JP2005180957A - Navigation system and landmark display method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation system and a landmark display method in which only a landmark of facility necessary for guidance can be displayed intelligibly, and easily found out from the driver's viewpoint. <P>SOLUTION: On the basis of the story information of the facility in the facility data base in the map data read out to the map buffer 11, only the landmark of the facility existing in the specified number of stories set by a user is selectively displayed on the map, thereby only the landmark of the facility existing on a specified number of stories easily viewed by the driver's viewpoint is displayed. Consequently, the complication that the landmark is existing but the actual facility cannot be found out, is prevented. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device and a landmark display method, and is particularly suitable for use in a navigation device configured to display various facilities as landmarks on a road map.

  In general, a navigation device detects the current position of a vehicle using a self-contained navigation sensor, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, or the like, reads out map data in the vicinity thereof from a recording medium, and displays it on a screen. The vehicle position mark indicating the vehicle position is superimposed and displayed at a predetermined location on the screen, and various facilities adjacent to the road are displayed as landmarks (brand icons), so where the vehicle is currently traveling. So that you can see at a glance.

  However, the conventional navigation apparatus simply displays the facility at the location as a landmark, and does not consider floor information such as the floor number in the building. For this reason, even if the facility is located on a relatively high floor in the building and is difficult to find from the driver's perspective, it is displayed as a landmark if it exists at that location. In this case, there is a problem that a landmark is displayed, but the confusion that the actual object cannot be found is caused.

In contrast, the screen is divided into three parts, a detailed map around the vehicle is displayed on the middle screen, and schematic diagrams of buildings standing on both sides of the road on which the vehicle travels are displayed on two screens on both sides. In the figure, a technology has been proposed in which the name of a facility or landmark located in a building is displayed at a position corresponding to the number of floors in the building so that the height of the facility in the building can be grasped. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP 2000-275055 A

  However, in the navigation device described in Patent Document 1, the display screen is too complicated. Also, when you want to know the height of the facility, you need to move your eyes to the screens on both sides, which is difficult to understand at a glance. Furthermore, since all the landmarks that are too high and unnecessary for the driver are displayed, there was a problem that it was very difficult to see.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and it is easy to find from the driver's point of view, so that only landmarks of facilities that are necessary for guidance can be displayed in an easy-to-understand manner. The purpose is to prevent the confusion that it is difficult to find the real thing to do.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, in the navigation device of the present invention, based on the floor information of the facility included in the facility information that collects information about each facility displayed as the landmark, the facility located on the specific floor Only the landmarks are selectively displayed on the map around the vehicle.

  According to the present invention configured as described above, since only the landmarks of the facility located on the floor that is easy to see from the viewpoint of the driver are displayed, the inconvenience that the actual facility cannot be found despite the presence of the landmark is suppressed. be able to. Further, the map screen is very simple and unnecessary landmarks are not displayed, so that the map screen can be made very easy to see.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a navigation device according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a navigation control device, which controls the entire navigation device. Reference numeral 2 denotes a DVD-ROM which stores various types of map data necessary for map display and route search. Here, the DVD-ROM 2 is used as a recording medium for storing the map data, but other recording media such as a CD-ROM and a hard disk may be used.

  The map data stored in the DVD-ROM 2 includes a background layer and a character / symbol layer composed of various data necessary for map display, and data necessary for various processes such as map matching, route search, and route guidance described later. , A road layer composed of detailed data of intersections, and a facility database composed of data relating to various facilities existing on the map.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a facility database included in the above-described map data. As shown in FIG. 2, in the facility database, the facility name, location data (longitude / latitude), and the facility are located in the building for each facility on the map such as a gas station, convenience store, bank, etc. Information such as the number of floors to be used, telephone number, address, and symbol code for identifying the corresponding landmark is included.

  Returning to FIG. A map data reading unit 3 reads map data from the DVD-ROM 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes an operation unit, which includes, for example, a remote controller (remote controller) or a touch panel. The operation unit 4 allows the user to set various types of information (for example, a route guidance destination) to the navigation control device 1 and various operations (for example, screen scrolling, numerical input, route search instructions, etc.) ) Is used. In the present embodiment, the user sets the specific floor by operating the operation unit 4 in order to selectively display a landmark of a facility located on the specific floor on the screen. Thus, the operation part 4 comprises the operation means of this invention.

  Reference numeral 5 denotes a GPS receiver, which receives radio waves transmitted from a plurality of GPS satellites by a GPS antenna 6 and performs a three-dimensional positioning process or a two-dimensional positioning process to calculate the absolute position and direction of the vehicle (vehicle The azimuth is calculated based on the current vehicle position and the current vehicle position one sampling time ΔT before). Then, the calculated absolute position and bearing information of the vehicle is output to the navigation control apparatus 1 together with the positioning time.

  Reference numeral 7 denotes a self-contained navigation sensor, which includes a relative azimuth sensor (angle sensor) 7a such as a vibration gyro that detects the rotation angle of the vehicle, and a distance sensor 7b that outputs one pulse for each predetermined travel distance. The self-contained navigation sensor 7 detects the relative position and direction of the vehicle by the angle sensor 7a and the distance sensor 7b, and outputs the information to the navigation control device 1.

  Reference numeral 8 denotes an audio unit, which outputs intersection guidance voices, various operation guidance voices, and the like from a speaker based on voice data output from the navigation control device 1. Reference numeral 9 denotes a display device that displays map information around the vehicle position along with vehicle position marks, destination marks, landmarks of various facilities, and the like based on image data output from the navigation control device 1. When a guidance route is set, the guidance route is displayed on a map, or an enlarged intersection view is displayed when the position of the vehicle approaches the vicinity of the guidance intersection.

  Next, the internal configuration of the navigation control device 1 will be described. 11 is a map buffer for temporarily storing map data read from the DVD-ROM 2 by the map data reading unit 3. Reference numeral 12 denotes a map reading control unit, which controls when the map data reading unit 3 reads map data from the DVD-ROM 2. When the screen center position is calculated by the map reading control unit 12, a map data reading instruction including a predetermined range including the screen center position is sent from the map reading control unit 12 to the map data reading unit 3 to display the map display and the guide route. The map data necessary for the search is read from the DVD-ROM 2 and stored in the map buffer 11.

  A map drawing unit 13 generates map image data necessary for display on the display device 9 based on the background layer and the character / symbol layer included in the map data stored in the map buffer 11. Reference numeral 14 denotes a VRAM (video RAM), which temporarily stores the map image data generated by the map drawing unit 13. A reading control unit 15 controls reading of map image data from the VRAM 14. The map image data generated by the map drawing unit 13 is temporarily stored in the VRAM 14, and the map image data for one screen is read by the read control unit 15.

  Reference numeral 16 denotes an operation control unit that gives instructions to each unit in the navigation control device 1 in accordance with an operation performed on the operation unit 4. Reference numeral 17 denotes an operation screen generation unit that generates and outputs an operation screen necessary for performing various operations using the operation unit 4. Reference numeral 27 denotes a nonvolatile user memory that stores various types of information set by the user by operating the operation unit 4. For example, as user setting information for selectively displaying on a screen a landmark of a facility located on a specific floor, the floor number of the facility (one or more floors can be set) or the upper limit of the floor (for example, the fourth floor or lower) ) And the like (hereinafter referred to as specific floor setting information).

  Reference numeral 18 denotes a various mark generation unit that generates and outputs a vehicle position mark displayed at the vehicle position after the map matching process, various landmarks displaying facilities, and the like. At this time, the various mark generation unit 18 converts the facility database information included in the map data read into the map buffer 11 and the specific floor setting information registered in the user memory 27 by the operation of the operation unit 4. Based on this, only the landmarks of the facility located on the specific floor are selectively generated and output.

  The various mark generators 18 hold landmark information as shown in FIG. The landmark information is information in which a symbol code for identifying various landmarks and landmark image data are stored in association with each other. The various mark generation unit 18 is based on the symbol code of the facility that matches the condition of the specific floor setting information registered in the user memory 27 among the various facilities included in the facility database, and image data corresponding to the symbol code. To generate a landmark. As described above, the various mark generators 18 constitute the landmark display means of the present invention.

  Reference numeral 19 denotes a data storage unit which sequentially stores absolute position and direction data of the own vehicle output from the GPS receiver 5. Reference numeral 20 denotes a vehicle running state calculation unit that calculates an absolute own vehicle position (estimated vehicle position) and vehicle direction based on data on the relative position and direction of the own vehicle output from the self-contained navigation sensor 7. . Reference numeral 21 denotes a map matching control unit, which is the map data read to the map buffer 11, the vehicle position and vehicle orientation data by the GPS receiver 5 stored in the data storage unit 19, and the vehicle running state calculation unit. Using the estimated vehicle position and vehicle orientation data calculated by 20, map matching processing by a projection method is performed for each vehicle travel distance, and the travel position of the vehicle is corrected on the road of the map data.

  Reference numeral 22 denotes a guidance route control unit, which searches for a guidance route with the lowest cost connecting the current location to the destination by using the map data stored in the map buffer 11. For example, a guidance route that minimizes the cost under various conditions such as the shortest time, the shortest distance, and general road priority is searched. As a typical method of route search, a depth-first search (DFS) method, a breadth-first search (BFS) method, and a Dijkstra method, which is a kind of breadth-first search, are known. A guidance route memory 23 stores guidance route data (a set of nodes from the current location to the destination) set by the guidance route control unit 22.

  A guidance route drawing unit 24 generates drawing data for the guidance route using the result of the route search process stored in the guidance route memory 23. That is, from the guidance route data stored in the guidance route memory 23, the one included in the map area drawn in the VRAM 14 at that time is selectively read out, and is superimposed on the map image in a predetermined color different from other roads. Draws a boldly emphasized guide route.

  Reference numeral 25 denotes an intersection guide unit. When the vehicle approaches within a predetermined distance from the guidance intersection in front of the guidance route, the guidance being approached is based on the intersection layer included in the map data stored in the map buffer 11. Generates and outputs an image of an intersection guide map (intersection enlarged view for guiding a vehicle toward a destination, destination, travel direction arrow), and generates audio to guide the travel direction at the guide intersection Or output to part 8.

  Reference numeral 26 denotes an image composition unit which outputs the map image data read by the read control unit 15 from each of the operation screen generation unit 17, various mark generation unit 18, guidance route drawing unit 24 and intersection guide unit 25. Each image data is overlapped to compose an image and output to the display device 9. As a result, the synthesized image is displayed on the screen of the display device 9.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a navigation screen displayed on the display device 9. In FIG. 4, CM is a vehicle position mark indicating the current position of the vehicle, and LM is a landmark indicating the type and position of the facility. FIG. 4A shows a display example when the user does not register the specific floor setting information. For example, landmarks of two facilities located on the first floor and the fourth floor in the same building are displayed in an overlapping manner. .

  On the other hand, FIG. 4B is a display example when specific floor setting information is registered, and only the landmarks of facilities located on the first floor in the building are selectively displayed. That is, in this example, since the facility on the fourth floor is difficult to determine instantaneously as a guide point from the driver's viewpoint, only the landmark of the facility on the first floor that is easy to find from the driver's viewpoint is displayed.

  In addition, when two or more landmarks are displayed in an overlapping manner as shown in FIG. 4A, the landmarks of the facility located in the upper layer are overlaid in order according to the number of floors where the facility is located. it's shown. On the contrary, you may display so that the landmark of the facility located in the lower layer may overlap. In this way, the landmarks of the lower-level facilities that are easy to find from the driver's viewpoint are displayed in the state of being superimposed on top, so that the landmarks of the appropriate facilities can be easily displayed as guide points.

  In addition, for example, the landmarks of facilities located below the ground are displayed as textures, so that the landmarks displayed on the ground and the facilities located below the ground are displayed differently. You may make it easy to distinguish by the display.

  As described above in detail, in the present embodiment, the floor information added to the landmark in the facility database is used to restrict the display of the landmark by user setting, and the land of the facility located on the specific floor is set. Only the mark is selectively displayed. As a result, only landmarks that are easy to find from the driver's point of view can be displayed in an easy-to-understand manner, and the confusion that a real facility cannot be found even though there are landmarks can be suppressed.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The configuration of the navigation device according to the second embodiment is the same as the block diagram shown in FIG. However, the information stored in the user memory 27 and the operations of the various mark generators 18 are different from those in the first embodiment. Hereinafter, a different part from this 1st Embodiment is demonstrated.

  In the second embodiment, in order to selectively display a landmark of a facility located on a specific floor on the screen, at least one of vehicle type, vehicle height, and viewpoint height information (hereinafter referred to as vehicle type information). ) By the user operating the operation unit 4. The user memory 27 stores vehicle type information set by the user through the operation of the operation unit 4.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a vehicle type information setting screen displayed on the display device 9 by the operation screen generating unit 17. If the vehicle type guidance is set to [Yes] on the screen of FIG. 5 (A), the vehicle type setting becomes valid. Then, by pressing the [SET] button, detailed information on the vehicle type is input as shown in FIGS. 5 (B) and 5 (C). That is, when an automobile manufacturer name is selected on the screen of FIG. 5B, an actual vehicle type list (not shown) is displayed, and can be easily set by selecting a vehicle type from the list.

  In addition, if you select a general-purpose vehicle on the screen shown in Fig. 5B, you can select several types (e.g. sedan, SUV, wagon, coupe, minivan, 2BOX, open car, compact / light as shown in Fig. 5C). ) Can be selected from general-purpose formats. Eyepoints (viewpoint height) are set for each vehicle type (specific vehicle types, general-purpose vehicle types). The “eyepoint” part in FIG. A specified value corresponding to the selected vehicle type is automatically input. With regard to this eye point, the numerical value can be finely adjusted by pressing the arrow key beside the number. The user memory 27 stores the numerical value of the eye point.

  The various mark generators 18 hold eye point information as shown in FIG. 6 in addition to the landmark information shown in FIG. This eye point information stores the height information of the eye point and the floor information of the facility to be displayed according to the height in association with each other. For example, a wagon car with a high vehicle height and a sports car with a low vehicle height have different viewpoints of the driver, and a tenant (for example, a tenant located on the second floor of a building) that can be seen with a wagon car is hardly visible with a sports car. On the other hand, tenants on the first floor, which are easy to see with sports cars, are often difficult to see with wagon cars. Therefore, in the second embodiment, the easy-to-see floor number is stored as the eye point information according to the vehicle type (vehicle height).

  The various mark generation unit 18 determines the specific floor number of the facility to be displayed as the landmark based on the vehicle type information (the numerical value of the eye point) registered in the user memory 27 and the above-described eye point information. Then, among the various facilities included in the facility database read into the map buffer 11, the image data of the facility that matches the determined specific floor is read based on the symbol code, and only the landmark of the specific floor is read. It occurs selectively. As described above, in the second embodiment, the various mark generators 18 constitute the specific rank determining means and the landmark display means of the present invention.

  As described above in detail, in the second embodiment, the floor information added to the landmark in the facility database is used to limit the display of the landmark according to the vehicle type information set by the user. Only landmarks of a specific floor suitable for the driver's viewpoint height are selectively displayed. As a result, only landmarks that are easy to find from the viewpoint of the driver according to the reality can be displayed in an easy-to-understand manner, and confusion such that a real facility cannot be found even though there are landmarks can be suppressed.

  In the first embodiment, the example in which the various mark generation unit 18 holds the landmark information as shown in FIG. 3 has been described, but it may be held by other than the various mark generation unit 18. For example, you may make it include in the map data of DVD-ROM2. In the second embodiment, the example in which the mark information as shown in FIG. 3 and the eyepoint information as shown in FIG. 6 are held by the various mark generation units 18 has been described. You may make it do. For example, you may make it include in the map data of DVD-ROM2.

  In addition, each of the above-described embodiments is merely an example of implementation in carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed in a limited manner. In other words, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit or main features thereof.

  The present invention is useful for a navigation device that displays various facilities as landmarks on a road map.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the navigation apparatus by 1st and 2nd embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the facility database by this embodiment contained in map data. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the landmark information which various mark generation | occurrence | production parts hold | maintain. It is a figure which shows the example of the navigation screen displayed on a display apparatus. It is a figure which shows the example of the setting screen of the vehicle type information displayed on a display apparatus. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the eyepoint information which various mark generation | occurrence | production parts hold | maintain.

Explanation of symbols

1 Navigation control device 2 DVD-ROM
4 Operation unit 9 Display device 11 Map buffer 18 Various mark generation unit 26 Image composition unit 27 User memory

Claims (6)

In a navigation device that displays a map around a vehicle by representing a road and facilities adjacent to the road in a figure using map information,
A storage medium storing facility information including the name, position, floor number, etc. of the facility, landmark information for representing the facility in a figure,
Navigation comprising: landmark display means for selectively displaying a landmark of a facility located on a specific floor on the vehicle periphery map based on the floor information of the facility included in the facility information. apparatus. The operation means for the user to manually set the specific floor is provided,
The landmark display means selectively selects a landmark of the facility located in the specific floor based on the setting information of the specific floor input by the operation of the operation means and the floor information of the facility included in the facility information. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the navigation device is displayed on the vehicle periphery map. Operation means for inputting at least one of vehicle type, vehicle height and viewpoint height;
Specific floor number determining means for determining the specific floor number based on the vehicle type, vehicle height or viewpoint height information input by operating the operation means;
The landmark display means selectively selects a landmark of the facility located in the specific floor based on the information on the specific floor determined by the specific floor determination means and the floor information of the facility included in the facility information. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the navigation apparatus displays on the vehicle periphery map. In a landmark display method for displaying facilities adjacent to roads as landmarks on a map displayed using map information,
The landmark of the facility located on the specific floor is selectively displayed on the map around the vehicle based on the floor information of the facility included in the facility information obtained by collecting the information on the facility. Mark display method. The landmark display method according to claim 4, wherein the specific floor is a floor registered in a navigation device by a user operating an operation unit. 5. The navigation device according to claim 4, wherein the specific floor is determined by predetermined navigation table information based on vehicle type, vehicle height, or viewpoint height information set by a user operating an operation unit. The landmark display method described.

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