JP2005106475A - Navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation system capable of route searching reflected with the present driving skill of a driver. <P>SOLUTION: The navigation system comprises a searching condition designation means for designating the route to be searched, a map information memory means for storing the road map information to be searched, and a searching means for searching and displaying the route by searching the route with the designated searching conditions to the destination from the road map information. The system also comprises a driver's skill information storage means for storing the driving skill of the driver. The searching means searches the route satisfying the designated conditions and corresponding to the driver's skill based on the conditions designated by the searching condition designation means and the driver's skill information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention provides search condition designating means for designating a route to be searched, map information storage means for storing road map information to be searched, and a route reaching a destination under the conditions specified by the search conditions. The present invention relates to a navigation device having search means for searching from map information and displaying it.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a navigation apparatus described in Patent Document 1 below is known as a navigation apparatus that can set a route that appropriately reflects the driving state of a vehicle as a route to a destination.
Further, as a parking lot management system using a car navigation device that can obtain practically usable empty parking lot information while in a vehicle, the one described in Patent Document 2 below is known.
Further, as a navigation device that searches for an optimum route according to the size of the vehicle and the driving skill of the driver, a navigation device described in Patent Document 3 below is known.
The device described in Patent Document 1 below relates to a car navigation device that can set a driving route according to his / her preference, for example, because he often turns the steering wheel and likes to turn left and right. This is a device that combines a device that stores the number of times of turning the steering wheel, the number of times of braking, etc. and map information to search for a route that adopts one's preference.
In addition, the one described in Patent Document 2 below is a car navigation system in which, while in the vehicle, the parking space availability information is searched according to the dimensions of the own vehicle, and the currently available empty parking lot information is obtained. Device.
In addition, the navigation device described in Patent Document 3 below manually selects the size of the vehicle, the suitability of the driver, the shape of the road, and the type according to the menu on the screen before the route search, and the selected condition is determined. It searches for a route that satisfies the condition.
JP 2003-28659 A JP 2002-357434 A JP-A-8-254433

However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 estimates the driver's preference (not good for turning right, dislikes traffic jams, etc.) using the number of times the steering wheel is turned, the number of brakings, etc. There is a problem that it is not possible to search for a route that is easy to travel according to the skill level of the driving skill of the driver.
Moreover, although the technique of the said patent document 2 performs empty parking lot information search depending on the size of a vehicle, since it does not consider a driver's skill, the parking lot where parking is difficult is also displayed. In reality, there is a problem that parking is impossible.
In addition, the navigation device described in Patent Document 3 manually selects the size of the vehicle, the suitability of the driver, the shape of the road, and the type according to the menu on the screen before the route search, and the selected condition is determined. Search for a route that meets the requirements, but the driver's suitability options are prepared by beginners or experts, and this is manually selected by the driver, so it accurately reflects the driver's current driving skills. There is a problem that the route cannot be searched.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device that can perform a route search that accurately reflects the current skill level of a driver.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a search condition designating unit that designates a route to be searched, a map information storage unit that stores road map information to be searched, and a condition specified by the search condition. In a navigation device comprising search means for searching and displaying a route to a destination from the road map information,
Proficiency level information storage means for storing proficiency level information related to the driving skill of the driver, wherein the search means includes conditions specified by the search condition specification means and driver proficiency level information stored in the proficiency level storage means Based on the above, the route of the driving condition that satisfies the specified condition and corresponds to the proficiency level of the driver is searched for.
In addition, a driver having a standard skill travels in an arbitrary travel section, and travels to the driver himself / herself based on standard driver operation information such as brake, gear change, travel speed, etc. collected by an in-vehicle sensor. It further comprises a proficiency level evaluation means for evaluating the driver operation information such as brake, gear change, travel speed and the like collected and storing the information in the proficiency level storage means as the proficiency level information.
Further, the proficiency level storage means is composed of a removable memory card, and stores the standard driver operation information and driver operation information in addition to the proficiency level information.
Further, the standard driver operation information in the arbitrary travel section is obtained from road map information stored in the map information storage means or a Web site.
The information processing apparatus further includes means for acquiring a parking lot map from a website and means for mapping a message indicating the difficulty level of the parking operation based on the proficiency level information on the acquired parking lot map.

According to the present invention, a route search reflecting the current proficiency level of the driver can be performed.
In addition, the current level of proficiency of the driver is information when the driver of the standard driving skill drives the information collected by the vehicle-mounted sensor during the learning driving after learning driving of the proficiency level in any driving section Therefore, the current learning level of the driver is accurately reflected, and as a result, a route search that accurately reflects the current learning level can be performed. .
In addition, when parking in the parking lot, a configuration in which a message with a difficulty level corresponding to the proficiency level is presented, a position where parking is easy can be selected.

Hereinafter, an embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 1, the car navigation device of this embodiment includes a microcomputer 1, a GPS receiver 2, a display unit 3, an operation unit 4, an audio output unit 5, an HDD 6, and a communication connected to the microcomputer 1. An interface 7, a removable memory card 8, and a shift sensor 9 that provides information to the communication interface 7, an accelerator sensor 10, a handle sensor 11, a brake sensor 12, and a speed sensor 13 are configured and mounted on the vehicle. ing.
More specifically, the microcomputer 1 has a ROM 111 in which basic programs and application programs are installed in advance, and a RAM 112 as a device for storing data temporarily used in various processes. The application program is stored in the hard disk (HDD) 6 and is called up to the RAM 112 and used when necessary. As application programs, a route search process 1101, a proficiency level evaluation process 1102, and a parking lot guidance process 1103 are stored.

It is assumed that the application program for learning the route search and the proficiency level of the driver is stored in the ROM 111, and the microcomputer 1 performs various processes described below.
The GPS receiver 2 grasps the current location of the vehicle and provides the information to the microcomputer 1.
The display unit 3 is a display device such as a known backlit color LCD. The display unit 3 displays a map image, a current location, a route search, route guidance, empty parking lot information, a current driving situation, and the like displayed superimposed on the map image.
The voice output unit 5 is a speaker that outputs a guide voice, and may output the current driving situation as a voice.
The HDD 6 stores map information 61 and vehicle attribute information 62 such as the vehicle weight of the own vehicle. In the vehicle attribute information 62, information on the length, height, width, and weight of the vehicle is previously input from the operation unit 4 and stored.

The map information 61 stores map image information, position information, height difference information, road attribute information such as legal speed, width, weight limit, height limit, and the like.
The memory card 8 stores driver skill information 81, driver skill measurement data 82, and standard driver skill measurement data 83 related to the present invention.
The proficiency level information 81 stores information obtained by evaluating the proficiency level of the driving skill of the driver based on the proficiency level of the standard driver. The driver proficiency measurement data 82 includes measurement data of driver operation information such as brakes, gear changes, and traveling speeds collected by the in-vehicle sensors 9 to 13 by driving the driver himself / herself in an arbitrary traveling section. It is remembered.
The standard driver proficiency measurement data 83 includes standard driver operations such as brakes, gear changes, and traveling speeds collected by the in-vehicle sensors 9 to 13 by driving a driver with a standard skill in an arbitrary driving section. Information measurement data is stored.
The proficiency level information 81 is obtained by evaluating the driver proficiency level measurement data 82 based on the standard driver proficiency level measurement data 83. For example, when the proficiency level of the standard driver is represented by 1.0, when the proficiency level is lower than that of the standard driver, values such as 0.8 and 0.5 are stored.
The driver's proficiency level information 81 is stored by being divided into right and left turns, prefectural roads, mountain roads, one-lane roads, and the like. For example, a mountain road is included in a search result of a route to a destination. It is used to search for another route excluding the search result for a driver with low driving proficiency at (immature).
These information 81 to 83 are stored in the memory card 8, and when riding in another person's car or a rental car, the information is installed in a navigation device mounted on the car, and a route according to his / her proficiency level is installed. Searchable.

The communication interface 7 includes a communication adapter 71, a wireless device 72, and a mobile phone 73 (or a Web browser) that can be connected to a Web site (Internet) via the communication adapter 71.
The mobile phone 73 can be replaced if it is a terminal having a function of collecting information from a site on the Web through the Internet.
The wireless device 72 wirelessly collects information from various sensors 9 to 13 described later and transfers the information to the microcomputer 1.
The shift sensor 9, the accelerator sensor 10, the handle sensor 11, the brake sensor 12, and the speed sensor 13 acquire a driver's operation state related to various driving skills related to the present invention, and the acquisition result is transmitted via the wireless device 72. Transferred to the microcomputer 1.
The shift sensor 9 detects shift lever operation information and a shift position. The accelerator sensor 10 detects accelerator depression information and state. The handle sensor 11 detects the state of the handle turning angle, the handle turning speed, and the degree of hand operation. The brake sensor 12 detects the amount of brake depression. The speed sensor 13 detects the current speed and the engine speed. Each of these sensors 9 to 13 is equipped with a wireless function, and is connected to the wireless end device 72 through a wireless line.

In the navigation apparatus having such a configuration, first, the schematic operation of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
In FIG. 2, first, the driver's proficiency level information 81 is stored in the memory card 8 prior to the route search. This is to select a test road for acquiring proficiency information in an arbitrary travel section close to the driver's current position, actually drive this test road and measure the driver's skill, The driver proficiency measurement data 82 which is a measurement result is compared with the standard driver proficiency measurement data 83 which is a measurement result when a driver having a standard skill drives the same test road. Based on the measurement data 83 when a driver is driving, the skill of the driver is evaluated, and the evaluation value is used as proficiency level information 81.
For example, a test travel path as shown in FIG. 3 is selected. In the example of FIG. 3, a highway passing through the nodes n5-n6, a prefectural road passing through the nodes n1-n4-n5, a prefectural road passing through the nodes n2-n6, a town road (width 3.5 m) passing through the nodes n1-n2, and a node n1 An example in which there is a town road passing through -n3 and a mountain road passing through nodes n3-n6 is shown.
The driver who wants to measure the proficiency selects one of the roads passing through these nodes, for example, selects a section of nodes n1-n4-n3-n6, and actually drives to test drive.
The various sensors 9 to 13 of the navigation device in FIG. 1 detect a shift (gear change) operation, an accelerator operation, a handle operation, a brake operation, and a speed operated by the driver while traveling in these sections. The data is transferred to the microcomputer 1 via the wireless device 72.
The microcomputer 1 receives signals transferred from the various sensors 9 to 13, converts them into parameters as shown in FIG. 4 for each node section, and sequentially stores them as the driver proficiency measurement data 82 of the memory card 8 for each node section. Let
For example, the handle angle is calculated from the straight position of the handle based on the information of the handle sensor 11 and stored as a stored value K310. For example, when turning the handle clockwise by 90 degrees when turning right, it is stored as “+90”. Further, the relative time from the position where the handle angle is 0 is stored as the stored value K311.
In addition, the accelerator depression amount is stored as a stored value K320 based on information from the accelerator sensor 11. For example, the time when the accelerator is not depressed is set to 0, and the angle of how much is depressed from the state is stored as the depression angle K320. Further, the relative time from the accelerator 0 position is stored as the stored value K321.
Further, the current shift position is stored as the stored value K330 based on the information of the shift sensor 9, and the brake depression angle is stored as the stored value K340 based on the information of the brake sensor 12. For example, the time when the brake is not depressed is set to 0, and the angle information indicating how much angle is depressed from the state is stored as the stored value K340. Further, the relative time from the brake 0 position is stored as a stored value K341.
Further, based on the information of the speed sensor 13, the current speed is stored as a stored value K350.
Further, the time required for traveling in each section is stored as a stored value K360.
As a result, as a result of test running in the section passing through the nodes n1-n4-n3-n6, measurement data 82 as shown in FIG. 5B is obtained.
Note that the parameters shown in FIG. 4 are merely examples, and the engine speed, window wiper speed, and the like may be added as necessary. Measurement data of proficiency according to rainfall can be obtained by the window wiper speed.

If measurement data 82 is obtained when the test travel section n1-n4-n3-n6 is traveled as described above, the standard driver then travels the same section n1-n3-n6. In this case, standard measurement data 83 is acquired.
The standard driver proficiency level measurement data 83 is acquired from the road attribute information of the section passing through the nodes n1-n4-n3-n6 from the map information 61. If the standard driver proficiency level measurement data is not registered in the map information 61, the mobile phone 73 is used to obtain it from a website that records road attribute information. FIG. 5A shows an example of standard driver proficiency measurement data 83 acquired from road attribute information of a section passing through nodes n1-n4-n3-n6.
Next, the standard driver proficiency level measurement data 83 and the driver proficiency level measurement data 82 are compared, and the driving operation when the driver having the standard skill drives the same test travel section and the driver performs driving. The difference in driving operation at the time of the evaluation is evaluated, and the evaluation value is used as proficiency level information 81. The proficiency level information 81 is represented by numerical data of 1.0 to 0.1, for example, 0.7 to 0.8 is a standard value, a value exceeding 0.8 is a skilled person, and 0.69 to 0.5. Are treated as intermediate and 0.49 or less as beginners.
By performing test running in various sections as described above, the memory card 8 stores information on the proficiency level for each route as shown in FIG.
When one vehicle is shared by a family, the storage area can be distinguished and stored according to the family name.

Returning to FIG. 2, when the driver's proficiency level information 81 is obtained, the proficiency level information 81 is designated as one search condition, and in accordance with the driver's proficiency level, mountain roads and narrow paths are excluded. A route from the current location to the destination is searched from the map information 61 by route search processing 111.
In this case, in addition to the search conditions, the vehicle attribute information 62 also searches for a section excluding a section that conflicts with the weight limit, height limit, turn angle, and lane width (width).
As a result, the optimum route according to the driver's proficiency level and the vehicle attribute is searched, displayed on the display unit, and displayed on the map together with the current position of the host vehicle detected by the GPS receiver 2.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a procedure of proficiency level measurement processing 1102 when obtaining the proficiency level measurement data 82 of the driver.
In the proficiency level measurement process, an arbitrary measurement travel section is designated (step 711).
Next, standard driver proficiency measurement data 83 in the designated measurement travel section is acquired from the map information 61 or the website (step 712).
Next, output signals of various sensors 9 to 13 indicating the driving operation state of the driver are collected while actually driving the designated measurement travel section, and the memory is stored for each node section as shown in FIG. 5B. Recording is sequentially performed on the card 8 (step 713).
When all the specified measurement travel sections have been traveled, the measurement result data 82 is compared with the standard driver proficiency measurement data, and the driver's proficiency is based on the proficiency level of the standard driver. Are evaluated and digitized (step 715).
Specifically, for example, evaluation is performed using the following calculation formula.
Evaluation value = (K310a.j1 + K311a.j2 + K320a.j3... + K360a.j9) / (K310b.j1 + K311b.j2 + K320b.j3... + K360b.j9)
However, the stored value with the subscript a is a value constituting the driver proficiency measurement data 82, the stored value with the subscript b is a value constituting the standard driver proficiency measurement data 83, and j1 to i9 are stored values. , And the largest value is assigned to the element that most characterizes the proficiency level of the driver. The calculation result is calculated to one decimal place, and the following are rounded down.
The digitized evaluation value is displayed on the display unit 4 as the driver proficiency level information 81 (step 716).

When the displayed driver skill level information 81 has a correction factor due to traffic congestion or the like, and the correction input is input from the operation unit 4, the driver skill level information 81, which is an evaluation result, is corrected. The correction result is stored in the memory card 8 (steps 717 to 19).
Note that the processing in step 712 may be performed immediately before step 715.
Further, when the skill of the driver changes (improves or decreases), the old driver's proficiency information 81 is automatically updated according to the latest measurement result by performing a test drive in the same measurement travel section or another measurement travel section. Is done. As a result, even when the driving skill changes due to changes in age or health condition, the latest skill can be measured by test driving and a route search according to the measurement result can be performed.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a procedure of route search processing 1101 for searching for a route to the destination.
First, a route to the destination is searched from the map information 61 (step 811).
Next, road attribute information 901 between the nodes on the searched route is collected from the map information 61 or the website (step 812). For example, road attribute information 901 as shown in FIG. 9A is acquired for the section of nodes n1-n4 in FIG. Similarly, the road attribute information 901 between all nodes reaching the destination is acquired, and the road attribute information 901 between all nodes and the driver skill level measurement data 83 are sequentially compared (step 813).
Then, it is determined whether or not the section where it is difficult to travel with the driving skill indicated by the skill level information 81 of the driver is, for example, 50% or more (step 814). The section where it is difficult or difficult to drive is a section where driving skill is immature and it is considered that safe driving is difficult. Specifically, as shown in FIG. It is determined that the vehicle can be driven or not, based on the travel enable / disable determination table 903 associated with each type of section. According to this table 903, a beginner is set to not travel on a mountain road.
If the travel failure section is 50% or more of all sections, the current search result is excluded from the route candidates, and the process returns to step 811 to search for the next route candidate (step 815).
If the travel failure section is less than 50% of all sections, it is added as one route candidate (step 816), and the process returns to step 811 to repeat until N route candidates can be searched (step 817).

If N route candidates are found, they are displayed on the display unit 4 (step 818).
FIG. 10 shows a display example of the search result. Here, three search results are displayed as candidates A to C, and a comment is added to each. Candidate A is the safest and recommended route, Candidate B has a short driving time but has a caution driving location, and Candidate C is commented “Must be careful”.
When the driver selects candidate A among these route candidates and operates the decision button 101, the route of candidate A is determined as a route to the destination.
An underline is added to the “caution driving location” of the candidate B. When the pointer cursor 102 is placed on the underline portion, details of the driving attention section that needs attention in the candidate route of the candidate B are shown in FIG. It is displayed as shown in (a) or FIG.
The driver can check this display content and determine whether or not to select candidate B route candidate.

In the process of FIG. 8, N route candidates are searched and the driver is finally determined, but one route candidate is selected according to the priority setting state such as distance priority, time priority, and safety priority. It is also possible to present to the driver what has been narrowed down to only. For example, when the driver's proficiency level is low and safety priority is set, the route candidate with the least number of difficult sections is selected and presented to the driver.
Further, in the process of FIG. 8, it is needless to say that a section in conflict with the weight limit is excluded in consideration of attributes such as the weight of the own vehicle.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing the procedure of the parking lot guidance process 1103.
Depending on the driver, for example, the right turn driving operation may be immature.
In the present invention, the position where the vehicle can be parked safely is guided in consideration of the skill level of the driver, the height of the host vehicle, and the length of the vehicle.
First, the mobile phone 73 is used to search for parking lots around the destination via the Internet, and obtains parking lot attribute information 902 as shown in FIG. Map information of a parking lot that satisfies the vehicle attribute of the vehicle and that has a vacancy is acquired (step 1211).
Next, the information acquired in step 1211 is transferred to the microcomputer 1.
Next, a message indicating the difficulty level of whether or not parking is possible at the driver's proficiency level indicated by the driver proficiency level information 81 is mapped to the map information of the parking lot acquired at step 1211 (step 1213). Then, the mapping result is displayed on the display unit 4 as shown in the example of FIG. 13 (step 1214).
In FIG. 13, there are four parking positions P1 to P4 close to the destination. Of these, P1 is easy, P2 is normal, P3 is difficult, and P4 is easy but full. Is displayed.
The driver selects any one of P1 to P3 that is not full by this display and parks the vehicle.
Whether parking is difficult or not is determined by comparing the driver's proficiency level with the information on the difficulty level of the empty vehicle position if the vehicle height, weight, and length of the vehicle meet the parking conditions. become.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus of one embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the outline | summary of operation | movement of the navigation apparatus of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the test driving | running | working area which measures a driver | operator's proficiency. It is a flowchart showing a result outline of a proficiency level by comparing driver technologies. It is a figure which shows the example of the driver | operator's operation information obtained by test driving | running | working. It is a figure which shows the example of standard driver proficiency measurement data and driver proficiency measurement data. It is a figure which shows the example of the value of driver proficiency for every route classification. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of a proficiency level measurement process. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of a route search process. It is a figure which shows the example of road attribute information and parking lot attribute information. It is a figure which shows the example of the route candidate screen displayed with a route search result. It is a figure which shows the example of the driving attention area information displayed when a driving attention location exists in a route candidate. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of a parking lot guidance process. It is a figure which shows the example of a parking lot guidance screen.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Microcomputer 2 ... GPS receiver 3 ... Display part 4 ... Operation part 5 ... Audio | voice output part 6 ... Hard disk 7 ... Communication interface 8 ... Memory card 9 ... Shift sensor 10 ... Acceleration sensor 11 ... Handle sensor 12 ... Brake sensor 13 ... Speed sensor 61 ... Map information 62 ... Vehicle information attribute information 73 ... Mobile phone 81 ... Driver proficiency level information 82 ... Driver proficiency level measurement data 83 ... Standard driver proficiency level measurement data 111 ... ROM
112 ... RAM

Claims (5)

Search condition designation means for designating a route to be searched, map information storage means for storing road map information to be searched, and search for a route to the destination under the conditions specified by the search condition from the road map information In a navigation device provided with search means for displaying as
Proficiency level information storage means for storing proficiency level information related to the driving skill of the driver, wherein the search means includes conditions specified by the search condition specification means and driver proficiency level information stored in the proficiency level storage means The navigation apparatus is characterized in that, based on the above, a route for a driving condition that satisfies a specified condition and that corresponds to the proficiency level of the driver is searched.   By driving a driver with a standard skill in an arbitrary driving section and collecting standard driving operation information such as brake, gear change, and driving speed collected by an in-vehicle sensor, the driver himself / herself is allowed to drive the arbitrary driving section. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a proficiency level evaluation unit that evaluates the collected driver operation information such as a brake, a gear change, and a traveling speed and stores the information as the proficiency level information in the proficiency level storage unit. Navigation device.   The navigation according to claim 2, wherein the proficiency level storage means is composed of a removable memory card, and stores the standard driver operation information and driver operation information in addition to the proficiency level information. apparatus.   The standard driver operation information in the arbitrary traveling section is road map information stored in the map information storage means or acquired from a Web site. The navigation device described in 1.   5. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for acquiring a parking lot map from a website; and means for mapping a message indicating a difficulty level of the parking operation based on the proficiency level information on the acquired parking lot map. The navigation device according to any one of the above.

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