JP2003302240A - Navigation system with schedule book function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To further improve convenience in a navigation system having a schedule book function. <P>SOLUTION: A first schedule information such as place, start time and end time is taken to calculate the route to the place and the time required for arriving at the place, and a second schedule information required for moving to the place, that is, the start time obtained from the above route or the required time or back calculating the required time is added to the first schedule information to be displayed on a display screen. Namely, although the information on the place and time of meeting and business trip is stored in an ordinary schedule book, the information required for moving to the place is also displayed on the same schedule book. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation device having a schedule function, and in particular, obtains schedule information, selects an optimum route to a destination, calculates a required time, and starts from a conference time at the destination. The present invention relates to a navigation system in which time is calculated backward and information about movement can be automatically captured and displayed in a schedule book.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a navigation system, the number of rotations of wheels and the traveling direction of a vehicle are detected by a sensor, and the current position of the vehicle is measured by collecting information from satellites to obtain map data in the vicinity of the position of the vehicle. It is read from a DVD-ROM or the like, and the road on the map and the position of the vehicle are superimposed and displayed on the display. In addition, when the user inputs the destination, waypoints, etc., the route that is judged to be the most appropriate from the current location is searched and displayed on the map, and at the intersection an enlarged view etc. is displayed to guide the driver securely. It also has a function to do. Further, not only the guide information is displayed on the display, but also a function of guiding by voice is provided. For example, when approaching an intersection, the distance to the intersection,
Notify the driver by voice whether the vehicle is turning right or turning left. In recent years, VICS information is further received to display traffic regulation information and traffic congestion information, and voice guidance is provided using a voice guidance device. Some have a communication function of connecting to the Internet using a car phone or a mobile phone, fetching information from a server or the like, and displaying the information. on the other hand,
Recently, with the remarkable development of computer technology, a personal digital assistant (PDA) capable of carrying a large amount of information in the form of electronic data is rapidly becoming popular. This PDA stores information such as an address book, mail addresses, and a telephone directory as a personal database, as well as data such as a schedule table, and can communicate with information equipment in a remote place through a wire line, optical communication, or telephone line. It generally has a function.
In recent years, there has been proposed an attempt to further improve the convenience of a navigation system by combining a navigation device with a terminal, information device or IC card having the above schedule information. For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-64027, when a destination and arrival time of a day's schedule are input from a mobile unit, the information is sent to a navigation device, a guide route to the destination is searched, and a required time is calculated. At the same time, a method of calculating the departure time backward and sending it to the mobile unit is described. The mobile unit stores the sent information and gives a voice notification at the departure time. In addition, JP-A-2000-
In Japanese Patent No. 146617, an input / output unit for exchanging information with an information portable terminal device is provided in a navigation device, and when schedule data of the information portable terminal is input to the navigation device, necessary data of this data is converted into voice by a voice processing unit. A method of outputting the output is disclosed. All of these are useful for enhancing the convenience of conventional navigation devices.

[0003]

One of the demands of the user for the function of the schedule book is to make the data input work as simple as possible. Persons involved in occupations where schedule management is essential are PDAs
Since the schedule information has already been entered in, etc., it is troublesome to enter the same information again.

In addition, it is often difficult to know whether it is more convenient to travel by car by car. Depending on the traffic conditions on the road and the frequency of train operations, it may be possible to save time by selecting a transportation means other than a car. There are many things. Therefore, from the user's point of view, it is desirable not only to search and provide an optimal road route to the user, but also to present a wide range of options so that the user can freely select.

Further, the function as a schedule book will be halved unless the search result is provided to the user in the form of information that is the most convenient for the user. The present invention aims to provide a navigation system that meets these needs.

[0006]

In order to solve this problem, the present invention relates to at least a location and a start time.
From the second schedule information required to move to that place, that is, the route to that place and the time required to arrive at that place are calculated, One of the features is that the departure time obtained by back calculation is added to the first schedule information and displayed on the display screen.

In other words, a normal schedule book stores only information about the place and time of meetings, business trips, etc., but from the user's point of view, it is not only information about events but also necessary for moving to that place. It is convenient if such information is also displayed in the same schedule book, and the above features address such needs.

Another feature of the present invention is to have means for acquiring the traffic congestion information, to add the traffic congestion information to the calculation of the route and required time for moving to a necessary place, and The update condition is presented to the user so that the user can freely select. It is usual to select the optimum route in consideration of the traffic jam information, but by allowing the user to select the update condition, the knowledge and experience possessed by the user can be utilized.

Further, another feature of the present invention is that both the route and required time information for moving to a required place by car and the route and required time information for moving by means of transportation other than the vehicle are displayed. It is displayed on the screen so that the user can select it. This is because when a business trip etc., the secretary checks the way to go,
The selection is made in consideration of the cost and the like, and this has an effect that this can be realized on the system in consideration of traffic congestion information and the like.

Still another feature of the present invention is that when a transportation means other than a car is a train or a train, the timetable is captured and a plurality of update conditions are presented to the user so that the user can select from them. That is what I did. With this configuration, the user's information, knowledge, experience, etc. regarding the timetable can be utilized.

Still another feature of the present invention is that when the arrival time is sufficient, the user is presented with a list of facilities that can detour within that time, and the user can freely select from among them. is there. In many cases, such as when actually on a business trip, it is necessary to have lunch on the way, which is very convenient in such cases.

Still another feature of the present invention is that when there are a plurality of routes satisfying the search condition, all of them are displayed so that the user can freely select from them.
In some cases, the optimum solution may not be determined only by the required time and required cost, and it becomes possible to select the route according to the user's preference.

Other features and effects will become clearer from the description of the embodiments below.

[0014]

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a navigation device according to the present invention. The present apparatus includes an arithmetic processing unit 110, an external storage device 120, a sensor unit 130, a display unit 140, a GPS receiving device 151, a voice input / output device 162, and the like. The arithmetic processing unit 110 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 111,
ROM (Read Only Memory) 112, RAM (Random A
ccess Memory) 113 and DMA (Direct Memory Acce
ss) 114. The CPU 111 is used to execute various programs in addition to executing the programs described below. For example, the sensor unit 130 and GPS (Global Posit
based on the information from the ioning system) 151, the current position of the mobile body equipped with this navigation device is calculated. Then, the map information necessary for display is read from the calculated current position information from the database unit 120 and displayed on the display unit 140 together with the current position. In addition, the input device 161
A point specified by the user, for example, an optimum road connecting the current location and the destination is calculated, and output to the voice input / output device 162 or the display unit 140 to guide the route to the user. The ROM 112 is shown in FIG. 1 and FIGS.
EP, which stores the programs and data described later in
It may be a ROM or the like. The RAM 113 is used for temporarily storing information taken in from the outside and temporarily storing operation data. The DMA 114 is used for high-speed data transfer between memories or between a memory and a display device. The external storage device 120 includes a DVD-ROM drive 121 for reading necessary data from a read-only DVD-ROM disc 123 in which map data is stored, and an H including a hard disk capable of writing and reading map data.
And a D drive 122. Of course, the external storage device 120
May be a large-capacity storage medium, and may be an IC card or another storage device. The sensor unit 130 includes a direction sensor 131, a gyro 132, and a wheel speed sensor 133. The wheel speed sensor 133 detects the traveling distance of the moving body by counting the pulse signal output with the rotation of the wheel by the counter 135. This travel distance signal is sent to the arithmetic processing unit 110 via the bus 170. The direction sensor 131 detects the magnetic field held by the earth,
The direction in which the moving body is facing is detected. The gyro 132 includes types such as an optical fiber gyro and a vibration gyro,
The angle at which the moving body rotates is detected. The detection signals of the azimuth sensor 131 and the gyro 132 are converted into digital signals by an analog-digital converter (AD converter) 134 and then sent to the arithmetic processing unit 110.
On the other hand, the GPS receiver 151 receives signals from GPS satellites and measures the distance between the mobile body and the satellite and the rate of change of the distance to measure the current position, traveling direction and traveling direction of the mobile body. . In addition, road congestion information, construction,
It is provided with a beacon transmitter that emits traffic information such as restriction information such as traffic closures and parking lot information, and a traffic information receiving device 152 that receives signals transmitted from FM multiplex broadcasting. Further, the in-vehicle LAN device 153 is provided for receiving various kinds of information on the vehicle, for example, door opening / closing information, the type and status of the lights that are lit, the status of the engine, the failure diagnosis result, and the like. Device 15
The information from 1 to 153 is coupled to bus 170 via SCI 154 for converting a serial signal into a parallel signal synchronized with bus 170. The display unit 140 includes a graphic controller 143 that controls the entire display unit based on control data sent from the arithmetic processing unit 110 via the bus 170, a buffer memory 144 that temporarily stores the display data, and an output from the controller 143. A display control device 141 for controlling display of a display 142 such as a liquid crystal panel or a CRT based on the image data is displayed. The voice input / output device 162 converts the message to the user generated by the arithmetic processing unit 110 into a voice signal and outputs the voice signal, and recognizes the voice uttered by the user and transfers the voice signal to the arithmetic processing unit 110. Also, the input device 1
Reference numeral 61 is a device that receives an instruction from the user, and is configured by a hard switch, a joystick, a touch panel, and the like. The input / output devices 162 and 161 are PIO 16s that put signals on the bus 170 in synchronization with parallel signals.
It is connected to the bus via 3.

Reference numeral 181 denotes an external connection device, which is used when connecting to a memory card or the like to capture the user's schedule information, or connecting to a PDA to capture similar schedule information. A communication device 182 is used, for example, when a mobile phone acquires schedule information from a personal computer through the Internet. In the present invention, the method of acquiring the schedule information is not limited, but if the user already has the schedule information in another device, it is desirable to import and use this. The configuration of the navigation device described above is an example, and it goes without saying that the navigation device may be modified depending on the purpose and use.

Next, the data structure of information necessary for executing the program will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, the schedule information acquired from the user's schedule book is stored in the schedule table 10 and the route table 20. Each of the schedules 1, 2, 3, ... N included in the schedule table 10 includes information items such as the subject, place, start time, end time, transportation means, route, etc. of the schedule. Further, the item of the place can be expressed by coordinates indicating the place, or the name, address, telephone number, etc. of the building.

On the other hand, each of the routes 1, 2, 3, ... N stored in the route table 20 includes information items such as a departure place, a waypoint, a destination and route information. Furthermore, each route information includes information such as a search condition, required time, and charge.

The CPU executes the programs shown in FIGS. 1 and 13 to 18 by using the information in the tables 10 and 20 described above, and displays the screens shown in FIGS. 4 to 12 on the display device. The details will be described below.

When the schedule book function of the present invention is activated from the navigation screen, the screen as shown in FIG. 10 is first displayed. Then, when you select a part of the schedule, the screen as shown in Fig. 4 is displayed. At this time, if the route search has already been completed, it is displayed in the screen of FIG. FIG. 1 is a flow of a program for controlling the screen shown in FIG. When the program starts (S
100), first, in step S101, the schedule information possessed by the user is acquired. Further, the information input by the user in step 102 is also acquired.

Next steps S103, S104, S10
5 determines whether or not the user has pressed the registration button 31, the deletion button 32, and the route edit button 33 on the screen of FIG. If the route edit button 33 is pressed, the screen transitions to FIG. Looking at this in the processing of the program, the process proceeds to step S109 in FIG. 1, and it is determined whether or not a route (information such as a starting point, a destination, a waypoint, etc.) already exists in the route table 20 shown in FIG. If so, the route information is acquired (S112), the moving means is set as the search condition (S115), and the route editing process is performed (S116).
The route information (required time, charge, road sequence, etc.) obtained as a result is registered in the schedule of FIG. 3 (S117).
If the route does not exist in step S109, the route is generated based on the acquired schedule information (S110),
After setting the place of the previous schedule as the departure place (113), the process proceeds to step S115.

FIG. 13 shows the process of the route editing S116 in FIG. 1 more specifically. When the route editing process starts (S120), first, step S121.
Then, the route (starting point, destination, etc.) is acquired, and the user input information is further acquired in step S122. Step S
At 123, it is determined whether the search condition is changed. This corresponds to whether or not the search condition button 42 has been pressed on the screen of FIG. When the search condition button 42 is pressed, the screen changes as shown in FIG. From this screen, the user can set priority vehicles, priority roads, etc., and the setting information is set in the route information. Step S
In 125 and S127, it is further determined whether the departure place or the destination is changed, and if there is any change, the change is set in the route (S126, S128). In step S129, it is determined whether the search has started. This is Figure 5
It corresponds to whether or not the search start button 44 has been pressed on the display screen. When the button 44 is pressed, the search program 130 operates. Details of the search program 130 are shown in FIG.
6 and the resulting display screen is shown in FIG. Before explaining the details, a flow chart (Figs. 14 and 15) regarding setting and a display screen
(FIG. 7) will be described.

Pressing the setting button 41 on the screen of FIG. 5 causes a transition to the screen of FIG. Set the timing for automatic timetable update on this screen. For example, there is a selection branch such as update at startup, update at search startup, and update every several minutes. You can also set the timing of automatic update of traffic jam information. In this example, again, there are the following options: update at startup, update if there is congestion on the route, and update by time.

FIG. 14 shows a flowchart for updating the timetable. The timetable is acquired in step S141, and the input information of the user is acquired in step S142. Next, it is determined whether or not the timetable is updated (S143), and if not, step S1
Proceeding to 44, it is determined whether or not there is a change in the timetable automatic update setting. This corresponds to whether or not the user has changed the settings on the screen of FIG. If there is any change, an event is set in the timer (not shown) of the system in FIG. 2 and the process ends.
On the other hand, if YES in step S143, it is determined in step S145 whether or not the timetable being used is the latest,
If it is not the latest version, the timetable is downloaded in step S147, and the timetable updating process ends.

The same applies to the processing for updating congestion information shown in FIG. The setting is acquired in step S151, and the input information of the user is acquired in step S152. In step S153, it is determined whether or not the congestion information is updated, and if not, it is determined whether or not the congestion information automatic update setting is changed (S154). This determination corresponds to whether or not the user has changed the setting on the screen of FIG. When there is a change, the user input information is set in the setting item of the table of FIG. 3 (S156), and further, FIG.
Set an event in the timer of the system and finish the process. If YES in step S153, the flow advances to step S155 to execute the search program.

Next, the search process shown in FIG. 16 will be described. When the search start button 44 is pressed on the screen of FIG. 5, the process proceeds to step S161, and information of the departure place is acquired from the route table 20 of FIG. Further, in S162, the destination information is similarly acquired. Similarly, in S163, the information of the search condition is acquired from the item of the route information of FIG. Step S16
In step 4, it is determined from the information of the transportation means in the schedule table 10 whether or not the vehicle is traveling. If not a car,
In step S167, route search processing is performed using the Internet or the like.

On the other hand, when using a car, step S1
In 65, it is determined whether or not to use the traffic jam information, and if so, the cost is set in consideration of the traffic jam information (S16).
6). Further, in step S168, route calculation processing is performed,
In step S169, departure time, arrival time, and required time are calculated. After this calculation is performed for all routes (S170), all search results are displayed on the display screen (S171).

FIG. 8 shows an example of a search result display screen.
It is shown that there are two routes 61 and 62 that satisfy the search condition. If, for example, 61 is selected on the screen of FIG. 8, the process proceeds to step S172, and the route information selected in step S173 is set in the route information item in the route table 20 of FIG. Then, the process proceeds to step S117 of FIG. 1 to display the screen of FIG. Pressing the confirmation button of the route in FIG. 9 returns to the screen of FIG. 5, and pressing the route detailed information button 43 in the screen of FIG. 5 causes a transition to the screen of FIG.

When the user presses the registration button 31 while looking at the screen of FIG. 9, the process proceeds from the user input wait (S102) of FIG. 1 to step S103, the determination is YES (affirmative), and the process further proceeds to step S107 to schedule. Is registered in the schedule table.

Next, the schedule output process will be described with reference to FIG. If a date on the screen of the schedule book is clicked, the process proceeds to step S181 and the schedule table of FIG. 3 is acquired. Further step S1
At 82, the schedule information item is acquired from the schedule table 10. Whether or not there is a route in the schedule is determined (S183), and if there is a route, the travel time is output (S1).
84) The schedule information is output to the schedule book (S185). Figure 10 shows an example of the output screen. If you plan to travel to the Toda office from 13:00, search for that route, calculate the travel time, and use the schedule book as the travel time from 12:00 to 13:00. It shows an example that was filled in automatically. When a schedule with a certain time on this screen is selected, the screen shown in FIG. 4 is displayed so that detailed information can be viewed. Of course, it is also easy to display the front screen on a daily basis. In this way, the same processing is performed for all schedules (S
186) When it is displayed in the schedule book, the output process ends.

On a business trip or the like, it is often the case that one wants to have a meal according to the interval between the estimated arrival time and the start time of the meeting. Display processing of the detour list, which is convenient in such a case, will be described with reference to FIG. When there is enough time on the display screen as shown in FIG. 11, the detour list button 71 is displayed. If the user wants to detour, the button is pressed. The CPU that executes the program process calculates the estimated arrival time in step S191, and further calculates S1.
At 92, the difference between the next schedule and the estimated arrival time is calculated. It is judged whether or not the difference is equal to or more than the detour possible time (S
193) If there is time, the detour display button 71 is displayed (S199), and it is determined whether the detour list button 71 has been pressed (S195). If it is determined that the detour list button 71 has been pressed, the difference time is displayed. A detour facility inside is searched (S197). Then, the detour facility obtained as a result is displayed on the display screen. FIG. 12 is an example of the display screen.

When the user looks at the list 72 of detour facilities and selects one of them, the process proceeds from step S199 to step S200, and the designated detour facility is set as the stopover in the route table 20 of FIG. After that, step S
In 201, the search program (FIG. 16) is executed, and the detour list display process ends.

[0032]

According to the present invention described above, the first schedule information regarding the location of a business trip or the like, the start time and the end time of a meeting, etc. is fetched, and the route to the location and the time required to arrive at the location are acquired. Second schedule information required to calculate the time and move to the place, that is, the route and the required time, or the departure time obtained by back-calculating from the required time is added to the first schedule information and displayed on the display screen. Since it is displayed on the screen, the convenience of the schedule book function can be further improved for the user.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart used for controlling the system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a structural diagram of data used in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing an information input screen of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a screen on which a schedule of the present invention is displayed.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a search condition input screen of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a setting screen of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing a search result screen of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing a screen when one is selected from the search results of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an output screen of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of a screen for displaying a detour list according to the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a detour list display screen of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of route editing according to the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart for updating a timetable according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart for updating traffic jam information according to the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of the search of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of schedule output according to the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a detour list display according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

110: arithmetic processing unit 120: External storage device 130: Sensor part 140: Display

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Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. At least a first location and start time
Second schedule information necessary for moving to the place, that is, the route and the required time or the required time, by calculating the route to the above place and the time required to reach the place. A navigation system having a schedule book function, characterized in that a departure time obtained by back-calculating from time is added to the first schedule information and displayed on a display screen. 2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for acquiring traffic congestion information, calculating a route and a required time to arrive at the place while considering the traffic congestion information, and updating the traffic congestion information. A navigation system characterized by presenting a plurality of items to the user so that the user can freely select. 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein a route and a time required for traveling to the place by car are calculated, and
Calculate or obtain information on the route and travel time when traveling by means of transportation other than car, display both on the screen,
A navigation system characterized by being selectable by the user. 4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the information means other than a car is a train or a train, and the system is a system for fetching information on a timetable and calculating a required time, wherein a condition for updating the timetable information is set. A navigation system characterized by being presented to a plurality of users so that the user can freely set the settings. 5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the estimated arrival time is calculated, and when the difference between the next schedule and the arrival time is equal to or more than a predetermined value, the facilities that can detour within the difference time are searched and displayed. A navigation system characterized by the above. 6. The system according to claim 1, wherein when there are a plurality of routes satisfying a search condition, a plurality of routes are displayed on the first screen, and when the user selects one of them, a transition is made to the second screen to display detailed information. The navigation system is characterized by displaying.