JP2003308272A - Map display device with communication function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To effectively utilize data even when transmission/reception of a large capacity of data is available. <P>SOLUTION: The map display device 1 with a communication function is provided with a download means 2 for downloading a program related to place information and data to be used for the program from an information service center 18 and an execution means 2 for executing the downloaded program. Even when the format of the downloaded data is unknown, the data can be effectively utilized by the program downloaded together with the data. <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 map display device with a communication function, which is suitable for being incorporated in, for example, a car navigation system and has a function of executing communication with an information service center.

[0002]

In recent years, some car navigation devices mounted on a vehicle have a function of executing data communication with an information providing provider which is an information service center. In the case of this configuration, on the information provider side, for example, position information (point coordinates) about a facility that is a point on the map, type (category) information that indicates the type of the facility, and the business form and business hours of the facility, etc. Point information (P
A database accumulating OI (Point Of Interest) information is also provided. Further, a mark design (icon) group associated with the type information is stored on the car navigation device side.

On the car navigation device side, when the spot information is acquired from the information provider by data communication, the spot information can be displayed on the map screen. Specifically, for example, the mark design corresponding to the type information in the point information,
It is displayed at the position indicated by the position information in the point information, and the facility business information (name, telephone number, business day / hour, etc. information) in the point information is displayed in a multi-window display if necessary. Therefore, in such a data communication system,
Since the car navigation system can always obtain the latest point information, it is extremely useful in practice.

In the case of constructing such a data communication system, in the conventional configuration, the point information is composed of a group of information having a small data size, mainly text data, for the purpose of reducing the communication load. However, it is difficult to derive various applications such as using a lot of image information for the display for car navigation in such a configuration that uses point information based on text data.

On the other hand, in recent years, the broadbandization of mobile communications (increased communication speed) is advancing, so that even in communications between a car navigation device and an information provider, a large amount of data is transmitted. Sending and receiving is becoming possible. However, on the car navigation device side, when data of unknown format is received from the information providing provider, it cannot be used, and thus it may not be useful even if a large amount of data (for example, image data) can be received.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a map display with a communication function that enables effective use of data even in the case where a large amount of data can be transmitted and received. To provide a device.

[0007]

According to the invention of claim 1, download means for downloading the program associated with the spot information and data used by this program from the information service center, and executing the downloaded program Since the execution means is provided, even if the format of the downloaded data is unknown, the data (for example, image data, audio data, etc.) can be effectively used by the program downloaded together. As a result, the data can be effectively used even when a large amount of data can be transmitted and received.

According to the invention of claim 2, since the program and the data are configured to be downloaded at the same time as the spot information, the program (and the data) associated with the spot information is immediately executed (used). can do.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the program and the data are downloaded when instructed by the user. Therefore, the program and the data are not downloaded when there is no need to eliminate waste. be able to.

According to the invention of claim 4, since the link information of the program and the data is stored in the spot information, even if the program and the data are in different places from the spot information, Data can be easily downloaded.

According to the fifth aspect of the invention, the program is constituted by a map display continuation program, and has a function of displaying the map on a display device displaying the map in an overlapping manner. , Information, images, etc. can be displayed overlaid on the map.

According to the invention of claim 6, the downloaded program is saved so that it can be reused, and when the data linked to the saved program is downloaded, the saved program is saved. Since it is configured to execute, the waste of downloading the same program many times can be eliminated.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a car navigation system will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing the overall electrical configuration of a communication system. In FIG. 1, a car navigation device 1 (corresponding to a map display device with a communication function) has a control circuit 2 (corresponding to a download unit, an execution unit and a storage unit) having a function of controlling the navigation operation, Position detector 3, map data input device 4, external memory 5, display device 6, operation switch group 7, voice output device 8, wireless communication interface unit 9, VICS
A transmission / reception unit 10 for (Vehicle Information & Communication System), a remote control sensor 12 for detecting a signal from a remote control 11, and the like are connected.

The control circuit 2 is configured as a microcomputer, and has a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, and an E.
It is provided with an EPROM, a flash memory, an I / O interface, a bus connecting these, and the like (all not shown). Of these, the ROM stores a program for car navigation and the like, and the RAM temporarily stores processing data when the program is executed, road map data acquired from the map data input device 4, and the like. Also,
The EEPROM and flash memory are configured to store (save) programs, data, etc. downloaded as described later.

The position detector 3 includes a geomagnetic sensor 13 for detecting an absolute azimuth, a gyroscope 14 for detecting a yaw angular velocity (yaw rate), a distance sensor 15 for detecting a traveling distance of a vehicle, and an artificial GPS device. It is composed of a GPS receiver 16 that receives a signal from a satellite, and is a part that calculates the current position information of the vehicle. The position detector 3 is configured to perform highly accurate position detection while interpolating the detection errors, because each constituent element has a detection error having a different property. However, the current position is detected with the required detection accuracy. If it can be calculated, it is not necessary to include all the components. Further, the position detector 3 may be configured by combining a rotation sensor of the steering wheel, a wheel sensor that detects the rotation of each tire, and the like.

The map data input device 4 is, for example, a CD-RO.
It is for reading data from a large-capacity information recording medium (not shown) such as a M or a DVD-ROM. In this case, the information recording medium includes map drawing data for map display, road data necessary for various processes such as map matching, route search, route guidance, intersection data consisting of detailed data of intersections, and background layer data. Background data for
In addition to place name data for displaying place names and the like, various data such as a facility name database in which facility names are arranged in the order of Japanese syllabary, a telephone number database indicating correspondence between telephone numbers and facilities, etc. are stored. In particular, the road data is in a state of covering information about all nodes and links of a map that can be displayed (positional information of nodes, attribute flags of nodes, etc.). A hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a large-capacity memory card, or the like can be used as the information recording medium.

The external memory 5 is composed of a flash memory card or the like, and stores, for example, program software for dealing with information recording media of other standards, and saves or calls specific data. It is provided for. The downloaded program and data may be stored in the external memory 5.
With this configuration, the external memory 5 constitutes a storage means.

The display device 6 includes, for example, a color liquid crystal display for displaying a map screen, and is installed near the driver's seat of the vehicle. The operation switch group 7 includes mechanical switches arranged around the display device 6 and touch switches formed on the color liquid crystal display of the display device 6, and controls the operation input of various data and setting items. 2 has a function to give. The remote controller sensor 12 is also provided as an operation input means, and receives an operation input from the remote controller 11 and gives it to the control circuit 2.

The voice output device 8 comprises a voice synthesis circuit, an amplifier, a speaker, etc., and the control circuit 2
This is a device for generating (or reproducing) an arbitrary voice output or sound (music etc.) output in accordance with voice information or sound (music etc.) information from.

Further, the wireless communication interface section 9 is configured to be able to carry out data communication and voice communication through the mobile phone 17 when the mobile phone 17 is connected thereto, for example. Instead of the mobile phone 17, another wireless communication terminal may be used.

The VICS transmitting / receiving unit 10 is a VIC.
It is provided with an S sensor unit, an FM multiplex broadcast receiver (neither shown), etc., for example, an information signal by an optical / radio wave beacon received by the VICS sensor unit from a VICS station or an FM multiplex broadcast receiver. The information signal from the FM multiplex broadcasting is given to the control circuit 2. The VICS transceiver unit 10 also has a function of transmitting vehicle information to the outside if necessary.

Here, the control circuit 2 has a basic function of executing a map matching process for locating the current position on the map, as well as the operation switch group 7 and the remote controller 1.
When point data such as a destination or waypoint is input through 1, the route search operation from the current position to the destination is performed based on the point data, for example, using the Dijkstra method, and based on the route search result. A route calculation function that displays the set guide route on the map screen (including a so-called reroute search function), and a route guide function that provides various guides by voice or display based on the guide route obtained by this function. It has a well-known support function.

In addition to the above, the control circuit 2 has a well-known telephone number search function, postal code search function, search function using a unique code, Japanese syllabary search function, genre search function, and nearest facility search function. It has various support functions such as destination registration function, information display function for displaying tourist areas and recommended driving courses, and point registration function.

Further, in the control circuit 2, the user can obtain point information (POI (Point Of I
information) that is obtained from the information service center 18 (information service provider) (facility information)
It has an acquisition function. This information service center 18
Is connected to a mobile phone base station 19 via a network 20, and the car navigation device 1 side can access the information service center 18 through the mobile phone 17.

Here, the location information includes name information, facility position information (coordinates), telephone number, facility type (category) information, and display mark information (for example, an icon) capable of visually identifying the facility type. ), Facility business information, facility business information including business hours, and other information.
(See Figure 2). In addition, some point information includes associated information (POI-related information) associated therewith. The related information includes, for example, related data and related programs. Examples of the related data include detailed facility data, voice / moving image / still image data, and the like. An example of the related program is a reproduction display program.

In this case, as an example of the moving image / still image data, there is appearance information (image information such as illustrations and photographs) by which the appearance of the facility can be visually recognized.
It is adapted to be displayed on the display device 6 by the reproduction display program (see FIG. 2 or FIG. 4). Further, as an example of the audio data, there is audio information (including music information) that describes the facility, and this audio information is reproduced by the reproduction display program and output from the audio output device 8. (See Figure 6).

The information service center 18 is constructed with a database that stores the latest spot information (and related information) about various facilities. The spot information in the database is read out in response to a request from the car navigation device 1 side and transmitted to the car navigation device 1. As a storage configuration (form) of the related information of the point information in the database, a configuration in which the data (and program) of the related information itself is stored in the database,
In some configurations, only the link information of related information (see FIGS. 4 and 6) is stored in the database.

Next, the operation of the car navigation system 1 for acquiring and using the above-mentioned spot information from the information service center 18 will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 7. Here, as a user's operation method for selecting and acquiring a desired one from a large number of point information accumulated on the service center 18 side, a known operation method may be used. In addition, Japanese Patent Application 2 filed by the applicant earlier
You may use the operation method described in 001-319317.

When one desired spot information is selected by the user, a process of transmitting the selected spot information from the information service center 18 to the car navigation device 1 is executed. It is acquired (stored in RAM) in the control circuit 2 of the device 1.
The operation up to this point is the operation of downloading the point information.

And the downloaded spot information is
As shown in 2, it is displayed at the corresponding position (the position specified by the position information included in the point information) in the road map displayed on the display device 6. In this case, the facility name information in the point information and the facility display mark information (icon) are displayed, and detailed facility information, building information (facility appearance information), MAP application information, etc. are displayed. Are displayed as options. still,
As the facility display mark information (icon), information stored on the car navigation device 1 side (that is, the display mark associated with the facility type information) may be used.

Here, when the user selects building information, a program (data for independent display) and data relating to spot information is downloaded from the information service center 18, and this program is executed by the car navigation system 1. As a result, as shown in the screen of the display device 6 in the upper right of FIG. 2, the display device 6 displays the appearance of the building and also displays, for example, floor tenant information on the 3rd floor. Hereinafter, this display operation will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. Among them, the flowchart of FIG. 5 schematically shows the control content of the display operation of the above-mentioned point information in the control of the control circuit 2 of the car navigation device 1.

In this case, first, in step S10 of FIG. 5, point information (POI data) is downloaded. An example of the downloaded spot information is shown in the upper left box in FIG. This point information is made up of a facility name, coordinates, link information to data for detailed display of facility, identifier and link information of application program for detailed display of facility, and other information.

Then, in step S20, the control circuit
2 displays the above point information (POI data) at a corresponding position in the road map displayed on the display device 6 (POI map display). An example of the display screen of this POI map display,
It is shown in the lower left of FIG. Now, suppose that the user selects the detailed display of the facility. Then, the process proceeds to step S30 and a detail display trigger is generated. Then, step S4
In step 0, the control circuit 2 transmits a request for downloading the detailed display data to the information service center 18, and downloads the detailed display data. The detailed display data includes, for example, the interior / exterior 3D data (image data) of the facility, the surrounding landscape 3D data (image data), and the floor plan information of the facility, as shown in the square frame at the center right of FIG. , Tenant information and other information.

Then, in step S50, the control circuit
2 judges whether or not the detail display application program is stored internally. In this case, it is determined whether or not the one matching the program identifier is stored. Here, if the detailed display program is not stored, the process proceeds to “NO” in step S50, the process proceeds to step S60, and the control circuit 2 issues a request for downloading the detailed display program to the information service center. 18 and download the detailed display program (see FIG. 4).

Then, in step S70, the detailed display data of the downloaded facility is used by operating the downloaded or stored detailed display program, and the facility (PO) is displayed on the display device 6.
It is configured to display the detailed information of I), that is, the appearance information and floor plan information of the building as shown in the lower right part of FIG.

Here, in order to configure the control circuit 2 to execute the detailed display program, the software system configuration of the control circuit 2 may be configured as shown in FIG. Good. That is, the system configuration includes a basic system (OS), a drawing management layer and other middleware, a communication protocol layer, a navigation application, and a program execution environment for executing a point information related program (detail display program). It is configured. In this case, as the program execution environment, for example, J
An environment capable of executing a program written in ava (registered trademark) (program language) may be prepared. Then, the above detailed display program may be described in Java. A programming language other than Java may be used.

On the other hand, when the detailed display program is composed of a map display continuous program, as shown in the lower right of FIG. The image of the character (either a moving image or a still image) is displayed. This configuration can be relatively easily realized by configuring the interface (application program interface) between the detailed display program and the car navigation application program.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, the operation of the car navigation system 1 when, for example, voice data and a voice reproduction application program are provided as data and programs associated with the point information, explain. The flow chart in FIG. 7 schematically shows the control content of the reproduction operation of the audio data associated with the above-mentioned spot information in the control of the control circuit 2 of the car navigation device 1.

In this case, first, step S110 in FIG.
At, point information (POI data) is downloaded. An example of the downloaded spot information is shown in the box in the upper left corner of FIG. This point information is the name of the facility, the coordinates, the identifier of the audio data associated with the point information (POI data) and the link information to the audio data, the identifier of the application program for audio reproduction associated with the point information, and It is composed of link information to the voice reproduction application program and other information.

Then, in step S120, the control circuit 2 displays the point information (POI data) at a corresponding position in the road map displayed on the display device 6 (POI map display). An example of the display screen of this POI map display is shown in the lower left of FIG. Now, suppose that the user selects voice reproduction. Then, the process proceeds to step S130, and a voice reproduction trigger is generated. Then, step S1
Proceeding to 40, the control circuit 2 determines whether or not the voice data associated with the spot information is stored in the internal memory. In this case, it is determined whether or not the one that matches the voice data identifier is stored.

Here, if the voice data is not stored, the process proceeds to "NO" in step S140 and then to step S150, and the control circuit 2 issues a request for downloading the voice data to the information service center. 18 and download the voice data (see FIG. 6). If the voice data is stored, the process proceeds to “YES” in step S140 and the gown is not loaded.

Then, the process proceeds to step S160, and the control circuit 2 determines whether or not the voice reproduction application program is stored therein. In this case, it is determined whether or not the one matching the program identifier is stored. Here, if the voice reproducing program is not stored, the process proceeds to “NO” in step S160,
In step S170, the control circuit 2 transmits a request for downloading the voice reproduction program to the information service center 18, and downloads the voice reproduction program (see FIG. 6). If the voice reproduction program is stored, the process proceeds to “YES” in step S160 and the download is not performed.

Then, in step S180, the downloaded or saved audio reproduction program is operated to reproduce the downloaded or saved audio data, and the lower right part of FIG. 6 is displayed. As shown, the audio data associated with the spot information of the facility is reproduced. It should be noted that in the display screen at the lower right of FIG. 6, the wording inside the balloon portion shows the reproduced voice. Further, as shown in the display screen, related image data may be displayed when the audio data is reproduced. It is preferable that the image data is embedded in the audio data and is displayed by the audio reproduction program.
The image data may be downloaded together with the audio data.

In the present embodiment, the downloaded data (image data, audio data, etc.) and the program (detailed information display program, audio reproduction program, etc.) are stored in the memory of the control circuit 2 so that they can be reused. (Or it can be stored in the external memory 5). It should be noted that the saving of the data and the program may be automatically executed or may be executed according to a user's instruction.

According to this embodiment having such a configuration, in the car navigation system 1, the information service center 1
While downloading the program associated with the point information from 8 and the data used in this program,
Since it is configured to execute this downloaded program, even if the format of the downloaded data is unknown, the data (image data, audio data, etc.) can be used effectively by the program downloaded together. You can As a result, the data can be effectively used even when the configuration is such that a large amount of data can be transmitted and received (broadband).

Further, in the above embodiment, the program and data associated with the spot information are downloaded when instructed by the user.
When it is not necessary, the program and data are not downloaded, and waste can be eliminated.

Further, in the above embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, the link information of the program and the data is stored in the point information, so that the program and the data are different from the point information. Program and data can be easily downloaded even when the program is stored on the server).

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the program associated with the spot information is constituted by a map display continuous program, and the display device displaying the map has a function of displaying it on the map. Since it is configured as described above, as shown in FIG. 2, it is possible to display information, images and the like on a map.

In the above embodiment, the downloaded program is saved so that it can be reused. When the data linked to the saved program is downloaded, the saved program is executed. With this configuration, it is possible to eliminate the waste of downloading the same program many times. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the downloaded data (for example, voice data) is saved so that it can be reused, and when the saved data needs to be used (downloaded), the saved data is saved. Since it is configured to use, it is possible to eliminate the waste of downloading the same data many times.

In the above embodiment, the program and the data associated with the spot information are configured to be executed according to the user's instruction. Instead of this, the spot information is downloaded at the same time. It may be configured. With this configuration, the program (and data) associated with the spot information can be immediately executed.

Further, in the above embodiment, the link information of the program and the data associated with the spot information is configured to be included (stored) in the spot information, but the present invention is not limited to this, and the spot information is not limited to this. You may comprise so that the program and the data itself linked | related with may be included in point information.

Further, in the above embodiment, the mobile phone 17 is used as the wireless communication terminal, but other mobile communication terminals may be used, or a dedicated wireless communication terminal may be provided. . Furthermore, in the above embodiment, as the example of the point information, various information about various facilities existing at an arbitrary point or area is mentioned, but point information other than such artificial facilities (for example, forest, Forest,
You can target lakes, ponds, rivers, etc.). Further, the present invention is not limited to the car navigation device 1, but can be applied to a navigation device carried by an individual or other image display terminals for mobile objects.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an electrical configuration diagram of an entire data communication system showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an operation of acquiring and displaying spot information by a car navigation device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a system configuration of software of a car navigation device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation of acquiring spot information and displaying detailed facility information by a car navigation device.

FIG. 5: Flow chart

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an operation of acquiring point information and reproducing audio data by a car navigation device.

FIG. 7: Flow chart

[Explanation of symbols]

1 is a car navigation device (map display device), 2 is a control circuit (download means, execution means), 5 is an external memory, 6 is a display device, 7 is an operation switch group, 8 is a voice output device, and 9 is a wireless communication interface. Reference numeral 17 is a mobile phone, 18 is an information service center, 19 is a mobile phone base station, and 20 is a network.

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Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A map display device with a communication function comprising a function of executing communication with an information service center, wherein a program associated with point information from the information service center and data used by this program are provided. A map display device with a communication function, comprising download means for downloading and execution means for executing the downloaded program. 2. The map display device with a communication function according to claim 1, wherein the program and the data are downloaded at the same time as the spot information. 3. The map display device with a communication function according to claim 1, wherein the program and the data are downloaded when instructed by a user. 4. The map display device with a communication function according to claim 1, wherein link information of the program and the data is stored in the spot information. 5. The program is composed of a map display continuation program, and has a function of displaying the map on a display device displaying the map so as to be superimposed on the map. The map display device with a communication function according to any one of 1 to 4. 6. The downloaded program is provided with a saving unit that saves the saved program so that it can be reused. When the data linked to the saved program is downloaded, the saved program is executed. The map display device with a communication function according to any one of claims 1 to 5, which is configured.