JP2007024762A - Car navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To confirm states of two roads when an overhead high way is built on a general road and the two roads are juxtaposed at upper and lower stages in a car navigation system. <P>SOLUTION: When selecting high way priority out of three display forms displayed on a display screen, the general road L2 is eliminated to display only the high way L1. When selecting general road priority, the high way L1 is eliminated to display only the general road L2. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a car navigation apparatus, and more particularly, to a car navigation apparatus that displays so that road conditions can be grasped even when roads parallel to each other are displayed.

The car navigation device detects the current position of the vehicle and displays a map centered on the current position on the display device.
By the way, in urban areas, it is often performed to construct an expressway on an ordinary road in an elevated manner. As described above, when a highway is constructed on a general road, the general road and the highway are arranged in two upper and lower stages. As a map display format in the car navigation device, there are a flat display, a stereoscopic display by a bird's eye view, etc. In the case of a flat display, the place where two roads are parallel in the upper and lower two stages as described above, The two lines shown are overlapped and displayed. Then, in many cases, one of the two overlapping lines, the line indicating the highway hides the line indicating the general road. For this reason, there is an inconvenience that it is impossible to grasp what kind of situation the portion of the general road hidden by the expressway is.

In order to solve this problem, in the car navigation device of Patent Document 1, it is detected whether the host vehicle is traveling on a general road or an expressway, and when the vehicle is traveling on a general road, An image of a general road is preferentially displayed, and when driving on a highway, the highway is preferentially displayed. Further, in the car navigation device of Patent Document 2, when the guidance route is highlighted, it is possible to easily determine which road the guidance route passes by changing the highlighting method according to the road type. Yes.
JP 7-128081 A JP-A-8-201098

  The techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 give priority to the road on the side where the vehicle is actually traveling among the highway and the general road, or the road on the side that is the guide route. This is a configuration for highlighting. So, for example, if you are currently driving on a highway and you want to know what the general road is like if you leave the highway at the next interchange that is not a guide route, Cannot be preferentially displayed or highlighted, and the user's request cannot be satisfied.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a car navigation device that can preferentially display a desired type of road situation on a display screen when a user desires. is there.

In the present invention, when the type of road to be prioritized for display on the display screen is selected by the input means, roads belonging to the selected type are preferentially displayed on the display screen. Road conditions can be displayed on the display screen.
In this case, the road belonging to the type selected by the input means can be displayed preferentially by displaying or hiding the road belonging to the type other than the type selected by the input means semi-transparently. According to this priority display configuration, only the selected type of road is displayed, or roads other than the selected type are displayed translucently, so that the selected type of road becomes easy to see.

  In the present invention, as a type of road that prioritizes display on the display screen, it can be selected from an expressway and other general roads, or can be selected from an elevated road and other roads, It is possible to select from a three-dimensional road and other roads. In this way, if the type of road to be preferentially displayed can be selected, even when two roads are constructed in parallel up and down, the situation of these two roads is highlighted separately when desired. can do.

  In the present invention, road traffic information acquisition means for acquiring road traffic information is provided, and when the road traffic information acquired by the road traffic information acquisition means is displayed on the display screen, the road traffic information is selected by the input means. It is possible to preferentially display the types of roads. According to this configuration, it is possible to preferentially display road traffic information about the type of road that the user wants to see.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the car navigation apparatus 1. As shown in the figure, the car navigation device 1 has a position detection device 3 as a position acquisition device, a pitch angle sensor 4, and a map data input device 5 as a map data acquisition device with respect to a control circuit 2 as a control device. , A display device 6 as a display means, a sound generation device 7 as a sound generation means, a road traffic information receiver 8 as a road traffic information acquisition means, an operation switch group 9, a remote control sensor 10, and a pair with the remote control sensor 10. A remote controller 11 and an external memory 12 are provided.

  The control circuit 2 has a function of controlling the overall operation of the car navigation apparatus 1 and is configured mainly with a microcomputer. That is, the control circuit 2 includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O, a bus that connects these, and the like (all not shown). Among these, the ROM stores an execution program for operating the car navigation device 1, and the RAM acquires temporary data at the time of program execution, map data acquired from the map data input device 5, and road traffic information receiver 8. Traffic information etc. that have been stored are temporarily stored.

  The position detection device 3 includes a gyroscope 13, a geomagnetic sensor 14, a distance sensor 15, and a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 16. Since these sensors 13 to 16 have detection errors having different properties, combining these sensors 13 to 16 enables highly accurate position detection while correcting the detection errors. Note that, depending on the required detection accuracy level, it is not necessary to provide all the sensors 13 to 16, and a configuration can be provided that is appropriately selected. Further, the position detection device 3 may be configured by combining a steering rotation sensor, a wheel sensor that detects the rotation of each tire, and the like.

The pitch angle sensor 4 is for detecting the pitch angle of the vehicle, that is, the rotation angle in the front-rear direction around the axis parallel to the vehicle axle. When there is an elevated highway on the general road, the pitch angle sensor 4 outputs the general road from the general road through the uphill rampway and the downhill rampway. It is possible to detect exiting from a highway to a general road.
The map data input device 5 is composed of a reading device that reads map data from an information recording medium such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. The map data input device 5 guides map data, map matching data, and routes by voice. Data for search, search data for searching a position on the map from the place name, etc. are read from the information recording medium and input to the control circuit 2.

  The display device 6 is configured to include a display screen 6a (see FIGS. 2, 3, and 4) such as a color liquid crystal display, and can display map data, characters, symbols, or the like on the display screen 6a. Yes. The operation switch group 9 functions as an input means used for inputting data or inputting setting items. For example, the touch panel 17 or the display screen provided on the display screen 6a of the display device 6 is used. It is comprised from various operation switches, such as the mechanical switch 18 provided in the circumference | surroundings of 6a.

The road traffic information receiver 8 receives road traffic information transmitted from a road traffic information transmission station, which is an external information source, and inputs the road traffic information to the control circuit 2 as detection means. The control circuit 2 detects a traffic restriction point, a congested road, a congested section, and the like based on the road traffic information input from the road traffic information receiver 8. In this case, the road traffic information includes discrimination information indicating whether the road traffic information relates to a highway or a general road.
The control circuit 2 has a function as display control means, calculates the current position of the vehicle based on information input from the position detection device 3, and displays a road map around the current position based on map data. 6 and a pointer indicating the current position and traveling direction of the vehicle is displayed on the road map of the display screen 6a.

The control circuit 2 has a function for setting a route to the destination and a travel guidance function for instructing the direction in which the vehicle should travel according to the route from the sound generator 7. That is, when a destination or passing point is input by operating the operation switch group 9 or the remote controller 11, the optimum route from the current position to the destination is automatically set as the destination route, and the destination route is displayed on the display device 6. Is highlighted on the road map displayed on the display screen 6a. Then, the control circuit 2 guides the traveling direction of the vehicle by voice according to the destination route. The Dijkstra method or the like is used as a method for setting the optimum route.
Further, when the road traffic information receiver 8 receives information on a traffic trouble point such as a traffic jam point, a traffic regulation point, a traffic jam cause or a traffic jam length while the vehicle is running, the control circuit 2 reads the fault information by voice. Information is displayed, characters are displayed on the display screen 6a of the display device 6, and the traffic obstacle point is displayed on the road map.

  Here, the main map data input from the map data input device 5 is data for displaying a map on the display screen 6a of the display device 6, and includes link information, node information, and the like. As shown in FIG. 5, the road on the map is divided into a plurality of nodes that show inflection points such as intersections, branching points, junctions, and curves with a predetermined angle or more, and each node is defined as a link. Based on the idea of composing a map by connecting those links.

  Among these, the node information includes, for each node, a node unique ID and coordinates, for example, a node attribute indicating a three-dimensional intersection. The link information includes, for each link, a unique ID of the link, a link length indicating the link length, coordinates of the start and end of the link, a road width of the link, a road type of the link (intercity expressway, city expressway , Toll roads, elevated bypasses, national roads, prefectural roads, city roads, etc.) and link attributes such as height from the ground.

  The control circuit 2 as the display control means displays a map on the display screen 6a of the display device 6 based on the map data including such node information and link information. In this case, when the current location display mode is selected, a map centered on the current position of the vehicle detected by the position detection device 3 is displayed on the display screen 6a. The scale of the displayed map can be changed by operating the operation switch group 9 or the remote controller 11. When the scale is increased, a map of a narrow area is displayed (narrow area display) on the display screen 6a, and when the scale is reduced, a map of a wide area is displayed (wide area display) on the display screen 6a.

  In the map displayed on the display screen 6a of the display device 6, in the case of a road situation in which an elevated road, for example, an expressway is constructed on an ordinary road, the expressway and the ordinary road are in two upper and lower stages. In the case of a normal display form (normal display), the parallel portions are displayed in a state where the line L1 representing the expressway and the line L2 representing the general road are overlapped as shown in the figure. In the present invention, even if the two roads are displayed in such a manner that they are overlapped with each other, the road is displayed so that the road on the side desired by the user can be clearly identified.

  Control for clear distinction display between the highway and the general road will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the power of the car navigation device 1 is turned on, the control circuit 2 starts to execute the routine shown in FIG. 6. First, the current position of the host vehicle is detected by the position detection device 3 and the map data is input. Map data around the current position is acquired from the device 5. Then, the control circuit 2 displays a road map on the display screen 6a of the display device 6 based on the acquired map data (step S1 above). In this case, the road map is formed by overlaying a plurality of layers, for example, a layer displaying a highway, a layer displaying a general road, a layer displaying a graphic such as a signal, a layer displaying a character such as a place name, and the like. The

Next, the control circuit 2 displays three road display forms on the display screen 6a. Specifically, as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, "normal display", "highway priority display", "general road priority display""Is displayed (step S2). When the user does not select any of the three road marking forms, the control circuit 2 displays the highway and the other general roads in the normal form (“NO” in step S3, In step S7, “NO”, step S6), return.
Here, for example, if you are driving on a highway, when you get off at the next interchange, press "General road priority display" on the display screen 6a to see what the general road ahead is like Assume that you have operated. Then, the control circuit 2 recognizes that the road display form has been selected based on the pressed position detection signal from the touch panel 17 (“YES” in step S3).

  When recognizing the selection of the road marking form, the control circuit 2 resets the priority flag when a priority flag described later is set (step S4). Then, the control circuit 2 detects the selected display form, here “general road priority display”, and displays the road map with the general road priority (generally in step S5, step S11). Next, the control circuit 2 sets a general road flag indicating that the display form is a general road priority display (step S12), and returns.

  In this embodiment, the priority display is non-transparent only for the selected road among the highway and the general road (the layer superimposed below cannot be seen), and other roads are displayed. This is done by not displaying, that is, not displaying the other road layers. For this reason, when the general road priority display is selected, as shown in FIG. 3, the road map is displayed in a state where the highway is deleted. Thereafter, the control circuit 2 displays the priority on the general road until another road display form is pressed ("NO" in step S1, step S2, and step S3, "YES" in step S7, and step S8). ("NO" in step S11 and step S12, the return is repeated).

  When the user wants to display only the highway, the user presses “highway priority display” on the display screen 6a. Then, in the same manner as described above, the control circuit 2 detects that the road display form has been selected (“YES” in step S3), and if a priority flag described later is set, the priority is set. The flag is reset (step S4).

  Then, the control circuit 2 displays the road map in “highway priority display” (high speed in step S5, step S9), and then sets a highway flag indicating that the display form is highway priority display. (Step S10), a return is returned. The priority display is displayed in a state in which the general road is deleted as shown in FIG. 2 in the expressway priority display. The expressway includes interchange rampways.

  When the road map is displayed in the expressway priority display or the general road wired display, when it is desired to return to the normal display, the “normal display” on the display screen 6a is pressed. Then, the control circuit 2 becomes “YES” in step S3, and if the priority flag is set, the priority flag is reset in the next step S4, and the road map on the display screen 6a is displayed normally in FIG. (Usually step S6 in step S5).

  By the way, the road traffic information receiver 8 may receive road traffic information while the vehicle is traveling. Then, the control circuit 2 displays the road traffic information on the display screen 6a with characters or the like according to the flowchart of FIG. That is, the control circuit 2 enters the routine of FIG. 7 at regular intervals. Then, when entering the routine of FIG. 7, the control circuit 2 first determines whether or not road traffic information has been received. If there is no reception (“NO” in step A1), the routine of FIG. 7 is terminated. .

  When the road traffic information is received (“YES” in step A1), the control circuit 2 determines whether or not the priority flag is set next. If the priority flag is not set, the road traffic information is determined. Is displayed as usual ("NO" in step A2) and returns. If the priority flag is set (“YES” in step A2), the control circuit 2 next determines what the set priority flag is (step A3).

After determining what the set priority flag is, the control circuit 2 determines whether the road traffic information is for a highway or a general road according to the road type information included in the road traffic information. It is determined whether or not there is (step A5 or step A8). If the road type of the set priority flag and the road type determined by the road type information of the road traffic information are the same (highway in step A4, “YES” in step A5 or in step A4) General road, “YES” in step A8), the control circuit 2 preferentially displays the road traffic information on the display screen 2 (displayed in a normal non-transparent form) (step A6).
In addition, when the road type of the priority flag that is set is different from the road type determined by the road type information of the road traffic information (highway in step A4, “NO” in step A5 or general road in step A4, The control circuit 2 terminates the routine of FIG. 7 without displaying the road traffic information on the display screen 2 (step A7).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, by selecting one of the three display forms displayed on the display screen 6a, the expressway is preferentially displayed or only the general road is preferentially displayed. Or, a highway and a general road can be displayed as usual. For this reason, when it is difficult to see the road that is currently running because the highway and the general road are parallel, only the road that is currently running is displayed, and the road conditions of the destination to be driven are clearly shown. You can see it.

  In addition, by selecting one of the three display forms displayed on the display screen 6a, only the expressway is displayed at a desired time, only the general road is displayed, or the highway and the general road are displayed. Can be displayed together. For this reason, when traveling on a highway, if it is desired to know what a general road is when getting off the highway here, the situation of the general road can be easily known.

  In this embodiment, when road traffic information about a highway is received during highway priority display, or when road traffic information about a general road is received during general road priority display, the road traffic is displayed. Since the information is displayed on the display screen 6a, it is convenient that road traffic information can be acquired only for the road of interest.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and can be expanded or changed as follows.
The priority display is not limited to displaying the roads belonging to the road type to be displayed in a non-transparent manner, and not displaying the other roads in a non-transparent manner, as shown in FIGS. Roads belonging to the road type to be displayed may be displayed in a non-transparent state, and other roads may be displayed in a semi-transparent state (a state in which the lower layer can be seen through). The road may be hidden.
The classification of the types of roads to be preferentially displayed is not limited to the classification of expressways and ordinary roads, but elevated roads and other roads, three-dimensional roads (including elevated roads and underground roads) and other roads. It may be classified as a road.
In the embodiment, the case where two roads, ie, a general road and an elevated expressway overlap, has been described. However, this may be summarized when three or more roads overlap.

1 is a block diagram of a car navigation apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows an example of the road map on a display screen at the time of giving priority display to the map shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the road map on the display screen at the time of giving priority display to the general road in the map shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the road map on the display screen at the time of displaying with a normal display form Conceptual diagram of road composed of links and nodes Flow chart showing the contents of control for switching the display form of the road Flow chart showing contents of control for switching display form of road traffic information FIG. 2 equivalent view showing another embodiment of the present invention 3 equivalent figure

Explanation of symbols

  In the drawings, 1 is a car navigation device, 2 is a control circuit (display control means), 3 is a position detection device (position acquisition means), 4 is a pitch angle sensor, 5 is a map data input device, 6 is a display device, and 6a is A display screen 17 is a touch panel (input means).

Claims (6)

In a car navigation device that displays a road map on a display screen based on map data,
An input means for selecting a road type that gives priority to display on the display screen among a plurality of classified roads;
Display control means for preferentially displaying roads belonging to the type selected by the input means on the display screen;
A car navigation device comprising:   The display control means preferentially displays roads belonging to the type selected by the input means by semi-transparent or non-displaying roads belonging to a type other than the type selected by the input means. The car navigation device according to claim 1. The input means can be selected from a highway and other general roads as a type of road to prioritize display on the display screen,
The display control means preferentially displays the highway by displaying or hiding the general road semi-transparently when the highway is selected as a type of road to be prioritized by the input means, The general road is preferentially displayed by displaying or hiding the expressway in a semi-transparent manner when the general road is selected as a type of road whose display is prioritized by the input means. 3. The car navigation device according to 1 or 2. The input means can be selected from an elevated road and other roads as a type of road that prioritizes display on the display screen,
The display control means prioritizes the elevated road by semi-transparently displaying or hiding roads other than the elevated road when the elevated road is selected as the type of road to be prioritized by the input means. When a road other than the elevated road is selected as the type of road for which display is prioritized by the input means, the road other than the elevated road is prioritized by displaying or hiding the elevated road semi-transparently. The car navigation device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the car navigation device is displayed. The input means can be selected from a three-dimensional road and other roads as a type of road to prioritize display on the display screen.
When the three-dimensional road is selected as the type of road whose display is given priority by the input means, the display control means displays or hides the road other than the three-dimensional road in a semi-transparent manner. When a road other than the three-dimensional road is selected as a road type to be displayed preferentially by the input means, the three-dimensional road is displayed or hidden semi-transparently when the road other than the three-dimensional road is selected. 3. The car navigation device according to claim 1, wherein a road other than the road is preferentially displayed. Road traffic information acquisition means for acquiring road traffic information, and when the road traffic information acquired by the road traffic information acquisition means is displayed on the display screen, the display control means is configured such that the road traffic information is the input means. The car navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the car navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is preferentially displayed for the type of road selected by the above.

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