JP2004138582A - Navigation system, information updating method for navigation system and navigation method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To store latest and precise information without replacing a memory medium for a car navigation system. <P>SOLUTION: The car navigation system deduces a present position based on data from a GPS receiver, accesses an information center via a public mobile communication network, and an Internet network using a portable wireless terminal. confirms differences between map information such as roads, buildings about the present position and circumferential information (a gas station, a convenience store, a public facility, etc.) stored in the storage of the car navigation system and the information stored in the information center, and acquires the difference and stores it in a fundamental information storage and additional information storage. Thereby precise information can be utilized at any time. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a navigation system, an information updating method in a navigation device, and a navigation method.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In general, an in-vehicle car navigation device detects the current position of a vehicle using a GPS (Global Positioning System) and displays the current position on a screen. The information displayed on the screen includes images such as road maps and buildings, as well as characters such as place names and peripheral information (gas stations, convenience stores, public facilities, etc.), in addition to the current position of the vehicle.
FIG. 8 shows an example of the configuration of a conventional car navigation device. After the control device 40 receives the position information from the GPS receiver 11, data related to the current position is extracted from the storage device 41, displayed on the display device 9 together with the current position, and the destination is input from the input device 10. Thereby, the control device 40 obtains the optimum route from the current position to the destination, and displays the optimum route on the display device 9.
[0003]
Usually, a read-only CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, or the like is used as a storage device of such a car navigation device. In a CD-ROM or the like, since the recording capacity of a medium is limited, detailed information cannot be stored in the case of wide area information. For this reason, by limiting the area, detailed images and peripheral information are accumulated. When detailed information of the whole country or region is accumulated, a large capacity or a plurality of recording media is required, and accordingly, the time required to display map information such as the current location and the destination becomes slow, and the recording media becomes expensive. Become.
In order to solve this problem, there is disclosed a method of connecting a car navigation device provided with a positioning means for positioning the own vehicle to a mobile phone, receiving and displaying the latest map information and regional information from an information center. (For example, see Patent Document 1).
In some cases, map information is received from another car navigation device via a mobile phone without registering with an information center (see Patent Document 2).
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2002-171565 (page 3-4, FIG. 1)
[Patent Document 2]
JP 2001-208548 A (page 3, FIG. 1)
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the conventional method, the information storage medium provided in the car navigation device is read-only, and the information cannot be updated. Therefore, it is necessary to always receive the latest information, and the information acquisition method is inadequate. For this reason, unnecessary information that has not been updated is often obtained, resulting in waste of communication costs.
The present invention has been made in view of such problems of the conventional navigation system, and has as its object the function of acquiring and updating map information and the like from an information providing center using a portable wireless terminal. It is an object of the present invention to provide a navigation system, an information updating method in a navigation device, and a navigation method which can always obtain the latest information efficiently without wasting communication costs.
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The navigation system according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a navigation device, a positioning unit connected to the navigation device, a communication network including wireless, a wireless communication unit connected to the navigation device and the communication network, A navigation system including an information providing center connected to the communication network and providing information output by the navigation device to the own device, wherein the navigation device includes a storage device capable of recording and reproducing information, The navigation device, which is obtained from the information providing center via communication means and the communication network, outputs information output to its own device in a storage device.
Further, in the navigation system according to the second aspect of the present invention, the information storage device according to the first aspect outputs a new navigation device via the wireless communication unit and the communication network. Information is acquired from the information providing center, and the navigation device already stored in the storage device updates information output to the own device.
[0007]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for updating information of a navigation device, comprising: a navigation device, a positioning unit connected to the navigation device, a communication network including wireless communication, and a connection to the navigation device and the communication network. A navigation system including an information providing center connected to the communication network and providing information output by the navigation device to the navigation device, wherein the navigation device includes a storage device capable of recording and reproducing information. An information updating method for a device, wherein the navigation device is provided with position information and information output by a navigation device corresponding to the position information already recorded in the storage device, and serves as a new or old index of the information. Before sending version information to the information provision center The information providing center transmits the information through the communication network via wireless communication means, and the received version is based on the version of the information output by the navigation device corresponding to the position information held by the information providing center to its own device. When it is determined that it is an old version, the navigation device corresponding to the position information transmits the latest version of the information output to the own device to the navigation device, and the navigation device is further recorded in the storage device. The information output from the old navigation device to the own device is rewritten to the information received from the information center and output from the latest navigation device to the own device.
Also, in the information updating method for a navigation device according to the invention according to claim 4 of the present invention, the position information according to the invention according to claim 3 includes the positioning information of the current position where the navigation device is located, or the navigation information. It is characterized by destination information.
[0008]
A navigation method according to a fifth aspect of the present invention is a navigation method using a navigation device having the information updating method according to the third aspect of the present invention, wherein the navigation device is located at a position of the navigation device. Acquiring the positioning information of the current location to be executed; performing the information updating method of the navigation device according to the invention according to claim 3, wherein the position information is the positioning information; A step of performing the information updating method of the navigation device according to the invention according to claim 3, wherein the position information is information of a destination of the navigation, and Information about the route from the information providing center to the destination Characterized in that it comprises a step.
[0009]
Further, in the navigation system or the information updating method of the navigation device or the navigation method according to the invention according to claim 6 of the present invention, the positioning means according to the invention according to claims 1 to 5 may be configured such that: It is characterized in that positioning is performed by a global positioning system (GPS).
Further, the navigation system or the information updating method or the navigation method according to the invention according to claim 7 of the present invention is characterized in that the navigation device according to the invention according to claims 1 to 5 is mounted on a vehicle. It is a car navigation device.
[0010]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the navigation system of the present invention. The mobile radio terminal 2 is connected to the mobile radio terminal 2 mounted on the automobile 1, the car navigation device 3 connected to the mobile radio terminal 2, and the radio base station 4 for transmitting and receiving information to and from the mobile radio terminal 2. It comprises a public mobile communication network 5, an information providing center 7 having the latest information, and the Internet 6 connecting the public mobile communication network 5 and the information providing center 7.
The car navigation device 3 has a function of determining a current position of the automobile 1 and a screen display function of position information.
The portable wireless terminal 2 transmits to the wireless base station 4 information on a difference request for data such as map information and the like and an optimum route request from the car navigation device 3. Further, it has a function of receiving difference information and optimal route information transmitted from the information providing center 7 from the wireless base station 4 and outputting the information to the car navigation device 3.
The information providing center 7 has a function of confirming the presence or absence of a difference and transmitting the difference, and determining the optimum route and transmitting the optimum route information in response to the difference request and the optimum route request generated from the car navigation device 3.
[0011]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the car navigation device 3 provided in the navigation system of the present invention.
In FIG. 2, a car navigation device 3 includes a GPS receiver 11 for determining the current position of the vehicle, a display device 9 for displaying the current position and surrounding information of the vehicle and a destination and an optimal route to the destination, a destination and a destination. An input device 10 for inputting a difference acquisition request, a storage device 12 having a basic information storage unit 13 and an additional information storage unit 14, and a control device 8 for controlling these are provided. The display device may be provided with a speaker or the like and accompanied by audio output.
The basic information storage unit 13 is a medium for recording image data such as roads and buildings, and has a function of newly storing data transmitted from the information providing center 7 or updating existing data.
The additional information storage unit 14 is a medium that records peripheral information (gas station, convenience store, public facilities, etc.) of the information stored in the basic information storage unit 13. Similarly, it has a function of newly saving data transmitted from the information providing center 7 or updating existing data.
The control device 8 determines the current position of the car 1 based on the GPS satellite signal received from the GPS receiver 11, reads the map information and the peripheral information from the basic information storage unit 13 and the additional information storage unit 14, and displays the map information and the peripheral information. 9 for displaying an image and transmitting a request signal to the information providing center 7 to the portable wireless terminal 2 in response to an optimum route request or information difference request from the input device 10.
In addition, in order to make a car run comfortably and intelligently using a navigation device, it may be better to equip a gyro sensor or a mileage sensor in addition to the above-described configuration. Since the relationship is thin, it is omitted here.
[0012]
Next, a first example of the operation of the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG.
3 is an overall flow describing an operation flow centering on the control device 8, FIG. 4 is a flowchart describing the operation of the difference request processing (steps S19 and S24) in FIG. 3, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a flow chart describing transmission and reception of information between the control device 8 and the information providing center 7 of FIG. 4 and main operation steps of both.
First, in the overall flowchart of FIG. 3, the control device 8 receives a GPS satellite signal from the GPS receiver 11 and determines the current position (S16, S17).
For the information in the basic information storage unit 13 and the additional information storage unit 14 corresponding to the determined current position, the user of the car navigation device determines whether to make a request for a difference such as updated information to the information providing center 7. In order to confirm, a message asking whether the inquiry is necessary is displayed on the display device 9 and the confirmation information is obtained from the user through the input device 10 (S18).
When the difference request information is obtained from the input device 10, a difference request process is performed (S19).
If not acquired, the control device 8 acquires from the basic information storage unit 13 map information of roads and buildings corresponding to the current position that has already been accumulated, and acquires corresponding peripheral information from the additional information storage unit 14. Then, an image is displayed on the display device 9 together with the current position (S20).
[0013]
Details of the flow of the difference request process (S19) will be described with reference to FIG.
In S18 of FIG. 3, when the difference request information is acquired from the input device 10, the control device 8 transmits a connection request for making a difference request to the information providing center 7 to the portable wireless terminal 2, and the information providing center 7 Is connected to (S30).
When the connection to the information providing center 7 is completed, the control device 8 outputs a message inquiring the user of the type of the requested difference information (basic information or additional information) to the display device 9 and confirms a response from the user. (S31).
After confirming the type of information requested by the user 入 力 from the input device 10, the control device 8 compares the data stored in the basic information storage unit 13 or the additional information storage unit 14 The version information is acquired, and the version information is transmitted to the information providing center together with the requested difference type (basic information or additional information) (S50).
After obtaining the type (basic information or additional information) of the requested difference and the version information, the information providing center 7 checks with the version information of the corresponding data stored in the information providing center 7 to confirm whether there is a difference. (S32, S33).
If there is a difference as a result of the confirmation, the new version data is transmitted to the control device 8 via the portable wireless terminal 2 (S51). If there is no difference, information of no difference is transmitted (S52).
After acquiring the received difference data from the information providing center 7 (S34, S35), the control device 8 saves or updates the difference data in the basic information storage unit 13 or the additional information storage unit 14 (S36, S37). When the information having no difference is received, the data in the basic information storage unit 13 or the additional information storage unit 14 is not updated.
Returning to the overall flow of FIG. 3, the control device 8 acquires the latest version of the map information corresponding to the current position from the basic information storage unit 13 and the latest version of the peripheral information from the additional information storage unit 14, An image is displayed on the display device 9 together with the position (S20).
[0014]
Next, the control device 8 displays an inquiry message on the display device 9 as to whether or not there is a destination setting on the display device 9 and acquires information on confirmation of the destination setting from the input device 10 (S21).
When the information for confirming the destination setting is not input from the input device 10, the operation of the car navigation device ends in the operation flow here (S28).
When the destination information is obtained from the input device 10 (S22), a message as to whether or not to request the information providing center 7 for the corresponding information in the basic information storage unit 13 and the additional information storage unit 14 regarding the destination. Is displayed on the display device 9, and information for confirmation is obtained from the input device 10 (S23).
When the difference request information is obtained from the input device 10, a difference request process is performed (S24).
[0015]
Referring again to the flow of the difference request process in FIG. 4, the control device 8 transmits a connection request for making a difference request to the information providing center to the portable wireless terminal 2, and connects to the information providing center 7 (S30).
After the connection to the information providing center 7 is completed, a message inquiring about the type of the requested difference information (basic information or additional information) is displayed on the display device 9, and the confirmation information is obtained from the input device 10 (S31).
After confirming the type of the requested difference information, the control device 8 obtains and requests the version information of the data regarding the destination with respect to the data stored in the basic information storage unit 13 or the additional information storage unit 14. The version information is transmitted to the information providing center together with the type of the difference information (basic information or additional information) (S53).
After receiving the type (basic information or additional information) and the version information of the requested difference information, the information providing center 7 checks with the version information of the corresponding data stored in the information providing center to confirm whether there is a difference. (S32, S33).
If there is a difference as a result of the confirmation, the information providing center 7 transmits the data to the control device 8 (S54). If there is no difference, information of no difference is transmitted (S55).
After acquiring the received difference data (S34, S35), the control device 8 updates the data by overwriting the difference data in the basic information storage unit 13 or the additional information storage unit 14 (S36, S37). When the information having no difference is received, the data in the basic information storage unit 13 or the additional information storage unit 14 is not updated.
[0016]
Returning to FIGS. 3 and 4 again, if the user has not made a difference request after processing the difference request or after setting the destination (S23), the control device 8 connects to the information providing center 7 and The shortest route information from the position to the destination is requested (S25).
Then, the optimum route from the current position to the destination is acquired from the information providing center 7 (S26), and the optimum route is displayed on the display device 9.
[0017]
Next, a description will be given of a second embodiment of the operation of the car navigation system according to the present invention. FIG. 6 shows an operation flow of the second embodiment, and FIG. 7 shows transmission and reception of information between the control device 8 and the information providing center and main operation steps.
Referring to FIGS. 6 and 7, according to the second embodiment of the present invention, a current position is acquired (S17), a destination is input (S22), and an optimal route from the current position to the destination is displayed (S27). The operation flow up to the step or the operation flow up to the step where the destination is not set is the same as the operation flow of the first embodiment.
The difference is that the portion S60 of the flow surrounded by the dotted line until the current position is acquired again (S42) and the difference is requested and displayed (S45) is different from the first embodiment.
In this embodiment, for example, the user is familiar with the destination and does not need to set the destination. However, without ending the operation of the car navigation device, the user continues running to obtain the current position (S17), This corresponds to a case where the peripheral information is continuously displayed.
[0018]
After the display and output of the optimum route (S27), or when no destination is set (S21), the current position is acquired again from the GPS satellite signal sent from the GPS receiver 11 (S42).
A message is displayed on the display device 9 for inquiring the user as to whether or not to make a request for a difference to the information providing center 7 for the corresponding information in the basic information storage unit 13 and the additional information storage unit 14 for the determined current position. Then, confirmation information is obtained from the input device 10 (S43).
When the difference request information is obtained from the input device 10, the operation of the difference request process is executed (S44).
When the difference request has not been obtained, the control device 8 obtains the map information of the road and the building corresponding to the current position that has already been accumulated from the basic information storage unit 13 and also adds the corresponding peripheral information to the additional information. The information is acquired from the storage unit 14 and displayed on the display device 9 together with the current position (S45).
Then, the operation of the difference request process shown in FIG. 4 is executed (S44).
That is, when the difference request information is obtained from the input device 10, a connection request for making a difference request to the information providing center 7 is transmitted to the portable wireless terminal 2 and connected to the information providing center 7 (S30).
When the connection to the information providing center 7 is completed, the control device 8 outputs to the display device 9 a message inquiring the user about the type of the requested difference information (basic information or additional information) (S31).
After confirming the type of the requested information, the control device 8 obtains the version information of the data related to the current position with respect to the data stored in the basic information storage unit 13 or the additional information storage unit 14 and requests the difference. The version information is transmitted to the information providing center together with the type (basic information or additional information) (S57).
After obtaining the type (basic information or additional information) of the requested difference and the version information, the information providing center 7 checks with the version information of the corresponding data stored in the information providing center to confirm whether there is a difference ( S32, S33).
If there is a difference as a result of the confirmation, the data is transmitted to the control device 8 (S58).
If there is no difference, information indicating no difference is transmitted to the control device 8 (S59).
After acquiring the received difference data (S34, S35), the control device 8 updates the data by overwriting the difference data in the basic information storage unit 13 or the additional information storage unit 14 (S36, S37). When the information having no difference is received (S59), the data is not updated.
After the processing of the difference request, the latest information corresponding to the current position is obtained from the basic information recording unit 13 and the additional information storage unit 14 and displayed on the display device 9 (S20).
[0019]
In the second operation example, even when the vehicle travels and leaves the area where the difference between the basic information and the additional information has been updated earlier, the difference request of the basic information and the additional information around the current position is issued. It can be performed again and the difference can be obtained again.
[0020]
In the description of the embodiment of the present invention, the case where the navigation device is a car navigation device for in-vehicle use has been described. It is.
In addition, although the case where the GPS receiver is provided in the navigation device is described, the present invention is not limited to this mode, and the GPS receiver is provided in the portable wireless terminal or not as a built-in type but as an independent GPS receiving terminal device. Then, the position information may be output to the navigation device.
[0021]
Communication with the information providing center can use not only a public wireless communication line such as a mobile phone and a car phone, but also a wide-range mobile communication including a ship, and a wireless LAN with a high line speed.
[0022]
【The invention's effect】
The first effect is that detailed information such as roads and buildings around the current position and surrounding information (gas station, convenience store, public facilities, etc.) can be obtained. The reason is that the difference between the currently stored information and the latest information stored in the information providing center is confirmed by the connecting means to the information providing center and the difference checking means, and the latest information is obtained by the acquired information storing means. Because it can be obtained.
The second effect is that even when detailed information is obtained, the recording medium does not increase in capacity in proportion thereto. The reason is that only necessary information can be recorded by using a writable recording medium and by using a difference check unit and an acquired information storage unit.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the car navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is an overall flowchart showing a first operation example of the car navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing details of a flow of a difference request process included in an overall flow showing an operation of the car navigation device in the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation including communication between the car navigation device and the information providing center in the first operation example of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is an overall flowchart showing a second operation example of the car navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation including communication between the car navigation device and the information providing center in the second operation example of the present invention.
FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional car navigation.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Car 2 Portable radio terminal 3 Car navigation device 4 Radio base station 5 Public mobile communication network 7 Information provision center 8 Control device 9 Display device 10 Input device 11 GPS receiver 13 Basic information storage unit 14 Additional information storage unit

Claims (7)

A navigation device, a positioning unit connected to the navigation device, a communication network including wireless, a wireless communication unit connected to the navigation device and the communication network, and the navigation device connected to the communication network and output to the own device. A navigation system including an information providing center for providing information
The navigation device includes a storage device capable of recording and reproducing information,
A navigation system, wherein information obtained by the navigation device from the information providing center and output to the own device via the wireless communication means and the communication network is stored in a storage device. The information storage device acquires, from the information providing center, information output by a new navigation device via the wireless communication unit and the communication network, and outputs a navigation device already stored in the storage device to its own device. Update information,
The navigation system according to claim 1, wherein: A navigation device, a positioning unit connected to the navigation device, a communication network including wireless, a wireless communication unit connected to the navigation device and the communication network, and the navigation device connected to the communication network and output to the own device. In a navigation system including an information providing center that provides information to be performed, an information updating method of the navigation device including a storage device capable of recording and reproducing information,
The navigation device, position information, the navigation device corresponding to the position information already recorded in the storage device is added to the information output to its own device, the version information as a new and old indicators of information, the information, Transmitting to the providing center through the communication network via the wireless communication means,
The information providing center, when it is determined that the received version is an earlier version than the version of the information that the navigation device corresponding to the position information held by the information providing center outputs to its own device, The latest version of the information that the corresponding navigation device outputs to its own device is transmitted to the navigation device,
The navigation device, further, the information that the old version of the navigation device already recorded in the storage device outputs to its own device, the latest version of the navigation device received from the information center to the information that is output to its own device rewrite,
An information updating method for a navigation device, comprising: The position information is positioning information of a current position where the navigation device is located, or information of a navigation destination.
4. The information updating method for a navigation device according to claim 3, wherein: A navigation method using a navigation device having the information updating method according to claim 3,
The navigation device acquires the positioning information of the current location where the navigation device is located,
A step of performing the information updating method of the navigation device according to claim 3, wherein the position information is the positioning information, and based on the positioning information;
A step of performing the information updating method of the navigation device according to claim 3, wherein the position information is information of a destination of the navigation, and based on the information of the destination,
A step in which the navigation device obtains information on a route from the current location to the destination from the information providing center;
A navigation method comprising: The navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the positioning means performs positioning by a global positioning system (GPS), or the navigation system according to claim 3. An information updating method for a navigation device according to claim 5, or the navigation method according to claim 5. 5. The navigation system according to claim 1, wherein the navigation device is an on-vehicle car navigation device, or the information updating of the navigation device according to claim 3 or 4. A method or the navigation method according to claim 5.

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