JP2006337210A - Device for providing move supplementary information - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a car navigation system capable of presenting useful routes. <P>SOLUTION: The car navigation system comprises a cell information management part for managing map information by cell; a display part for displaying maps and routes; and a display processing part for controlling and processing display. The display processing part displays information including maps and routes on the display part (display screen) and presents it to users. The cell information management part manages information related to a current position on map information not by position coordinates (points) but by which surface (area) on a map it is present in and manages passage information not for every road (line) but manages passage information of a vehicle in a surface (area) to which roads belong. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a mobility assistance information providing apparatus, and more particularly to a technique for searching for a road in accordance with a user's actual use in a navigation system.

  With the development of car electronics, the vehicle is provided with a car navigation device based on position information acquisition technology based on GPS and the like and technology for managing map information stored in a storage medium such as a DVD-ROM. It is becoming common.

  When a car navigation device is used, even if the destination or its route is a place that neither the driver nor the passenger knows well, the route to the destination is presented without stress and the driver is related to the current position of the vehicle. Will guide you to your destination.

  Recently, a car navigation device has been proposed to differentiate from a conventional product by providing some features (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the information providing apparatus described in Patent Document 1, for each area having a specific area, a technique is proposed in which the familiarity between the area and the detection target is obtained and information is provided to the user according to the familiarity. ing.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-83531

  Since a general car navigation apparatus manages information on a road basis, there is a problem that it is difficult to perform a route search in accordance with a user's actual use due to lack of information due to lack of memory. For example, when the route is intentionally removed from the route designated by the car navigation device due to traffic jams, there is also a problem that in the reroute display that returns to the original route after that, only the route returning to the removed point is guided, which is not useful.

  In addition, despite the handling of road information that is updated year by year, the map information is updated all over Japan by exchanging DVD-ROMs, etc., so the update interval becomes longer and the latest information may not be obtained. is there.

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, the sampling of position information in the daily action range is rough, and the sampling of position information in the extraordinary action range is fine, and the user does not know well. The amount of information provided at the place is increased to assist the user. Further, in order to effectively use a storage area of a memory having a finite capacity, information in an area with a high familiarity is preferentially deleted from the storage area of the memory.

  Recently, unlike a configuration in which map information is stored in a DVD-ROM, a car navigation apparatus that stores map information in a rewritable storage medium such as an HDD has been provided. In such a case, the technique described in Patent Document 1 is easy to use.

  However, although the car navigation device described in Patent Document 1 is mainly intended to provide information to the user according to the familiarity, there is no disclosure regarding presentation of a route that is truly desirable for the user.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a car navigation device that can effectively use a storage area with a limited capacity and can present a route that is truly useful to a user.

  Since a cell having a high traffic frequency or high display frequency is highly necessary for the user, it is managed so that the cell is subdivided.

  The car navigation apparatus according to the present invention is characterized in that information is weighted and managed so that information that is more necessary for the user is divided into cells. As a result, it is possible to present in detail the information in the range that is really necessary to the user. Reduce the amount of updates by intensively updating the map of the necessary area where information should be presented in detail.

  The necessary range of information is managed in cell units. Thereby, a small memory capacity is necessary and sufficient, and effective information can be stored.

  In addition, a route is selected and presented in units of cells. This creates applicability in route selection.

  That is, according to one aspect of the present invention, a location information detection unit that detects location information, a map storage unit that stores map information, and cell information management that manages map information in units of cells obtained by dividing a map into areas. A map information management unit associated with the map storage unit and the cell information management unit, and a map associated with the current position acquired by the position detection unit is retrieved from the map information management unit and displayed. Route information calculation that calculates in a direction to subdivide the information related to the cell having the higher pass frequency or the display frequency according to at least one of the display unit and the pass frequency related to the route or the display frequency displayed on the display unit And a car navigation device characterized by comprising:

  Since the cell having the high traffic frequency or the high display frequency is highly necessary for the user, the cell is managed so as to be subdivided. As a result, it is possible to present in detail the information in the range that is really necessary to the user. By updating the map of the necessary area where information should be presented in detail, the amount of update can be reduced.

  The cell information management unit manages information related to a current position on map information in units of cells.

  It is preferable that the map information management unit also manages road-related information related to roads in units of cells. At this time, for example, a building or an intersection name that is a landmark related to the road on the map is also managed in units of cells.

  It is preferable that the map information management unit also manages road-related information related to roads in units of cells. For example, a building or an intersection name as a landmark related to a road on the map is managed in units of cells.

  It is preferable that the map information management unit manages the cells in a hierarchical manner from an upper hierarchy having a large cell size to a lower hierarchy having a small cell size.

  It is preferable that the change of the traffic frequency is performed by changing the value of a flag associated with each cell. In this way, map information can be weighted and managed so that information with higher necessity is subdivided.

  The route information calculation unit relates to the current position except when the current position is changed to a route different from the route presented, except when the current position is tracked and the route returns to the original route. It is preferable to control to subdivide the cell information. That is, the priority of the area is increased. The determination as to whether the route is intentionally changed or wrong can be made, for example, based on how soon the user wants to return to the original route.

  A map having an information communication unit that accepts map route related information including at least one of a map or a route from the outside, and updated to the latest map based on the map route related information acquired from the information communication unit It is preferable to have an update unit. The map of the priority area is updated to the latest map during driving by communication means such as mobile phone, broadcast wave, and beacon. Therefore, the higher the priority, the more detailed and latest information can be obtained.

  When the route information calculation unit receives information about a failure from the information communication unit regarding the route to be presented, the route information calculation unit preferentially searches for a route that is adjacent or close in the same cell area when searching for another route. It is preferable to do this. If there is some failure in the priority route, another route in the area is searched.

  When searching for another route, the route information calculation unit preferably preferentially searches for a detour route in a cell area adjacent to the cell if there is no adjacent route in the same cell. . If a suitable route does not exist in the area, a route detouring to the adjacent area is drawn.

  When searching for another route, the route information calculation unit prioritizes a route that passes through a cell area included in a cell in an upper layer to which the same cell belongs when there is no route to be presented in the adjacent cell area. It is preferable to search for them. When there is no suitable route in the adjacent area, the processing is simplified by drawing a suitable route that passes through the area included in the upper area to which the priority area belongs.

  According to the present invention, by managing information so that information that has a high necessity for including a route that the user uses on a daily basis is subdivided, the probability that the road that the user uses on a daily basis is presented as a route candidate increases. At the same time, more detailed information is presented.

  Information that is rarely used by the user is roughly managed. As a result, only necessary portions are subdivided, so that the memory capacity can be saved and used, and the route search can be speeded up.

  Furthermore, memory can be further saved by managing information not in terms of point and line information but in terms of width. Smooth traffic congestion avoidance is possible because information is managed not by road but by area.

  Furthermore, regarding the update of the data, it is easy to obtain the latest map with a small amount of data by updating only the map of the necessary area.

  Hereinafter, a car navigation device according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration example of the car navigation apparatus according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the car navigation apparatus A according to the present embodiment stores, for example, a position information detection unit 1 such as GPS, a position information calculation unit 3 that performs calculation related to position information, and map information such as a hard disk. Map storage unit 5, cell information management unit 11 that manages map information in cell units, map information management unit 15 that manages map information, display unit 21 that displays a map and a route, and display control And a display processing unit 23 that performs processing.

  Further, an information input unit 25 for inputting information by a user operation, an information communication unit 27 for inputting information based on communication, a map information management unit 15 by discriminating these information, and a route information calculation described later. And an input information discriminating unit 31 that determines which of the units to output.

  The map update unit 7 that performs control when the map information is updated will be described in the second embodiment.

  The route information calculation unit 17 calculates a required route based on the position information, the value step information, and the input information from the user, and sends the calculation result to the display processing unit 23. Based on this, the display processing unit 23 displays information including a map and a route on the display unit (display screen) 21 and presents it to the user.

  The cell information management unit 11 manages information related to the current position on the map information according to which plane (area) on the map is present, not the coordinates (points) of the position. Further, instead of managing the passage information for each road (line), the vehicle passage information on the surface (area) to which the road belongs is managed.

  Of course, information on the road itself is stored in the device as map information. However, the feature is that the memory can be saved by managing which area (the road to which it belongs) rather than managing which road is passed for each road. For example, attributes such as national roads, prefectural roads, city roads, and toll roads are basically added to the map information (for each road). Choose toll road> national road> prefectural road> city road). However, when the user uses it and subdivides the cell, only the road that the user uses on a daily basis is present in the cell. Although the current position itself is a point, it is managed in terms of which area it is in.

  The map information management unit 16 manages the map by dividing it into cellular areas. Information on roads, bridges, buildings, etc. is also managed in divided cells. Furthermore, as a whole, only high-frequency areas are divided into lower hierarchies step by step according to the user's traffic frequency. Based on the display frequency of the user, only the area with high display frequency may be subdivided into lower hierarchies step by step. The traffic frequency or the display frequency is managed by a flag for each area, for example, and the higher the flag value, the higher the traffic frequency or the display frequency, and thus it can be determined that the information is highly necessary for the user. When the flag assigned to each area exceeds a certain threshold, the area information is managed as an area in which the corresponding area is further subdivided into lower layers. In this way, map information can be weighted and managed so that information with higher necessity is subdivided.

  The management method will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a diagram specifically showing map information. The Japan map B is divided into 14 first cells 41 and managed. Of these, the cell 41a corresponding to the Kanto region generally has a high traffic frequency and a high display frequency if, for example, the user lives in the Kanto region. When the user uses the car navigation device, the numerical value of the flag corresponding to the cell 41a in the Kanto region becomes larger than the numerical values of the flags corresponding to other regions, and at a certain point in time, the first predetermined value is set. The threshold is exceeded. When the first threshold value is exceeded in this way, only the cell 41a outlined in the Kanto region is divided into a cell group consisting of, for example, 8 × 8 = 64 second cells 43 as shown in the lower right diagram. The At this time, the area belonging to the sea is preferably controlled so as not to hold more detailed information even if the cell is subdivided. Among the 64 second cells 43, when the passing frequency or the display frequency regarding the eight second cell groups B1 indicated by the reference symbol B1 is high, the details (density) of information of these cell groups increase. Further, with respect to these eight second cell groups B1, if the numerical value of the flag of a certain cell exceeds the second threshold value set to a value larger than the first threshold value at a certain point in time, further details will be given. The third cell 43a in which various information is managed is specified. As described above, it is preferable that the threshold regarding the numerical value of the flag is set so as to be a staircase graph that is constant within a certain range of traffic frequency or display frequency. That is, for example, if the horizontal axis is the flag value and the vertical axis is the details related to information management, the details of the information for each area increase for each threshold (the area is divided), and the details up to the next threshold are detailed. It is a step-like graph in which the length is constant (the area is not divided). Note that the fineness of the threshold can be set arbitrarily, but when it becomes finer to a certain extent, the graph becomes substantially linear. Based on this graph, area division and details of information are changed. Of course, when a user moves to Hokkaido, for example, the area division of Hokkaido and details of information will occur according to the user's use, but for some time the information details in an area in the Kanto region will prevail. Resulting in. In such a case, for example, reset means for resetting the numerical value of the flag may be provided, and a new start from the initial value may be made.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example when the area is further subdivided. In the third cell 43a 'shown in FIG. 3, roads and buildings are specifically displayed. Even in the third cell 43 ', when the passing frequency or the display frequency is higher than that of other cells, a further subdivided fourth cell 45 group is displayed. However, since the map shown in FIG. 3 specifically shows roads, buildings, and the like, if there is no need to further subdivide the area, the area subdivision processing ends in the state of FIG. . In FIG. 3, in the fourth cell 45 group, an area including a route that passes further is filled. This filled area is not subdivided, but indicates an area with higher priority during the route selection process. In other words, when the segmentation of an area proceeds to a certain extent, an area having a high traffic frequency or high display frequency is managed so that the priority of route selection increases. That is, in a general car navigation device that is commercially available, a thicker road is preferentially selected. For example, a route is selected in the order of a national road, a prefectural road, a city road, a private road, and the like. In the car navigation device according to, when the priority of the area including the back road R1 that passes frequently is increased, when the route to the destination is selected, the back road is controlled to be preferentially presented as a route. The In addition, although the case where area subdivision cannot be performed has been described as an example from FIG. 3, it may of course be designed to be further subdivided.

  As described above, according to the car navigation device according to the present embodiment, the area including the road that passes frequently is subdivided and controlled so that the detail (density) of information is increased. In addition to being able to be used conveniently, there is an advantage that the storage area can be effectively used.

  Next, short distance detour control will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a route selection method in a display that is subdivided into areas corresponding to the fourth cells shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the cell 53 has 25 subdivided cells 55. In this cell 53, a thick road 57 is displayed as a path through which the user's automobile 51 passes. The thick road 57 is a road through which the user's automobile 51 passes frequently. Therefore, the cell 55a including the thick road 57 is filled, and is a road having a high priority in route selection. Therefore, normally, a thick road 57 is presented as the optimum route in the same area 53.

  However, the information communication unit 27 of the car navigation device A of the user shown in FIG. 1 indicates that the car navigation device A (FIG. 1) has some trouble such as an accident at the position indicated by the cross mark in FIG. When informed, the route information calculation unit 17 (FIG. 1) of the car navigation device A bypasses the other route in the area 53 that passes either the area including the road 57 or the area adjacent to this area. Select as route 61 and present. The detour 61 is preferably a road that returns to the original road 57 at a position as close as possible after the obstacle is exceeded.

  As described above, in the car navigation device according to the present embodiment, when fault information is acquired, an area including a route with a high priority or a road passing through an area adjacent to the area is set as the next candidate. Since the vehicle 51 has a function of presenting a detour in this manner, the automobile 51 has an advantage that it can make a detour almost at the shortest distance. Also in this case, since road information is managed for each area, there is an advantage that the detour search processing is simplified. In addition, since information is managed in units of cells, not in units of roads, it is possible to select an optimal road from within the cell according to the surrounding conditions. When the entire cell is congested, it is possible to avoid traffic congestion effectively by selecting a road in the range of adjacent cells or higher cells.

  FIG. 5 also basically shows the same situation as FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the cell 61 has 16 subdivided cells 63. Further, each of the cells 63 has 16 subdivided cells 65. That is, FIG. 5 includes a minimum unit cell 65, a cell one cell higher than that cell (a cell on one class) 63, and a cell 61 higher than the cell. The car navigation device according to the present embodiment is characterized in that control is performed to adjust the cell hierarchy up and down depending on the situation.

  In FIG. 5, a thick road 71 is displayed as a path through which the user's automobile 51 passes, with the minimum unit cell 65 as a basic cell. The thick road 71 is a road through which the user's automobile 51 passes frequently. Therefore, only the cell 63a including the thick road 71 among the cells 63 is filled, and the thick road 71 is a road having a high priority in route selection. . In this case, a road is selected with the minimum unit cell 65 as a basic cell, but normally, a thick road 71 is presented as the optimum route.

  However, the information communication unit 27 of the user's car navigation apparatus A shown in FIG. 1 has some trouble such as a plurality of traffic closures (accidents) at each position of the minimum unit cell 65 indicated by a cross mark in FIG. When the car navigation apparatus A (FIG. 1) is informed that there is a location 67, a detour as close as possible to the road 71 is searched. In this case, first, the road 75 and the road 77 are searched. However, these roads 77 and 75 are not suitable as detours because they do not return to the road 71.

  In such a case, the route information calculation unit 17 (FIG. 1) of the car navigation device A sets the basic unit cell as the cell 63 one higher, and sets the cell area 63 as the minimum unit basic cell. A search is made for an area 63a which is another route within 61 and includes the road 71, or a road in an area adjacent to or close to the area 63a. When there is no suitable route in the adjacent area, a suitable route passing through the area included in the upper area to which the priority area belongs is searched. That is, when a suitable route cannot be drawn in the area included in the upper area to which the priority area belongs, the adjacent area is searched for by returning to the upper area. Therefore, a road 73 suitable as a detour is searched for.

  As described above, the car navigation device according to the present embodiment has the advantage that it is possible to search for roads more flexibly by performing control to adjust the cell hierarchy up and down depending on the situation. is there.

  If the user intentionally changes the route, it is possible to perform control to increase the priority of the area. Here, whether the change is an intentional change or a change due to an error is determined based on, for example, how long a subsequent attempt is made to return to the original route. In other words, when a route change is detected, the subsequent route is tracked, and when returning to the original route, control is performed to raise the priority of the area without considering it as an intentional change. Absent. On the other hand, when the subsequent route where the route change is detected is traced, if it is not going back to the original route, it is regarded as an intentional change, and the control for increasing the priority of the currently traveling area is performed. Do. Accordingly, there is an advantage that it is possible to estimate the user's will and change the priority of the area based on the will and to perform subsequent route search with higher accuracy.

  Next, a car navigation device according to a first modification of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the above-described embodiment, an example in which an area where at least one of the traffic frequency or the display frequency is high is subdivided has been described. However, in the car navigation device according to the first modification, the display frequency or the traffic frequency is independent. In addition, the current position of the vehicle may have a mode that is temporarily subdivided. By controlling in this way, there is an advantage that a detailed display can be obtained regarding a place visited only for a short period of time such as a trip.

  Next, a car navigation device according to a second modification of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the first embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 1, an example in which individual cell information is stored in another memory or the like in the cell information management unit 11 different from the map storage unit 5 has been described. In the car navigation device according to the second modified example, individual cell information can be stored together with a map on, for example, an HDD as well as on a memory. By storing individual cell information in association with a map and storing them together on the HDD, both can be managed collectively, and there is an advantage that, for example, search processing can be performed quickly.

  Next, point registration of the car navigation device according to the present embodiment will be described. For example, in a car navigation device, when point registration by a user is accepted from the information input unit 25 (FIG. 1), the area including the point that has received point registration is controlled to be automatically subdivided. As a result, priority can be changed and set based on point registration, and the higher the priority, the more the area is subdivided, so the user can arbitrarily change the subdivision of the area by point registration There is an advantage that can be.

  Next, a car navigation apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described mainly with reference to FIGS. As described above, the car navigation apparatus according to the present embodiment includes the map update unit 7 that performs control when the map information is updated. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state when the map update unit 7 updates the map. For example, the latest map information is always transmitted on a cell-by-cell basis by multiplexing with FM multiplexing or VICS beacons. When the map information of the cell in the traveling direction of the vehicle is old, the map update unit 7 shown in FIG. 1 receives the latest map information from the information communication unit 27 and automatically switches to the latest map information ( Update). In the figure, the three cells indicated by reference numeral 83 (December 31, 2002 version) are updated to the three cells indicated by reference numeral 85 (March 31, 2005 version). In the updated version, the road 57 is changed to roads 87 and 91 forming a three-way road, and a signal 93 is provided near the three-way road. Also in this case, the map is updated in cell units.

  If the map storage unit cannot be rewritten as in a DVD-ROM, for example, a nonvolatile memory is used as an auxiliary, and only the update is stored in the nonvolatile memory. When the map storage unit is rewritable such as a rewritable DVD or HDD, the old map may be overwritten with a new map and updated. Map information can be updated even while a car is being driven. In this way, by updating the map information and the like, the map of the area with high priority where the user travels with a car is preferentially rewritten. The user-friendliness is improved by controlling so that a map of a region with higher priority can obtain more detailed information.

  The present invention is applicable to a car navigation device.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the example of 1 structure of the car navigation apparatus by the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows map information concretely. It is a figure which shows the example of a display when an area is further subdivided. It is a figure which shows an example of the route selection method in the display subdivided into the area corresponding to the 4th cell shown in FIG. 3, and is a figure which shows the example of a proximity detour. It is a figure by which the thick road is displayed as a path | route where a user's motor vehicle passes by making the cell of the minimum unit into a basic cell, and is a figure which shows the example of wide area detour. It is a car navigation apparatus by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention, Comprising: It is a figure which shows a mode at the time of updating a map.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS A ... Car navigation apparatus, 1 ... Position information detection part, 3 ... Position information calculation part, 5 ... Map storage part, 7 ... Map update part, 11 ... Cell information management part, 15 ... Map information management part, 16 ... Map information Management unit, 21 ... display unit, 23 ... display processing unit, 25 ... information input unit, 27 ... information communication unit, 31 ... input information determination unit.

Claims (19)

A position information detector for detecting position information;
A map storage unit for storing map information;
A cell information management unit for managing map information in units of cells obtained by dividing the map into areas;
A map information management unit associated with the map storage unit and the cell information management unit;
A display unit that searches and displays a map related to the current position acquired by the position detection unit from the map information management unit;
A route information calculation unit that calculates in a direction to subdivide the information related to the cell having a high pass frequency or the display frequency according to at least one of the pass frequency or the display frequency displayed on the display unit. A car navigation device comprising:   The car navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the cell information management unit manages information related to a current position on map information in units of cells.   The car navigation device according to claim 2, wherein the map information management unit also manages road-related information related to roads in units of cells.   The car navigation device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the map information management unit also manages road-related information related to roads in units of cells.   5. The map information management unit according to claim 2, wherein the map information management unit manages the cells in a hierarchical manner from an upper hierarchy having a large cell size to a lower hierarchy having a small cell size. 6. Car navigation device.   The car navigation device according to claim 5, wherein the map information management unit manages the number of hierarchies in units of cells.   The car navigation device according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the map information management unit preferentially subdivides and manages cells having a high traffic frequency or a high display frequency to a lower hierarchy.   8. The route information calculation unit, when a vehicle passes a route on map information, determines that the vehicle has passed a cell to which the route belongs and changes the traffic frequency. The car navigation device according to claim 1.   The car navigation device according to claim 8, wherein the change of the traffic frequency is performed by changing a value of a flag associated with each cell.   The route information calculation unit performs a calculation process of searching for a route in a cell adjacent to the cell by returning to an upper layer when a search route is not found in a cell in a lower layer. The car navigation device according to claim 9.   The route information calculation unit relates to the current position except when the current position is changed to a route different from the route presented, except when the current position is tracked and the route returns to the original route. The car navigation device according to claim 9 or 10, wherein control for subdividing cell information is performed.   The route information calculation unit performs area segmentation processing on a target area on which a point registration indicating a certain point based on position information on a map by a user from an information input unit is performed. Item 12. The car navigation device according to any one of Items 9 to 11.   13. The car navigation apparatus according to claim 12, wherein a setting related to area adjustment by a user from the information input unit can be made at the time of point registration.   A map having an information communication unit that accepts map route related information including at least one of a map or a route from the outside, and updated to the latest map based on the map route related information acquired from the information communication unit The car navigation device according to claim 1, further comprising an update unit.   When the route information calculation unit receives information about a failure from the information communication unit regarding the route to be presented, the route information calculation unit preferentially searches for a route that is adjacent or close in the same cell area when searching for another route. The car navigation device according to claim 13.   When searching for another route, the route information calculation unit preferentially searches for a detour route in a cell area adjacent to the cell if there is no adjacent route in the same cell. The car navigation device according to claim 15.   When searching for another route, the route information calculation unit prioritizes a route that passes through a cell area included in a cell in an upper layer to which the same cell belongs when there is no route to be presented in the adjacent cell area. The car navigation device according to claim 16, wherein the car navigation device is searched for.   The route information calculation unit performs processing for temporarily subdividing a cell with respect to a current position independently of the traffic frequency or the display frequency. The car navigation device according to item.   The car navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the cell information is managed in association with the map in the map information storage unit.

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