JP2003194566A - Car navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a car navigation system by which a direction can be instructed properly to a vehicle driver by grasping the operating state, the road recognition state or the like of the vehicle driver. <P>SOLUTION: A constitution is adopted wherein operating information on a direction indicator attached to a vehicle is acquired by a right- or left-turn- signal sensor 4, and the operating instruction of the direction indicator is displayed on a display 3 on the basis of the acquired operating information on the direction indicator. Consequently, the operating state, the road recognition state or the like of the direction indicator by the vehicle driver can be grasped on the side of the car navigation system, and the direction can be instructed properly in such a way that the operation of the direction indicator can be instructed to the vehicle driver, even when, e.g. the vehicle driver is approaching to a right- or left-turn point and when the operation of the direction indicator is not instructed. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a car navigation system which is mounted on a vehicle and assists the traveling of the vehicle, and an interlocking device which interlocks a vehicle direction indicator with a car navigation system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the driving environment for vehicle drivers has become very convenient due to the widespread use of car navigation systems, and it has become possible to drive vehicles safely even on unknown lands.

However, even in the conventional car navigation system, when the vehicle approaches the right or left turn point, the left or right turn direction is instructed on the display screen of the display or by sound, and the vehicle driver operates the turn indicator accordingly. It is not possible for the car navigation system to detect whether the vehicle driver actually grasped the right or left turn point and took appropriate action, such as whether or not the lever was operated. I can't do it.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to grasp the operation status of a vehicle driver, the road recognition status, etc. It is another object of the present invention to provide a car navigation system that enables more appropriate direction indication, and a direction indicator / car navigation system interlocking device.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a car navigation system of the present invention is a car navigation system which is mounted on a vehicle and supports the traveling of the vehicle, and includes a guide route for the vehicle. A map, a current position display marker for displaying the current position of the vehicle on this map, a display device for displaying other information, an information acquisition means for acquiring operation information of a direction indicator attached to the vehicle, and The display device further includes operation instruction means for displaying an operation instruction of the direction indicator on the display based on the operation information of the direction indicator acquired by the information acquisition means.

In the car navigation system of the present invention, the operation information of the turn indicator attached to the vehicle is obtained, and the operation instruction of the turn indicator is displayed on the display based on the obtained operation information of the turn indicator. To do.

In the car navigation system of the present invention, (1) when the vehicle approaches the right or left turning point of the guide route, the direction indicator according to the guide route is not operated. In addition, the operation instruction of the direction indicator is displayed on the display device, or (2) the direction indicator is operated according to the guide route even when the vehicle approaches the right or left turning point of the guide route. It is possible to employ a configuration in which the operation instruction of the direction indicator is displayed on the display device when not present and the content of the operation instruction is transmitted to the vehicle driver side by voice.

In the car navigation system of the present invention, with respect to the operation instruction of the direction indicator on the display device, (1) an instruction mode in which a pair of blinker displays provided on the left and right in the display frame of the display device blinks, (2) A pointing mode in which the pointing direction of the turn indicator is displayed in the vicinity of the current position display marker by an arrow, or (3) An arrow in which the pointing direction of the turn indicator blinks in the vicinity of the current position display marker. It is possible to adopt the instruction form displayed by.

The turn signal / car navigation system interlocking device of the present invention comprises an information acquisition means for acquiring operation information of a turn indicator attached to a vehicle, and operation information of the direction indicator acquired by the information acquisition means. Based on the above, there is provided an operation instructing means for displaying an operation instruction of the direction indicator on a display of a car navigation system mounted on the vehicle.

In the turn signal / car navigation system interlocking device of the present invention, on the side of the car navigation system, the operation information of the turn indicator attached to the vehicle is acquired, and based on the acquired operation information of the direction indicator. The operating instructions of the turn signal are displayed on the display.

In the direction indicator / car navigation system interlocking device of the present invention, the operation instructing means is: (1) Even if the vehicle approaches the left or right turning point of the guide route, the direction indicator according to the guide route is used. When the operation is not performed, the operation instruction of the direction indicator is displayed on the display, or (2) the direction instruction according to the guide route even when the vehicle approaches the left or right turning point of the guide route. It is possible to adopt a configuration in which the operation instruction of the direction indicator is displayed on the display and the content of the operation instruction is transmitted to the vehicle driver side by voice when the operation of the instrument is not performed.

[0012] In the turn signal / car navigation system interlocking device of the present invention, an operation instruction of the turn signal on the display screen of the display is given by a blinker display provided on the left and right in the display frame of the display. It is possible to adopt a form of instruction.

In the turn signal / car navigation system interlocking device of the present invention, the display includes a map including the guide route of the vehicle, a current position display marker for displaying the current position of the vehicle on the map, and other Information can be displayed, and for the operation instruction of the direction indicator on the display device, an instruction form in which the direction of the direction indicator is displayed by an arrow can be adopted in the vicinity of the current position display marker. .

In the turn signal / car navigation system interlocking device of the present invention, the display includes a map including the guide route of the vehicle, a current position display marker for displaying the current position of the vehicle on the map, and other Information is displayed, and regarding the operation instruction of the above-mentioned direction indicator on the above-mentioned indicator, the indication form in which the indication direction of the direction indicator is indicated by a blinking arrow is adopted in the vicinity of the current position display marker. Is also possible.

[0015]

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

The car navigation system shown in FIG. 1 is a system that is installed in a vehicle and supports the traveling of the vehicle. As its system configuration, a GPS antenna 1,
It has a GPS receiver 2, a display 3, a right / left turn signal sensor 4, an information processing section 5, and the like.

The GPS antenna 1 has a function of receiving and amplifying radio waves transmitted from GPS satellites.
The receiver 2 has a function of measuring the current reception position based on the reception data from the GPS satellites received by the GPS antenna 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the display 3 has a display screen 3a composed of a liquid crystal display or the like,
Moreover, a configuration is adopted in which a map M including the guide route 100 of the vehicle C, a current position display marker P that displays the current position of the vehicle C on the map M, and other information are displayed on the display screen 3a. There is.

The right / left turn signal sensor 4 is an information acquisition means for acquiring the operation information of the turn indicator C-1 attached to the vehicle C. In the case of this embodiment, the right / left turn signal sensor 4 is , Electrically connected to the turn indicator control circuit 6 for controlling the turn indicator C-1 of the vehicle C, and operating the turn indicator C-1 of the vehicle C from the signal state of the turn indicator control circuit 6. It is configured to obtain information.

That is, the direction indicator control circuit 6 is
When the vehicle driver operates the direction indicator operating lever in the driver's seat, the right blinker blinking signal or the left blinker blinking signal is sent to the direction indicator C-1 side of the vehicle C based on the operating direction. The right / left turn signal sensor 4 in the car navigation system checks the signal state of the turn signal control circuit 6 as described above to detect the vehicle C.
Direction indicator C-1 is operating, whether or not the direction indicator C-1 is flashing in the same direction as the right / left turn instruction direction of the guidance route 100 of the vehicle C, and the like. Bowl C
The structure is such that the operation information of -1 can be acquired.

There are various conceivable timings for the right / left turn signal sensor 4 to check the signal state of the turn signal control circuit 6 as described above, but in this embodiment, the vehicle C and the vehicle C on the map guide route 100 are next. When the distance from the right / left turn point X of the vehicle approaches within 30 meters,
The right / left turn signal sensor 4 starts checking the signal state of the turn signal control circuit 6.

The information processing section 5 is composed of a correction signal input section 7, a recording medium reproducing device 8, a CPU processing section 9 and the like.

The correction signal input unit 7 includes a D-GPS or the like for correcting the measurement result of the GPS receiver 2 (the current reception position measured based on the reception data from the GPS satellite received by the GPS antenna 1). The correction signal S of is input.
As the correction signal S, for example, a radio wave such as FM broadcast transmitted by a reference station whose position is known can be used. A value obtained by correcting the measurement result of the GPS receiver 2 by the correction signal S is adopted as the current position of the vehicle.

The recording medium reproducing device 8 is a CD-RO.
Guide route 10 of vehicle C from recording media such as M and DVD
It is a means for reading data such as the map M including 0. In the case of this car navigation system, the map M is displayed on the display screen 3a of the display device 3 as described above.
The data of this map M is recorded on a recording medium,
The data of the map M is read by the recording medium reproducing device 8 from the recording medium, and the display screen 3a of the display 3 is displayed based on the data of the map M thus read.
The structure is such that the map M is displayed on the top.

The CPU processing section 9 performs the above-mentioned various processes, that is, (1) a process of calculating the current position of the vehicle using the correction signal S, and (2) a turn indicator C- by the right / left turn signal sensor 4.
1 operation information acquisition processing, (3) correction signal S input processing from the correction signal input unit 7, (4) data reading processing of the map M or the like from the recording medium in the recording medium reproducing device 8, (5) display Graphic processing for displaying a map M or the like on the display screen 3a of the vessel 3, (6) Marker display processing for displaying the current position display marker P overlaid on the map M displayed on the display screen 3a, (7) Other this car navigation Perform the processing required for system operation.

The CPU processing unit 9 has a function of executing the above-mentioned various processes and a function of instructing the operation of the direction indicator C-1. The operation instruction function of the turn indicator C-1 allows the vehicle driver to operate the turn indicator C-1 in accordance with the guide route 100 even when the vehicle C approaches the right / left turn point X of the guide route 100. If not, the operation instruction of the direction indicator C-1 is displayed on the display unit 3.
This is a function of displaying on the display screen 3a.

Specifically, in the case of the present embodiment, the distance between the vehicle C and the next right / left turn point X on the guide route 100 of the vehicle C approaches within 30 meters, which causes the right / left turn signal sensor 4 to move. As a result of checking the signal state of the turn indicator control circuit 6, when neither the right blinker blinking signal nor the left blinker blinking signal is sent from the turn indicator control circuit 6, the CPU processing unit 9 Judges that the direction indicator C-1 according to the guide route 100 is not operated, and displays the operation instruction of the direction indicator C-1 on the display screen 3a of the display device 3.

In short, in the case of the present embodiment, the right / left turn signal sensor 4 functions as an information acquisition means for acquiring the operation information of the turn signal indicator C-1, and the CPU processing section 9 obtains the turn signal indicator C. -1 based on the operation information of -1
By functioning as an operation instruction means for displaying an operation instruction of the direction indicator C-1, the car navigation system operates in conjunction with the direction indicator C-1 of the vehicle C. Therefore, in the car navigation system shown in FIG. 1, the right / left turn signal sensor 4 and the functional part as the operation instructing means of the CPU processing part 9 constitute a direction indicator / car navigation system interlocking device.

Various instruction forms can be considered for the operation instruction of the direction indicator C-1 on the display device 3, but in the present embodiment, as the instruction form, the display frame of the display screen 3a of the display device 3 is used. A pair of turn signal indicators R on the left and right
In addition to the provision of L, the instruction form in which the blinker displays R and L blink is adopted. In the case of this instruction form, for example, when the operation instruction of the direction indicator C-1 is a right turn operation instruction, as shown in FIG. 2, only the right blinker display R on the display screen 3a of the display device 3 is displayed. Blinks, and when the operation instruction of the turn signal is a left turn operation instruction, although not shown, only the left blinker display L on the display screen 3a of the display 3 blinks.

In the case of the present embodiment, when the CPU processing section 9 displays the operation instruction of the direction indicator C-1 on the display screen 3a of the display device 3 as described above, the specific operation instruction is specified. It also has the function of transmitting the contents to the vehicle driver by voice. For example, the direction indicator C-1
When the operation instruction of is a right turn operation instruction, a voice announcement is made via the speaker built in the system such as "The right turn point is approaching 30 meters ahead. Please make a right turn instruction with a turn signal." can do.

Various processes (1) to (7) performed in the CPU processing unit 9, the operation instruction function of the turn indicator in the CPU processing unit 9 and the announcement function of the operation instruction content are all programmed. Will be realized. This program is stored in the program memory 10 of the information processing unit 5.

The data memory 11 of the information processing unit 5
Is a memory required to execute the above program, and the display memory 12 of the information processing unit 5 is a memory required to draw a map M or the like on the display screen 3a of the display device 3.

Next, the operation of the car navigation system configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

When the car navigation system shown in FIG. 1 is operated, as shown in FIG. 2, a vehicle C equipped with this system (hereinafter referred to as "system-equipped vehicle").
The map M including the guide route L and the current position display marker P indicating the current position of the system-equipped vehicle C are displayed on the display screen 3 a of the display device 3.

Here, it is assumed that the system-equipped vehicle C travels along the guide route 100 on the map M, and if the distance between the system-equipped vehicle C and the next turn point X on the guide route 100 approaches within 30 meters. At this point, the check signal state of the turn signal control circuit 6 is started by the turn signal sensor 4 (step 1 in FIG. 3).

At this time, for example, according to the guide route 100 of the system-equipped vehicle C, a right turn is to be made at the next right / left turn point X, but the right / left turn signal sensor 4 is in the signal state of the turn signal control circuit 6. As a result of checking, when it is confirmed that neither the right blinker blinking signal nor the left blinker blinking signal has been sent from the turn signal control circuit 6, it is the same as the right / left turn instruction direction of the guide route 100. Since the vehicle driver has not performed any operation for blinking the direction indicator C-1 in the direction, in this case, an operation of requesting the vehicle driver to operate the direction indicator C-1 by the screen and voice is performed.

That is, in the case of this embodiment, a pair of left and right turn signal displays R and L are displayed on the display screen 3a of the display device 3.
Is displayed and only the blinker display R on the right side blinks, and the voice of the direction indicator C-1 with the voice "The right turn point is approaching 30 meters ahead. Please use the turn signal to turn right." An operation instruction is given (step 2-2 in FIG. 3).

Next, the passing condition of the right and left turning points is checked (step 3 in FIG. 3), and if it is confirmed as a result of this check that the right and left turning points have not been passed yet, the process returns to step 1 above. , Again, turn signal sensor 4
The above-mentioned processing operation is performed based on the check result of checking the signal state of the turn signal control circuit 6 by. The processing operation such as the recheck of the signal state is constant until the passage of the turning point is confirmed in step 3 or the vehicle driver takes a different route from the guidance route 100. Is repeatedly performed at time intervals (step 4-2 in FIG. 3).

By the way, as in the above-mentioned example, the guide route 1
According to 00, when a right turn is to be made at the next right / left turn point X, the right / left turn signal sensor 4 checks the signal state of the turn signal control circuit 6, and as a result, the right turn signal from the turn signal control circuit 6 is detected. When it is confirmed that the blinker blinking signal has been transmitted (step 2-1 in FIG. 3), the turn signal C-1 is output in the same direction as the turning direction of the guidance route 100.
Since the vehicle driver has already performed the operation of blinking, in this case, the passing situation at the right / left turn point X is checked (step 3 in FIG. 3), and the right / left turn point X is checked.
After confirming that the signal has passed, the signal state check of the direction indicator control circuit 6 as described above is completed (step 4-1 in FIG. 3).

According to the car navigation system of the above embodiment, the direction indicator C attached to the vehicle C is used.
-1 operation information is acquired, and the acquired direction indicator C-
Since the configuration in which the operation instruction of the turn indicator C-1 is displayed on the display device 3 based on the operation information of No. 1, the car navigation side must grasp the operation state of the turn indicator of the vehicle driver and the road recognition situation. Even when the turn indicator C-1 is not operated even when the vehicle approaches the right / left turn point X, the operation instruction can be given to the vehicle driver. You can give directions.

Direction indicator C on the display 3 as described above
Regarding the operation instruction of -1, the above-mentioned instruction form, that is, the blinker displays R and L on the display screen 3a of the display device 3 are displayed.
In addition to the instruction form for displaying, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, in the vicinity of the current position display marker P displayed on the display screen 3a overlaid on the map M, an arrow A in which the pointing direction of the turn indicator blinks It is possible to adopt an instruction form displayed by a non-flashing arrow. In this case, when the current position display marker P is a triangle mark, the above-mentioned arrow A can be displayed from the vicinity of the apex of the triangle mark.

In short, with respect to the operation instruction of the direction indicator C-1 on the display device 3, the blinker displays R and L are used.
In addition to the instruction form such as or arrow A, any display screen can be appropriately adopted as long as it is a display screen capable of accurately transmitting the operation instruction of the direction indicator C-1 to the vehicle driver.
The same applies to the operation instruction of the direction indicator C-1 by voice.

[0043]

According to the present invention, as described above, on the car navigation side, the operation information of the turn indicator attached to the vehicle is acquired, and the display device is based on the acquired operation information of the turn indicator. Since the configuration that displays the operation instruction of the above-mentioned turn indicator is adopted in the above, it becomes possible for the car navigation side to grasp the operation state of the turn indicator of the vehicle driver, the road recognition situation, etc., and more appropriate for the vehicle driver. It is possible to give a direction instruction, and thereby, it is possible to obtain a further smooth road guidance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a car navigation system that is an embodiment of the present invention.

2 (a) is a detailed explanatory view of a display device in the car navigation system shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2 (b).
FIG. 2 is a front view of a vehicle equipped with the car navigation system shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an operation explanatory diagram of the car navigation system shown in FIG. 1.

4 (a) is a detailed explanatory view showing another embodiment of the display in the car navigation system shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 (b) is a car navigation system shown in FIG. Front view of a vehicle equipped with.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 GPS antenna 2 GPS receiver 3 display 3a display screen 4 Right / left turn signal sensor 5 Information processing section 6 Direction indicator control circuit 7 Correction signal input section 8 Recording media playback device 9 CPU processing unit 10 program memory 11 Data memory 12 Display memory 100 guide routes A arrow C vehicle C-1 Direction indicator L Left blinker display M map P Current location display marker R Right turn signal display S correction signal X right / left turn point

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Motohiro Yamamoto             2-8-23 Shinei, Naka-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi             FTL International Co., Ltd.             Within F term (reference) 2F029 AA02 AB07 AB13 AC02 AC09                       AC14 AC19 AD05                 5H180 AA01 CC12 FF05 FF07 FF22                       FF24 FF25 FF27 FF33

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A car navigation system which is mounted on a vehicle and supports the traveling of the vehicle, comprising a map including a guide route of the vehicle, a current position display marker for displaying the current position of the vehicle on the map, and other A display device that displays information, an information acquisition unit that acquires operation information of a turn indicator attached to the vehicle, and the above-mentioned display device based on the operation information of the direction indicator acquired by the information acquisition unit. A car navigation system, comprising: an operation instructing unit that displays an operation instruction of a direction indicator. 2. The operation instructing means, when the vehicle approaches the right or left turning point of the guide route, but does not operate the direction indicator according to the guide route, operates the direction indicator. Is displayed on the said display, The car navigation system of Claim 1 characterized by the above-mentioned. 3. The operation instructing means, when the vehicle approaches the right or left turning point of the guide route and the direction indicator according to the guide route is not operated, the operation instructing unit operates the turn indicator. 2. The car navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the car navigation system is displayed on the display, and the content of the operation instruction is transmitted to the vehicle driver side by voice. 4. The operation instruction of the direction indicator on the display is in the form of an instruction in which a pair of blinker displays provided on the left and right in the display frame of the display blink. Car navigation system described in. 5. The operation instruction of the direction indicator on the display device is in the form of an instruction indicating the direction of the direction indicator by an arrow near the current position display marker. The car navigation system according to claim 1. 6. The operation instruction of the turn indicator on the display is in the form of an instruction in which a pointing direction of the turn indicator is displayed by a blinking arrow near the current position display marker. The car navigation system according to claim 1. 7. An information acquisition unit for acquiring operation information of a turn indicator mounted on the vehicle, and a car mounted on the vehicle based on the operation information of the turn indicator acquired by the information acquisition unit. A direction indicator / car navigation system interlocking device, comprising: an operation instruction means for displaying an operation instruction of the direction indicator on a display of the navigation system. 8. The operation instructing means, when the vehicle approaches a right or left turn point of the guide route, but does not operate the direction indicator according to the guide route, operates the direction indicator. The direction indicator / car navigation system interlocking device according to claim 7, wherein the indicator is displayed on the display. 9. The operation instruction means, when the vehicle approaches the right or left turning point of the guide route, but the direction indicator operation according to the guide route is not performed, the operation instruction means operates the direction indicator. 8. The direction indicator / car navigation system interlocking device according to claim 7, wherein the display device displays the message on the display, and the content of the operation instruction is transmitted to the vehicle driver by voice. 10. The operation instruction of the direction indicator on the display screen of the display device is in the form of a blinking blinker display provided on the left and right in the display frame of the display device. Directional indicator / car navigation system interlocking device described in 7. 11. The display device displays a map including the guide route of the vehicle, a current position display marker for displaying the current position of the vehicle on the map, and other information. 8. The direction indicator / car navigation according to claim 7, wherein the operation instruction of the direction indicator is in the form of an instruction indicating the direction of the direction indicator by an arrow near the current position display marker. System interlocking device. 12. The display device displays a map including the guide route of the vehicle, a current position display marker for displaying the current position of the vehicle on the map, and other information. 8. The direction indicator according to claim 7, wherein the operation instruction of the direction indicator is in the form of an instruction in which a pointing direction of the direction indicator is displayed in the vicinity of the current position display marker by a blinking arrow. Car navigation system interlocking device.