JP2006258656A - Navigation device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display caution-needed spots for travelling in a mode responding to the amount of knowledge resulting from the amount of knowledge of caution-needed spots estimated from mastership for a road map. <P>SOLUTION: On the basis of historical travelling data indicating the roads a vehicle has actually travelled so far, mastership is computed for each map partition. According to mastership obtained, displaying mode is changed of the caution-needed spots in each map partition. Thereby, representation of caution-needed spots can be implemented appropriately responding to mastership of road map for each user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle navigation apparatus that displays a map according to a user's familiarity with a road map for each predetermined map section.

  As a navigation device that uses a user's familiarity with a road map for each predetermined map section, for example, a navigation device described in Patent Document 1 is known. In the navigation device described in Patent Document 1, a travel history and map information are stored in association with each other. Specifically, the travel history is stored for each road section obtained by dividing roads included in a predetermined area of the map information into predetermined sections.

  Then, based on the travel history and the map information, a section travel distance for each road section of the host vehicle is calculated, and the section travel distance is integrated for each predetermined area including the road section. The regional mileage for each is calculated. On the other hand, a road total length, which is the sum of the distances of roads included in a predetermined area, is obtained, and a ratio of the regional travel distance to the total road length is calculated to calculate a degree of familiarity for each predetermined area.

The calculated local familiarity is used for searching map information. For example, when the area familiarity of a predetermined area exceeds a predetermined value, the place name belonging to the predetermined area is added as an independent search condition for map information. As a result, in order to input a place name, it is usually necessary to input information for specifying the place name in order from the prefecture level, but it is not necessary to input such information. Further, when performing the search process for the target object, if the target object belongs to an area having a low degree of local familiarity, the search is performed by excluding the target object located along the road having a low road grade from the search object. This prevents a target object that is difficult to reach in a land that the user does not know from being presented to the user as a search result.
JP 2003-83759 A

  As described above, the navigation device described in Patent Document 1 is merely intended to improve the convenience of the user by using the degree of familiarity with the map for searching for map information.

  Here, when the vehicle travels on a road, for example, there are points that should be traveled with particular care, such as intersections, railroad crossings, and sharp curves where accidents are likely to occur. Therefore, it is considered useful to inform the user about such a travel attention point using a navigation device. However, the driver of each vehicle may already have sufficient knowledge about such a driving caution point, or may not have such knowledge at all. It can be considered that such knowledge about the driving attention point correlates with the familiarity with the road map.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and estimates the knowledge amount related to the travel attention point from the familiarity with the road map, and displays the travel attention point according to the knowledge amount. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular navigation device capable of performing the above.

In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle navigation device according to claim 1 is provided.
A display device;
Map data storage means for storing road map data indicating a road by a plurality of links; caution point data storage means for storing caution point data indicating a caution point where a vehicle should travel with caution on each road;
Traveling history storage means for storing the traveling history of the vehicle in association with the road map data;
Familiarity degree calculation means for calculating a familiarity degree in each map section based on the travel history;
Display the road map on the display device based on the road map data, and change the display mode for the caution point in each map section according to the familiarity of each map section when displaying the caution point on the road map Display control means.

  When it is estimated that the degree of familiarity with the road map is high and therefore the amount of knowledge regarding the attention point is large, the necessity for the display regarding the attention point is low. Furthermore, it may be difficult to view the road map display by displaying the attention point. On the other hand, if it is estimated that the familiarity with the road map is low and therefore the knowledge amount regarding the caution point is also low, it is expected that the driving safety of the vehicle can be improved by displaying the caution point.

  Therefore, in the vehicle navigation device according to the first aspect, the familiarity of each map section is calculated, and the display mode related to the attention point in each map section is changed according to the familiarity. Thereby, the display regarding a caution point can be performed appropriately according to each user's familiarity with the road map.

  As a specific example of the change of the display mode, as described in claim 2, the display control means, when the familiarity degree is high, the display regarding the attention point is conspicuous as compared with the case where the familiarity degree is lower than that. It is preferable to change the display mode related to the caution point so that there is no such problem. For example, if the display related to the caution point when the familiarity level is low consists of a point mark indicating the caution point and a caution message indicating the caution content at the caution point, the display regarding the caution point when the familiarity level is high By using only, it is possible to make the display regarding the attention point inconspicuous.

  Further, as another specific example of the change of the display mode, as described in claim 3, the display control means stops displaying the attention point when the familiarity is high, and when the familiarity is low. In addition, a display regarding a caution point may be performed.

  In either case of claim 2 or claim 3, if the familiarity is high, the display of the road map can be prevented from being hindered by the display regarding the cautionary point, and the familiarity is low. The caution point can be displayed so that the caution point can be easily recognized.

As described in claim 4, the vehicle includes travel determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is traveling,
It is preferable that the display control means change the display mode related to the cautionary point even when the vehicle is traveling. In other words, when the vehicle is stopped, the user may check the road conditions around the vehicle on the road map. For example, if the display regarding the caution point is inconspicuous or the display is deleted, the convenience of the user There are cases where it can contribute to improvement.

  As described in claim 5, it is preferable that the user can select whether or not to change the display mode related to the caution point according to the familiarity of each map section. This is to respect the user's intention.

As described in claim 6, the map data storage means stores road map data capable of identifying at least a narrow street and other types of roads,
The display control means preferably changes the display / non-display of the narrow streets in each map section according to the familiarity of each map section.

  Most of the users who are familiar with the road map already know the main road, and the information required as the road map is often related to narrow streets other than the main road. On the other hand, users with a low level of familiarity with road maps rarely use narrow streets because they are unguided, and when a road map including narrow streets is displayed, it is difficult to see the displayed road map. This is because there are cases.

As described in claim 7, the vehicle includes travel determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is traveling,
The display control means preferably changes the display / non-display of the narrow streets depending on whether or not the vehicle is traveling. This is because the user may stop the vehicle and check the road condition including the narrow street.

  As described in claim 8, it is preferable that the user can select whether or not to change the display / non-display of the narrow streets according to the familiarity of each map section. This is to respect the user's intention.

  The degree of familiarity can also be calculated by the method described in Patent Document 1 described above. However, as described in claim 9, the familiarity degree calculating means travels for each map section based on the traveling history. Computation means for calculating the cumulative travel distance for each section obtained by summing the distances and calculating the ratio of the cumulative travel distance for each section to the total travel distance of the vehicle, and based on the ratio calculated by the calculation means, The degree of familiarity may be determined.

  Hereinafter, a vehicle navigation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a vehicle navigation apparatus 20 according to the present embodiment. As shown in the figure, the vehicle navigation device 20 of this embodiment includes a position detector 1, a map data input device 6, an operation switch group 7, an external memory 9, a display device 10, a VICS transceiver 11, and a voice controller 12. A remote control sensor 16 and a navigation ECU 8 as a control circuit connected thereto.

  The navigation ECU 8 is configured as a normal computer, and includes a well-known CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O, and a bus line for connecting these configurations. In the ROM, a program to be executed by the navigation ECU 8 is written, and a CPU or the like executes predetermined arithmetic processing according to this program.

  The position detector 1 includes a well-known geomagnetic sensor 2, a gyroscope 3, a vehicle speed (distance) sensor 4 for calculating a travel distance, and a GPS (Global Positioning) that detects the position of the vehicle based on radio waves from a satellite. System) GPS receiver 5 is included. Since these have errors of different properties, they are configured to be used while being complemented by a plurality of sensors. Depending on the accuracy of each sensor, the position detector 1 may be configured as a part of the above.

  The map data input device 6 receives map data necessary for drawing a map, including road data including node data and link data, background data indicating terrain, character data for displaying place names, and the like. It is a device to input to. The map data input device 6 includes a storage medium for storing map data. As the storage medium, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM or the like is generally used depending on the amount of data to be stored. A rewritable medium such as a hard disk may be used.

  Here, the configuration of node data and link data in the road data will be described. The node data includes a node ID with a unique number for each node where a plurality of roads intersect, merge, and branch, a node coordinate, a node name, a connection link ID in which the link IDs of all links connected to the node are described, It consists of various data such as intersection type, presence / absence of traffic lights, and regulation information.

  On the other hand, link data includes a link ID with a unique number for each road, link length, start and end node coordinates, road type (highway, toll road, national road, prefectural road, narrow street, etc.), road width, lane It consists of data such as number, link travel time, legal speed limit, etc. That is, the link of the link data is obtained by dividing each road on the map into a plurality of nodes by nodes indicating intersections, branching points, etc., and defining two nodes as links. Therefore, the node coordinates of the start point and the end point become the coordinates of the start end and end of the link.

  With these node data and link data, it is possible to draw a road on a map or calculate a guide route from a departure point to a destination by using a known method such as the Dijkstra method.

  Further, in the present embodiment, for example, the caution point data including the caution point that the vehicle should travel with particular attention, such as an intersection that easily causes an accident, a crossing, a sharp curve, a long downhill, etc. In association with the data, it is stored in advance in the storage medium of the map data input device 6. However, the caution point data can be acquired from the outside using, for example, the VICS transceiver 11 described later, in addition to being stored in advance in the storage medium of the map data input device 6.

  The operation switch group 7 is configured as, for example, a touch switch or a mechanical switch integrated with a display device 10 described later, and is used for various inputs.

  The external memory 9 has a readable / writable storage medium such as a memory card or a hard disk drive (HDD), and is used for storing various data such as text data and image data. In particular, as described above, when attention point data is acquired from the outside, the attention point data is stored in the external memory 9. In the present embodiment, when the vehicle travels on the road, the link ID indicating the road on which the vehicle traveled is stored in the external memory 9 as travel history data.

  The display device 10 is configured by, for example, a liquid crystal display, and a vehicle position mark corresponding to the current position of the vehicle input from the position detector 1, for example, is displayed on the screen of the display device 10 by the processing of the navigation ECU 8. A road map around the vehicle generated by the map data input from the data input device 6 is displayed.

  The VICS transceiver 11 is a device that receives road traffic information distributed from the VICS center via beacons laid on the road and FM broadcast stations in various places, and transmits necessary information to the beacons. The received road traffic information is processed by the navigation ECU 8, and for example, traffic jam information and regulation information are displayed superimposed on the road map.

  The voice controller 12 is connected to the voice recognition device 14, the voice signal input from the microphone 15 is recognized by the voice recognition device 14, and an operation signal corresponding to the voice signal is output to the navigation ECU 8. In addition, the voice controller 12 outputs the synthesized voice or arousing sound instructed by the navigation ECU 8 to the speaker 13.

  The remote control sensor 16 wirelessly receives an operation signal from a remote control terminal (hereinafter referred to as a remote control) 17. The remote controller 17 is also used for various inputs in the same manner as the operation switch group 7 described above. For example, the navigation device 20 of this embodiment has a route guidance function, and when a destination is input by the operation switch group 7 or the remote controller 17, from the current position (or the departure point designated by the user) to the destination. The optimum route is automatically searched to calculate a guide route, and route guidance processing is performed according to the guide route. At the time of this route guidance, a road map with the guidance route highlighted is displayed on the screen of the display device 10, or when the vehicle approaches the guidance intersection, an enlarged guidance map of the guidance intersection is displayed, and by voice The direction in which the vehicle should travel is guided.

  Next, a process for changing the map display according to the user's familiarity with the road map according to the feature of the present embodiment will be described.

  First, with reference to FIG. 2, the division of the map section will be described. In the present embodiment, the degree of familiarity with the user's road map, that is, how much land intuition the user has is determined in units of predetermined map sections. Therefore, it is necessary to divide the entire map to be displayed or the like into a plurality of map sections.

  This map division can be performed, for example, by dividing the entire map into a mesh shape as shown in FIG. In this case, each divided map section has a quadrangular shape. However, in addition to dividing the individual map sections so as to have a quadrangular shape, the map sections may be divided into administrative sections such as municipalities.

  Next, a travel history storage process for storing the road on which the vehicle has traveled when the vehicle travels will be described using the flowchart of FIG. The data stored by the travel history storage process is used when determining the familiarity with the road map for each map section.

  In FIG. 3, first, in step S <b> 10, the current position of the vehicle is calculated based on the position data measured by each sensor of the position detector 1. At this time, the position data by the GPS receiver 5 is acquired in the same form as the coordinate data (latitude and longitude) of the road data described above. Further, the geomagnetic sensor 2, the gyroscope 3, and the vehicle speed sensor 4 acquire data related to the traveling direction and travel distance of the host vehicle, and calculate the coordinate data of the current position based on the vehicle position calculated or determined in the past. (Coordinate data calculation by self-contained navigation)

  The current position is basically obtained based on coordinate data calculated by self-contained navigation. However, when the position data by the GPS receiver 5 is acquired, the two are compared, and when the difference is not less than a predetermined distance, the position data by the GPS receiver 5 is adopted as the current position.

  Subsequently, in step S20, map data around the vehicle is read based on the coordinates of the current position of the vehicle calculated in step S10. Next, in step S30, map matching processing is performed. In this map matching processing, for example, if the current position calculated in step S10 and a road within a predetermined distance or a road already matched on the road, the vehicle can travel on the road connected to the matching road. Select as a characteristic road. In step S10, a plurality of current positions calculated in the past and the latest current position are connected to calculate a travel locus. The shape of the travel locus is compared with the shape of the road on which the vehicle may travel, and the road with the highest correlation is estimated as the road on which the vehicle is traveling.

  When the road on which the vehicle is traveling is estimated, the vehicle position is determined on the road, and the determined position is used for the calculation of the current position by the above-described self-contained navigation. In addition, the calculation of the current position in step S10 and the calculation of the travel locus described above may be performed only from the position data of the GPS receiver 5, or may be performed only from the position data of the self-contained navigation.

  When the road on which the vehicle is traveling is estimated by the map matching process, the link ID of the road is specified with reference to the road map data in step S40, and the link ID is stored in the external memory 9.

  The link ID of the road on which the vehicle actually traveled is accumulated in the external memory 9 by continuously executing the above-described travel history storage process while the vehicle is traveling. The entirety of the accumulated link ID indicates the travel history of the vehicle.

  Next, based on the flowchart of FIG.4 and FIG.5, the display change process which determines the user's familiarity with respect to a road map for every map division, and changes the display regarding a narrow street and a caution point according to the familiarity Will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a main routine of the display change process, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing details of the familiarity determination process.

  In FIG. 4, in step S <b> 110, processing for determining the familiarity of the map sections displayed on the display device 10 including the road on which the vehicle travels is executed. Details of the familiarity determination process will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, in step S210, the total travel distance of the vehicle is acquired. The total mileage of the vehicle may be obtained by adding the link lengths of all links specified by the link IDs stored in the external memory 9, or from the odometer provided in the vehicle. You may get it.

  In step S220, an integrated traveling distance corresponding to the total distance traveled by the vehicle on the road in the map section is calculated for each map section. This can be obtained by classifying the link IDs stored in the external memory 9 for each map section and integrating the link lengths of the links specified by each link ID.

  In step S230, the travel ratio of each map section is calculated based on the total travel distance of the vehicle acquired and calculated in steps S210 and S220 and the accumulated travel distance of each map section. In step S240, based on the travel ratio calculated in step S230, the familiarity of the map section displayed on the display device 10 including the road on which the vehicle travels is determined. That is, the familiarity is determined such that the familiarity is higher as the traveling ratio is higher, and the familiarity is lower as the traveling ratio is lower. In the present embodiment, the familiarity is classified into three levels of high, medium, and low based on the running ratio.

  The above-described method for determining the degree of familiarity is merely an example, and it is of course possible to determine the degree of familiarity using another calculation method. For example, the familiarity of each map section may be determined by calculating the accumulated travel distance of each map section and comparing it with a reference distance for determining the familiarity. At that time, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-83759, the degree of familiarity may be determined in consideration of the number of times the vehicle has traveled, the number of stops, the road type of the traveled link, and the like.

  In this manner, when the familiarity of the map section displayed on the display device 10 including the road on which the vehicle travels is determined in step S110, the determined familiarity is low / medium in step S120. -It is determined which is high. At this time, if the degree of familiarity is determined to be “low”, the process proceeds to step S130.

  In step S130, for example, based on a detection signal from the vehicle speed sensor 4, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is traveling. If it is determined that the vehicle is traveling, the process proceeds to step S140. If it is determined that the vehicle is stopped, the process proceeds to step S160.

  In step S140, since the user, that is, the driver of the vehicle, has a low level of familiarity with the road map regarding the area currently being traveled, when displaying the road map, the narrow street is not displayed and the main road, which is the main road, is displayed. Display only. As a result, it is possible to prevent a user from entering a narrow street having a narrow road width in an unguided area, and the display of an extra road is deleted for the user, so that a necessary road map can be easily read. .

  In addition, when the user's familiarity with the road map is low, it is estimated that the amount of knowledge about the caution point that the vehicle should travel with particular attention, such as an intersection that easily causes an accident, a crossing, a sharp curve, a long downhill, etc. . Therefore, in step S140, the above-described point mark indicating the attention point and the message indicating the attention content are further displayed on the displayed road map. Thereby, the driver | operator of a vehicle can recognize a caution point easily, and can anticipate the improvement of the safety | security at the time of vehicle travel.

  FIG. 6B shows a display example of map sections determined to have a low degree of familiarity with the user's road map. As shown in FIG. 6B, for the road, only the main road excluding the narrow street is displayed. Further, a point mark indicating the caution point is displayed on the road, and a message indicating the caution content is displayed adjacent to the point mark.

  In step S160, which is executed when it is determined that the vehicle is stopped in step S130, when displaying the road map, not only the main road but also the narrow street is displayed. In addition, a point mark and a message are displayed on the road map so as to correspond to the attention point.

  Even in an area where the degree of familiarity with the road map is low, the user may want to check the road conditions around the vehicle including the narrow streets. Therefore, in consideration of safety, the road map including the narrow streets is displayed on condition that the vehicle is stopped.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S120 that the familiarity level is “medium”, the process proceeds to step S150. In step S150, as in step S130, it is determined whether or not the vehicle is traveling. In this determination process, if it is determined that the vehicle is traveling, the process proceeds to step S160 described above.

  In this case, since the user has a certain degree of familiarity with the currently traveling area, it is considered that the user knows the general road condition of the area. Therefore, it is considered that the information necessary for such a user is not a road map displaying only the main road but a more detailed road map including narrow streets. Therefore, a road map including a narrow street is displayed in step S160. However, since the degree of familiarity with the road map is not yet sufficient, a display regarding the caution point is performed to alert the user.

  When it is determined in step S130 that the vehicle is stopped, the process proceeds to step S170. In this step S170, when displaying a road map, not only a main road but also a narrow street is displayed. Further, only the point mark is displayed for the attention point, and the corresponding message is not displayed. This is because a user who has a certain degree of familiarity with the road map considers the ease of confirming the display of the road map on a narrow street when the vehicle stops.

  If it is determined in step S120 that the familiarity level is “high”, the process proceeds to step S170 regardless of whether the vehicle is running or stopped. Therefore, when the user has a high degree of familiarity, a road map including a narrow street is always displayed, and only a point mark is displayed for the attention point. As a result, a user who has a high degree of familiarity with the road map can delete a message considered to be unnecessary information, and can present a highly useful detailed road map.

  FIG. 6A shows a display example of map sections determined to have a high degree of familiarity with the user's road map. As shown in FIG. 6A, a road map including a narrow street is displayed for the road. As for the caution point, only the point mark indicating the caution point is displayed, and the message indicating the attention content is deleted. Thereby, the display of the road map is not hindered by the message, and useful information can be provided to a user who has a high degree of familiarity with the road map.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the vehicle navigation device according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are made without departing from the gist of the present invention. be able to.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, the display of the point mark indicating the attention point is maintained even when the user has a high degree of familiarity with the road map. In this way, even if the display form is changed so as not to display the message, the display regarding the attention point can be made inconspicuous to the extent that the display of the road map is not hindered. However, if the user has a high degree of familiarity with the road map, it can be assumed that the user has sufficient knowledge about the caution point, so the point mark may be hidden and the display regarding the caution point may be completely erased.

  In the above-described embodiment, the user can select whether to change the display mode for the attention point and whether to change the display / non-display of the narrow street according to the familiarity of the map section. You may comprise.

  Furthermore, when the vehicle is used jointly by a plurality of users, the external memory 9 may store independent travel history data for each user. This is because when a plurality of users use a vehicle together, the roads with which the user has travel experience are different for each user, and as a result, the familiarity with the road map also differs. In this case, for example, a user registration switch capable of registering a plurality of users may be provided to perform user registration in advance and to input which user is at the start of driving the vehicle.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the navigation apparatus for vehicles concerning embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the method for dividing | segmenting the whole map into a some map division. It is a flowchart which shows the driving | running history memory | storage process which memorize | stores the road which the vehicle drive | worked when the vehicle drive | worked. It is a flowchart which shows the display change process main routine which determines the user's familiarity with respect to a road map for every map division, and changes the display regarding a narrow street and a caution point according to the familiarity. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the familiarity determination process in the flowchart of FIG. (A) is a figure which shows the example of a display of the map division determined that the user's familiarity with respect to a road map is high, (b) is a map division determined with the low familiarity with respect to a user's road map. It is a figure which shows the example of a display.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Position detector 6 ... Map data input device 7 ... Operation switch group 8 ... Navigation ECU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 9 ... External memory 10 ... Display apparatus 11 ... VICS receiver 20 ... Vehicle navigation apparatus

Claims (9)

A display device;
Map data storage means for storing road map data indicating a road by a plurality of links; caution point data storage means for storing caution point data indicating a caution point where a vehicle should travel with caution on each road;
A travel history storage means for storing a travel history of the vehicle in association with the road map data;
Based on the travel history, for each predetermined map section, a familiarity calculating means for calculating the familiarity in the map section;
When displaying the road map on the display device based on the road map data and displaying the caution point on the road map, the caution point in each map section according to the familiarity of each map section A vehicle navigation apparatus comprising: a display control unit that changes a display mode related to the vehicle.   The display control means, when the familiarity level is high, changes the display mode regarding the attention point so that the display regarding the surrounding points is less conspicuous than when the familiarity level is lower than that. The vehicle navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein   2. The display control unit according to claim 1 or 2, wherein when the familiarity level is high, the display regarding the attention point is stopped, and when the familiarity level is low, the display regarding the attention point is performed. Item 3. The vehicle navigation device according to Item 2. Travel determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is traveling,
4. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit changes a display mode related to the attention point depending on whether or not the vehicle is traveling. 5. Navigation device.   The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a user can select whether or not to change a display mode related to the attention point according to the familiarity of each map section. Navigation device. The map data storage means stores road map data capable of identifying at least narrow streets and other types of roads,
The vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the display control means changes display / non-display of narrow streets in each map section in accordance with the familiarity of each map section. Navigation device. Travel determination means for determining whether or not the vehicle is traveling,
The vehicle navigation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the display control unit changes display / non-display of the narrow streets depending on whether or not the vehicle is running.   The vehicle navigation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the user can select whether or not to change the display / non-display of the narrow street according to the familiarity of each map section. The familiarity calculating means includes
Based on the travel history, a calculation means for calculating an integrated travel distance by section that integrates a travel distance for each map section, and calculating a ratio of the integrated travel distance by section to the total travel distance of the vehicle,
The vehicular navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the familiarity of each map section is determined based on a ratio calculated by the calculating means.

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