JP2007256124A - Navigation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation apparatus capable of guiding a building as a destination surely, without increasing cost. <P>SOLUTION: The navigation apparatus includes a vehicle position detection section 5 and a vehicle position calculation section 20 for detecting a travelling position of its own vehicle, and a destination-area-image drawing section 40 and a display processing section 60 for displaying an image around a destination representing a relative positional relation between the body of the vehicle and the building on the screen of a display device 6 to perform guidance, when the detected traveling position approaches a vicinity of the building as the destination. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation apparatus for guiding a building as a destination.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is known a navigation device that obtains an optimal travel route to a destination by route search processing and guides the travel of a vehicle along the travel route. In this navigation device, a guidance operation using images and sounds is performed until the traveling position of the vehicle approaches the vicinity of the destination, and the guidance ends when the vehicle reaches the vicinity of the destination. Therefore, in the end, the driver himself / herself needs to search for the building as the destination, and a driver who does not understand the land around the destination wastes the surrounding area without knowing the location of the building at the destination. I often come and go. As a device that can avoid such a situation, a navigation device is known in which light is projected by a direction pointer onto a position such as a window glass corresponding to a destination building (see, for example, Patent Document 1). ).
JP 2003-344090 A (page 4-7, FIG. 1-6)

  By the way, in the navigation device disclosed in Patent Document 1, it is possible to notify the driver of the building position of the destination by projecting light by the direction pointer. In order to make it easy to see, it is necessary to perform a special treatment on the window glass or the like, and there is a problem that the configuration becomes complicated and the cost is increased.

  The present invention has been created in view of such a point, and an object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device that can reliably guide a building as a destination without increasing the cost.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the navigation device of the present invention includes a vehicle position detection unit that detects a travel position of the host vehicle, and a travel position detected by the host vehicle position detection unit in the vicinity of a building as a destination. Destination guide means for guiding a relative positional relationship with the vehicle body of the host vehicle when approaching. Further, it is desirable to further include route search means for searching for the optimum travel route to the destination described above, and route guide means for guiding the travel of the vehicle along the travel route obtained by the search by the route search means. . By guiding the building position as the destination based on the relative positional relationship with the vehicle body, the position of the building can be easily grasped, and the building as the destination can be reliably guided. Further, since a special configuration such as a direction pointer is not necessarily required, an increase in cost due to an increase in the scale of the apparatus can be suppressed.

  The destination guidance means described above includes a destination peripheral image drawing means for drawing a destination peripheral image including at least a building as a destination and a part of the body of the host vehicle, and a destination peripheral image drawing means. Desirably, the display processing means displays the rendered destination peripheral image on the display device. In particular, it is desirable that the above-described drawing of the destination periphery image is performed assuming that the direction of the building as the destination is viewed from the viewpoint position of the driver of the vehicle. Accordingly, the driver can easily know the building as the destination existing in the scenery that enters his / her field of view by looking at the destination periphery image displayed on the display device.

  Moreover, it is desirable that the above-mentioned destination periphery image includes the A pillar viewed from the driver and the building as the destination. Thereby, the position of the building as the destination that can be seen through the window can be confirmed based on the position of the A pillar.

  Moreover, it is desirable that the above-mentioned destination periphery image includes a window frame viewed from the driver and a building as the destination. Thereby, the position of the building as the destination that can be seen through the window can be confirmed based on the position of the window frame.

  Hereinafter, an in-vehicle navigation device according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a navigation device according to an embodiment. The navigation device shown in FIG. 1 includes a navigation controller 1, a DVD 2, a disk reading device 3, a remote control (remote control) unit 4, a vehicle position detection unit 5, a display device 6, and an audio unit 7.

  The navigation controller 1 controls the overall operation of the navigation device. The navigation controller 1 realizes its function by executing a predetermined operation program using a CPU, ROM, RAM, or the like. The detailed configuration of the navigation controller 1 will be described later.

  The DVD 2 is an information recording medium that stores map data necessary for map display, facility search, route search, destination periphery image display, and the like. This DVD 2 stores map data in units of rectangular figure leaves divided into appropriate sizes by longitude and latitude. The map data of each leaf can be specified and read by designating the leaf number.

  The disc reader 3 can be loaded with one or more DVDs 2 and reads map data from any of the DVDs 2 under the control of the navigation controller 1. The loaded disc is not necessarily a DVD but may be a CD. Further, both DVD and CD may be selectively loaded. Alternatively, a hard disk device may be used instead of the DVD 2 and the disk reader 3.

  The remote control unit 4 includes a joystick for designating directions such as up, down, left, and right, and various operation keys such as a numeric keypad for inputting numbers and a “decision key” for confirming various settings. A signal is output to the navigation controller 1. The vehicle position detection unit 5 includes, for example, a GPS receiver, an orientation sensor, a distance sensor, and the like, detects a vehicle position (longitude, latitude) at a predetermined timing, and outputs a detection result.

  Based on the drawing data output from the navigation controller 1, the display device 6 displays various images such as a map image around the vehicle position and a destination surrounding image including a building as a destination. The audio unit 7 outputs a guidance voice or the like generated based on the voice signal input from the navigation controller 1 into the vehicle interior.

  Next, a detailed configuration of the navigation controller 1 will be described. A navigation controller 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes a map buffer 10, a map read control unit 12, a map drawing unit 14, a vehicle position calculation unit 20, a route search processing unit 22, a guidance route drawing unit 24, a voice guidance unit 26, and a destination setting. A unit 30, a destination peripheral image drawing unit 40, an input processing unit 50, and a display processing unit 60 are configured.

  The map buffer 10 temporarily stores map data read from the DVD 2 by the disk reader 3. The map reading control unit 12 outputs a request for reading a predetermined range of map data to the disk reading device 3 in accordance with the vehicle position calculated by the vehicle position calculating unit 20 and an instruction from the input processing unit 50. Based on the map data stored in the map buffer 10, the map drawing unit 14 performs drawing processing necessary to display a map image and creates map image drawing data.

  The vehicle position calculation unit 20 calculates the vehicle position based on the detection data output from the vehicle position detection unit 5, and if the calculated vehicle position is not on the road of the map data, the vehicle position is calculated. Perform map matching processing to correct.

  The route search processing unit 22 performs route search processing for a travel route (guidance route) that connects a departure point and a destination (or a waypoint) according to a predetermined search condition. The guide route drawing unit 24 generates guide route drawing data for displaying the guide route obtained by the route search processing by the route search processing unit 22 so as to overlap the map. The voice guidance unit 26 generates a voice signal such as intersection guidance necessary for guiding the vehicle along the guidance route obtained by the search process by the route search processing unit 22.

  The destination setting unit 30 sets a destination for route search processing. For example, the destination setting unit 30 searches for a facility that satisfies a search condition specified by the user and sets it as a destination. The destination peripheral image drawing unit 40 generates a destination peripheral image drawing data by drawing a destination peripheral image including at least a building as a destination and an A pillar or window frame that is a part of the host vehicle.

  The input processing unit 50 outputs commands for performing operations corresponding to various operation instructions input from the remote control unit 4 to each unit in the navigation controller 1. The display processing unit 60 receives the map image drawing data generated by the map drawing unit 14 and displays a predetermined range of map images on the screen of the display device 6 based on the drawing data. When the destination periphery image drawing data generated by the destination periphery image drawing unit 40 or the guidance route drawing data generated by the guidance route drawing unit 24 is input, the display processing unit 60 displays these drawing data. It is displayed on the screen of the display device 6 so as to overlap the map image.

  The vehicle position detection unit 5 and the vehicle position calculation unit 20 described above serve as the vehicle position detection unit, the destination peripheral image drawing unit 40 and the display processing unit 60 serve as the destination guidance unit, and the route search processing unit 22 serves as the route search unit. The guidance route drawing unit 24, the voice guidance unit 26, and the display processing unit 60 correspond to the route guidance unit, the destination peripheral image drawing unit 40 corresponds to the destination peripheral image drawing unit, and the display processing unit 60 corresponds to the display processing unit. .

  The navigation device of this embodiment has such a configuration, and next, an operation when the vehicle travels along the travel route obtained by the route search process will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure for displaying a destination periphery image when the vehicle travels to the vicinity of the destination.

  The route search processing unit 22 determines whether or not a route search destination has been set (step 100). If the destination has not been set, a negative determination is made and this determination is repeated. When the destination is set by the destination setting unit 30, an affirmative determination is made in the determination in step 100, and the route search processing unit 22 departs from the current vehicle position calculated by the vehicle position calculation unit 20. The optimum travel route (guidance route) from this departure point to the destination is calculated by route search processing (step 101).

  Next, a route guidance operation along the calculated guidance route is started (step 102). Specifically, the guidance route drawn by the guidance route drawing unit 24 is displayed on a map image, or an audio signal such as an intersection guidance generated by the voice guidance unit 26 is output from the audio unit 7 to guide operation. (Route guidance operation) is performed (step 103).

  In parallel with this guidance operation, the destination periphery image drawing unit 40 determines whether or not the destination has approached the host vehicle position calculated by the vehicle position calculation unit 20 (step 104). The criterion for determining whether or not the vehicle is approaching may be a linear distance, a distance along the guidance route, or a time required from the vehicle position to the destination at that time. If it is far from the destination, a negative determination is made, and the process returns to step 103 to continue the guidance operation.

  Further, when the vehicle position approaches the destination and an affirmative determination is made in the determination in step 104, the destination peripheral image drawing unit 40 draws the destination peripheral image (step 105), and the display processing unit 60 sets the purpose. The ground image is displayed on the screen of the display device 6 (step 106). Thereafter, the destination periphery image drawing unit 40 determines whether or not a display end instruction has been given by the driver or the like (step 107), and if the display end instruction has not been given, a negative determination is made and the process returns to step 105. The drawing and display operation of the destination periphery image is continued. For example, when a display end instruction is given by the driver or the like by operating the remote control unit 4, for example, an affirmative determination is made in the determination of step 107, and a series of operations for guiding the traveling of the vehicle to the destination ends.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a specific example of the destination periphery image. The destination periphery image shown in FIG. 3 is drawn assuming that the direction of the building as the destination is viewed from the viewpoint position of the driver of the vehicle, and the building P as the destination and the body of the host vehicle A pillar (the frontmost pillar of the vehicle) 200 is included at least. Note that this destination peripheral image is actually captured by a camera (not shown) in addition to the case of generating by performing perspective projection conversion from a viewpoint position on a building having a predetermined shape arranged in a three-dimensional space. You may make it use the image which was made. Also, the building P as the destination included in the destination peripheral image can be distinguished from other buildings other than the destination by changing the color of the whole, highlighting it, or attaching a predetermined pointer. It has been devised to turn on.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating another specific example of the destination periphery image. The destination peripheral image shown in FIG. 4 is drawn assuming that the direction of the building as the destination is viewed from the viewpoint position of the driver of the vehicle, similarly to the destination peripheral image shown in FIG. Further, at least a building (not shown in FIG. 4) as a destination and window frames 200, 202, 204, 206 as a part of the vehicle body of the host vehicle are included.

  As described above, in the navigation device according to the present embodiment, by guiding the building position as the destination based on the relative positional relationship with the vehicle body, it becomes easy to grasp the position of the building and reliably You can guide the building. Further, since a special configuration such as a direction pointer is not necessarily required, an increase in cost due to an increase in the scale of the apparatus can be suppressed.

  In particular, by guiding the destination by displaying a destination peripheral image drawn assuming the direction of the building as the destination from the viewpoint position of the driver of the vehicle, the driver By looking at the image around the destination displayed on the display device, it is possible to easily know the building as the destination existing in the scenery entering the field of view.

  In addition, by including the A-pillar and the building as the destination as seen from the driver in the surrounding image of the destination, or the window frame and the building as the destination as seen from the driver in the surrounding image of the destination By doing so, the position of the building as the destination that can be seen through the window can be confirmed based on the position of the A pillar and the window frame.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation implementation is possible within the range of the summary of this invention. In the above-described embodiment, the destination peripheral image including the destination building used for the route search process is generated and displayed. However, even if the route search process and the route guidance operation are not performed, this purpose is displayed. You may make it produce | generate and display the destination periphery image containing the building of a ground.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the position of the building as the destination is guided by displaying the destination peripheral image. However, in parallel with this display operation, or alone, the position of the building by voice is displayed. Guidance may be provided. In this case, for example, a guidance voice such as “the second building from the A pillar is the destination” is output (this voice output is, for example, a destination provided in parallel with the destination peripheral image drawing unit 40. This is done by the surrounding sound output unit).

  In the above-described embodiment, the A-pillar and the window frame are included as a part of the vehicle body in the destination periphery image. (B pillar, C pillar, etc.) may be included.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus of one Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure which displays a destination periphery image, when a vehicle drive | works to the periphery of a destination. It is a figure which shows the specific example of a destination periphery image. It is a figure which shows the other specific example of a destination periphery image.

Explanation of symbols

1 Navigation controller 2 DVD
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 Disc reader 4 Remote control (remote control) unit 5 Vehicle position detection part 6 Display apparatus 7 Audio part 10 Map buffer 12 Map reading control part 14 Map drawing part 20 Vehicle position calculation part 22 Route search process part 24 Guidance route drawing part 26 Voice guidance unit 30 Destination setting unit 40 Destination peripheral image drawing unit 50 Input processing unit 60 Display processing unit

Claims (6)

Own vehicle position detecting means for detecting the traveling position of the own vehicle;
Destination guidance means for guiding a relative positional relationship with the vehicle body of the host vehicle when the traveling position detected by the host vehicle position detection unit approaches the vicinity of the building as the destination;
A navigation device comprising: In claim 1,
Route search means for searching for an optimal travel route to the destination;
Route guidance means for guiding the travel of the vehicle along the travel route obtained by the search by the route search means;
A navigation device further comprising: In claim 1,
The destination guide means is drawn by a destination peripheral image drawing means for drawing a destination peripheral image including at least a building as a destination and a part of the vehicle body of the host vehicle, and the destination peripheral image drawing means. A navigation device, characterized in that the display device is a display processing means for displaying a destination peripheral image on a display device. In claim 3,
The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the drawing of the destination periphery image is performed on the assumption that the direction of the building as the destination is viewed from the viewpoint position of the driver of the vehicle. In claim 4,
The navigation apparatus characterized in that the destination periphery image includes an A pillar viewed from the driver and a building as a destination. In claim 4,
The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the destination periphery image includes a window frame viewed from the driver and a building as the destination.

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