JP2007093284A - Car navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow easy, sure recognition of indication for a branch point that should make a right turn or a left turn, during execution of route guidance. <P>SOLUTION: The car navigation system 1 provided with a route guidance function guiding a route to a destination comprises a control circuit 2, a position detector 3, a map data input unit 4, an operating switch group 5, an external memory 6, a display device 7, comprising for example, a color liquid crystal display, and a sound output device 8. The display device 7 is provided in a meter cluster, installed forward of the driver's seat. The control circuit 2 allows the display device 7, when a branch point requiring a right turn or a left turn during route guidance is approached, to display an indication indicating a right turn or a left turn at the branch point. The control circuit 2 allows the indication mode, indicating a right turn or a left turn, to be changed with respect to other indication modes during the route guidance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a car navigation apparatus having a route guidance function for guiding a route to a destination.

  A car navigation device generally has a route guidance function, and when the route guidance is executed, the position of the host vehicle should turn left or right (a branch point is a branch point, a branch point, an entrance to a highway). , Including a predetermined guide point such as an exit), the screen display of the display device is switched to an enlarged view near the branch point, and for example, a sound such as “Left is OOm left” Information is provided.

Conventionally, in a car navigation apparatus, the display device is provided on an instrument panel between a driver's seat and a passenger seat, or on a dashboard at the top of the instrument panel. The driver looks at this display device and confirms that it is a branch point designated by route guidance.
Although not directly related to the present invention, there are configurations shown in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2 that issue a warning when the vehicle does not turn in the direction to turn right or left during route guidance.
JP 2001-74492 A JP 2001-255167 A

However, in the prior art, the display device is checked to confirm that it has reached the branch point to be turned right and left. However, although the line of sight movement is large and the branch point to be turned right and left is enlarged, the display form ( The display brightness and the display color are the same as the display forms other than the branch point display, and it is difficult to confirm the branch point to be turned left or right.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a car navigation device in which it is very easy and reliable to confirm the display of a branch point to be turned right or left when executing route guidance. It is in.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 is a car navigation apparatus having a route guidance function for guiding a route to a destination, and is a display for route guidance provided in a meter cluster in front of the driver's seat. And a display control means for displaying on the display means that a right turn or a left turn is made on the display means when approaching a branch point that should turn right or left during the route guidance, the display control means, The present invention is characterized in that the display form for the purpose of turning right or left is changed with respect to other display forms at the time of the route guidance.

  According to the invention of claim 1, since the display means for route guidance is provided in the meter cluster in front of the driver's seat, the line of sight movement is extremely small, and the display control means has a display form for the purpose of turning right or left. Since it has been changed to other display forms at the time of route guidance, it is possible to easily recognize the indication of the purpose of turning right or left, and in general, it is very easy to confirm the display of the branch point to be turned right or left It will be certain.

In this case, the display control means changes the display form for the purpose of making a right turn or a left turn on condition that there is no other branch point between the own vehicle and the branch point to be turned right or left. (Invention of claim 2). In this way, it can be easily confirmed that the next branch point is a branch point to be turned right or left.
In addition, the display control means may change the display form for the purpose of making a right turn or a left turn so that there is no other branch point between the own vehicle and the branch point to be turned right or left, and a direction indication provided by the vehicle. It may be performed on condition that the operation direction with respect to the vessel and the left / right turn direction recommended in the route guidance coincide (invention of claim 3). In this way, when it is determined that the direction in which the driver is going to turn and the left / right turn direction recommended in the route guidance match, the display form is changed, so the driver It can be easily recognized that the direction in which the vehicle is going to turn is the direction recommended by the route guidance.

  In this case, the display control means may change the display form of the purpose of turning right or left in synchronization with the blinking cycle of the direction indicator (invention of claim 4). The driver can more easily recognize that the direction in which he / she is going to turn is the direction recommended by the route guidance.

The first embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, FIG. 1 schematically shows an overall electrical configuration of the car navigation apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment.
Here, the car navigation apparatus 1 includes a position detector 3 for detecting the position of the host vehicle, map data input, and a control circuit 2 mainly composed of a microcomputer including a CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O, and the like. And a remote control sensor 10 for detecting a signal from a remote controller 9, a display device 7 comprising a color liquid crystal display, an audio output device 8, and a remote controller 9.

  The position detector 3 includes a well-known geomagnetic sensor 11, a gyroscope 12, a distance sensor 13, and a GPS receiver 14 for GPS (Global Positioning System) that detects the position of the vehicle based on radio waves from a satellite. have. Since the sensors 11 to 14 of the position detector 3 have errors of different properties, the control circuit 2 is configured to be used while being interpolated. Based on the inputs from these sensors 11 to 14 Thus, the present location, traveling direction, speed, travel distance, etc. of the vehicle are detected with high accuracy. Depending on the accuracy, the position detector may be constituted by a part of the above-described sensors 11 to 14, and in addition to the above, a steering rotation sensor, a wheel sensor for a rolling wheel, or the like may be employed. Is possible.

  The map data input device 4 comprises a drive device for reading out data from a map data recording medium 4a storing various data such as road map data and facility data (destination data) accompanying the map data. As the recording medium 4a, for example, a large-capacity storage medium such as a DVD or a CD-ROM is used. The road map data includes data such as road shape, road width, road name, traffic lights, railroad crossings, buildings, various facilities, place names, terrain, and the like, and the road map is reproduced on the screen of the display device 7. Contains data.

  The facility data includes information on transportation facilities such as stations, leisure facilities, accommodation facilities, public facilities, various stores such as retail stores, department stores, restaurants, houses, condominiums, place names, etc. The data includes data such as the telephone number, address, latitude and longitude, and also includes data for displaying landmarks indicating facilities on the road map on the display device 7 screen. It is configured.

  Since the display device 7 is installed in the meter cluster 16 to be described later, the operation switch group 5 cannot be operated with the touch panel on the screen of the display device 7. The remote controller 10 and a switch (not shown) installed on a steering wheel 15 to be described later or beside a meter to be described later. The user (driver) uses the operation switch group 5 to perform various inputs such as instructions for executing various functions, designation of a destination, etc., selection of a scale of a road map displayed on the display device 7, and the like. Be able to. In this case, the remote controller 9 is also configured to have the same function as the operation switch group 5.

  The display device 7 corresponds to display means, and is provided, for example, at the center of the meter cluster 16 in front of the steering wheel 15 that is in front of the driver's seat, as shown in FIGS. The meter cluster 16 includes a known speedometer 17 and tachometer 18. The display device 7 is provided in an easily viewable portion between the speedometer 17 and the tachometer 18. In this case, the tachometer 18 is not necessarily required. Further, the display device 7 is not particularly required to be installed between the speedometer 17 and the tachometer 18, and may be disposed in the meter cluster 16.

  On the screen of the display device 7, a map around the current location of the vehicle is normally displayed at various scales, and a current location mark indicating the current location and the traveling direction of the vehicle is displayed so as to overlap the display. It has become. When the route guidance to the destination is executed, a screen for route guidance is displayed on the display device 7. The display device 7 also displays an input screen for the user to perform various inputs and settings (selection) of the destination, various messages, and the like.

The control circuit 2 corresponds to a display control means, and realizes a location function for knowing the current location of the vehicle (own vehicle position) by its software configuration (execution of a program) and a designated destination. A route guidance function for searching and guiding the route to the destination is realized.
Among them, as described above, the location function displays the road map on the display device 7 based on the map data from the map data input device 4 and indicates the current location and traveling direction of the vehicle based on the detection of the position detector 3. The current location mark is displayed. In this case, the display of the current location moves on the map as the vehicle travels, and the map is scrolled according to the position of the vehicle. At this time, map matching is performed in which the current location of the vehicle is placed on the road.

  In addition, the route guidance function is obtained by automatically calculating a recommended travel route (route) from a vehicle departure point (current location) to a destination designated by the user, for example, using a well-known Dijkstra method. It guides the route to the destination. In this route guidance, the route to be traveled with the current location of the vehicle (current location mark) is displayed in a conspicuous color on the screen of the display device 7 so as to overlap the road map.

  When the route guidance is executed, when the vehicle position approaches (or approaches) a predetermined guidance point such as an intersection to turn right or left, an entrance to an expressway, or an exit, the display device 7 is switched to an enlarged view near the branch point (see FIG. 5), and the voice output device 8 performs voice guidance such as “the branch point 200m ahead is on the left”. . In addition, guidance on lanes to be traveled on roads with two or more lanes on one side, and notices such as level crossings and curves are also provided. In FIG. 5, the enlarged view near the branch point is one screen, but it is switched to two screens according to the driver's setting. In this embodiment, an example of one screen is shown.

  The control circuit 2 is supplied with a direction indicator signal, which is a signal for giving the control circuit 2 whether a turn indicator (not shown) is operated in the right turn direction or the left turn direction. It is. The control circuit 2 is also provided with a direction indication blinking cycle signal, which is a signal for giving the control circuit 2 the blinking cycle of the direction indication lamp.

  In the present embodiment, during the route guidance, the vehicle position approached a recommended branch point (including predetermined guidance points such as intersections, expressway entrances, and exits) that should turn left or right. ) Control of the control circuit 2 will be described with reference to FIG. In the flowchart of FIG. 2, in step S1, it is determined whether or not an enlarged view of the intersection is displayed as a branch point. If it is displayed, the process proceeds to step S2, where the current location (own vehicle position) and the enlarged intersection are displayed. It is determined whether there is another branch point before the branch point in the figure. If there is not, it will transfer to step S3 and will change the display form of an intersection enlarged view into the display form which blinks.

According to the present embodiment, since the route guidance display device 7 is provided in the meter cluster 16 in front of the driver's seat, the line-of-sight movement is extremely small, and the function of the control circuit 2 as the display control means allows the right turn. Alternatively, the display form of the intention to turn left is changed to the other display form at the time of route guidance. In this case, the display of blinking can be easily recognized by this blinking. Or the confirmation of the display of the branch point to be turned left is very easy and reliable.
In this case, according to the present embodiment, the change of the display form for the purpose of turning right or left is performed on the condition that there is no other branch point between the own vehicle and the intersection to be turned right or left. Therefore, it becomes possible to easily confirm that the next intersection is a branching point to be turned right or left.

  Next, FIG. 6 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, which differs from the first embodiment in the following points. When it is determined in step T1 that the intersection enlarged view is displayed, it is determined in step T2 whether or not the direction indicator is operated (turned on). If it is determined that it has been operated, it is determined in step T3 whether the branch direction (the branch direction recommended by the route guidance) in the enlarged intersection map matches the direction indicated by the direction indicator operated by the driver. If they coincide with each other, the process proceeds to step T4, and it is determined whether or not there is another branch point between the current location (own vehicle position) and the branch point in the enlarged intersection map. If there is not, it will transfer to step T53 and will change the display form of an intersection enlarged view into the display form which blinks synchronizing with blinking of a direction indicator.

According to the second embodiment, the change of the display form for the purpose of turning right or left is made such that there is no other branch point between the own vehicle and the branch point of the intersection to be turned right or left, and the vehicle is provided. The direction that the driver is about to turn is the direction recommended by the route guidance because the direction of operation with respect to the direction indicator and the left / right turn direction recommended by the route guidance match. Can be easily recognized.
In addition, according to the second embodiment, the display form of the purpose of turning right or left is changed in synchronization with the blinking cycle of the direction indicator, so that the driver is about to turn. It can be recognized more easily that the current direction is the direction recommended by the route guidance.
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the change of the display form for the purpose of turning right or left may not be blinking, but may be a periodic change in display brightness, or the entire color may be changed periodically to a different color.

1 is a block diagram of an electrical configuration of a car navigation apparatus showing a first embodiment of the present invention. Flow chart showing control contents of control circuit Perspective view of steering wheel and meter cluster part Front view of meter cluster Front view of meter cluster with different display contents FIG. 2 equivalent view showing a second embodiment of the present invention

Explanation of symbols

  In the drawings, 1 is a car navigation device, 2 is a control circuit (display control means), 7 is a display device (display means), and 16 is a meter cluster.

Claims (4)

A car navigation device having a route guidance function for guiding a route to a destination,
Display means for route guidance provided in the meter cluster in front of the driver's seat;
Display control means for displaying on the display means to turn right or left at the branch point when the route guidance is about to turn right or left during the route guidance;
The car navigation device characterized in that the display control means changes a display form of the purpose of turning right or left with respect to another display form at the time of the route guidance. The car navigation device according to claim 1,
The display control means performs the change of the display form for the purpose of making a right turn or a left turn on the condition that there is no other branch point between the own vehicle and the branch point to be turned right or left. Car navigation device. The car navigation device according to claim 1,
The display control means changes the display mode for the purpose of making a right turn or a left turn with respect to the fact that there is no other branch point between the host vehicle and the branch point to be turned right or left, and a direction indicator provided in the vehicle. A car navigation device characterized in that the operation is performed on condition that the left and right turn directions specified in the route guidance coincide. The car navigation device according to claim 3,
The car navigation device characterized in that the display control means changes the display form of the purpose of turning right or left in synchronization with the blinking cycle of the direction indicator.

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