JP2005172740A - Route guide system and route guide program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To exhibit only information required by a driver, by exhibiting a guide about only a not-well-known point, without requiring a setting operation by the driver. <P>SOLUTION: A visiting point knowledge degree calculating part 14 calculates a degree of knowledge about a visiting point of the driver, and a route guide determining part 16 determines the necessity of a route guide up to the visiting point, according to the degree of knowledge calculated by the visiting point knowledge degree calculating part 14. A route guide drawing part 18 guides a route up to the visiting point, when the visiting point knowledge degree calculating part 14 determines the necessity of the route guide up to the visiting point. Only the information required by the driver is thereby exhibited by exhibiting the guide about only the not-well-known point, without requiring the setting operation by the driver. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a route guidance device and a route guidance program, and more specifically, only information that a driver needs by presenting guidance only for a point that is not familiar to the driver without requesting a driver's setting operation. It relates to the technology presented.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a navigation device that notifies a driver with a voice as a vehicle approaches a location registered by a driver is known, and according to such a navigation device, traveling to a registered location is known. Even when the route is not known, the driver can easily go to the registered location according to the notified voice (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-42792 A (paragraphs [0053] to [0055])

  However, the conventional navigation device is configured to always notify the fact that the vehicle is approaching the registered point. Therefore, the driver knows the registered point and even if it is not notified, Even if it is possible to go, notification is given and the driver may feel annoyed. Further, in the conventional navigation device, in order to eliminate such notification, the driver has to set the device with his / her hand, which is very troublesome.

  The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-described problems, and the purpose of the present invention is to require a driver by presenting guidance only for a point not familiar with the driver without requesting a setting operation by the driver. Another object is to provide a route guidance device and a route guidance program that present only information to be performed.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the route guidance device according to the present invention determines the familiarity of the driver with respect to the visited point, and determines whether or not to provide guidance for the visited point according to the determined familiarity. In order to solve the above-described problem, the route guidance program according to the present invention determines whether the user is familiar with the visit point and whether to present the visit point guidance according to the determined familiarity. The computer performs the determination process.

  According to the route guidance device and the route guidance program according to the present invention, the guidance of the visit point is not presented when the driver's familiarity with respect to the visit point is high. By presenting guidance only for points that are not present, only the information required by the driver can be presented.

  The route guidance device according to the present invention can be applied to a navigation device that presents a driver with map information near the current position of the vehicle and vehicle travel route information up to a registration point, as shown in FIG. Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of a navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[Configuration of navigation device]
First, the configuration of a navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the navigation device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention searches a map database 3 and a visit point database 4 according to information acquired from a GPS (Global Positioning System) 2, and thereby displays a display 5. In this embodiment, the map information near the current position of the vehicle and the travel route information of the vehicle up to the registration point are presented to the driver. In this embodiment, the point registration unit 11, the visit point acquisition unit 12, the route complex A degree evaluation unit 13, a visit point familiarity calculation unit 14, a local familiarity calculation unit 15, a route guidance determination unit 16, a map drawing unit 17, and a route guidance drawing unit 18 are provided as main components. The function of each component will be described later, but the operation of these components is described by a computer program, and the function of these components is realized by software by causing the information processing apparatus to execute the computer program. You may do it.

  Here, the GPS 2 receives the radio wave transmitted from the positioning satellite via the GPS antenna, and specifies the current position of the vehicle based on the received radio wave. Further, the map database 4 is determined by node information indicating road position information, link information indicating road connection status, road size, road management / operating source, etc., in order to draw map information on the display 5. Routes that associate road condition (type) information for each road link, road name information, speed limit for each road link, and conditions such as travel distance or average travel time with costs for each node to calculate the route Search road network data is stored.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the visit point database 4 has a unique visit point ID, position information (longitude / latitude), ambient environment information at the time of visit, use of in-vehicle devices, for each destination set by the user. Information on the situation, the number of visits, and the last visit time is recorded as visit point information. Note that the method of recording the visit point information in the visit point database 4 will be described in detail in the visit point registration process described later.

  The “road level” is an index determined by the size of the road and the road management and management organization. The larger the road and the larger the road management and management organization (for example, the national road is more than the prefectural road). Etc.), the road level is set high. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the higher the road level, the smaller the numerical value of the road level (for example, road level 1 is higher in road level 1 and road level 2).

[Operation of navigation device]
The navigation device 1 having such a configuration presents guidance only for points not familiar to the driver without requesting the driver's setting operation by executing the following visit point registration process and route guidance process. Therefore, only the information that the driver needs is presented. Hereinafter, operations in the navigation device 1 when executing the visit point registration process and the route guidance process will be described in order.

[Visit point registration process]
First, the operation inside the navigation apparatus 1 when executing the visit point registration process for recording the visit point information in the visit point database 4 will be described.

  When this visit point registration process is executed, as described in detail in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-205869 filed by one of the inventors of the present invention in advance, the point registration unit 11 starts with the vehicle It detects the vehicle position, departure time, arrival time, and the situation around the vehicle and the interior of the vehicle during the one-stroke period from when the engine starts to when it stops. Next, the location registration unit 11 determines whether the location information of the visited location is already recorded in the visited location database 4 with the location where the engine is stopped as the visited location. If not recorded, the location registration unit 11 sets the visit count value as 1, the location information of the visited location, information indicating the surroundings of the vehicle and the vehicle interior at the time of visit, and the last visit time information as a unique visit. It is recorded in the visited point database 4 in association with the point ID. On the other hand, if already recorded, the point registration unit 11 increments the number of visits at the corresponding visit point by one and updates the last visit time information.

  In this embodiment, the point registration unit 11 corrects the number of visits as follows according to the situation around the vehicle and the interior of the vehicle interior at the time of the visit. Specifically, when information indicating that the weather at the time of the visit was a weather with poor visibility such as rain or snow is recorded as the vehicle periphery information at the time of the visit, the point registration unit 11 has the same number of visits Even so, the driver determines that it is difficult to remember the route to the visit point, and sets the number of visits at the visit point to be lower than when the visit is made in good weather. Further, when information indicating that the driver has visited the visit point using the navigation device is recorded as information indicating the condition in the passenger compartment, the point registration unit 11 may have the same number of visits, Compared to a visit without using a navigation device, the driver relies on navigation and determines that he / she does not remember the route to the visit point well, and sets the visit count value at that visit point to a low value. . Further, when information indicating that there is an occupant other than the driver in the passenger compartment is recorded as the information indicating the situation in the passenger compartment, the point registration unit 11 can also Compared to the case where there is no occupant, the driver determined that he / she was not familiar with the route to the visit point because he / she was instructed by the occupant or was distracted by the dialogue with the occupant. Set the number of visits at a point low. And according to such a process, the driver | operator's familiarity with respect to a visit point can be determined more correctly in the route guidance process mentioned later.

[Route guidance processing]
Next, with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, an explanation will be given on the internal operation of the navigation device 1 when executing the route guidance process for presenting the guidance of the visited point according to the familiarity of the driver with the visited point.

  The flowchart shown in FIG. 3 starts when the engine of the vehicle is started or when the power of the navigation device 1 is turned on, and the route guidance process proceeds to step S1.

  In the process of step S <b> 1, the GPS 2 detects the current position information of the vehicle and inputs the detected position information to the visited point acquisition unit 12. Thereby, the process of step S1 is completed, and the route guidance process proceeds from the process of step S1 to the process of step S2.

  In the process of step S2, the visit point acquisition unit 12 compares the position information detected by the GPS 2 with the visit point database 4, and acquires the visit point information of the visit points within a predetermined range from the current position. Thereby, the process of step S2 is completed, and the route guidance process proceeds from the process of step S2 to the process of step S3.

  In the process of step S3, the visited point acquisition unit 12 determines whether or not the visited point exists within a predetermined range from the current position. When it is determined that a visit point exists within a predetermined range from the current position, the visit point acquisition unit 12 inputs the visit point ID of the visit point to the visit point information familiarity calculation unit 14, and then performs this route guidance process. The process proceeds to step S6. On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no visit point within a predetermined range from the current position, the visit point acquisition unit 12 advances the route guidance process to the process of step S4.

  In the process of step S4, the map drawing unit 17 reads map data in the vicinity of the current position of the vehicle from the map database 3, and displays the read map data on the display 5. Thereby, the process of step S4 is completed, and the route guidance process proceeds from the process of step S4 to the process of step S5.

  In the process of step S5, the map drawing unit 17 determines whether or not the vehicle engine is stopped or the power of the navigation device is turned off. And when the engine of a vehicle stops or the power supply of a navigation apparatus is not OFF state, the map drawing part 17 returns this route guidance process to the process of step S1. On the other hand, when the engine of the vehicle is stopped or the power of the navigation device is turned off, the map drawing unit 17 ends the series of route guidance processing.

  In the process of step S <b> 6, the visit point familiarity calculation unit 14 refers to the visit point information corresponding to the visit point ID input from the visit point acquisition unit 12 and calculates the familiarity of the driver with respect to the visit point. Specifically, the visit point familiarity calculating unit 14 has a high number of visits to the visit point, a short elapsed time from the last visit time to the current time, and the better the situation at the visit, the more familiar the driver with the visit point. It is determined that the degree is high.

  In addition, the visit point familiarity calculating unit 14 has good weather at the time of visit as information indicating the situation at the time of visit, and the driver visited without using the navigation device, and there was no passenger other than the driver in the vehicle. Is recorded in the visit point database 4, it is determined that the familiarity of the driver with the visit point is high, and conversely, the weather at the time of visit is bad, and the driver visited using the navigation device If information such as the presence of an occupant other than the driver is recorded in the passenger compartment, it is determined that the driver's familiarity with the visit point is low. Thereby, the process of step S6 is completed, and the route guidance process proceeds from the process of step S6 to the process of step S7.

  In the process of step S7, the route guidance determination unit 16 determines whether or not the driver's familiarity with the visit point calculated based on the number of visits, the last visit time, and the situation information at the time of visit does not satisfy a predetermined threshold value. Determine whether. If the familiarity level of the driver satisfies a predetermined threshold, the route guidance determination unit 16 determines that the driver is familiar with the visited point, and advances the route guidance process to the process of step S4. On the other hand, when the degree of familiarity with the driver does not satisfy the predetermined threshold, the route guidance determination unit 16 determines that the driver is not familiar with the visited point, and advances the route guidance process to the process of step S8. .

  In the process of step S8, the area familiarity calculation unit 15 calculates the familiarity of the driver with respect to the current position, and the route guidance determination unit 16 satisfies the predetermined threshold with respect to the familiarity of the driver with respect to the current position according to the calculation result. Determine whether or not. When the driver's familiarity with the current position satisfies a predetermined threshold, the route guidance determination unit 16 determines that the driver is familiar with the area around the visited point, and performs this route guidance processing. The process proceeds to S4. On the other hand, when the driver's familiarity with the current position does not satisfy the predetermined threshold, the route guidance determination unit 16 determines that the driver is familiar with the area around the visited point, and this route guidance processing Advances to step S9. The driver's familiarity with the current position is described in detail in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-83759 previously filed by one of the inventors of the present invention. It can be calculated from the ratio of the sum of the accumulated distance and the total distance of the roads included in the area.

  In the process of step S9, the route guidance determination unit 16 determines whether or not the road on which the driver is currently traveling is an expressway by acquiring the road type of the currently traveling road from the map database 3. . As a result of the determination, when the currently traveling road is an expressway, the route guidance determination unit 16 advances this route guidance processing to the processing of step S4. On the other hand, if the currently traveling road is not an expressway, the route guidance determination unit 16 advances the route guidance process to the process of step S10.

  In the process of step S10, the route guidance determination unit 16 determines whether or not the road type acquired in the previous process indicates a highway and the road type of the currently running road indicates a general road. Then, it is determined whether the vehicle has descended from the highway to the general road. As a result of the determination, if it is determined that the vehicle does not get off the expressway from the general road, the route guidance determination unit 16 advances the route guidance processing to the processing of step S12. On the other hand, if it is determined that the highway is a general road, the route guidance determination unit 16 advances the route guidance processing to step S11.

  In the process of step S11, the map image drawing unit 17 reads the map data near the current position of the vehicle acquired in the process of step S1 from the map database 4, and displays the read map data on the display 5. Next, the route guidance drawing unit 18 reads the route search network data from the map database 3, and calculates the shortest route from the current position to the visited point from the route search network data read using the Dijkstra method. Then, the route guidance drawing unit 18 creates a shortest route image from the current position to the visited point according to the calculated shortest route, and displays the created shortest route image on the display 5 to display the shortest route from the current location to the visited point. Guide the driver to the route. The Dijkstra method is a route search method for calculating a route having the minimum link cost from the current location to the destination, but since it is already known at the time of filing, detailed description thereof is omitted. Further, the present invention is not limited to this Dijkstra method, and other route search methods can be used. Thereby, the process of step S11 is completed, and the route guidance process returns from the process of step S11 to the process of step S4.

  In the process of step S12, the route guidance drawing unit 18 reads the route search network data from the map database 3, and calculates the shortest route from the current location to the visited point using the Dijkstra method from the read route search network data. Thereby, the process of step S12 is completed, and the route guidance process proceeds from the process of step S12 to the process of step S13.

  In the process of step S13, the route complexity evaluation unit 16 refers to the map database 3 to determine a branch point that exists in the calculated shortest route, and the vehicle is at a predetermined angle at the branch point that exists in the shortest route. The number of times that a turn must be made (for example, 40 °) or more is calculated as the number of right / left turns. Thereby, the process of step 13 is completed, and the route guidance process proceeds from the process of step S13 to the process of step S14.

  In the process of step S14, the route complexity evaluation unit 16 refers to the map database 3 and acquires the road level information of the road included in the shortest route from the current location to the visited point. Thereby, the process of step S14 is completed, and the route guidance process proceeds from the process of step S14 to the process of step S15.

  In the process of step S15, the route complexity evaluation unit 13 determines that the ratio of roads whose road type (level) is equal to or less than a predetermined value (for example, narrow street) is a predetermined threshold (for example, 80) in the shortest route from the current location to the visited point. %) And whether or not the shape of the road on the shortest route from the current location to the visited point is complicated by determining whether the number of right / left turns is a predetermined number (for example, 3 times) or more. judge. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), 80% or more of road types 6 or less (road type 5 in the figure) are present on the shortest route (route) from the current location to the visited point (registered location). If it is determined that the number of right / left turns to the visited point is four, the route complexity evaluation unit 13 determines that the road shape of the shortest route from the current location to the visited point is complicated. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4B, when it is determined that 80% or more of road types are not more than a predetermined value on the shortest route from the current location to the visited point, the route complexity evaluation unit 13 The road shape of the shortest route from the current location to the visited point is determined not to be complicated. When it is determined that the road shape of the shortest route from the current location to the visited point is not complicated, the route complexity evaluation unit 13 returns the route guidance process from the process of step S15 to the process of step S4. On the other hand, when it is determined that the road shape of the shortest route from the current location to the visited point is complicated, the route complexity evaluation unit 13 advances the route guidance process from the process of step S15 to the process of step S11.

  As is clear from the above description, according to the navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention, the visit point familiarity calculation unit 14 calculates the familiarity of the driver with respect to the visit point, and the route guidance determination unit 16 The necessity of route guidance to the visited point is determined according to the familiarity calculated by the visited point familiarity calculating unit 14, and the visited point familiarity calculating unit 14 determines that route guidance to the visited point is necessary. Accordingly, the route guidance drawing unit 18 provides route guidance to the visited point, so that the driver is required by presenting guidance only for the point that is not well known without requesting the driver's setting operation. Only information to be displayed can be presented.

  Further, according to the navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention, the area familiarity calculation unit 15 calculates the familiarity of the driver with respect to the area around the visited point, and the route guidance determination unit 16 determines the degree of familiarity with the visited point. Since the necessity of route guidance to the visit point is determined according to the familiarity calculated by the calculation unit 14 and the local familiarity calculation unit 15, for example, a post office near the parents' home has not been repeated many times. It is possible to prevent the driver from feeling annoyed by providing route guidance for a visit point in an area familiar to the driver.

  Further, according to the navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention, the route complexity evaluation unit 13 quantitatively evaluates the complexity of the route from the current location to the visited point, and the route guidance determination unit 16 performs the visited point. The necessity of route guidance to the visited point is determined according to the familiarity calculated by the familiarity calculating unit 14 and the regional familiarity calculating unit 15 and the complexity of the route evaluated by the route complexity evaluating unit 13. If the point is on the national highway side and the route can be completely learned after going several times, route guidance is not executed, and conversely, the visit point is far from the national road and is in a complicated point to the visit point If the route is difficult to remember, route guidance can be executed until the number of visits reaches a predetermined number.

  Further, according to the navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the vehicle is on the expressway, the route guidance determination unit 16 determines that there is a visited point that is determined to require route guidance. Even if it is a case, the route guidance is not executed. For example, even if it is close to the detected visit point, it is passing through the highway as a simple passage, and the visit point is visited. In the case where it is considered that there is a low possibility, the route guidance to the visitor is started, and it is possible to prevent the driver from feeling troublesome.

  Furthermore, according to the navigation device according to the embodiment of the present invention, the value of the number of visits stored in the visited point database 4 by the point registering unit 11 according to the state of the vehicle periphery and the passenger compartment at the time of the visit. Therefore, the driver's familiarity with the visit point can be determined more accurately.

  As mentioned above, although the embodiment to which the invention made by the present inventors was applied has been described, the present invention is not limited by the description and the drawings that form part of the disclosure of the present invention according to this embodiment. That is, it should be added that other embodiments, examples, operation techniques, and the like made by those skilled in the art based on this embodiment are all included in the scope of the present invention.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus used as one Embodiment of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the visit point database shown in FIG. It is a flowchart figure which shows the flow of the route guidance process by the navigation apparatus shown in FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating operation | movement of the path | route complexity evaluation part shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1: Navigation device 2: GPS (Global Positioning System)
3: Map database 4: Visit point database 5: Display 11: Point registration unit 12: Visit point acquisition unit 13: Route complexity evaluation unit 14: Visit point familiarity calculation unit 15: Regional familiarity calculation unit 16: Route guidance determination Unit 17: Map drawing unit 18: Route guidance drawing unit

Claims (8)

A route guidance device that detects vehicle position information and presents map information around the vehicle according to the detected position information,
Visit point information storage means for storing at least the position, the number of visits, the last visit time, the vehicle periphery at the time of visit, and the vehicle interior information for each vehicle visit point;
With reference to the visit point information storage means, the visit point information acquisition means for acquiring information on the visit points existing within a predetermined range from the current position of the vehicle,
According to the information acquired by the visit point information acquisition means, the visit point familiarity calculating means for calculating the familiarity of the driver with respect to the visit point as the visit point familiarity degree;
A route guidance determination unit that determines the necessity of route guidance to the notification of the visit point or the visit point according to the visit point familiarity calculated by the visit point familiarity calculation unit,
When the route guidance determination means determines that a visit point notification or a route guide to the visit point is necessary, an image for the visit point notification or the route guide to the visit point is displayed. A route guidance device comprising: a route guidance drawing means for drawing. A local familiarity calculating means for calculating the familiarity of the driver as an area familiarity with the area around the visit point according to the driver's past driving history,
The route guidance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the route guidance determination means determines the necessity of notification of a visit point or route guidance to a visit point according to the familiarity with the visit point and the familiarity with the region. . Route complexity evaluation means for evaluating the complexity of the route to the visited point based on the distance, shape, scale, number of turns, and number of intersections calculated by the route guidance determination means,
The route guidance determination means determines the necessity of notification of a visit point or route guidance to a visit point according to the complexity of the route calculated by the route complexity evaluation means. The route guidance device according to claim 2.   The route guidance determination means determines whether or not the vehicle is traveling on an expressway, and if it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on an expressway, notification of a visit point or route guidance to a visit point The route guidance device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the route guidance device is determined to be unnecessary.   The route guidance determination means determines that notification of a visit point or route guidance to a visit point is necessary when the familiarity with the visit point is low. Route guidance device.   The route guidance determination means determines that notification of a visit point or route guidance to a visit point is necessary when the complexity of the route calculated by the route complexity evaluation means is high. The route guidance device according to claim 1.   The route according to any one of claims 1 to 6, further comprising point registration means for changing the value of the number of visits stored in the visit point information storage means in accordance with the state of the vehicle surroundings and the passenger compartment during the visit. Guide device. A route guidance program for detecting position information of a vehicle and presenting map information around the vehicle according to the detected position information,
For each vehicle visit point, a process for storing at least the position, the number of visits, the last visit time, the vehicle periphery at the time of visit, and the vehicle interior information;
With reference to the stored information, a process of acquiring information on a visit point existing within a predetermined range from the current position of the vehicle;
According to the acquired information, a process for calculating the familiarity of the driver with respect to the visited point as the familiarity with the visited point;
According to the calculated degree of familiarity with the visit point, a process for determining the necessity of notification of the visit point or route guidance to the visit point,
A process of drawing an image for notifying the visit point or guiding the route to the visit point when it is determined that the visit point notification or the route guide to the visit point is necessary. A route guidance program that is executed by a computer.

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