JP2003247839A - Navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation system by which a toll road such as many expressways or the like can be discriminated from an open road. <P>SOLUTION: By the navigation system, after it has been confirmed that an own vehicle comes close to an entrance of the toll road such as an expressway within a prescribed range (e.g. a radius of 200 m or the like), it is decided whether the own vehicle has come close to a gate. A place of the gate, a stop of the vehicle and a decision of whether a window of the vehicle is opened or closed are put together, and whether the vehicle has passed the gate or not is decided. Therefore, regarding the toll road such as the expressway or the like having the gate, it can be decided that the vehicle has approached the toll road even in the case of any approach structure. It can be decided by the same processing operation that the own vehicle has retreated from the toll road such as the expressway or the like. <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 vehicle-mounted navigation device for displaying a mark indicating a position of a vehicle on a map image, and in particular, it is possible to appropriately correct the position of a vehicle on a road on which a vehicle is running. The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted navigation device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional navigation system is mounted on a vehicle, acquires satellite radio waves by a GPS (Global Positioning System) unit or the like, and obtains the current position of the vehicle based on data from these sensors. Then, D in which the map information including the map image and the road information is recorded
A map image centering on the vehicle position is read from a recording medium such as a VD, and a mark indicating the vehicle position is superimposed on the map image and displayed on a predetermined monitor. By referring to the map image and the vehicle position displayed on the monitor, the driver can recognize the positional relationship between the driving vehicle and the surrounding road, and can advance the vehicle to the destination without getting lost. .

As described above, in such a navigation device, satellite navigation is mainly used in which satellite radio waves transmitted from GPS satellites are received by a GPS unit or the like and the vehicle position is calculated according to the received satellite radio waves. . Under the present circumstances, this satellite navigation is expected to have an error of about 10 m to 20 m even under normal conditions. Further, satellite navigation may cause a larger error due to the influence of high-rise buildings around the vehicle. Therefore, if you use the vehicle position calculated by satellite navigation as it is and overlay the vehicle mark on the map,
Due to the generated error, the mark may not be located on the road even though the vehicle is actually located on the road.

As a countermeasure, the navigation device has a map matching function for correcting the vehicle position so that the vehicle position obtained by the sensor is located on the road. This map matching function uses, for example, matching between the shape of the traveling locus and the shape of the road to appropriately correct the vehicle position on the map image so as to be located on the nearest road in anticipation of the error that has occurred. .

However, when such a map matching function is simply used, the vehicle position after the map matching may exist on the road but may not be correctly corrected on the road actually running. Specifically, when the highway and the general road are vertically overlapped due to an overpass, or when the vehicle is traveling in an area arranged in parallel, the navigation system is Since it is not possible to accurately determine whether the vehicle is traveling on the road, the vehicle position may be corrected on the wrong road.

Therefore, conventionally, in consideration of such a case, it is judged whether the vehicle has entered the highway or the like by using the height difference of the vehicle or the vehicle angle when entering the highway or the like, and the correct road is determined. I try to match.
In addition, if a highway or other road has a structure that turns into the main line while turning through an interchange, the gyro sensor, etc. determines the turning of the vehicle, and the running locus of the vehicle and the road shape of the electronic map. Pattern matching is performed with and to determine the invasion into a highway or the like, and the correct road is matched.

[0007]

However, an expressway or the like runs in parallel with an ordinary road, there is almost no difference in height, and there is a case where the highway is approached with almost no turning. In this case, it is not possible to determine the turning or height difference of the vehicle,
Sometimes it was not possible to determine whether the vehicle was traveling on a highway or on a general road, and map matching was sometimes performed on the wrong road.

In the present navigation device, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the representation of the screen is changed depending on the road to be driven on the expressway and the general road, and the road on which the navigation is traveling is mistaken. Then, there is a problem that it inconveniences the user.

Further, recent navigation devices have adopted a function of automatically calculating a travel route, and when a vehicle is driven along this travel route, it also has a function of guiding right / left turn or branch by voice. It is installed.
This function makes the route calculation conditions different between highways and general roads, and because the timing of voice guidance is switched depending on the road that is running, this voice guidance is running on a different road from the actual road. If it is determined that the information is incorrect, it may be transmitted to the driver as incorrect information, which may hinder proper guidance to the destination. This invention
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a navigation device capable of distinguishing many toll roads such as expressways from ordinary roads.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the navigation device according to the first aspect of the present invention comprises:
A storage medium that stores map data, a current position detection unit that detects the current position of the vehicle, a road determination unit that determines the road on which the vehicle is traveling based on the detection result of the current position detection and the map data, and a current position A tollgate approach determining means for determining whether the vehicle is approaching the tollgate based on the detecting means, a fee payment related operation determining means for determining whether or not an operation related to the fee payment is performed, and the approaching A toll road entry judging means for judging whether the vehicle enters the toll road based on the judging means and the payment operation judging means.

According to the present invention, it is possible to determine that the vehicle has entered the toll road from the ordinary road by the approach of the vehicle to the tollgate and the toll payment operation performed when entering the toll road. The toll road can be identified even if there is no difference in height.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a navigation device according to a second aspect of the present invention is a storage medium storing map data, a current position detecting means for detecting the current position of a vehicle, and a current position detection. Road determination means for determining the road on which the vehicle is traveling based on the result and the map data, a tollgate approach determination means for determining that the vehicle is approaching the tollgate based on the current position detection means, and a fee payment Charge-related operation determining means for determining whether or not an operation related to is performed, and toll road entry determining means for determining entry of a vehicle into a toll road based on the approach determining means and the payment operation determining means. Further, the charge payment-related operation determination means is performed by detecting opening / closing of a window of the vehicle.

According to the present invention, the vehicle has entered the toll road from the general road due to the detection of the opening / closing of the window of the vehicle related to the approach to the toll gate of the vehicle and the toll payment operation performed when entering the toll road. Therefore, it is possible to accurately identify the general road and the toll road even if there is no difference in height.

In order to achieve the above object, a navigation device according to a third aspect of the present invention is a storage medium storing map data, a current position detecting means for detecting the current position of a vehicle, and the current position detection. Road determination means for determining the road on which the vehicle is traveling based on the result and the map data, a tollgate approach determination means for determining that the vehicle is approaching the tollgate based on the current position detection means, and a fee payment Charge-related operation determining means for determining whether or not an operation related to is performed, and toll road entry determining means for determining entry of a vehicle into a toll road based on the approach determining means and the payment operation determining means. Further, the charge payment-related operation determination means detects the opening / closing of the window of the vehicle and detects the vehicle speed.

According to the present invention, the vehicle is opened or closed by detecting the opening / closing of the window of the vehicle associated with the approach of the vehicle to the toll gate and the fee payment operation performed when entering the toll road. Since it is determined that the vehicle has entered the toll road, it is possible to identify the toll road more accurately even if there is no difference in height between the ordinary road and the toll road.

[0016]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of a navigation device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that each function of the embodiments described below is realized by a predetermined mechanism or software controlling a computer and peripheral devices, and in the specification of the present invention, each function and each process correspond to each other. The invention and the embodiments are described on the assumption of a virtual circuit block such as "portion". Therefore, each block does not have a one-to-one correspondence with each hardware element or software element that realizes this.

[1. Configuration] FIG. 1 shows a hardware configuration example of a navigation system according to the present invention. 1 is
GPS, such as GPS, that detects absolute position and direction
Indicates a receiver. Numeral 2 is an azimuth detecting section using a gyro or the like. 3 is a vehicle speed detection unit for processing the pulses obtained from the vehicle. Reference numeral 4 denotes a window opening / closing detection unit that detects opening / closing of a vehicle window. 5 is a CPU that controls the entire system, and 6 is a C
A signal processing unit that inputs various signals from the PU 5 and other parts and processes the signals. Reference numeral 7 is a ROM disk such as a DVD disk which is accessed by the CPU of 5 at the time of startup.
Reference numeral 8 is a data reading device for reproducing the ROM disk 7. Reference numeral 9 is a memory having a function of storing data for loading a main program, storing data when the power is turned off, temporarily storing display data, and the like.
A display control unit 10 controls the display on the display 10a.
10a is a display for displaying a map and a menu. 11 is
An operation unit for inputting various information by the user. 1
Reference numeral 2 is an amplifier that amplifies the audio signal output from the signal processing unit, and 13 is a speaker.

[2. Operation] As shown in FIG. 1, the navigation device, based on the current position when the power is turned off, is stored in the memory 9 when the power is turned on, and the map data in a predetermined wide range around the current position from the ROM disk 7 to a certain extent. Read out and capture in memory 9. Then GPS
The current position is calculated on the basis of the receiver 1, the azimuth detecting unit 2, and the vehicle speed detecting unit 3, and based on the newly obtained current position, the memory 9 displays the display range on the display unit 10a every one second. The map data is read out to the memory 9, and at the same time, the current position mark is superposed on the map and updated and stored.

When determining a destination and setting a route, first,
Set the destination. As described above, the destination is selected by scrolling the map on the operation unit 11 to determine the point, and the CPU 5 calculates the optimum route from the current position to the destination. Then, when the route is set and the vehicle starts traveling along the route, the vehicle position that changes from moment to moment is determined by the absolute position data from the GPS receiver 1, the traveling distance obtained from the vehicle speed detecting unit 3, and the azimuth. The vehicle position coordinates are comprehensively calculated from the traveling direction data of the vehicle obtained from the detection unit 2 and compared with the road data stored in the memory 9, and the current position is set to the road closest to the obtained position coordinates. The position of the vehicle is corrected and the vehicle position is updated after the map matching, and the mark of the present position obtained on the map data is superimposed and displayed on the display 10a as shown in FIG.

It should be noted that the electronic map database has road types (highways, toll roads, national roads, general roads such as general roads), and it does not run on toll gates, toll ticket offices, etc. It has the coordinates (latitude, longitude, etc.) of the facilities that are incidental to the road that has a charge for, and these data are loaded from the ROM disk 7 into the memory 9.

Further, when traveling on a toll road such as an expressway, in the case of postpaid fare, a toll ticket is received when entering the expressway, and conversely, in the case of prepaid fare, money is paid at the entrance gate. At this time, the vehicle will pass through the gate installed on the road, and if the vehicle does not have an automatic toll collection system such as ETC, it will always stop at the gate.

The main content of this case is to judge the state of the temporary stop and use it for judging that the vehicle has entered the highway. Toll road. In addition, the facilities (e.g., stations, gas stations, convenience stores, etc.) displayed on the map are also managed by coordinates, and of course the gates for toll roads (toll gates, toll ticket offices) are also managed by coordinates. Therefore, it is possible to determine whether the vehicle is approaching a certain point or distant based on where the own vehicle is and in which direction the vehicle is heading.

Therefore, after confirming that the vehicle has approached the entrance of the highway / toll road within a predetermined range (for example, a radius of 200 m), it is determined whether or not the vehicle has approached the gate. The location of the gate, the stop of the vehicle, and the judgment of whether the window of the vehicle is opened or closed are combined to determine whether or not the vehicle has passed the gate.

Next, the approach operation determination to the toll road represented by the expressway, which is the center of the present invention, will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The process of the flowchart is performed by the CPU 5 of FIG.

First, it is determined by map matching whether the obtained current position is on an ordinary road, that is, whether the vehicle is traveling on an ordinary road (ST1). Then, when the vehicle is traveling on a general road, it is determined whether the current position approaches the entrance of the toll road such as a high speed, that is, whether the current position is within 200 m from the entrance position of the toll road (ST2).
For example, if there is no current position within 200m from the entrance position of the toll road, the process returns to ST1, and if it enters within 200m, it is determined in ST3 whether the current position is closer to the gate, that is, within 50m from the gate. to decide. If the current position is not within 50m from the gate,
If the vehicle returns to ST2 and enters within 50 m, it is determined in ST4 whether the vehicle has made a temporary stop, that is, the vehicle speed detection unit 3 sets the speed to 5
Double determination is made as to whether or not the distance is less than or equal to km and whether or not the window on the driver side of the vehicle has been opened. Here, if the vehicle does not stop or the window cannot be opened, the process returns to ST3. If the vehicle stops and the window is opened, that is, if the operation related to the fee payment is recognized, the vehicle is charged. It is determined that the vehicle has entered the road (ST5).

Incidentally, FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a process for determining whether or not the vehicle exits the toll road while the vehicle is traveling on the toll road such as a highway. Is approaching the exit of the toll road, and when the vehicle approaches the gate in ST8, when the vehicle is temporarily stopped in ST9 and the opening / closing of the window is detected, the vehicle is moved from the toll road in ST10. Judge that you have exited.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but also includes the following other embodiments. That is, as a method of determining the operation related to the payment of fee, it is determined that the vehicle has passed through the gate at the time when both the vehicle stop and the opening / closing operation of the window are satisfied. You may judge that it passed the gate. Alternatively, a camera for capturing a landscape may be installed, and the shape and color of the gate may be discriminated and determined by image recognition, and it may be determined that the vehicle has passed the gate based on the result.

[0028]

According to the present invention, with respect to a toll road such as an expressway having a gate, it can be determined by this method that the toll road has entered regardless of the approach structure. Also, when exiting from a toll road such as an expressway, the same process can be used for the determination.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a map screen display example of the navigation device according to the same embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a guidance screen display example while traveling on a highway.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an example of a guidance screen display while traveling on a general road.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a toll road entry determination operation of the navigation device according to the same embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a toll road exit determination operation of the navigation device according to the same embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 ... GPS receiver 2 ... Direction detection unit 3 ... Vehicle speed detector 4 Window open / closed detector 5 ... CPU 9 ... Memory 10a ... Display section 11 ... Input section 12 ... Amplifier 13 ... Speaker

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A storage medium storing map data, a current position detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle, and a road determining means for determining a road on which the vehicle is traveling based on a result detected by the current position detection and the map data. And a tollgate approach determining means for determining that the vehicle is approaching the tollgate based on the current position detecting means, and a fee payment related operation determining means for determining whether or not an operation related to fee payment is performed. And a toll road entry judging means for judging the entry of the vehicle into the toll road based on the approach judging means and the payment operation judging means. 2. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the charge payment-related operation determination means is performed by detecting opening / closing of a window of a vehicle. 3. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the charge payment-related operation determination means detects the opening / closing of a window of a vehicle and the vehicle speed.