JP2006133068A - Vehicle-mounted navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle-mounted navigation device capable of giving advice for suppressing a user's economic load to the utmost even when oil feed is required inevitably, by avoiding oil feed on an automobile road wherein fuel cost is generally high. <P>SOLUTION: A fuel amount consumed for traveling a specified route and a fuel residual amount in a vehicle are calculated at least from an average fuel consumption, and it is determined whether fuel run-out occurs on the automobile road included in a route to a destination or not from the fuel residual amount and a fuel consumption classified by each kind of road. When determined thereby that the fuel run-out occurs, a facility capable of oil feed before entering the automobile road is retrieved, and re-search can be set by using the oil-feeding facility as a via-point. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle navigation device, and more particularly to an in-vehicle navigation device capable of guiding an economical refueling method when there is a possibility that refueling on an expressway may be necessary.

A conventional in-vehicle navigation device can acquire a signal from a GPS satellite, a signal generated by a gyro sensor, a vehicle speed pulse, and the like to calculate a vehicle position (coordinate value indicated by latitude and longitude), a traveling direction of the vehicle, a traveling speed, and the like. It is like that.
In addition, it is equipped with a device that is equipped with a recording medium such as a DVD-ROM or hard disk and retrieves and reads map data and road data stored in this recording medium. It is also possible to know which road the vehicle is currently driving from the position (coordinates) information calculated from the road data and the signals from the sensors mentioned above.

However, in general, the remaining amount of fuel in the vehicle can only be determined from the display on the fuel gauge installed in the vehicle in advance, and it must be judged from the driver's previous experience and the like how much the remaining fuel can be driven. .
In addition, since there is an unstable factor that the travel distance changes greatly when the travel speed changes, it is not easy to determine how much the remaining fuel can travel.

  Normally, you can drive on a highway at a constant speed, so the fuel is used efficiently, and you can travel a very long distance. However, on ordinary roads, you can stop at an intersection or the speed of the surrounding vehicle. The distance traveled tends to be much lower than on the highway due to the drastic change of the road.

  Against this background, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-46572 (Patent Document 1) refuels on an automobile-only road when an automobile-only road (such as a highway) is included in a route searched for while traveling on a general road. A navigation system has been proposed in which it is determined whether or not it is possible to reach a place where it can be reached, and if it cannot be reached, the approach to the automobile road is temporarily stopped and first guided to the nearest gas station on a general road.

However, such conventional technology does not take into account changes in travel speed due to road congestion, etc., and it also contributes to the user's economic burden (generally fuel prices on exclusive roads tend to be higher than on general roads). There is no consideration.
In other words, if the road for exclusive use of the automobile is congested due to an accident or the like, it may not be possible to reach the place where the next fuel can be refueled, and refueling in the expressway may increase the economic burden.
JP 2000-46572 A

  In view of such a point, the present invention generally avoids refueling in an automobile road with high fuel prices, and even if it is absolutely necessary to refuel, an in-vehicle navigation device capable of giving advice to suppress the economic burden of the user as much as possible. The purpose is to provide.

In order to solve such a problem, in the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention,
(a) an average fuel consumption calculating means for detecting a mileage and fuel consumption at least for each road type, and calculating an average fuel consumption therefrom;
(b) fuel consumption calculating means for calculating the amount of fuel consumed for traveling on the specified route from the average fuel consumption for each road type;
(c) fuel remaining amount calculating means for calculating the remaining amount of fuel in the vehicle;
(d) on the road dedicated to automobiles included in the route from the fuel remaining amount calculated by the fuel remaining amount calculating means and the fuel consumption for each road type determined by the fuel consumption calculating means to the destination Determination means for determining whether or not a fuel shortage occurs,
This makes it possible to search for a facility that can be refueled before entering the automobile road when it is determined that a fuel shortage will occur, set the searched refueling facility as a waypoint, and set a re-search. It is.

Furthermore,
(a) a traffic obstacle determining means for determining whether a traffic obstacle such as a traffic jam has occurred in the recommended road from the traffic information acquired by the traffic information acquiring means;
(b) refueling determination means for determining whether or not it is necessary to refuel on the automobile exclusive road due to the influence of the traffic obstacle;
(c) facility search instruction means for instructing a search for a refueling facility on a general road ahead from an exit of the automobile exclusive road and the automobile exclusive road when it is determined that refueling is required by the oil supply determining means;
(d) The fuel remaining amount calculated by the fuel remaining amount calculating means and the amount of fuel necessary to travel between the searched fueling facilities should be replenished at the fueling facility on the exclusive road for automobiles. Supplementary fuel calculation means for calculating the minimum amount of fuel,
The calculated minimum fuel replenishment amount is presented to the user, and the route can be re-searched using the refueling place on the general road as a transit point.

  By providing the means as described above, it is possible to avoid refueling on the road for exclusive use of automobiles, and even if it is necessary to refuel on the road for exclusive use of cars due to traffic jams, etc., the user's economic burden is suppressed. Will be able to.

The best mode for carrying out the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention is:
(a) an average fuel consumption calculating means for detecting a mileage and fuel consumption at least for each road type, and calculating an average fuel consumption therefrom;
(b) fuel consumption calculating means for calculating the amount of fuel consumed for traveling on the specified route from the average fuel consumption for each road type;
(c) fuel remaining amount calculating means for calculating the remaining amount of fuel in the vehicle;
(d) on the road dedicated to automobiles included in the route from the fuel remaining amount calculated by the fuel remaining amount calculating means and the fuel consumption for each road type determined by the fuel consumption calculating means to the destination A determination means for determining whether or not a fuel shortage occurs;
(e) facility search instruction means for issuing an instruction to search for a facility that can be refueled before entering the automobile-dedicated road when it is determined by the determining means that the fuel runs out;
(f) A re-search instruction means for setting the searched refueling facility as a transit point and instructing a re-search is provided.

First, an internal configuration example of the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
The navigation device 1 includes an arithmetic processing unit 10, an external storage device 20, a sensor unit 30, a display unit 40, an external information receiving unit 50, an input / output unit 60, and the like.

The arithmetic processing unit 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 and a Flash ROM (Read Only).
Memory) 12 and DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) 13.
Of course, there are other elements constituting the arithmetic processing unit 10, but illustration of elements not related to the description of the present invention is omitted.

  The CPU 11 is used for performing various calculations in addition to executing application programs described later. For example, a signal from the sensor unit 30 is calculated according to a predetermined logic, or a current position of the vehicle is calculated based on information from a GPS (Global Positioning System) signal receiving unit 51, and display is necessary from the calculated current position information. The map information is read from the external storage device 20 and displayed on the display unit 40 together with the current position.

The CPU 11 can also perform processing for calculating the distance between two points arbitrarily designated by the user from the coordinate value data of the designated points stored in a database described later.
The storage device 12 stores application programs for various functions of the navigation device 1 and data necessary for the calculation thereof. Here, the Flash ROM 12 is used, but an EPROM or the like having equivalent functions is used. Also good.

The DRAM 13 is used as a work area being processed or for temporarily storing map data or the like.
The external storage device 20 stores information necessary for navigation processing such as map data, road types, road data for route calculation such as nodes constituting the road data and link configuration information, and coordinate information, facility information such as telephone numbers and addresses. Is building as.

  The external storage device 20 is configured by one or a combination of one or both of a DVD drive 21 in which a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) 23 storing the above-described information is inserted and a PC card interface 22 in which a memory card 24 is inserted. ing.

The sensor unit 30 includes an azimuth sensor 31 and a gyro 32. The azimuth sensor 31 detects the direction of the moving body by detecting the magnetic field of the earth. The gyro 32 is an optical fiber gyroscope, a vibration gyroscope, or the like. Is used to detect the angle of rotation of the moving body.
The signals detected by the azimuth sensor 31 and the gyro 32 are converted into digital signals by an analog-digital converter (A / D) 34 and sent to the arithmetic processing unit 10 via the internal bus 70.
In addition to the above sensors, a fuel sensor 37 is provided, and a detection signal of the fuel sensor 37 is periodically converted into a digital signal by an analog-digital converter (A / D) 36 and the internal bus 70 is passed through. To the arithmetic processing unit 10 and stored in the DRAM 13.

  The sensor unit 30 includes a wheel speed sensor 33. The wheel speed sensor 33 detects the travel distance of the moving body by counting the pulse signal output with the rotation of the wheel by the counter 35, and this travel distance. Similarly, the signal is sent to the arithmetic processing unit 10 via the internal bus 70.

The GPS signal receiving unit 51 receives a signal from a GPS satellite via the GPS antenna 54, and measures the distance between the moving body and the satellite and the rate of change of the distance, thereby the current position of the moving body,
The travel direction and travel direction are measured, and these measurement data are sent from the SCI (Serial Communication Interface) 53 to the arithmetic unit 10 via the internal bus 70.

  Further, the traffic information receiving unit 52 periodically receives the VICS information superimposed on the FM broadcast via the FM multiplex receiver 55, and imports traffic information such as traffic jam information, traffic regulations and traffic accident occurrence information from the SCI 53. The data is sent to the arithmetic unit 10 via the bus 70. Such traffic information is displayed on the display unit 40 together with the map information.

The display unit 40 includes display control means including a display driver 41, a controller 43, a buffer 44, and the like, and a display device 42 such as a liquid crystal panel or a CRT, and receives data sent from the arithmetic processing unit 10 via the internal bus 70. The data is stored in the buffer 44 and based on this, the display device 4
2 displays a map, a guide route, a vehicle position, and the like.

The input / output unit 60 is a key PAD 62 configured by a hard switch or a jog switch that receives an instruction from the user, a remote control light receiving unit 61 that receives an optical signal from a remote control 65 operated by the user, and a user generated by the arithmetic processing unit 10. Is converted to a voice signal by a speaker (SP) 66, and a voice code inputted through a microphone 68 is taken in and converted by a CODEC 63 or the like.
These exchange data with the arithmetic processing unit 10 via a PIO (Port Input / Output) 64 and an internal bus 70.

A series of processes in the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 2 schematically shows a route to a general destination. A general road IPL continues from the departure point S by a distance L1 (km), enters an expressway HWL from an entrance interchange EIC, and passes through a highway at a distance L2. After traveling for (km), the vehicle exits the highway HWL at the exit OIC and travels on the general road IPL to L3 (km) to the destination D. In the middle of the highway HWL, a service area SA provided with a rest area, a gas station, and the like is installed.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with respect to traveling routes using such general roads and highways.
First, the process for calculating the average fuel consumption for each road type will be described based on the process flow diagram for calculating the average fuel consumption for each road type shown in FIG. 3 and the functional diagram shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, the function of each component is as follows.

First, the vehicle position detection means 320 obtains the vehicle position from a GPS signal, a vehicle speed signal from the sensor unit 30, a direction signal, or the like.
The map database 380 includes map data, road data, search data, and the like, and the fuel remaining amount calculating means 350 obtains the fuel remaining amount in the fuel tank based on a signal from the fuel sensor. The average fuel consumption calculation means 370 calculates the average fuel consumption from the vehicle position detection means 320, the map database 380, the remaining fuel and the like. The buffer memory 340 has a temporary storage function such as route data, average fuel consumption, and remaining amount of fuel, and other data is read as needed to perform necessary calculations.

  Next, the process for calculating the average fuel consumption for each road type will be described with reference to FIG. 3. This link ID change interrupt process S100 is automatically performed when locator information is periodically acquired from the GPS signal receiving unit 51 or the sensor unit 30. The vehicle location calculation means 320 calculates new current location information, identifies which link is currently on, and if there is a change in the link ID corresponding to the new current location, this link ID change interrupt processing S100 is executed. The

  When the link ID change interrupt process S100 is started, first, the currently set vehicle speed range is confirmed in step S102. In this step S102, the average fuel consumption is determined for each vehicle speed range that has been classified into several categories in advance. In this embodiment, limited to ordinary roads, it is classified into three types of speeds of less than 20km, less than 20km and less than 40km, and more than 40km. ing.

  Next, in step S104, vehicle speed information calculated based on the output signal from the vehicle speed sensor is acquired, and then in step S106, the link length of the link where the host vehicle currently exists is added to the total accumulated link length. The cumulative travel distance is obtained by addition, fuel remaining amount information calculated by the remaining amount calculating means 350 is acquired, and the fuel consumption corresponding to the travel distance is calculated from the difference from the first acquired remaining amount information. Is calculated.

  Next, in S108, the fuel consumption is calculated from the cumulative travel distance and the fuel consumption, and the past average fuel consumption data of the same road type (or the same vehicle speed range in the case of ordinary roads) stored in a predetermined buffer is stored. And the average value is stored in the buffer 340 as a new average fuel consumption.

Thereafter, in S110, it is determined whether or not the road type has also changed in the current link ID change. If there is a change, the process proceeds to S112 to change the road type in the fuel consumption calculation.
On the other hand, if there is no change in the road type, it is determined whether or not the vehicle speed setting range has changed in S114. If there is a change, in S116, the vehicle speed setting range is acquired based on the vehicle speed information acquired in S104. If the change is made and the process exits, and the vehicle speed setting range does not change, the process exits without doing anything.

Next, the refueling necessity determination process on the expressway will be described with reference to FIGS.
In this process, a user searches and extracts a destination based on a facility database and the like, and a recommended route to the destination is searched by a recommended route searching means, and the number of links constituting the route, its link ID, It is assumed that data such as road type and link length is stored in the buffer memory 340 (DRAM 13 or the like).

First, the function of each component in FIG. 6 is as described below.
The fuel consumption calculation unit 400 has a function of calculating the fuel consumption from the buffer memory 340 from the road type, the link length, and the like.
The highway refueling necessity determination unit 410 has a function of determining the highway refueling necessity from the fuel consumption from the fuel consumption calculation unit 400, the road type, the remaining fuel amount, and the like.
These are performed by displaying a warning of fuel shortage and an inquiry about the necessity of refueling on the display means.

Next, specific processing will be described with reference to FIG. 5A, which is executed in the processing flow defined in the fuel supply determination processing S200.
First, the remaining amount information of the fuel calculated by the remaining amount calculating means 350 and stored in the buffer memory 340 is acquired in S202.
Next, in S204, the section length of the road constituting the recommended route (the sum of the link lengths of a plurality of links) and the road type data, and further the average fuel consumption data corresponding to the road type (in the case of ordinary roads, 20 km / h to 40 km / h) The amount of fuel consumed when traveling on the road is calculated from the average fuel efficiency of the vehicle speed range below, and is subtracted from the remaining amount of fuel in S206.

Thereafter, in S208, it is determined whether or not the subtraction result is 0 or less. If the subtraction result is not 0 or less, the process returns to S204 to read the next road data and repeat the same processing.
On the other hand, when the subtraction result becomes 0 or less in S208, the process proceeds to S210, and it is determined from the road type data whether it is a highway.
If it is not a highway in S210, this process is exited (here, if it is not less than 0 even when going to the destination, or if it is not an expressway, the remaining amount is 0 or less) You may make it display on the map the point where becomes less than 0).

On the other hand, if it is determined in S210 that the road is an expressway, the process proceeds to S212 to inquire the user by displaying a message on the display unit 40 asking whether or not to search for a fueling facility.
Here, if the user indicates an instruction to search for a fueling facility in response to this inquiry in S214, the process proceeds to a fueling facility search process shown in FIG.

The fueling facility search process will be described with reference to FIG.
First, in S302, a route from the departure point to the expressway entrance (corresponding to the IPL in FIG. 2) is specified, and in S304, a fueling facility on or near the route is searched based on the search database 380.
Then, the route to the destination is searched using the refueling facility searched in S306 as a transit point, and finally, the refueling facility searched in S308 is highlighted on the map on the display screen, and the process is exited.

Although the above-described series of processing examples does not consider the influence of traffic disturbances such as traffic jams, the processing in the embodiment considering the case where traffic jams occur on the route will be described with reference to FIG.
First, when traffic information is acquired by the traffic information acquisition means in S402, it is displayed on the display unit 40. At the same time, it is determined in S404 whether the traffic jam section is on the route.

If the route is not on the route in S404, the present process is exited. If the route is on the route, the travel speed is estimated from the information on the traffic jam length and the passage time included in the traffic jam information in S406. The average fuel consumption corresponding to the traveling speed is read from the buffer memory 340.
Then, the remaining amount of fuel calculated by the remaining amount calculating means 350 in S408, the remaining route to the destination (road type and distance), and fuel consumption (the above-mentioned fuel consumption is adopted for the traffic jam section) are calculated. Compare mileage.

Next, in S410, it is determined whether or not a fuel shortage occurs on the highway based on the result. On the other hand, if it is determined in S410 that there is a possibility of running out of fuel on the highway from the result, it is determined in S412 whether the vehicle is currently on the highway.
If it is not on the highway in S412, that is, if it is on a general road, a general road refueling facility around the vehicle position is searched in S416, and a route is re-searched using this general road refueling facility as a transit point in S420. Later, this process is exited.

On the other hand, if you are on the highway, search for a highway refueling facility that can be refueled on the highway in S414 and a general road refueling facility that can be refueled after going down the highway. Re-search the route as
Then, in S422, a process of calculating the amount of oil necessary to reach the general road refueling facility that can be refueled down the highway (minimum replenishment amount in the refueling facility on the highway) is performed, and the process is exited. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to FIG.

FIG. 8 shows a process for calculating the minimum amount of oil in a highway refueling facility, and FIG. 9 shows a functional diagram thereof.
First, in FIG. 9, the supplementary fuel calculation means 560 includes current location information, route data, refueling facility information,
It has a function of calculating a fuel replenishment fee from the average fuel efficiency fuel remaining amount and displaying it on the display means.

Next, a process of calculating the minimum amount of oil in the highway refueling facility will be described.
First, in S502, the distance from the refueling facility on the expressway to the expressway is calculated from the route data and refueling facility information (position information) stored in the buffer memory 340, and in S504, the average fuel efficiency of the expressway is calculated from the high speed. Find the amount of fuel consumed on the road.
Next, in S506, the travel distance from the expressway exit to the refueling facility on the general road is determined, and in S508, the amount of fuel required to travel on the general road is determined from the average fuel consumption of the general road.

In S510, the total amount is subtracted from the remaining amount of fuel, the result of subtraction is stored, and displayed at the lower end of the screen until it arrives at the fueling facility. A pop-up is displayed to notify the user.
Note that only the remaining amount may be displayed at the lower end of the screen until it arrives at the refueling facility, and when it is within a predetermined distance from the refueling facility, the refueling amount may be highlighted.

In this embodiment, the travel speed range is set for obtaining the average fuel consumption on a general road, but the travel time in the travel speed range is not considered.
However, if the travel time is too short, it is assumed that the remaining amount calculation means cannot accurately detect the change in the remaining amount.Therefore, if the vehicle does not travel continuously for a predetermined time within the set speed range, You may not use it.

It is a figure explaining the internal structural example of the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus of this invention. It is the schematic diagram which showed the path | route structure to a general destination. It is a flowchart figure explaining the average fuel consumption calculation process in the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus of this invention. It is a functional diagram explaining the average fuel consumption calculation process in the vehicle-mounted navigation device of the present invention. It is a flowchart figure explaining the oil supply necessity determination process in the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus of this invention. It is a functional diagram explaining the oil supply necessity determination process in the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus of this invention. It is a flowchart figure explaining the refueling necessity determination process in consideration of congestion occurrence in the vehicle-mounted navigation device of the present invention. It is a flowchart figure explaining the minimum oil supply amount calculation process when the oil supply is needed on the highway by the occurrence of traffic congestion in the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention. It is a functional diagram explaining a process when oil supply is needed on a highway by occurrence of traffic congestion in the vehicle-mounted navigation device of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Car-mounted navigation apparatus, 10 ... Arithmetic processing part, 11 ... CPU, 12 ... Flash ROM, 13 ... DRAM, 20 ... External storage device, 21 ... DVD drive, 22 ... PC card I / F, 30 ... Sensor part, 37 ...... Fuel sensor, 40 ... display unit, 51 ... GPS signal receiving unit, 52 ... Traffic information receiving unit, 60 ... I / O unit, 70 ... Bus.

Claims (3)

Storage means for storing at least information necessary for navigation processing such as map data and road data, a facility search database, and the like, and at least the current vehicle position and a recommended route from the vehicle position to the destination are the road data. In a navigation device comprising: a control means for searching using a control means; and a display control means for displaying a vehicle position on a display screen on a recommended route searched by the control means,
The control means is
(a) an average fuel consumption calculating means for detecting a mileage and fuel consumption at least for each road type, and calculating an average fuel consumption therefrom;
(b) fuel consumption calculating means for calculating the amount of fuel consumed for traveling on the specified route from the average fuel consumption for each road type;
(c) fuel remaining amount calculating means for calculating the remaining amount of fuel in the vehicle;
(d) on the road dedicated to automobiles included in the route from the fuel remaining amount calculated by the fuel remaining amount calculating means and the fuel consumption for each road type determined by the fuel consumption calculating means to the destination A navigation device comprising: determination means for determining whether or not a fuel shortage occurs. Traffic information acquisition means for acquiring traffic information from the outside, storage means for storing at least information necessary for navigation processing such as map data and road data, and a facility search database, at least the current vehicle position and the vehicle Control means for searching for a recommended route from the vehicle position to the destination using the road data and the like, and display control means for displaying the vehicle position on the display screen on the recommended route searched by the control means Navigation devices
The control means is
(a) an average fuel consumption calculating means for detecting a mileage and fuel consumption at least for each road type, and calculating an average fuel consumption therefrom;
(b) fuel consumption calculating means for calculating the amount of fuel consumed for traveling on the specified route from the average fuel consumption for each road type;
(c) fuel remaining amount calculating means for calculating the remaining amount of fuel in the vehicle;
(d) on the road dedicated to automobiles included in the route from the fuel remaining amount calculated by the fuel remaining amount calculating means and the fuel consumption for each road type determined by the fuel consumption calculating means to the destination A determination means for determining whether or not a fuel shortage occurs;
(e) facility search instruction means for issuing an instruction to search for a facility that can be refueled before entering the automobile-dedicated road when it is determined by the determining means that the fuel runs out;
(f) A navigation device comprising: a re-search instruction means for setting a searched refueling facility as a waypoint and instructing a re-search. The control means according to claim 2,
(a) a traffic obstacle determining means for determining whether a traffic obstacle such as a traffic jam has occurred in the recommended road from the traffic information acquired by the traffic information acquiring means;
(b) refueling determination means for determining whether or not it is necessary to refuel on the automobile exclusive road due to the influence of the traffic obstacle;
(c) facility search instruction means for instructing a search for a refueling facility on a general road ahead from an exit of the automobile exclusive road and the automobile exclusive road when it is determined that refueling is required by the oil supply determining means;
(d) The fuel remaining amount calculated by the fuel remaining amount calculating means and the amount of fuel necessary to travel between the searched fueling facilities should be replenished at the fueling facility on the exclusive road for automobiles. A replenishment fuel calculating means for calculating a minimum amount of fuel, and presenting the calculated minimum replenishment amount of fuel to the user and re-searching the route using the refueling place on the general road as a transit point apparatus.

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