle (rotational velocity in the horizontal direction per unit time) is detected and the amount of change in the moving direction is calculated. Then, the autonomous navigation unit 14 calculates a relative position change of the vehicle based on the vehicle speed pulse signal and the angular velocity signal and outputs the change to the CPU 11.

The memory 15 is a memory area for temporarily storing system programs, control programs, input or output data, etc. that can be executed by the navigation device 1 read from the storage device 16 in various processes executed by the CPU 11. To form. For example, memory 1
Reference numeral 5 forms a counter area for storing the measurement time and the measurement distance, and a memory area for storing the measurement result.

The storage device 16 stores a system program executable by the navigation device 1, a control program, input or output data, and the like. Storage device 16
Has a recording medium 16a composed of a magnetic or optical recording medium or a non-volatile memory such as a semiconductor,
The recording medium 16a is fixed to the storage device 16,
Alternatively, it is detachably attached. Recording medium 16
In a, various applications that can be executed on the system programs corresponding to the navigation device 1 executed by the CPU 11 and data related to these system programs are stored. For example, the recording medium 16
In a, various programs such as traveling time / distance measuring processing are stored. The storage device 16 has a function as a beacon position storage means and a measurement section storage means.

In the present embodiment, the recording medium 16a
1 includes at least a map data file 161 and a beacon information file 162, as shown in FIG. The map data file 161 includes map data used for displaying navigation, roads, facilities, the sea,
Various symbol data of rivers and the like are stored.

An example of data storage inside the beacon information file 162 will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. Figure 2
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of data storage in a beacon information file 162 that stores the installation location of a beacon and its position information in association with each other. As shown in FIG. 2, the beacon information file 162 includes a character string indicating the installation location of the beacon (for example, “XX prefecture ΔΔ town XX intersection vicinity”, “XX high speed XX”).
Installation location name area 16 that stores "○. ○ km post", "XX station west exit police box" ...) as "installation location name"
2a and the coordinate position of the installation location of the beacon (latitude, longitude)
Numerical value (for example, “(○○. ○○, △△. △△)”,
“(○ ×. ○ ×, ○ △. ○ △)”, “(xx.xx, △ ×.
And a coordinate position area 162b for storing Δ ×) "..." As a "coordinate position".

The input device 17 is provided with various keys associated with various functions such as navigation, in addition to character keys, numerical keys, search keys, and outputs an operation signal corresponding to the operated key to the CPU 11. Further, it may be configured to include a pointing device such as a touch panel, a remote controller, and the like.

The display device 18 is composed of a color liquid crystal display, etc.
The display information for navigation input from the CPU 11, the measured traveling time, the traveling distance, and the like are displayed.

Next, the operation will be described. The travel time / distance measuring process executed by the navigation device 1 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When an instruction to measure the traveling time and the traveling distance is input from the input device 17 (step S1; YE
S), the CPU 11 reads the beacon information file 162 and displays the beacon selection screen on the display device 18 (step S2). Then, when the beacon serving as the measurement start point and the beacon serving as the measurement end point are selected, the CPU 11 sets the selected beacon as the start beacon and the end beacon (step S3).

After the beacon is set in step S3 and the light or radio wave from the beacon is received by the beacon receiver 12 (step S4; YES), CP
The U11 determines whether the received light or radio wave is the start beacon based on the coordinate information of the start beacon and the current position information thereof, and when determining that the received light or radio wave is the start beacon (step S5; YES), the vehicle travels. The measurement of time and mileage is started (step S6).

After the start of measurement, when the beacon receiver 12 receives light or radio waves from the beacon, the CPU 1
1 determines whether the received light or radio wave is the end beacon based on the coordinate information of the end beacon and the current position information thereof, and when it is determined to be the end beacon (step S7; YES), the time And the distance measurement is stopped (step S8). Then, the CPU 11 stores the measured traveling time and traveling distance in the memory 15 and displays the traveling time and traveling distance on the display device 18 (step S9), and initializes a counter used for measuring time and distance to perform traveling time / distance measurement processing. It ends (step S10).

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the beacon selection screen 181 displayed on the display device 18 in step S2. As shown in FIG. 4, the beacon selection screen 181 has a title such as “beacon selection list” displayed at the upper part thereof, and the installation location of the beacon registered below the beacon (for example, “XX prefecture ΔΔ town”). ○○ Near an intersection ”,“ ×× high speed ○
"○○. ○ km post", "XX prefecture △△ town ○○ intersection vicinity" ...) are displayed in a list, and it is operated first by operating the beacon installation location selected by the user on the screen. The installation location of the beacon you set is set as the start point and the installation location of the beacon you operated later is set as the end point.On the right side of the list, there is a "map" column corresponding to each installation location. By operating the column, the map including the installation location of the corresponding beacon (181
a) is displayed.

As described above, the navigation device 1
According to the above, when there is an instruction to measure the travel time and the travel distance, the beacon selection screen for selecting the beacon to be the measurement start point and the beacon to be the end point is displayed on the display device 18, the beacon is selected, and the start beacon is selected. When the light or the electric wave transmitted from is received, the measurement of the time and the distance is started, and when the light or the electric wave from the end beacon is received, the measurement is ended and the measurement result is stored in the memory 15 and displayed on the display device 18. Let Therefore, the measurement error can be reduced by controlling the start and end of the measurement of the traveling time and the traveling distance at the reception timing of the beacon, and the traveling time and the traveling distance can be measured with high accuracy.

The description contents in the above-mentioned embodiment are a preferred example of the navigation device according to the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to this. For example, according to the above-described embodiment, the beacon selection screen is displayed and selected by the beacon information registered in advance as the selection method of the beacon to be the start point of the measurement and the beacon to be the end point. The section to be measured may be registered in advance in the navigation device, and the selection screen of the measurement section (measurement course) may be displayed and selected. Also,
In the navigation device 1, both the beacon information and the measurement section information are registered, and in step S2, the user directly sets the start beacon and the end beacon, or sets the measurement course. Select whether to set the beacon,
A selection screen corresponding to the selected setting method may be displayed. This improves the convenience of the navigation device 1.

FIG. 5 shows a measurement course selection screen 18 displayed in step S2 when a measurement section (measurement course) is selected from the screen and a start beacon and an end beacon are set.
It is a figure which shows an example of 2. As shown in FIG. 5, the measurement course selection screen 182 has a “measurement course selection list” at the top.
The measurement section (measurement course) registered under that is displayed (for example, "outer route of the Shuto Expressway Ring Line", "inner turn of the Shuto Expressway Loop Line", "Tomei Expressway" ... ) Is displayed as a list, and the start beacon and the end beacon are set by operating the measurement course selected by the user on the screen. A "map" column corresponding to each course is provided on the right side of the list. By operating the "map" column, as shown at 182a in FIG. 5, a map showing the entire route of the corresponding measurement course. Can be displayed on the screen.

In addition, as a beacon setting method, the absolute position of the last received beacon may be held and registered as a start beacon or an end beacon.

Further, in the present embodiment, the description has been made assuming that both the traveling time and the traveling distance are measured.
Only one of them may be measured, or the item to be measured by the user (time, distance, time and distance) may be freely selected.

Furthermore, the function of the present invention can be realized as long as the system is not limited to the navigation device but can receive the beacon. In addition to the beacon, any device that is fixedly installed on the road and emits light, radio waves, or the like can be applied to determine the measurement start point and end point of the present invention. Other, navigation device 1
The detailed configuration and the detailed operation of the above can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the present invention.

[0034]

According to the present invention, the traveling time and the traveling distance can be measured with high accuracy.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a navigation device 1 of FIG.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of data storage inside a beacon information file 162 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a running time executed by the CPU 11 of FIG.
It is a flow chart which shows distance measurement processing.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a beacon selection screen 181 displayed in step S2 of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a step S of FIG. 3 in another embodiment.
It is a figure which shows an example of the measurement course selection screen 182 displayed by 2.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Navigation device 11 CPU 12 Beacon receiver 13 GPS unit 14 Autonomous navigation unit 14a Distance sensor 14b Angle sensor 15 memory 16 storage 161 map data file 162 beacon information file 16a recording medium 17 Input device 18 Display

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Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. Beacon position storage means for storing position information of beacons installed on a road, and beacons and end points which are measurement start points among beacons in which position information is stored by the beacon position storage means. Measurement section setting means for setting a beacon to be, receiving means for receiving a signal from the beacon, whether the signal received by the receiving means is a signal transmitted from the start beacon or the end beacon A determination means for determining, a measurement start means for starting time or distance measurement when the signal received by the determination means is determined to be a signal transmitted from the start beacon, and the determination means When it is determined that the received signal is the signal transmitted from the end beacon, the time or distance measurement is terminated. A measurement ending means for the measurement result display means for displaying a measuring device characterized by comprising a. 2. The measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the measurement start means starts measurement of time and distance, and the measurement end means ends measurement of time and distance. 3. The measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the measuring device is a navigation device. 4. A measurement section storage unit for storing the measurement section is further provided, wherein the measurement section setting unit is set at a start point of the measurement section by setting the measurement section stored in the measurement section storage unit. The measuring device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the beacon set as the start beacon and the beacon installed at the end point of the measurement section are set as the end beacon. 5. A step of storing position information of beacons installed on a road, and a step of setting a beacon as a measurement start point and a beacon as a measurement end point from among the beacons in which the position information is stored, A step of receiving a signal from a beacon, a step of determining whether the received signal is a signal transmitted from the start beacon or the end beacon, and a received signal transmitted from the start beacon When it is determined that the signal is a signal, a step of starting time or distance measurement, and when the received signal is determined to be a signal transmitted from the end beacon, the time or distance measurement is terminated. And a step of displaying a measurement result, the method of measuring a travel time or a travel distance.