JP2007155661A - Navigation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation apparatus capable of averting time loss from being given to a user, when setting a destination based on information acquired from an information recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: A control circuit 2 in the car navigation apparatus 1 determines whether information, such as facilities and shops acquired by a QR code, is valid, based on the term of validity recorded in the QR code; and when it determines that the information is not valid, it accesses a URL recorded in the QR code via a portable phone 10 for acquiring alternative information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device that, when information about a facility, a store, or the like is acquired from an information recording medium and a destination is set, searches for a travel route to the destination and provides route guidance.

In general, when setting a destination in a car navigation apparatus, it is usual to search and set information on a location stored in advance in a storage device such as a DVD or a hard disk. In other words, since the large-capacity storage device as described above can have a huge search database, the user can set a desired location from among them with a high degree of freedom.
On the other hand, it is necessary for the user to manually input the destination address, the name of the facility, or the like, or to narrow down the destination from a large number of presented candidate lists, and the setting operation is troublesome.

As a technique for solving the above problem, techniques for setting a destination using position information included in a QR code (registered trademark) are disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 and the like. Currently, QR codes are widely used in magazines, advertisements, and the like, so the user can determine in advance a place where he / she wants to go by referring to information such as facilities and stores posted on them. And since the destination can be set in the car navigation device simply by reading the selected QR code with a reader, the convenience is extremely good.
JP 2001-33265 A JP 2005-31068 A

  However, since information published in magazines and advertisements is static, it is inevitable that the information will become outdated with the passage of time. Therefore, if the navigation device guides to the destination set based on the information read from the QR code, it is assumed that the service period that should have been provided has already ended, or the store itself has moved from that location. , There is a risk of causing a great time loss to the user. In addition, even if the information itself is not outdated, if the store set as the destination is located far beyond the user's assumptions, it is difficult to use the store, and the information is substantially It is also assumed that it is not available.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a purpose thereof is navigation that can avoid giving a user time loss when setting a destination based on information acquired from an information recording medium. To provide an apparatus.

  According to the navigation device of the first aspect, when the determination unit determines that the information acquired from the information recording medium is not valid, setting of the destination based on the information is prohibited. Therefore, when the validity of the information recorded on the information recording medium has already been lost or when the information is substantially invalid, the destination is set to the user and the user is lost in time. This is avoided.

  According to the navigation device of claim 2, when communication destination information for accessing an information source from which more information related to a facility, a store, etc. can be acquired is recorded on the information recording medium, an alternative When it is determined that the information acquired from the information recording medium is not valid by the determination unit, the information acquisition unit acquires the substitute information by accessing the information source via the communication unit. In other words, when the validity of the information recorded on the information recording medium has already been lost, it is possible to obtain and use effective alternative information from an external information source. Therefore, it is not necessary for the user to perform setting operation in order to acquire new information, and convenience can be improved.

  According to the navigation device of the third aspect, when the expiration date of the information is recorded on the information recording medium, the determination means checks the validity of the information by comparing the expiration date with the date at that time. Since it judges, effectiveness can be judged more reliably.

  According to the navigation device of the fourth aspect, the determination unit determines the validity of the information according to the distance from the current location to the facility, the store, or the like. That is, if the facility or store included in the information acquired from the information recording medium is too far from the current location, it is difficult to say that it is easy for the user to use, so it is located within a predetermined distance. By making a store or the like valid, it is possible to make a reasonable decision.

  According to the navigation device of the fifth aspect, when the effective date of the information is recorded on the information recording medium, the determining means determines the information according to the number of days elapsed from the effective date to the date of the current time. Determine effectiveness. That is, even when the expiration date of the information as described in claim 4 is not recorded, the validity can be appropriately determined by the apparatus side based on the effective date of the information.

  According to the navigation device of claim 6, when the acquired information includes a plurality of the same type of facility or store, the distance from the current location to each facility or store is calculated, and the distance is the shortest. Set things for purpose. That is, when the acquired information is arbitrarily selected, it is possible to select a facility or store that is shortest from the current location and that is most easily used by the user.

  According to the navigation device of the seventh aspect, the user can set the validity determination condition performed by the determination unit. That is, since it is assumed that the criterion of the validity of information is relatively recognized by each user, the determination condition can be set so as to match the recognition of each user.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vehicle navigation apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a car navigation apparatus 1 mounted on a vehicle. The car navigation apparatus 1 has a position detection device (position acquisition means) 3, a map data input device (map data acquisition means) 4, an operation switch group (input means) for a control circuit (determination means, alternative information acquisition means) 2. 5, image input device (information acquisition means) 6, display device 7, audio output device 8, VICS (registered trademark: Vehicle Information and Communication System) transceiver 9, mobile phone (communication means) 10, An external memory 11, an RTC (Real Time Clock) 12 and the like are connected.

  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 connecting these, and the like (all not shown). Among them, the ROM stores an execution program for operating the car navigation device 1 and an execution program for receiving toll road toll discount. The RAM stores temporary data and map data input device 4 for executing the program. The map data acquired from the information, the information acquired via the VICS transceiver 9 and the mobile phone 10 are temporarily stored.

  The position detection device 3 includes a G sensor 13 for detecting the pitch angle of the vehicle, a gyroscope 14 for detecting the roll angle of the vehicle, a distance sensor 15 and a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 16. ing. Since these sensors 13 to 16 have detection errors having different properties, combining them enables highly accurate position detection while correcting the detection errors. It should be noted that depending on the required detection accuracy level, it is not necessary to provide all the sensors 13 to 16 and the like, and a configuration can be selected and provided as appropriate. 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 map data input device 4 is composed of, for example, an information recording medium such as a DVD-ROM or a hard disk, and a reading device that reads data from the information recording medium, and the control circuit reads data from the information recording medium by the reading device. Enter in 2. Here, the data included in the map data input device 4 includes the map data, the data for map matching, the data for guiding the route by voice, the location of the destination on the map, and the like. Data to be used, and data for making it possible to search for destination names by genre.

  The map data is data for displaying a map on the liquid crystal display of the display device 7 and includes link information, node information, and the like. This is to divide the road on the map into multiple parts by nodes that show inflection points such as intersections, branch points, merge points, curves over a predetermined angle, etc., define each link as a link, and connect these links Based on the idea of constructing a map. The link information includes, for each link, a link unique ID, a link length (road length) indicating the link length, coordinates of the start and end of the link, a road width of the link, and a road type (national road, prefectural road, etc. , Highway, etc.). The node information includes, for each node, node unique ID, coordinates, node attributes such as data indicating a three-dimensional intersection or a multi-lane intersection.

  The data (map search data) for searching the position of the destination on the map from the place name or the like is configured as map index data for searching the position on the map from the place name, the name of the building, the name of the facility, or the like. . Similarly, the data used to search destination names by genre is divided into various genres such as restaurants, hotels, stations, amusement parks, public facilities, etc. It consists of divided data. The above facilities include parks, amusement parks, hospitals, government offices, department stores, convenience stores, restaurants, expressway service areas, and the like.

  The image input device 6 is an area sensor composed of a CCD (Charge Coupled Device), a CMOS image sensor, or the like. For example, an image of a two-dimensional code such as a QR code printed on an advertisement page of a magazine is optically displayed. When the data is read, it is converted into an electrical image signal and output to the control circuit 2. When the control circuit 2 binarizes the image signal and reads it as light / dark pattern data, the control circuit 2 decodes information recorded in the QR code. In this case, the paper surface on which the QR code or the like is printed corresponds to the “information recording medium” in the claims.

  The display device 7 is configured to include a color liquid crystal display as a display screen for displaying map data, characters, symbols, and the like, and on the surface of the liquid crystal display, a transparent that forms part of the operation switch group 5 is configured. The touch panel is attached. The operation switch group 5 is used for inputting data and inputting setting items, and is configured of, for example, push button switches provided around the display device 7.

  The voice output device 8 synthesizes a voice according to a voice synthesis command from the control circuit 2 and outputs it from the speaker 10. The VICS transceiver 9 receives road traffic information transmitted from the external information source VICS and inputs it to the control circuit 2 and supports various infrastructures such as FM multiplex broadcasting, radio wave beacons, and optical beacons. . The control circuit 2 detects a traffic regulation point, a congested road, a congested section, and the like based on the road traffic information input from the VICS transceiver 9.

  The mobile phone 10 can be connected to an information provider database (DB, information source) 19 via a base station 17 of the mobile phone system and a communication network 18 such as the Internet, and acquires information from the database 19. To do. The database 19 is configured as a Web server on the Internet, for example. The external memory 11 is composed of, for example, a flash memory card or a small hard disk, and is used when the control circuit 2 stores data or exchanges data with other devices such as a personal computer. The An RTC (Real Time Clock) 12 is an IC for measuring time, and gives current time information to the control circuit 2.

The control circuit 2 calculates the current position of the host vehicle based on the information input from the position detection device 3 and displays a road map around the current position on the liquid crystal display of the display device 9 based on the map data. A pointer indicating the current position and traveling direction of the host vehicle is displayed over the displayed road map.
In addition, the control circuit 2 synthesizes a voice in the voice output device 8 in order to instruct the function of route search means for searching for a guide route to the destination and the direction in which the host vehicle should travel according to the route. Output, or displayed on the screen of the display device 7 as a travel guide means. That is, when a destination or waypoint is set by operating the operation switch group 5, the optimum route from the current position (departure point) to the destination is automatically set as a guide route, and the guide route is displayed on the display device 7. It is displayed in a color different from the normal road color on the displayed road map. And the control circuit 2 guides the advancing direction of a motor vehicle by an audio | voice etc. according to a guidance route. The Dijkstra method or the like is used as a method for setting the optimum route.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of information recorded in a QR code corresponding to a store advertisement printed on an advertisement page of a magazine, for example. These information includes the URL (Uniform Resource) for accessing the website when the advertisement date and the expiration date of the advertisement content, the number of affiliated stores, and similar advertisements are also provided as contents of the website on the Internet. Locator), location information such as store name, telephone number, latitude and longitude of each affiliated store. Accordingly, when the control circuit 2 reads and decodes the information recorded in the QR code via the image processing device 6, it is possible to set the travel destination of the vehicle based on the position information of the store or the like. Yes.

  Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing only the part (destination setting) according to the gist of the present invention of the processing contents by the control circuit 2. When the driver reads, for example, store information recorded in the QR code via the image processing device 6 in order to set the destination (step S1), the control circuit 2 decodes the read information. . Then, by comparing the expiration date of the advertisement or the like included in the information with the date and time at that time, it is determined whether or not the read information is within the effective expiration date (step S2).

  If the information is within the valid period in Step S2 (“YES”), the control circuit 2 determines whether or not the read information includes a plurality of target stores (Step S3). When there is only one store information (“NO”), the distance from the current location to the store is calculated based on the position information, and the distance D (for example, 20 km) set in advance as the effective distance is calculated. It is determined whether or not the following is true (step S5). If the distance to the store is equal to or less than D (“YES”), the store is set as the destination (step S6), and the process ends. Thereafter, processing such as route search and route guidance to the set destination is performed as described above.

  In step S3, when the read information includes a plurality of target stores (“YES”), the control circuit 2 calculates the distance to each store, and the store closest to the current location from among them is calculated. Is selected as a destination candidate (step S4), the process proceeds to step 5. In other words, it is generally assumed that a store located at the shortest distance from the current location is easy for the user to use.

  On the other hand, if the information read from the QR code in step S2 is not within the valid time limit ("NO"), and if the distance from the current location to the store exceeds the effective distance D in step S5 ("NO"), The control circuit 2 determines whether or not the mobile phone 10 is in a communication state at that time and accesses the URL included in the information read from the QR code (step S7). When the access is not made, that is, when it is not connected (“YES”), the control circuit 2 accesses the homepage on the network indicated by the URL via the mobile phone 10, downloads the content, and is the destination candidate The latest (estimated) information about the store is obtained (step S8).

  In the case where “NO” is determined in step S5, the store included in the information acquired from the QR code is located relatively far from the current location. hard. Therefore, it is preferable to obtain alternative information from the information source indicated by the URL so that information on a store closer to the current location can be obtained. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S7.

  When the latest information is obtained in step S8, the control circuit 2 compares the information read from the QR code with the latest information to determine whether the latter information is actually updated from the former. If it has been updated (“YES”), the process returns to step S2 to determine whether the updated information is within the expiration date. On the other hand, if the information acquired from the URL has not been updated in step S9 ("NO"), the user is notified by a voice message or the like to give a warning and cancel the destination setting ( Step S10) The process is terminated.

  If the information acquired from the URL is out of the valid period in step S2 that has been shifted as a result of the determination of "YES" in step S9 ("NO"), the process proceeds to step S7 again. At this point in time, access to the URL has not been made (the information is acquired from the content, and then the connection by the mobile phone 10 is disconnected). Therefore, the determination is “NO” and the process proceeds to step S10.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the control circuit 2 of the car navigation apparatus 1 determines that the information about the facility, the store, or the like acquired from the QR code is not valid, the mobile phone 10 receives the QR code from the QR code. The substitute information is obtained by accessing the obtained URL. Therefore, when the validity of the information recorded in the QR code has already been lost, it is possible to acquire and use effective alternative information from the content such as the home page indicated by the URL, and the user can obtain new information. It is not necessary to perform the setting operation by itself to acquire the information, and convenience can be improved. If it is determined that none of the finally acquired information is valid, setting of a destination based on the information is prohibited, so that it is possible to avoid giving a user a time loss.

In addition, since the control circuit 2 determines the validity of the information according to the distance from the current location to the facility or store, the facility or store included in the QR code is located too far from the current location. In such a case, it is possible to obtain alternative information and obtain information on facilities, stores, etc. that are closer to the current location.
In addition, when the expiration date of the information is recorded in the QR code, the control circuit 2 determines the validity of the information by comparing the expiration date with the date at that time. Judgment can be made with certainty.
In addition, when the acquired information includes a plurality of the same type of facilities or stores, the control circuit 2 calculates the distance from the current location to each facility or store, etc. Set. That is, when the acquired information is arbitrary, it is possible to select a facility, a store, or the like that is shortest from the current location and that is most easily used by the user.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above or shown in the drawings, and the following modifications are possible.
As information acquisition means, a mobile phone with a camera function may be used to image a QR code and the image information may be transmitted to the car navigation device.
The information recorded is not limited to the QR code, but may be a two-dimensional code (information code) such as PDF417 (registered trademark), data matrix (registered trademark), maxi code (registered trademark), or the like. . Further, the information recording medium is not limited to the sheet of paper on which these information codes are printed. For example, an IC card on which information on facilities, stores, and the like is similarly recorded, and an external memory 11 such as a removable disk are used. You may do it.

If the recorded information does not include an “expiration date”, the advertisement date (information effective date) is compared with the date and time at that time, and an expiration date arbitrarily set in advance (for example, 50 days) The validity of the information may be determined based on whether or not it is within (). In this case, even when the expiration date is not recorded, the validity can be appropriately determined by the apparatus side.
Further, when the recorded information does not include the “advertisement date”, the URL may be accessed.
In step S2, the validity based on the expiration date is first determined. However, the validity may be determined by referring to the effective distance D from the current location to the store first (in that case). Step S5 may be deleted).
The information indicating the location of a store or the like is not limited to latitude and longitude, and map code (registered trademark) may be used. Moreover, you may search a position from the information which map data has based on the name, telephone number, and address of a store.

The time information is not limited to that acquired from the RTC 12, and time information included in the GPS signal may be used.
As a condition for determining the validity of the information, the user may be able to input and set the expiration date and the effective distance D using the operation switch group 5. In addition, it may be set whether the validity is determined based on the time limit or the distance. That is, since it is assumed that the criterion of the validity of information is relatively recognized by each user, the determination condition can be set so as to match the recognition of each user.
It is not always necessary to access the URL and acquire the substitute information. When it is determined that the information acquired from the information code is not valid, the destination setting based on the information may be prohibited.
The navigation device is not limited to a vehicle.

1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a car navigation device according to an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a vehicle navigation device. The figure which shows an example of the information currently printed on the QR code corresponding to the advertisement of a store printed on the advertisement page of a magazine, etc. The flowchart which shows only the part which concerns on the summary of this invention about the processing content by the control circuit of a car navigation apparatus

Explanation of symbols

In the drawings, 1 is a car navigation device, 2 is a control circuit (determination means, alternative information acquisition means), 3 is a position detection device (position acquisition means), 4 is a map data input device (map data acquisition means), and 5 is an operation. Switch group (input means), 6 is an image input device (information acquisition means), 7 is a display device, 8 is an audio output device, 10 is a mobile phone (communication means), 12 is an RTC (clock means), and 19 is a database ( Information source).

Claims (7)

An information acquisition means for acquiring the information from an information recording medium in which information such as a facility or a store is recorded, and when the facility or store included in the information is set as a destination, In a navigation device that searches for a travel route and provides route guidance along the travel route,
A determination means for determining the validity of the information acquired by the information acquisition means;
A navigation apparatus characterized by prohibiting setting of a destination based on the information when the determining means determines that the information is not valid. When communication destination information for accessing an information source from which more information related to the facility or store can be acquired is recorded on the information recording medium,
Communication means capable of accessing the information source by communicating with the outside based on the communication destination information;
An alternative information acquisition unit that accesses the information source via the communication unit and acquires the alternative information from the information source when the determination unit determines that the information is invalid. The navigation device according to claim 1.   In the case where an expiration date of information is recorded on the information recording medium, the determination means determines the validity of the information by comparing the expiration date with a date at that time. The navigation device according to claim 1 or 2.   The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines the validity of the information according to a distance from a current location to the facility, a store, or the like.   When the effective date of information is recorded on the information recording medium, the determining means determines the validity of the information according to the number of days elapsed from the effective date to the date of the current time. The navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3.   When the acquired information includes multiple facilities or stores of the same type, calculate the distance from the current location to each facility or store, and set the shortest distance as the destination The navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 5. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a user can set a validity determination condition performed by the determination unit.

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