JP2003114129A - Navigation apparatus and its display method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation apparatus and a display method for producing an easy-to-see display of detailed information on a road displayed on a map. SOLUTION: In this navigation apparatus 1, when an instruction for a destination is inputted via a remote control 14a, a pointing cursor on the map is moved to a desired location according to the inputted instruction. In the case that an instruction for an information display is inputted at a specified location, a link for the road displayed in the vicinity of the pointing cursor and its direction are specified, and a corresponding road ID is acquired. Road detailed information corresponding to the acquired road ID is acquired from a road detailed information DB 17b, and the acquired road detailed information is popped up and displayed on the map.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation device and a display method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a navigation device has a GPS.
(Global Positioning Systems) detects the current position by receiving a signal transmitted from a satellite, based on the information detected by the autonomous navigation sensor of the navigation device, and the map data recorded in the recording device of the navigation device, The current position of the vehicle is matched with the road shape of the map data, and the current position of the vehicle is displayed on the map on the navigation screen. Further, in such a navigation device, along with the current position of the vehicle displayed on the map, the road name is displayed in a character string, and the traffic regulation information is displayed in a superimposed manner on the map by a symbol or a small figure. It was

[0003]

However, in such a conventional navigation device, the display device used is often a small monitor, and when a large amount of information is displayed at one time, the information is superimposed. There is a problem that the visibility of the displayed navigation screen is deteriorated. Therefore, the road-related information displayed on the map only displays rough information about the entire road, such as the names of main roads and traffic regulation information, but does not display detailed information for each road.

4A and 4B are views showing an example of a navigation screen in a conventional navigation device. As shown in FIG. 4A, as the road information displayed on the navigation screen, for example, only the name and traffic regulation information regarding the Koshu Kaido are displayed, and the other roads are detailed. Little information was displayed.

Further, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), for example,
When A-H and A-C-F are search target roads, that is, roads wide enough for route guidance, and the destination is point E, the navigation device guides route to point D. Then, up to the destination point E, the user needs to search the destination by referring to the navigation screen. However, since C-B-H, B-E-G, and F-G are narrow streets that are not search target roads, detailed information regarding these roads is not displayed. Therefore, if these roads have traffic restrictions such as one-way traffic, school zones, road widths, and vehicle heights, the user can confirm whether there is traffic restriction or not unless the vehicle actually travels to the traffic restriction road. There wasn't.

For this reason, when there is traffic regulation on the road on which the user wants to travel, the user has to urgently change the route or change the direction on the narrow street, and it takes time to reach the destination. There was a problem of this.

An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device and a display method for easily displaying detailed information about roads displayed on a navigation screen.

[0008]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a current position detecting means for detecting the current position of a vehicle, a map information storing means for storing map information, and the current position detecting means. Based on the current position detected by, the map information is acquired from the map information storage unit, a navigation device comprising a display control unit for displaying the current position of the vehicle on the map, detailed information about the road Is stored in association with a road ID, a position input control means for designating and inputting a desired position on the map, and a road corresponding to the position designated by the position input control means. A road ID acquisition unit that specifies and acquires a corresponding road ID;
Road detail information acquisition means for acquiring road detail information corresponding to the road ID acquired by the acquisition means from the road detail information storage means, and the display control means is acquired by the road detail information acquisition means. It is characterized in that detailed road information is displayed on the map.

Further, in the present invention, the road ID acquisition means specifies intersections at both ends of the road corresponding to the position designated by the position input means, and specifies a section sandwiched between the intersections as a target road. Further comprising: a road identifying unit that specifies the direction in which the target road identified by the road identifying unit is traveling based on the current position detected by the current position detecting unit; It is preferable to acquire the road ID of the road corresponding to the target road specified by the specifying unit and the traveling direction specified by the traveling direction specifying unit.

Further, according to the present invention, the detailed road information is
It is preferable to include at least one of a road name, a road section length, an intersection name, a road width, the number of lanes, and traffic regulation information.

Further, in the invention, the display control means is
It is preferable to display the detailed road information in a pop-up display.

The present invention also includes the steps of detecting the current position of the vehicle, storing the map information, acquiring the map information based on the detected current position, and displaying the map information of the vehicle on the map. A method of displaying a current position, a step of storing detailed information relating to a road as detailed road information in association with an ID number, and a step of designating and inputting a desired position on the map And a road corresponding to the designated position is identified, and the corresponding road I
It is characterized by including a step of acquiring D, a step of acquiring detailed road information corresponding to the acquired road ID, and a step of displaying the acquired detailed road information on the map.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an embodiment of a navigation device 1 to which the present invention is applied.

First, the structure will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a navigation device 1 according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, the navigation device 1 includes a CPU 11, a GPS antenna 12, an autonomous navigation unit 13, an input unit 14, a display unit 15, a memory 16, a storage device 17, and the like.

CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11
Reads and executes various system programs stored in the storage device 17 to drive and control each unit of the navigation device 1. Further, based on the data input via the GPS antenna 12, the autonomous navigation unit 13, the input unit 14, etc., various application programs for navigation stored in the storage device 17 are read out, and the current position detection processing and route search are performed. Various processing such as processing and detailed information display processing is executed, and the processing result is displayed on the display unit 15.

Further, the CPU 11 has a present position detection means, a display control means, a position input control means,
It has a function as a road ID acquisition means, a road detailed information acquisition means, a road identification means, and a traveling direction identification means.

Specifically, the CPU 11 executes a detailed information display process (see FIG. 2) described later on the basis of the detailed information display processing program stored in the storage device 17. In this detailed information display processing, when the CPU 11 detects that an instruction has been input via the input unit 13,
It is determined whether the input instruction is a direction instruction, that is, whether the direction instruction key is pressed by the remote controller key.

When the direction instruction key is pressed by the remote control key, the CPU 11 once erases the pointing cursor currently displayed, acquires a numerical value corresponding to the coordinate position input by the direction instruction key, and newly The coordinate position designated by the input is acquired, and the pointing cursor is displayed at the coordinate position.

Further, when an instruction to display information is input at the position where the pointing cursor is designated, the CPU 11 identifies a link (connection) and a direction of a road near the display coordinates of the pointing cursor. Here, specifying a link means identifying the intersections at both ends that sandwich the specified point of the road, that is, the points that connect to other roads, and the section sandwiched by this intersection becomes the target road that provides detailed road information. It is to specify. Further, the specification of the direction is to specify the direction of traveling on the designated target road based on the current position of the own vehicle. That is,
Generally, even on the same road, regulations, lanes, road widths, etc. may differ depending on the upper and lower lanes. Therefore, the planned traveling direction of the vehicle is acquired and the upper and lower lines are displayed separately on the same road.

Further, the CPU 11 acquires the road ID of the designated road. Here, the road ID is identification information assigned to each of the road links and directions in order to identify each road, and includes a map database (hereinafter abbreviated as “DB”) 17a described below and road detailed information. DB17b
It is associated with the road-related information stored in. Then, the CPU 11 acquires road detailed information corresponding to the acquired road ID from the road detailed information DB 17b and pops up the road detailed information on the map displayed on the display unit 15.

Here, the detailed road information is information including, for example, a road name, a link length, an intersection name, a road width, the number of lanes, and traffic regulation information. In addition, the popup display is a display method that temporarily displays a message box (such as a balloon display) for displaying information at the forefront of the navigation screen (the frontmost side when viewed from the user), and is not necessary. You can then clear the message box and return to the previous navigation screen to continue viewing.

The GPS antenna 12 receives GPS signals transmitted from a plurality of GPS satellites launched into a low earth orbit. The GPS antenna 12 receives GPS signals transmitted from at least three GPS satellites, detects the absolute current position (latitude, longitude) of the vehicle based on the received GPS signals, and outputs it to the CPU 11.

The autonomous navigation unit 13 comprises an angle sensor, a distance sensor and the like. The angle sensor detects the angular velocity of the vehicle (the angle of rotation in the horizontal direction per unit time) and calculates the amount of change in the moving direction. The distance sensor detects the pulse signal output according to the rotation of the wheel and calculates the amount of movement of the vehicle. The autonomous navigation unit 13 calculates a relative position change of the vehicle based on the angular velocity signal and the vehicle speed pulse signal and outputs the change to the CPU 11.

The input unit 14 includes character keys, numeral keys, search keys, and various keys associated with various functions such as navigation, and outputs an operation signal for the operated key to the CPU 11. The input unit 14 also includes a remote controller 14a having a light emitting diode and the like built therein. The remote controller 14a includes various keys associated with various functions, converts operation information corresponding to the operated key into an infrared signal, and receives infrared light of a predetermined wavelength in the input unit 14 (not shown). No)).

Further, the input section 14 may be provided with a touch panel provided so as to cover the display section 15 constituted by a color liquid crystal display or the like, and the principle of coordinate reading such as electromagnetic induction type, magnetostriction type and pressure sensitive type. The coordinates touched by are detected, and the detected coordinates are used as a position signal in the CPU 1.
Output to 1. Alternatively, the input unit 14 may be configured to include an input device such as a microphone and to be able to input by voice.

The display unit 15 is composed of a color liquid crystal display or the like, and is used for input contents in the input unit 14 and CP
The display information for navigation input from U11 is displayed.

The memory 16 is a RAM (Random Access Memo).
ry), ROM (Read Only Memory), etc., and C
A work area for temporarily storing various programs executed by the PU 11 and data relating to these various programs is formed.

The storage device 17 is provided with a recording medium (not shown) in which programs, data and the like are stored in advance, and various applications of the navigation device 1 executed by the CPU 11 and these programs are stored in the recording medium. Data and the like related to For example,
The recording medium includes various programs such as a current position detection process, a route search process, and a detailed information display process for performing the above process, a route searched in the past, and a navigation device 1.
Setting data in which various setting contents relating to the operation of is recorded is stored.

Further, the storage device 17 includes a map DB 17a,
It has a road detail information DB 17b. Map DB17a
Includes road attributes (for example, road name,
National roads, prefectural roads, toll roads, one-way roads, etc., road connections (eg, three-way roads, cross roads, T-shaped roads, etc.) are stored in association with road IDs. It also stores map data used to detect the current position of the vehicle, display navigation, and various symbol data for roads, facilities, the sea, lakes, and the like. That is, the map DB 17a corresponds to the map information storage means described in the claims.

In the detailed road information DB 17b, as detailed road information, a road name, a link length indicating the length of a road between intersections, an intersection name, a road width, the number of lanes, traffic regulation information, and the like are associated with a road ID. I remember. That is, the road detailed information DB 17b has a section sandwiched between two intersections as one unit, and further stores road detailed information for each road that distinguishes the upper and lower lines of the road in one section. Further, the road detailed information DB 17b, as traffic regulation information,
It stores the traffic control symbol data in a small figure.
That is, the map DB 17b corresponds to the road detailed information storage means described in the claims.

Next, the operation of the navigation device 1 in this embodiment will be described. A program for realizing each function described in the flowchart of FIG. 2 shown below is stored in the storage device 17 in the form of a readable program code, and the CPU 11 follows the program code. Execute operations sequentially. Also,
It is also possible to execute the operation peculiar to this embodiment by utilizing a program / data externally supplied from a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM control unit or the like (not shown).

Hereinafter, the CPU 11 of the navigation device 1
The detailed information display processing executed by will be described.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the detailed information display process executed by the CPU 11.

In FIG. 2, the CPU 11 is a remote controller 1
4a, or when an instruction is input via the input unit 14 (step S1), it is determined whether the input instruction is a direction instruction on a map (step S2). Here, when the input instruction is not the direction instruction (step S2; NO), the CPU 11 proceeds to step S7.

On the other hand, if the input instruction is a direction instruction (step S2; YES), the CPU 11 erases the currently displayed pointing cursor in order to move the pointing cursor (step S2).
3). Next, the CPU 11 changes the coordinate position of the pointing cursor stored in the memory 16 according to the input instruction, and acquires the final position coordinate of the pointing cursor (step S4). And CP
U11 displays the pointing cursor at the position corresponding to the finally designated position coordinate (step S
5).

Subsequently, the CPU 11 controls the remote controller 14a,
Alternatively, it is determined whether or not an instruction is input via the input unit 14, and if the instruction is input (step 6; YES), it is determined whether or not the input instruction is an information display instruction (step). S7). If the input instruction is not an information display instruction (step S7; NO), the CPU 11
Shifts to another process according to the input instruction.

On the other hand, if the input instruction is an information display instruction (step S7; YES), that is, if an instruction to display detailed road information is input, the CPU 11
Specifies the link and the direction of the road displayed near the pointing cursor based on the coordinate position of the pointing cursor (step S8)
U11 is the road I of the road whose link and direction are specified.
D is acquired (step S9).

Next, the CPU 11 acquires the acquired road ID.
The road detailed information corresponding to is acquired from the road detailed information DB 17b (step S10). Then, the CPU 11
The acquired road detailed information is superimposed on the map displayed on the display unit 15 and displayed in a pop-up display (step S11), and this detailed information display processing is ended.

The detailed road information displayed by the pop-up display can be promptly erased by the user's input instruction, and the normal navigation screen can be returned to and continued to be displayed.

Next, a display example of the detailed road information displayed on the display unit 15 will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, when the tip position of the pointing cursor displayed on the navigation screen is the designated point, the points A and B are identified as the intersections of the roads as the road links, and the point A- The section connecting the points B is indicated by a thick line on the map as a target road for displaying detailed road information. In addition, as a traveling direction, a direction from point A to point B is displayed by a thick arrow on the map. Then, the detailed road information of the section connecting the point A to the point B is displayed by pop-up display.

Specifically, in the detailed road information, "Koshu Kaido (National Highway No. 20)" is displayed as the road name. Also,
As the link length, “240 m”, which is the length of the section from point A to point B, is displayed. Next, the name of the intersection at the point A and the name of the intersection at the point B are displayed as "Owada-cho 4-chome intersection → Ishikawa-cho entrance intersection" along with the arrow indicating the direction. Also, "15m" is displayed as the road width,
"2" is displayed as the number of lanes. Furthermore, traffic control symbol data is displayed as traffic control information,
"7: 00-9: 00 right turn prohibition", "6: 00-2
A small figure corresponding to "2:00 parking prohibited" and "maximum speed 50 km / h" is displayed.

As described above, according to the navigation device 1 of this embodiment, the remote control 14a
When the direction instruction is input, the pointing cursor on the map is moved to a desired position according to the input instruction. Next, when the information display instruction is input at the designated position, the link and the direction of the road displayed near the pointing cursor are specified, and the corresponding road ID is acquired. Furthermore, the road detailed information corresponding to the acquired road ID is acquired from the road detailed information DB 17b, and the acquired road detailed information is pop-up displayed on the map.

Therefore, even when the user passes through a narrow street where route guidance is not performed, the user can obtain detailed road information about the narrow street in advance and select a traveling route. Accordingly, when the user searches for a destination and travels after the route guidance by the navigation device 1 is completed, the user can travel corresponding to the traffic regulation for each road even if it is the first road. You can reach the ground easily and in a short time.

Further, since the displayed detailed road information is displayed by distinguishing the upper and lower lines for each section sandwiched between two intersections, the detailed road information can be displayed accurately. That is, the user can accurately specify the desired road and easily obtain the detailed road information.

Further, since the detailed road information is displayed only when a predetermined input operation is performed by a user's instruction, the detailed road information is not displayed during normal traveling. Therefore, during normal traveling, unnecessary road detailed information is not displayed on the map, so that it is possible to prevent the information from being superimposed and displayed on the map and improve the visibility of the navigation screen.

Alternatively, since the detailed road information is displayed in a pop-up display, when a deletion instruction is input through the input unit 14, the displayed message box is immediately deleted and the previous navigation is performed. You can return to the screen. As a result, the user can quickly browse the navigation screen without requiring a complicated operation such as a switching operation.

The description in the present embodiment is an example of the navigation device 1 according to the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the information included in the detailed road information is not limited to the road name, link length, intersection name, road width, number of lanes, and traffic regulation information. For example, if the designated road is a toll road, the toll May be displayed.

In addition, the detailed configuration and detailed operation of the navigation device 1 according to the present embodiment can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0048]

According to the present invention, detailed information about roads displayed on the map of the navigation screen can be displayed in an easy-to-see manner.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a navigation device 1 according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a detailed information display process executed by a CPU 11 of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a navigation screen displayed on a display unit 15 in a detailed information display process.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen in a conventional navigation device.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Navigation device 11 CPU 12 GPS antenna 13 Autonomous navigation unit 14 Input section 14a remote control 15 Display 16 memory 17 Storage

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A current position detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle, a map information storing means for storing map information, and a current position detected by the current position detecting means.
A navigation device comprising: a display control unit that acquires map information from the map information storage unit and displays a current position of a vehicle on a map, the road storing detailed information about the road in association with a road ID. Detailed information storage means, a position input control means for designating and inputting a desired position on the map, a road corresponding to the position designated by the position input control means is specified, and a corresponding road ID is acquired. Road ID
The display control unit includes an acquisition unit and a road detail information acquisition unit that acquires road detail information corresponding to the road ID acquired by the road ID acquisition unit from the road detail information storage unit. A navigation device, wherein the detailed road information acquired by the information acquisition means is displayed on the map. 2. The road ID acquiring means specifies an intersection at both ends of the road corresponding to the position specified by the position input means, and specifies a section sandwiched between the intersections as a target road. And a traveling direction identification unit that identifies a direction in which the target road identified by the road identification unit is traveling, based on the current position detected by the current position detection unit, and is identified by the road identification unit. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein a road ID of a road corresponding to the determined target road and the traveling direction identified by the traveling direction identification unit is acquired. 3. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the detailed road information includes at least one of a road name, a road section length, an intersection name, a road width, the number of lanes, and traffic regulation information. . 4. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the display control means displays the detailed road information in a pop-up display. 5. A step of detecting the current position of the vehicle, a step of storing map information, a step of acquiring the map information based on the detected current position, and displaying the current position of the vehicle on a map. And a step of storing detailed information about a road as detailed road information in association with an ID number; a step of designating and inputting a desired position on the map; Identifying a road corresponding to the acquired position, acquiring a corresponding road ID, acquiring road detailed information corresponding to the acquired road ID, and acquiring the acquired road detailed information from the map. And a step of displaying the above, and a display method comprising: