JP2003344084A - Navigation apparatus and method for guiding intersection - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable necessary information to be easily read from an intersection enlarged view even when there are many landmarks included in the enlarged view. <P>SOLUTION: When a vehicle position 21 approaches within a predetermined distance to a guide intersection 22 on a guide route 24, the intersection enlarged view 23 is displayed, and one or more targets (landmarks (1) to (3)) included in the view 23 are sequentially displayed in the passing order of the guide route 24. Thus, even when the many landmarks are included in the one view, a screen display may not become complicated, and the respective landmarks can be naturally read to see the state of observing a building or the like at the actual traveling time. <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 and an intersection guidance method, and more particularly, to a navigation device for guiding an intersection such as a traveling direction by enlarging and displaying a guidance image of the intersection near a guidance intersection on a guide route. Is suitable.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a vehicle-mounted navigation device that guides a vehicle so that a driver can easily reach a desired destination is a self-contained navigation sensor or GPS (Glob).
al Positioning System) The current position of the vehicle is detected using a receiver and the map data in the vicinity is detected on a CD-ROM.
It is read from a recording medium such as a DVD or ROM and displayed on the screen. In addition, a vehicle position mark indicating the vehicle position is displayed at a predetermined position on the screen in an overlapping manner. Then, as the current position changes due to the movement of the vehicle, the vehicle position mark is moved on the screen, or the vehicle position mark is fixed at a predetermined position on the screen and the map data in the vicinity thereof is scrolled, It makes it possible to see at a glance where the vehicle is currently traveling.

Further, most of the recent navigation devices are equipped with a route guidance function that enables a driver to easily travel to a desired destination on the road without making a mistake. According to this route guidance function, the route with the lowest cost connecting the starting point to the destination is automatically searched using the map data by performing simulation such as breadth-first search (BFS) method or Dijkstra method The route is stored as a guide route. Then, while the vehicle is traveling, the guide route is drawn in a bold color on the map screen in a different color from the other roads. In addition, when a vehicle approaches a guidance intersection on a guidance route within a certain distance, voice guidance of the traveling direction or enlargement of a guidance image of the intersection to display an arrow indicating the traveling direction is performed. By providing intersection guidance, the driver is guided to the destination.

The cost is a value obtained by multiplying a predetermined constant according to the road width, road type, right turn and left turn, traffic regulation, etc. based on the distance, and digitizes the appropriate degree as the guide route. It was done. Whether or not the driver uses the highway, even if there are two routes with the same distance,
By specifying search conditions such as time or distance, the cost will be different. In the route search process, points at which multiple roads intersect, such as intersections and bifurcations, are nodes, and vectors connecting adjacent nodes are links, and link costs on various routes from a starting point to a destination are sequentially added to create a link. Select the route with the lowest total cost.

In this type of navigation device, after setting a guide route to a destination, the map screen is automatically scrolled along the set guide route so that the user can see the right and left turn points on the guide route. Can be confirmed in advance (hereinafter referred to as "automatic driving"). At this time, in order to allow the user to carefully memorize the right and left turning points, there is a method in which the scroll speed is reduced at the intersection.

Furthermore, in order to clarify the intersection guidance during automatic traveling, when the virtual position of the vehicle automatically traveling approaches the guidance intersection on the guide route within a certain distance, the guidance image of the intersection is displayed. There are some that are enlarged. At this time, in order to make the intersection guidance clearer, some landmarks such as buildings are displayed in the enlarged intersection view. Further, there are some which use a photograph for a part or all of the enlarged view of the intersection so that the situation of the actual intersection can be conveyed.

[0007]

However, in a conventional navigation device configured to display an enlarged view of an intersection at the time of automatic driving, the user performs automatic driving before the actual driving, and an intersection that requires a right or left turn is required. When trying to learn, many landmarks and the like may be displayed in one intersection enlarged view. In this case, there is a problem in that the screen display of the intersection enlarged view becomes complicated and it becomes difficult to read and store necessary information from the intersection enlarged view.

The present invention was made in order to solve such a problem. Even if there are many landmarks or other target objects included in the enlarged intersection drawing, the information required from the enlarged intersection drawing is required. The purpose is to make it easy to read.

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, an enlarged view of an intersection is displayed when the vehicle position approaches a guidance intersection on a guide route within a certain distance, and the intersection is displayed. Display control is performed for one or more target objects (such as image data of photographs of landmarks, buildings, etc.) included in the enlarged view in the order of passage of the guide route. In addition to such display, one or more voice guidances corresponding to one or more target objects may be sequentially performed according to the order of passage of the guide route.

According to the present invention having such a configuration, even if there are many landmarks which are important landmarks in the enlarged view of the intersection, they are presented in order in the order in which they can be seen during actual traveling. Therefore, unlike the conventional method in which a lot of information is displayed on one screen in a dull manner, the screen display is not complicated, and the information necessary for the user is grasped step by step in the order in which the information is presented. Is possible.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to this embodiment.

In FIG. 1, 11 is a DVD-ROM, C
A map storage medium such as a D-ROM or a hard disk,
It stores various map data required for map display and route search. This map data includes a drawing unit consisting of various data required for map display, a road unit consisting of data required for various processing such as map matching, route search, route guidance, etc., and an intersection consisting of detailed intersection data. Units and included.

The above-mentioned drawing unit includes background layer data necessary for displaying a building or a river,
It includes data of character layers necessary for displaying the names of cities, towns and villages, road names, and the like. Further, the above-mentioned intersection unit includes road data necessary for displaying an enlarged view of the intersection and landmark data necessary for displaying buildings and facilities along the road.

The above-mentioned road unit includes a unit header for identifying the road unit, and a connection node table storing detailed data of nodes corresponding to intersections of a plurality of roads such as intersections and branches. A node table showing the storage position of the connection node table, and a link table storing detailed data of links corresponding to roads, lanes, etc., which connect a node on a road and another node adjacent to the node. include.

The link table stores a link record containing information such as a link ID, a node number, a link distance, a link cost, a road attribute flag, a road type flag and a route number. The node number indicates a number that identifies two nodes located at both ends of the link. The link distance is
The actual distance of the actual road corresponding to the link is shown. The link cost is obtained by calculating the time required for traveling on the link from the road type and the like, and showing the time required for passing the link in units of minutes, for example.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a route setting processing unit, which uses the map data recorded in the map recording medium 11 in accordance with a guide route search processing program stored in a ROM (not shown) or the like, to set a route from a starting point to a destination. The process of searching for the guide route with the lowest cost is performed. For example, the guide route having the minimum cost is searched and set under various conditions such as the shortest time, the shortest distance, and the general road priority. As a typical route search method, the depth-first search (DFS) method, the breadth-first search (BFS) method, and the Dijkstra method, which is a kind of the breadth-first search, are known.

Reference numeral 13 is a set route data memory, which stores the data of the guide route searched by the route setting processing unit 12. The data of the guide route stores the position of each node and the intersection identification flag indicating whether or not each node is an intersection in association with each node from the departure point to the destination. The set route data memory 13 also stores data of enlarged views of all the guidance target intersections in the set guidance route (images showing the enlarged view of the intersection and arrows in the traveling direction, various landmarks).

When the destination of the route search is set by the user, the route setting processing unit 12 stores the destination data in the set route data memory 13. When a route search instruction is issued, the vehicle position at that time is set as the departure point data and stored in the set route data memory 13.
Then, the travel route connecting the starting point and the destination stored in the set route data memory 13 is searched under the condition designated by the user, and the result is stored in the set route data memory 13.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a route confirmation processing unit, which maps the map data recorded in the map recording medium 11 and the setting stored in the set route data memory 13 in accordance with an automatic travel processing program stored in a ROM (not shown) or the like. Automatic route processing is performed using the route data.

That is, the map speed is automatically scrolled along the set guide route by simulating the traveling speed of the own vehicle as a predetermined speed. At this time, when the virtual position of the automatically traveling vehicle approaches the guidance intersection on the guidance route within a certain distance, the scroll speed is reduced and the guidance image (including various landmarks) of the intersection is enlarged and displayed. To do.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a screen display processing unit, which performs processing for displaying a map screen during automatic traveling on the display 16 by the route confirmation processing unit 14. In the screen display during this automatic traveling, the guide route is drawn in a bold color on the map screen with a different color from other roads. Further, when the vehicle approaches the guidance intersection on the guidance route within a certain distance, the guidance image of the intersection is enlarged and displayed as described above, and the arrow indicating the traveling direction, the landmark landmark, and the like are displayed.

Next, the operation of the enlarged view of an intersection during automatic traveling by the navigation device of the present embodiment having the above-mentioned configuration will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the overall flow of the intersection enlarged view display processing.

In FIG. 2, first, the route confirmation processing unit 1
It is determined whether or not the automatic traveling process is being performed according to step 4, that is, whether or not the set route is being confirmed (step S1). If the set route is not being confirmed, the process is terminated, and if the set route is being confirmed, it is further determined whether or not the intersection enlarged view is displayed (step S2). If the intersection enlarged view is not displayed, the process is terminated. If it is being displayed, it is further determined whether or not there are a plurality of landmarks along the guide route in the intersection enlarged view (step S3).

If there are no landmarks along the guide route, the process is terminated. If there are landmarks, those landmarks are ordered in the order in which the vehicle passes the guide route. Will be displayed on (Step S
4). An example of detailed processing in step S4 is shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, the route confirmation processing unit 14
In the enlarged view of the intersection to be displayed, a plurality of landmarks along the planned guide route are listed (step S11). Then, the listed landmarks are numbered in the order of passage along the guide route (step S12). However, the same number is given to landmarks such as landmarks on the left and right of the road that have the same distance from a certain passing point on the guide route and whose passage order is difficult to determine.

Next, of the landmarks thus numbered, only the landmark with the smallest number is displayed in the enlarged intersection drawing (step S13).
After this display has been performed for a predetermined time, the display of the landmark of the smallest number is erased and the landmark of the second smallest number is displayed (step S14). After that, by repeating the same process, the landmarks having the smallest given numbers are displayed in order.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a navigation screen showing an example of landmark display in an enlarged view of an intersection. Figure 4
As shown in, when the vehicle position 21 approaches the guidance intersection 22 during automatic driving, the intersection enlarged view 23 is displayed,
Guidance for intersection driving is started. This intersection enlarged view 23
The three landmarks are included. The three landmarks are numbered in the order of passage of the guide route 24, and the landmarks are sequentially displayed in the order of their numbers. In this example, each landmark is displayed one by one in the order of →→.

As described in detail above, according to the present embodiment, in the display of the enlarged intersection image during automatic traveling, the landmarks are displayed in order along the passage order of the guide route. Even if a large number of landmarks are included in one intersection enlarged view, it is possible to prevent the screen display from becoming complicated. In addition, each landmark is displayed in order according to the appearance of buildings etc. during actual driving, so the target object, which is an important landmark at the intersection where a right or left turn is required, will be displayed in a natural shape like during actual driving. Can be read and stored easily.

In the above embodiment, an example in which a plurality of landmarks are sequentially displayed in the enlarged view of the intersection has been described, but image data of a photograph of a building or the like is used instead of the landmarks. May be. For example, in the example of FIG. 4, image data of a photograph is used instead of the three landmarks (1) to (3). In this way, the building itself visible during actual traveling can be confirmed in advance during automatic traveling, and it is possible to easily memorize the target object at the intersection that requires a right or left turn as an image.

Further, the enlarged view of the intersection itself may be used as image data of a photograph. For example, instead of the intersection enlarged view 23 in the example of FIG. 4, image data of a photograph of an actual intersection is used. That is, the state of an intersection including a road corresponding to a guide route and a building or other portion serving as a mark is configured by one image data. In this case, the display mode of the part of the building that serves as the mark is changed in order along the passage order of the guide route. For example, a mode in which highlights are sequentially applied to a plurality of buildings can be considered.

In addition, when the photographs of landmarks, buildings, etc. are displayed in order at the time of guiding the intersection, voice guidance corresponding to the landmarks, buildings, etc. is performed in order along the passage order of the guide route. You may do it. By doing this, it is possible to understand the status of the intersection not only from the visual display that you can see with your eyes, but also from the audio information that you can hear from your ears. It becomes possible to read.

In the above embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to intersection guidance during automatic traveling has been described, but the present invention is similarly applied to intersection guidance during actual traveling as well as during automatic traveling. It is possible to
During actual traveling, the vehicle position is detected using a self-contained navigation sensor, GPS receiver, etc., and when the vehicle position approaches the guidance intersection within a certain distance, the intersection guidance process described above is executed. .

In addition, the embodiment described above is merely an example of the embodiment for carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be limitedly interpreted thereby. Is. That is, the present invention does not depart from the spirit or the main features thereof,
It can be implemented in various ways.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, a target object which serves as a mark in an enlarged view of an intersection is displayed along the order of passage of a guide route, so that a large number of objects can be displayed in one enlarged view of an intersection. Even if the target object is included, the information can be easily and naturally read and stored.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an overall flow of enlarged intersection view display processing according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing details of landmark display processing in step S4 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display of landmarks included in an enlarged view of an intersection.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 map recording medium 12 Route setting processor 13 Setting route data memory 14 Route confirmation processing unit 15 Screen display processing unit 16 display 21 Vehicle position 22 guidance intersection 23 Enlarged view of intersection 24 guide routes

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Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. A navigation device configured to display an enlarged view of an intersection when a vehicle position approaches a guidance intersection on a guide route within a certain distance, which is included in the enlarged view of the intersection. Numbering means for performing numbering on the above target objects in the order of passage along the guide route, and display control means for performing display control of the one or more target objects in the order given by the numbering means. A navigation device characterized in that 2. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the display control means controls to display the one or more target objects in order according to the number given by the numbering means. . 3. The display control means controls the display mode of the one or more target objects so as to be changed in order according to the number given by the numbering means. Navigation device. 4. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more targets are image data of a photograph. 5. The navigation apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the enlarged view of the intersection includes image data of a photograph including the one or more targets. 6. A voice guide means for sequentially performing one or more voice guides corresponding to the one or more targets according to the numbers given by the numbering means. 5. The navigation device according to any one of 5. 7. An enlarged view of an intersection is displayed when a vehicle position approaches a guidance intersection on a guide route within a certain distance, and one or more target objects included in the displayed enlarged view of the intersection are set as described above. An intersection guidance method characterized in that it is displayed in order along the order of passage of the guide route. 8. An enlarged view of an intersection is displayed when a vehicle position approaches a guidance intersection on a guide route within a certain distance, and a display mode of one or more targets included in the displayed enlarged view of the intersection. Is changed in order along the passage order of the guide route.