JP2007285976A - Voice guidance apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To report a guidance sentence more exact and easy-to-understand for a user at a guidance point, in a voice guidance apparatus. <P>SOLUTION: The voice guidance apparatus comprises a guidance sentence preparing section for preparing one or more guidance sentences of a guidance point using map information, a selection history management section storing history information at the guidance point that has been guided, a location information retention degree guessing section storing user-specific retention degree information for determining the awareness of the user related to the guidance point, a reporting order assigning section for assigning the priority of reporting to the prepared guidance sentence using the history information and retention degree information, a reporting operation management section for selecting the guidance sentence of the highest priority, an output section, and an input section for recognizing a user's response. When the output section reports a first guidance sentence and then there is a response of displeasure with the first guidance sentence from the input section, the voice guidance apparatus selects a second guidance sentence of the next lower priority with the reporting order assigning section and reports the second guidance sentence by voice. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a voice guidance device, and more particularly to a voice guidance device having a function of guiding a route to a preset destination with a map on a display screen and voice.
This apparatus is mounted on a car, a mobile phone, a PDA, or the like.

  Recently, when a destination, which is a destination, is set on a car or a mobile phone, a navigation service is provided that guides a route from the current location to the destination by display on the screen or by voice. Having voice guidance is a convenient function especially during driving where the line of sight cannot be removed from the front, but it is unnecessary for the user because the guidance is similar to any user. There is a case that it is a guide that does not understand or meaning.

Normally, navigation devices are mainly guided by distance such as “about 3 km ahead and turn right”, or the intersection name “about 3 km ahead and turn right at the intersection”. The guidance prompts the user who knows the location well, "Which place is 3 kilometers away?", And drives the temptation to look away from the front and look at the map.
On the other hand, guidance by intersection name is difficult for users who do not know the location even if they hear it, and because it is an unknown name, it is difficult to hear, and they want to look away from the front and view the map Drive the temptation.
There has been proposed a technique for avoiding a mismatch between the amount of information that the user has with respect to the place and the guidance of the navigation.

For example, Patent Document 1 describes a navigation device that provides a level for the contents of route guidance, automatically determines the level of guidance based on a travel history (number of times), and provides guidance corresponding to the level.
Also, in Patent Document 2, a level is provided for guidance, and a switch such as volume control is used to automatically ask the user to specify the level, whether it is around the home, or information such as the road environment. Describes a navigation device that provides intuitive and easy-to-understand guidance display by determining and setting the level.

Further, Patent Document 3 describes a car navigation device that creates a guidance sentence that indicates the relative positional relationship between the route and the target and the direction of travel, for example, a guidance sentence “in front of the convenience store, diagonally to the right.” Has been.
In addition, when there is a road or area that the user knows well, a navigation device that simplifies guidance by reducing the number of times of guidance or reducing the volume has been proposed (Patent Document 4).
Furthermore, a vehicle guidance device has also been proposed in which the distance is not informed as it is, but is expressed sensuously as “still more” or “a little more” (Patent Document 5).
JP 7-294276 A JP 2001-304900 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-304582 JP 2003-57059 A Japanese Patent No. 3606912

However, the automatic determination of the guidance level based on the traveling history in Patent Documents 1 and 2 cannot be used unless the traveling history is accumulated, and there is no guarantee that the guidance level matches the guidance level desired by the user.
The switch in Patent Document 2 is a good means for the user to select the desired guidance. However, the favorite level may change depending on the location and the like, and it is troublesome to set each time.
The guidance based on the relative positional relationship in Patent Document 3 is convenient when there is a target such as a convenience store, but may or may not be present depending on the road environment. There must be.
Furthermore, as in Patent Documents 4 and 5, when guidance is simplified or expressed sensuously, it may be appropriate guidance, but for users who want to know detailed information about the location of intersections and traffic jams. Is inadequate and ends up doing some kind of operation to look at the map, which is a safety issue.

  Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and comprehensively determines information related to the user, roads and surrounding information, and the like. It is an object of the present invention to provide a voice guidance device capable of providing guidance.

  The present invention relates to a map recording unit that records map information, a guide sentence creating unit that creates one or more guide sentences of guide points using the map information, and history information of guide points that have been guided in the past. A selection history management unit that stores information, a location information possession degree estimation unit that stores user-specific possession level information for determining the user's degree of recognition regarding the guide point, and the history information and possession for the created guidance sentence A notification priority assigning unit that gives priority of notification using the degree information, a notification operation management unit that selects the guidance sentence with the highest priority, an output part that notifies the selected guidance sentence by voice, and a user An input unit that recognizes and receives an instruction or response, and after the output unit notifies the first guidance sentence, when there is a response from the input unit that the first guidance sentence is dissatisfied, The notification operation management unit has the next highest priority 2 Select guidance words, the output unit is of the second guiding sentence providing voice guidance device to be notified by voice.

Thereby, since the guidance sentence for voice notification to the user is selected using the history information and the possession degree information, it is possible to provide guidance preferable for the user.
In addition, if the guidance given by the guidance sentence is not satisfactory for the user, the next highest priority guidance sentence is automatically selected in response to the user's response and voice notification is given. Therefore, a complicated operation by the user is not required, and it is possible to provide an easy-to-understand voice guidance for the user while ensuring sufficient safety.

  According to this invention, in addition to the ranking rules, user-specific holding information and selection history information are comprehensively used to select a guidance sentence to be guided, so that no complicated setting operation is required as in the prior art. A more accurate and easy-to-understand guidance sentence can be output for the user who uses this apparatus.

  In this invention, the guide sentence creating unit acquires a guide template recording unit storing a plurality of guide sentence templates in advance and geographical information suitable for the selection environment of the guide points, and determines whether or not guidance is possible. A creation availability determination unit that selects a guideable template from the guide template recording unit, and a template selection unit that creates a guidance sentence by applying the acquired geographical information to the selected template. It is characterized by.

  In addition, the creation possibility determination unit refers to the map recording unit with respect to the guide point, and detects a road name detection unit that detects whether the road has a name, and an intersection name that detects whether it is an intersection and has a name. It is characterized by comprising at least one of a detection unit, a place name detection unit for detecting a place name in the vicinity, a landmark building detection unit for detecting a building as a landmark, and a road feature detection unit for detecting a road feature. To do.

Furthermore, the guidance template recording unit records a major classification, a middle classification, and a minor classification indicating the type of guidance sentence in association with a template of the guidance sentence.
The template of the guidance sentence is characterized by comprising a first template in a format capable of notifying a relatively detailed road environment and a second template in a format in which guidance content is relatively omitted.
The input unit may include one or both of a voice recognition processing unit that recognizes an input voice and a button operation determination unit that inputs a response by a user's manual operation.

The notification ranking assigning section includes a predetermined ranking rule, and assigns a priority order to the guidance sentences created by the guidance sentence creating section based on the ranking rules. To do.
The history information stored by the selection history unit includes road map information for identifying a guidance point, guidance classification information for identifying a guidance sentence notified to the guidance point, and a guidance date. And

The holding information stored in the location information holding degree estimating unit includes registration information including geographical information of a home address and a point specified by the user, and a driving including the number of times of driving for a specific point within a predetermined period. History information is included.
Further, the present invention provides a guidance point passage detection unit that detects whether or not the guide point has been passed, and whether or not the guide notified before the guide point after passing the guide point is satisfactory for the user. Provided is a voice guidance device further comprising a guidance confirmation unit for confirmation.

  In addition, the guidance confirmation unit includes a margin time calculation unit that calculates the time between the guidance point A that has been guided immediately before and the next guidance point B, and a guidance that is associated with the guidance text that can be selected at the guidance point A. A guide explanatory text creating section for creating an explanatory text, and when the time calculated by the allowance time calculation section is equal to or longer than a predetermined time, after the guidance confirmation section has passed the guide point A, The output unit confirms whether the guidance notified in front is satisfactory for the user, and when the response indicating that the input unit is dissatisfied, the output unit can select the guidance text desired by the user. The guidance explanation is output by voice.

Each functional block for executing the voice guidance function of the voice guidance device according to the present invention is realized by a microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O controller, a timer, and the like.
Also, the voice guidance function is realized by the CPU operating various hardware based on a control program stored in advance in a ROM or the like. The control program may be provided by being stored in a read-only memory such as a ROM in advance, or may be provided in a form recorded on a rewritable recording medium such as a flash memory or a hard disk.
Alternatively, it may be downloaded from a server or the like that stores the control program via a network.

The voice guidance device can be provided as one independent hardware module, but can also be provided as a function module of an existing navigation device in a form incorporated in the navigation device. That is, the navigation device includes a display unit (such as an LCD) that displays map information and a voice guidance device.
A map recording unit that is already used in a navigation device may be used.
The guidance point of the present invention means a point that becomes a key point until the user arrives at the destination, such as an intersection or a road branch point, when a route to the destination is set by the navigation device. It may be the same point as the point guided by the navigation device.

The user's degree of recognition regarding a guide point is a criterion for judging how much the user knows about the guide point, for example, “the user hardly knows the guide point”, “not knows at all”, “a little know” It means a standard such as “I know” or “I know well”. The user-specific possession level information is information for determining how much the user has a degree of recognition for the point to be guided.
For example, information (registration information) set in advance by the user who uses the voice guidance device before using the device, or information acquired by traveling after the device has been installed in a car for a while (running history information) Corresponds to the holding degree information.
The registration information (registration information 18 in FIG. 1) is information including home address, company address, geographical information of a point designated and input by the user himself / herself in the navigation system, personal information, name, and the like. The travel history information (travel history 17 in FIG. 1) includes, for example, the number of travels for a specific point within a predetermined period, the date and time at which the point was passed, the travel purpose, and the like.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited by this.
<Configuration of Example of Voice Guidance Device of the Invention>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a voice guidance apparatus according to the present invention.
The voice guidance device of the present invention is attached to a vehicle such as an automobile, for example, and the voice guidance function of the present invention is realized as one function of a so-called navigation device.
Each functional block is realized by a microcomputer mainly including a CPU, ROM, RAM, timer, I / O interface, etc., and the CPU organically manages the hardware based on a control program stored in a memory such as a ROM. The function of the present invention is executed by operating the above.

The main parts that characterize the voice guidance device of the present invention are the input unit 10, the user input interpretation unit 11, the notification operation management unit 14, the selection history management unit 15, the location information holding degree estimation unit 16, the guidance sentence creation unit 20, And a guidance sentence confirmation unit 72.
In addition, a map recording unit (map DB) 51, a speech synthesis preprocessing unit 52, a speech synthesis unit 53, an output unit 54, a guidance start determination unit 61, a route setting unit 62, a traffic jam information reception unit 63, a behavior detection unit 64, a position The detection unit 65, the route search unit 60, the target value setting unit 67, the waypoint setting unit 68, and the guidance point passage detection unit 71 are indispensable for voice guidance, but are also provided in conventional voice guidance devices and car navigation devices. It is what has been.

In FIG. 1, an input unit 10 is a part for inputting user's instruction contents to a voice guidance device. In addition to mechanical input devices such as buttons, dials, switches, etc., voice input, finger identification on the screen Touch input by touching the area.
The user input interpretation unit 11 is a part that interprets the instruction content input from the input unit 10. For example, the voice recognition processing unit 12 that recognizes the content of the input voice, the button operation determination unit that determines the input operation of the button or the like. 13 etc. are included.

The guidance sentence creation unit 20 is a part that creates a guidance sentence to be notified to the user by voice, and mainly includes a creation possibility determination unit 21, a template selection unit 27, a notification order assignment unit 28, and a guidance template DB 29.
The creation possibility determination unit 21 includes a road name detection unit 22, an intersection name detection unit 23, a place name detection unit 24, a destination building detection unit 25, and a road feature detection unit 26.
A ranking rule 30 as shown in FIG. 10, which will be described later, is recorded in the notification ranking assigning unit 28, and based on this rule, a notification priority is given to a notification sentence that can be notified. In the place information possession degree estimation unit 16, a travel history 17 and registration information 18 are recorded.

The guidance sentence to be notified to the user is created after extracting the characteristic elements by the detection units (22 to 26) in the creation possibility determination unit 21.
For example, the road name detection unit 22 checks whether there is a road name recorded in advance for the current travel position while referring to the map recording unit 51, and if there is, acquires the road name.
Similarly, the intersection name detection unit 23 acquires an intersection name of a point to be guided, the place name detection unit 24 has an address (place name) of the point to be guided, and the target building detection unit 25 has a predetermined range in the vicinity of the point to be guided. The building name and road feature detection unit 26 acquires the road feature information of the guide point.
Moreover, the guidance sentence preparation part 20 calculates the distance of the point A which should be guided, and the point A and the present driving | running | working position.

The guide template DB 29 is a portion in which a template of a guide sentence to be notified to the user is recorded, for example, a sentence as shown in FIG. Here, a numerical value of the calculated distance is substituted for [distance].
The location information possession estimation unit 16 is a part that determines how much the point to be guided is known to the user based on the recorded travel history 17 and registration information 18.
Here, the “travel history 17” is information such as the number of travels at a specific point as described above. “Registration information 18” is information such as geographical information of a specific point set and input by the user.

The selection history management unit 15 is a part that saves the selection history information 19 and returns the selection history information corresponding to the inquiry if there is selection history information corresponding to the inquiry from the notification order assignment unit 28.
The selection history information 19 is information related to a guidance sentence that has been notified to the user in the past, and FIG. 11 shows an example thereof.
This information 19 includes, for example, geographical information of a point that has been guided, date and time when the guide point is passed, and information that specifies a guide sentence notified when the point is passed.

The notification operation management unit 14 is a part that outputs the highest-priority guide sentence that has been created.
Further, it is a part that changes the guidance sentence notified by the selection input from the user or gives the information about the outputted guidance sentence to the selection history management unit 15 as the selection history information 19.
In FIG. 1, a destination setting unit 67 is a part for setting a destination by a user input, and a waypoint setting unit 68 is a part for setting a waypoint by a user input.
The behavior detection unit 64 is a part that detects a traveling direction and a moving distance of the vehicle by a steering angle or an accelerator brake operation by a driver's steering wheel operation.

The position detector 65 is a part that detects the position (longitude / latitude) of the vehicle by GPS (Global Positioning System).
The route search unit 66 is a part that searches for a travel route from the current location to the destination input by the destination setting unit 67.
The route setting unit 62 is a part that sets the route searched by the route search unit as a scheduled travel route.
The traffic jam information receiving unit 63 is a part that receives traffic jam information and traffic regulation information from a road traffic information system such as VICS.
The guidance start determination unit 61 is a part that determines the start of guidance such as route guidance and traffic jam guidance based on a certain rule.
The guide point passage detection unit 71 is a part that detects whether or not the guide point is passed using the behavior detection unit 64, the position detection unit 65, and the like.
The map recording unit 51 corresponds to a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, HDD, or the like, in which road information, coordinates, place names, landmarks, facility information, road names, intersection names, place names, addresses, etc. Map information is associated and recorded in advance.
These pieces of map information are displayed on a display unit (LCD or the like) (not shown).

The guidance sentence confirmation unit 72 includes a confirmation sentence creation unit 73, a guidance explanation sentence creation unit 74, and a margin time calculation unit 75. Here, the confirmation sentence creation unit 73 is a part that creates a sentence for inquiring the user after passing through the guide point.
The guidance explanation creating unit 74 is a part that creates a guidance explanation for the user to select a guide that can be selected when the content guided by the voice is not satisfactory for the user. The allowance time calculation unit 75 is a part that calculates an expected time required to arrive at the next guide point.

<Outline of Voice Guidance Processing of the Present Invention>
A schematic embodiment of the voice guidance process of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of the voice guidance process of the present invention.
When the guidance start determination unit 61 detects that a point where voice guidance is to be approached, voice guidance processing is executed. In FIG. 2, a guide sentence generation process for creating a plurality of guide sentences that can be guided (step S1), a priority assignment process for determining which of the prepared guide sentences to select (step S2), A series of processes including a voice notification process (step S3) for outputting a high-priority guidance sentence with synthesized voice and a user response confirmation process (step S4) for confirming whether or not the outputted guidance sentence is satisfactory for the user. Is executed.

  In the guidance sentence generation process (step S1), the creation possibility determination unit 21 mainly acquires the geographical information of the guide point and the local point, calculates the distance between the two points (step S11), and the template selection unit 27 Selection of a guide template for generating a guide sentence to be guided at a point (step S12), and applying the geographical information acquired by the guide sentence creating unit 20 to the selected guide template, a guide sentence that can be guided is generated. Processing (step S13) is performed. By this process, several kinds of guidance sentences are generated from detailed guidance sentences for users who are unfamiliar with geography to simple guidance sentences for users who know the geography of the guidance point well.

  Next, in the priority order assigning process (step S2), the notice order assigning unit 28 mainly reflects the ranking rules 30 prepared in advance and the user-specific circumstances stored in the location information holding degree estimating unit 16. Which should be preferentially output with respect to the generated guidance text by applying the holding degree information (running history 17, registration information 18) and selection history information 19 stored in the selection history management unit 15 Is given priority.

In the voice notification process (step S3), the notification operation management unit 14 selects the guidance sentence having the highest priority in principle, creates a synthesized voice of the guidance sentence by the voice synthesis unit 53, and outputs the guidance sentence from the output unit 54. Is output.
In the user response confirmation process (step S4), a process of confirming the user's response input from the input unit 10 with respect to the notified voice (step S41), and the notification operation management unit 14 when the user is not satisfied Guide text reselection and re-notification (step S42), and selection history information storage processing (step S43) for storing history information of the actually selected guide text in consideration of the contents of the response by the user. .
By performing such user response confirmation, it is possible to perform control so that a guidance sentence that is more satisfactory for the user is output in the next guidance.

<Description of Example of Guide Sentence Generation Processing>
Here, an example of the guidance sentence generation process (step S1) will be described.
FIG. 3 is a schematic explanatory diagram of the road environment near the intersection where voice guidance is to be performed.
In FIG. 3, it is assumed that the ▲ mark is the current position of the own vehicle and guides the right turn at the A intersection of National Highway 2 about 4 kilometers away. In addition, the guidance start determination unit 61 determines that it is time to guide in the following case, and the guidance sentence creation unit 20 creates a guidance sentence.
In the case of route guidance (1) Immediately after the start of driving, guide the direction to travel at the first intersection or branch road.
(2) Guidance on the direction to be taken when approaching a certain intersection (about 300m), approaching (about 50m), or just before or after an intersection or branch road to bend.
(3) After turning an intersection or fork to bend, guide the intersection or fork to turn next along with the direction to go. In addition to route guidance, there are also cases such as traffic jam guidance and facility guidance.
For example, in the case of FIG. 3, at the current position of ▲, the guidance start determination unit 61 determines that it is time to guide the next right turn, and the point information regarding the A intersection and the information on the direction of travel (right turn) The sentence creation unit 20 is notified.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of voice guidance sentence generation processing.
First, in step S101, the guidance sentence creation unit 20 obtains the distance between the current location and the guidance point while referring to the map DB 51. In Example 1 of FIG. 3, the distance is about 4 km.

Next, the creation possibility determination unit 21 acquires geographical information used for the guidance sentence while referring to the map DB.
Step S102: The intersection name detection unit 23 checks whether the guidance point has an intersection name at the intersection, and if there is, acquires the intersection name (step S103). In the case of Example 1, there is an intersection name, and “A intersection” is acquired.

  Step S104: The road name detection unit 22 confirms whether the road ahead of the guide point has a name, and if so, acquires the road name (step S106). In the case of Example 1, there is a road name, and “National highway No. 2” is acquired. However, if the acquired road name has a road name at the current point and is the same as the road name at the current point, the road name is not acquired (step S105).

Step S107: The landmark building detection unit 25 checks whether or not there is a building that serves as a landmark in the vicinity of the guide point. If there is, the positional relationship between the landmark building and the traveling direction is acquired (step S108). Further, the name and genre of the building to be a landmark are acquired (step S109). The name of the landmark building is the official name with proper nouns, such as Super XX, Shop ★ △ △ Town ◇◇ Store, □□ Fire Department, etc. The genre refers to supermarkets, convenience stores ( It is a formal name or common name that refers to the type of business, such as convenience stores) and fire stations.
In the case of the embodiment, there is a landmark building, the positional relationship is “right hand”, the name is “shop ★★ C town ◇◇ store”, and the genre is “convenience store (convenience store)”.

  Step S110: The place name detecting unit 24 acquires the place names of the first place and the second place from the address of the guide point. For example, in the address “Nishiwaki Okubocho, Akashi-shi, Hyogo”, the first place is “Nishiwaki”, the second place is “Okubocho”, and the place name “Okubocho Nishiwaki” "Is the place name of the first place. In the case of Example 1, it is “C town D”.

Step S111: The road feature detector 26 checks whether or not there is a feature in the road structure at the guide point. The characteristic road structure includes a road structure having a plurality of candidate roads in the traveling direction as shown in FIG. 5 in addition to a T-junction, a branch road, a three-way road, and the like. In the case of the first embodiment, there is a feature, and “T-junction” is acquired (step S112).
The processing from step S102 to step S112 does not have to be in this order. For example, step S111 may be executed before step S102.

As a result of the above, information on distance, road name, intersection name, landmark building, place name, and road characteristics is acquired, and it is understood that guidance using these information is possible. Therefore, in step S113, the template selection unit 27 extracts a guide template that can be guided from the guide template DB 29 and creates a guide sentence (step S114).
FIG. 6 shows an example of templates stored in advance in the guidance template DB 29. The application conditions of the guide template are shown as major classification, middle classification, and minor classification. Major classification refers to guidance classification such as route guidance, traffic jam guidance, facility guidance, middle classification classifies major classification by distance and direction of travel, minor classification classifies middle classification by more detailed guidance contents It is a thing. The part indicated in parentheses [and] in the guide template is a part that is replaced by the actual road environment and the traveling direction. In the embodiment, from the distance between the current point and the guide point, select “next right / left turn guide (long distance)” of the “route guide” of the guide template, and from the previous result, the small classification “distance” “road name” “ “Intersection name”, “Intersection name, road name”, “Mark building genre”, “Mark building name”, “Road feature: T-junction”, and “Place name” can be guided and taken out.
FIG. 7 shows an example of the created guidance text.
FIG. 7 shows eight candidate guidance sentences that can be guided when approaching the intersection A shown in FIG.
In step S1, such a guidance sentence is created. In the next step S2, priority is given to each guidance sentence.

<Priority assignment process>
In step S2 of FIG. 2, priority is given to each guidance sentence. In order to assign a ranking, the ranking rule 30, the user-specific holding information (17, 18) of the location information holding degree estimation unit, and the selection history information 19 are used.

FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of the priority order assigning process.
In step S121, if there is only one guide sentence, the notification ranking assigning unit 28 ranks the ranking.
If there are a plurality of guidance sentences, the location information possession degree estimation unit 16 is inquired about the information possession degree of the user regarding the guide point, and is ranked according to the possession degree (step S123).
Furthermore, in step S124, the ranking using the information of the past selection history is performed on the ranked guidance sentences.

In step S <b> 123, the location information holding degree estimation unit 16 determines how much the user knows about the guide point from the vehicle travel history 17 and the registration information 18 such as the registered point and the user's home address.
For example, if it is near the user's home address, it is determined that the user knows it well. In other places, using the driving history, for example, if you go more than once a week, know that you know well, if you go more than once a month, know a little If the number of times is less than that, it is determined that the user does not know much.
Even if it is determined from the travel history 17 that the local point is not known much, if the local point is near the place registered in the registered point information 18, it is determined that the local point is known a little. In the case of using a mobile phone navigation service, it may be used if the user's company information is included in the mobile phone.
The result of the determination based on the holding degree is used for selecting a ranking rule.

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of a ranking rule selection process using the degree-of-holding information reflecting the user's specific circumstances.
Here, it is assumed that three ranking rules are prepared in advance.
Rule 1 is a rule that is applied when the guide point is “when the user knows well”. Rule 2 is a rule applied to “when the user knows a little” for the guide point. Rule 3 is a rule that is applied when the guide point is “when the user hardly knows”.
FIG. 10 shows an explanatory diagram of one embodiment of the ranking rule of the present invention.

In step S131 of FIG. 9, it is checked whether or not the guidance point is near the home. If it is determined that the guidance point is near the home as a result of the determination based on the above-mentioned degree of possession, it is considered that the place is well known and the process proceeds to step S133. Reorder the created guidance sentences according to 1.
If it is not near the house, the process proceeds to step S132, and if the guide point is a place that passes once a week or more, it is considered a well-known place, and ranking according to rule 1 is similarly performed.
On the other hand, if it is a place that does not go more than once a week but goes more than once a month (step S134), ranking is performed according to rule 2 (step S135).
If it is a place that does not pass more than once a month, the process proceeds to step S136, where it is checked whether or not the place is registered near the registration point. If it is registered, the process proceeds to step S135, and rule 2 is followed. Make a ranking. If not registered, the process proceeds to step S137, and ranking according to rule 3 is performed.

As shown in FIG. 7, when eight guidance sentences are created, if the guidance point is near the home, rule 1 is applied according to the flowchart of FIG. Is assigned. That is, the guidance sentence with the small classification “road name or place name” has a priority of 1.
In this case, the guidance sentence of “Turn right at the A intersection at approximately 4 km ahead and enter National Highway No. 1. Follow the road until then” is ranked as the highest priority. . The same applies when Rule 2 is applied.
In addition, when Rule 3 is applied, the highest priority is given to the guidance text “Distance” of “distance” “about 4 km ahead, turn right.
The above is the processing contents of the ranking in step S123.

Next, in step S124, the priority order is reset based on the selection history information.
Here, the notification ranking assigning unit 28 gives the selection history management unit 15 the road map information including the travel direction of the acquired guidance point and the information related to the guidance classification as shown in FIG.
The selection history management unit 15 compares the given information with the selection history information 19 stored in the past, and the point where the user is going to guide has passed in the past and was selected at that time. It is confirmed whether or not there is a guidance in the selection history information 19.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of an example of selection history information.
The selection history information 19 includes general road map information indicating guidance points, guidance classifications of guidance selected at the place (corresponding to major classifications, minor classifications in the guidance sentence template of Table 6), and finally Consists of the date and time of guidance. The road map information is composed of, for example, a secondary mesh number, a node number, an incoming link number that enters the node number, and an outgoing link number that indicates the destination link number via the node, and which link (road) It enters at least a node (a point where roads intersect) and has at least information indicating which link (road) has been missed.

FIG. 12 shows a flowchart of ranking processing based on past selection history information.
In step S141, the selection history management unit 15 determines whether or not the selection history information 19 includes road map information that matches the road map information of the guide point and the guidance classification (major classification) of the created guidance. To check. If there is a match, the process proceeds to step S142, and the guidance category (small category) is returned to the notification ranking assigning unit 28.
In the case of FIG. 3, since there is a convenience store at the intersection A, it is assumed that number 1 in FIG. At this time, the small classification “marking building genre” of number 1 is given to the notification ranking assigning unit 28.
If there is no match in step S141, the process ends.

Next, in step S143, the notification ranking assigning unit 28 checks whether or not the guidance sentence having the same minor classification is included in the created guidance sentence, and if there is, the process proceeds to step S144, and the minor classification is determined. The order of matching guidance sentences is set to the first. In the created guide sentence in FIG. 7, there is a guide sentence of “mark building genre”, and as shown in FIG. 7, the order of the guide sentences is set to “1”.
Normally, there should be a matching guide sentence, but for example, there may be no store, and there may be no landmark building and no match. In this case, in step S143, it is determined that there is no match, and the process ends.

Next, in step S145, the notification ranking assigning unit 28 ranks the second and subsequent guidance sentences according to <Rule 4> in FIG.
In Rule 4, when the guide sentence in the middle rank becomes the first rank, the rank is re-ordered based on the order position of the small classification.

FIG. 13 shows an explanatory diagram of an embodiment in which the order is reassigned according to rule 4. FIG. 13 shows the reordering of rule 2 shown in FIG.
Here, “marking building genre” is ranked first, and the ranking is reset with this position as a base point. The second and lower ranks are assigned in the order of the ranks assigned in advance to rule 2, and then the first rank is returned. That is, in FIG. 13, “Mark building genre”, which was third in Rule 2 in FIG. 7, was set as first, so that “Mark building name” and “Road feature” in the fourth and fifth positions are 2 And third place. After that, the 6th place “distance”, which is the next rank, becomes 4th place.
Furthermore, since the ranking was rearranged to the final ranking in FIG. 7, it returned to the first place in FIG. 7 and was ranked fifth with respect to two subclasses (“road name”, “intersection name”) that have not been given again. Rank 6th.

The above processing is the processing content of step S124.
FIG. 7 shows the ranks of the guidance sentences after the ranks are reassigned by the process of step S124. Thereby, the ranking once given by the ranking rule is given again based on the past selection history information.

<Description of Example of Voice Notification Processing>
When the priority order of the prepared guidance sentences is determined in the priority order giving process, in step S3, the guidance sentence with the highest priority order is notified by voice based on this priority order.
FIG. 14 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of the voice notification process.
As shown in FIG. 7, the guidance sentence to which the order is given is sent to the notification operation management unit 14.
In step S151, the notification operation management unit 14 takes out the first-ranked guidance sentence, and sets the selection flag of this guidance sentence to “selected”.
In step S152, the synthesized speech of the extracted guidance sentence is created by the speech synthesis preprocessing unit 52 and the speech synthesis unit 53.

Next, in step S153, the generated synthesized speech is output from the output unit 54.
In the case of Fig. 7, the guide sentence for "Market building genre", which is ranked first, is taken out. "About 4 km away, you will see a convenience store on your right. Turn right after that. The synthesized speech “Please go ahead” is output.

<Description of Example of User Response Confirmation Processing>
After voice notification of the guidance text at the guidance point, it is checked in step S4 whether the guidance text is accurate for the user.
FIG. 15 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of the user response confirmation process.
After outputting the guidance text in step S153 of FIG. 14, the timer is started. In step S171, it is confirmed whether or not the user's voice is input while a predetermined time has elapsed since the previous response guidance. In step S172, if there is no response from the user, the process returns to step S171, and if there is a response, the process proceeds to step S173. In step S173, voice recognition processing is executed.
In the voice recognition process, confirmation that the user's voice has been input and recognition of the voice when it has been input are performed. For example, FIG. 15 shows processing when a voice “I don't know” is input.
If the user says "I don't know", the speech recognition processing unit 12 recognizes this in step S173.

If the voice recognized in step S174 is an utterance “I don't know”, it is determined that the user has responded “I don't know” to the previous voice guidance, and the process proceeds to step S175.
In step S175, it is determined whether or not the voice guidance sentence is being reproduced. If the voice guidance sentence is being reproduced, the process proceeds to step S176 to stop the voice guidance. This corresponds to processing in the case of barge-in.
On the other hand, when not being reproduced, that is, when the voice guidance has already ended, the process proceeds to step S177. After this, since it is considered that the previously output guidance sentence was not appropriate for the user, another guidance sentence is tried to be output in the processing after step S177.

After step S175 or S176, in step S177, it is checked whether there is a guide sentence of the next rank, and if there is, the selection flag of the guide sentence is changed to “select” (step S179). If not, since it is considered that the voice guidance having the lowest rank has already been output, the selection flag of the voice guidance having the highest rank is changed to “select” (step S178).
Next, in step S180, a guidance sentence whose selection flag is “selected” is taken out. In step S181, a synthesized voice of the guidance sentence is generated and reproduced. For example, in the case of FIG. 7, the second-ranked “signature building name” guidance text is output.

As a result, a user who is not satisfied with the content of the voice guidance once responds “I don't know”, so that the guidance text of the next priority is voice-guided. Further, if this guidance sentence is not satisfactory, a response of “I don't know” is made, and the guidance sentence of the next rank is further voice-guided.
Thereafter, when the user does not respond to the voice guidance “not soft”, it can be determined that the voice guidance is a satisfactory guide for the user.

Further, when there is no user response after a certain time, it is considered that the user has selected the previously notified notification.
In step S171, if there is no user response even after a predetermined time has elapsed after the previous voice guidance, for example, if there is no voice input “I don't know”, the guidance text output immediately before in the selection history information 19 (Road map information, guidance classification) is additionally stored (step S182).
In step S182, in FIG. 7, when the previous guidance is guidance based on the “marked building name” of rank 2, the road map information of the guidance point and the major classification “route guidance” and middle classification “ “Left / Right turn guidance (long distance)”, small classification “mark building name”, and today's date are given to the selection history management unit 15.
Furthermore, in step S182, the selection history management unit 15 searches the selection history information 19 for information that matches the road map information and the guidance classification (major classification middle classification). Save additional information.

<Example of user response input operation>
In the above embodiment, voice recognition is used to confirm the utterance of “I don't know” from the user. However, an input button may be prepared, and the button operation determination unit 13 may be provided in the user input interpretation unit 11.
If the button is pressed during voice guidance playback or if the button is pressed within a predetermined time after the voice guidance playback ends, the current voice guidance is stopped, and the next voice guidance is searched and played back. On the other hand, even if a button operation is performed after a certain time has elapsed after the end of the voice guidance reproduction, it is regarded as an operation error and nothing is performed.
Thereby, even when the voice recognition is not successful, the response can be confirmed by the user's own input operation. That is, by providing an input means different from the voice input, a response input can be performed with the user's intention, and the user's response input can be performed more reliably.

<Examples of guidance>
FIG. 16 shows another embodiment of the guidance template.
Here, the same guide template as shown in FIG. 6 is indicated as “official”, and a part of the sentence omitted is indicated as “omitted”.
In the guidance template shown in FIG. 6, there is a sentence “approximately [distance] ahead” in any sentence, but after a user response “don't know” by voice or button operation, first “approximately 4 kilometers away” Is always output. Since this guidance is performed every time the user makes a voice response, it may be very troublesome for the user.
Therefore, as shown in FIG. 16, a template for generating a guidance sentence corresponding to the “omitted” format is prepared in advance.
Then, when the guidance sentence with the first priority is output by voice, a guidance sentence in the form of “official” is created, and when the guidance sentence with the second priority or lower is generated after the user response, “omitted” Create a guide sentence in the form of and output it as a voice. According to this, since the first voice guidance is notified with a sentence that is not omitted, and the guidance after the user response is abbreviated, guidance that is accurate and easy for the user to understand is possible.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the “formal” format guidance text and the “omitted” format guidance text. Here, in addition to the “formal” format guide text shown in FIG. 7, an “omitted” format guide text is shown.
In FIG. 17, for example, the guidance sentence with the first priority is output in the formal format, but the guidance sentences with the second priority or higher are output in the abbreviated format.
According to this, the abbreviation is used for the voice guidance that is output after the user response is confirmed, and the sentence “approximately 4 km away” is not output, so that there is a high possibility that the content is easier to open for the user.

<Example of speech recognition contents of user response>
In the voice recognition process, a voice other than the user utterance “I don't know” may be recognized. For example, “kudoi”, “again”, “previous”, “next”, and the like may be recognized as speech.
For example, if the user thinks that the content of the guidance is too detailed and makes a voice response “Kudoi”, the guidance text is then output in a simpler “abbreviated” format.
When the voice response “Previous” is input, the user wants to open the previous guidance again, and returns the guidance ranking to the previous one and reproduces the previous guidance sentence.
When a voice response “next” is input, a guidance sentence of the next priority is output in the same manner as a response “not sure”.

In addition, when a voice input “again” is input, the immediately preceding guidance sentence is repeatedly reproduced again, or is reproduced in the “official” format.
As described above, by storing the speech recognition word or sentence in association with the function of reproducing the guidance sentence, more accurate guidance is possible for the user. Of course, more accurate guidance for the user is also possible by adopting an embodiment in which the operation content of the button is associated with the guidance sentence reproduction function. For example, one guidance sentence reproduction function is associated with one button, or a plurality of guidance sentence reproduction functions are assigned to one button, and the time or timing of pressing the button is maintained. An embodiment in which a predetermined guidance text reproduction function is associated with the operation content may be employed.

<Example 1 of guidance confirmation processing>
Here, a description will be given of a process of performing voice guidance for a certain guide point and confirming whether or not the content of the guide is satisfactory after passing through the guide point.
The guidance confirmation process uses the guidance point passage detection unit 71 and the guidance confirmation unit 72 of FIG.
The guidance point passage detection unit 71 first detects whether or not the current position has passed the guidance point.
Thereafter, the guidance confirmation unit 72 confirms whether or not the content of guidance performed immediately before passing the guidance point is satisfactory for the user. The confirmation sentence creation unit 73 creates a confirmation sentence for confirming with the user.
In this embodiment, a flag indicating selection or exclusion is provided in the selection history information 19 of the selection history management unit 15.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram of an example of selection history information.
The guidance whose flag is “selected” is a guidance that has been selected in the past and can still be a candidate for voice guidance.
On the other hand, guidance whose flag is “excluded” is guidance that has been selected in the past but is not currently adopted as a voice guidance candidate. Further, the number of flags indicating “selection” and “exclusion” may be one, but “selection flag” and “exclusion flag” may be provided separately.
The setting of “selection” or “exclusion” of the flag is performed by voice input from the user as follows.

FIG. 19 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of the guidance confirmation process according to the present invention.
First, in step S201, the guidance point passage detection unit 71 checks whether or not the current point has passed the guidance point. This check can be performed by grasping the current position of the vehicle by the behavior detection unit 64 and the position detection unit 65.
When it is detected that it has passed, the process proceeds to step S202, where the guidance confirmation unit 72 creates a guidance confirmation sentence. For example, a question sentence such as “Are you sure about the current guidance?” Is created.

Next, in step S203, the created confirmation sentence is output as synthesized speech.
The user who opens this confirmation message responds with “Yes” or “No”.
For example, when the user is satisfied with the content that has been previously guided, an affirmative response (“Yes”) is given to indicate satisfaction. On the other hand, if the content of the guide is not satisfactory, a negative response (“No”) is made.

In step S204, it is monitored whether there is a response as described above from the user.
When there is a response from the user, the response content is analyzed by voice recognition.
In step S205, if the response is an affirmative response “Yes”, the guided content is interpreted as being satisfactory, and the process ends.
On the other hand, if the response is a negative response of “No”, it is determined that the guidance is not satisfactory, and the process proceeds to step S206.
In step S206, the guidance confirmation unit 72 gives guidance point information (for example, road map information) to the selection history management unit 15, and the selection history management unit 15 sets a guidance flag corresponding to the guidance point information to “ Set to Exclude.
Alternatively, when two flags are provided separately, the exclusion flag is set to “exclusion” in addition to the selection flag.

The guidance set with the “excluded” flag in this way will not be adopted when passing this guidance point after the next time. Thereby, notification of an appropriate guidance sentence for the user can be performed by the user's own intention.
In addition, since the above confirmation process is performed within a predetermined time after passing through the guide point, a complicated operation by the user is not necessary, and safety can be ensured.
Further, in step S204 of FIG. 19, if no response is received from the user even after a predetermined time has elapsed after starting the timer, it is considered that the voice guidance is satisfied, and the process is terminated after exiting this loop. Also good.

<Example 2 of guidance confirmation processing>
In the above-described embodiment, a response indicating whether or not the user is satisfied with the voice guidance is confirmed. However, if the user is not satisfied, the user may select a satisfactory guidance.
Below, the confirmation process for selecting guidance by the user himself will be described.

Here, the guidance explanation creation unit 74 and the margin time calculation unit 75 of the guidance confirmation unit 72 are used.
In this embodiment, as shown below, since an interactive response is required between the apparatus and the user, it is expected that the confirmation process will take time. Therefore, from the viewpoint of ensuring safety, the allowance time calculation unit 75 calculates the time until arrival at the next guide point, and this confirmation process is executed only when there is a predetermined allowance.
The time until arrival at the next guide point is searched from the current point, for example, by searching for the next point to start guidance from the scheduled travel route registered in the route setting unit 62 and the guidance start condition of the guidance start determining unit 61. Can be calculated by dividing the current distance by the average speed of the current vehicle.

FIG. 20 shows a flowchart of the second embodiment of the guidance confirmation process according to the present invention.
Here, after the guidance point passage detection unit 71 has already detected that it has passed the guidance point is shown.
First, in step S210, the allowance time calculation unit 75 of the guidance confirmation unit calculates an expected time until arrival at the next guidance point.
In step S211, if the calculated time (margin time) is equal to or longer than a preset time (for example, 5 minutes), the process proceeds to step S212. On the other hand, if the margin time is less than the set time, the process ends without performing the confirmation process from the viewpoint of safety.

In step S212, it is confirmed whether or not the guide selected by the user before the guide point is a satisfactory guide for the user. If the response is satisfactory (Yes), the process is terminated.
On the other hand, if it is a negative response (no) indicating dissatisfaction, the process proceeds to step S213, where it is determined whether or not there is a guidance sentence that has not been explained. For the selectable guide sentences, the guide explanation creating section 74 creates the explanation.
In step S216, the created guidance explanation is notified to the user by voice, and the user is asked to reply whether or not this is acceptable.

In step S216, if the user makes a negative response (no) indicating dissatisfaction, the process returns to step S213, the next guidance text that can be selected is explained, and a response is requested from the user. Further, when a negative response is made, this process is continued until there is no guidance sentence that does not explain the process.
If the user responds “Yes” in step S216, the guide point information corresponding to the guide text is saved as selection history management information, and the process is terminated (step S218).
Also, in step S213, if the user does not say “yes” even if all the guidance is explained, it is said that “guidance is over” and the guidance text that is guided before the guidance point is not notified. The explanation of guidance is repeated from the beginning again (steps S214 and S215).

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an interactive format explanation and response performed in steps S213 to S216.
For example, in the road environment shown in FIG. 3, it is assumed that guidance by distance and guidance by road name are performed before the guidance point, and the user does not say anything by guidance by road name. In other words, assume that it is selected. Then, after passing through the guide point, in order to make an inquiry as to whether or not the user is satisfied with the guide, for example, a voice message “Are you sure you want the current guide?” Is output.
When a negative response indicating that the user is dissatisfied is returned, explanatory texts regarding the guidance are sequentially created and notified as shown in FIG. In addition, since the guidance by distance and the guidance by road name have already been notified, it is assumed that an explanatory text of other guidance that has not been notified is created and notified first.

In step S217, if the user stops responding for some reason during the process, an exclusion flag is set for the guide selected by the user before the guide point, and the process is terminated.
Furthermore, if the user arrives at the next guidance point on the way, an exclusion flag is set in the guidance selected by the user before the guidance point, and guidance for the next guidance point is started.
As described above, if the user confirms the response, it is possible to provide more appropriate guidance for the user when passing the next guidance point while ensuring safety.

It is a block diagram of the configuration of an embodiment of the voice guidance device of the present invention. It is a schematic flowchart of the voice guidance process of the voice guidance apparatus of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the road environment of the guidance point of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the production | generation process of the guidance sentence of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the road structure of the guidance point of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the guidance template of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the guidance sentence produced in this invention. It is a flowchart of the priority order giving process of the guidance sentence of this invention. It is a flowchart of the ranking process using the possession degree information which considered the user peculiar situation of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the ranking rule of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the selection history information of this invention. It is a flowchart of the ranking process using the past selection history information of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the example of a change of the order of the ranking rule of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the audio | voice notification process of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the user response confirmation process of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the guidance template which has two forms of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the guidance sentence which has two forms of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of one Example of the selection history information which has the selection exclusion flag of this invention. It is a flowchart of one Example of the response confirmation process with respect to the notification audio | voice of this invention. It is a flowchart of the response confirmation of this invention, and the reselection process of a guidance sentence. In this invention, it is a flowchart of the reselection process of the guidance sentence after voice notification.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Input part 11 User input interpretation part 12 Voice recognition process part 13 Button operation judgment part 14 Notification operation part 15 Selection history management part 16 Location information possession degree estimation part 17 Travel history 18 Registration information 19 Selection history information 20 Guidance sentence creation part 21 Creation availability determination unit 22 Road name detection unit 23 Intersection name detection unit 24 Place name detection unit 25 Landmark building detection unit 26 Road feature detection unit 27 Template selection unit 28 Notification rank assignment unit 29 Guidance template DB
30 ranking rule 51 map recording unit 52 speech synthesis preprocessing unit 53 speech synthesis unit 54 output unit 61 guidance start determination unit 62 route setting unit 63 traffic jam information reception unit 64 behavior detection unit 65 position detection unit 66 route search unit 67 destination Setting section 68 Route setting section 71 Guidance point passage detection section 72 Guidance confirmation section 73 Confirmation sentence creation section 74 Guidance explanation sentence creation section 75 Margin time calculation section

Claims (12)

A map recording unit that records map information, a guide sentence creation unit that creates one or more guide sentences of the guide points using the map information, and a selection that stores history information of guide points that have been guided in the past A history management unit, a location information possession degree estimation unit that stores user-specific possession degree information for determining the user's degree of recognition regarding the guide point, and the history information and the possession degree information for the created guidance sentence. A notification priority assigning unit for giving priority of notification using, a notification operation management unit for selecting a guide sentence with the highest priority, an output part for notifying the selected guide sentence by voice, and a user instruction or response And an input unit for recognizing and recognizing
After the output unit notifies the first guidance sentence, when there is a response from the input unit that the first guidance sentence is dissatisfied, the notification operation management unit outputs the second highest priority. A voice guidance device that selects a guidance sentence and the output unit notifies the second guidance sentence by voice.   The guide sentence creation unit acquires a guide template recording unit that stores a plurality of guide sentence templates in advance, and geographical information suitable for the guide point selection environment, determines whether guidance is possible, and can guide the guide. A creation availability determination unit that selects a shape from a guidance template recording unit, and a template selection unit that creates a guidance sentence by applying the acquired geographical information to the selected template. The voice guidance device according to claim 1.   The creation availability determination unit refers to the map recording unit with respect to the guide point, and detects a road name detection unit that detects whether the road has a name, and an intersection name detection unit that detects whether it is an intersection and has a name. And a place name detection unit for detecting a place name in the vicinity, a landmark building detection unit for detecting a building as a landmark, and a road feature detection unit for detecting a road feature. Item 2. The voice guidance device according to item 2.   3. The voice guidance device according to claim 2, wherein the guidance template recording unit records a major classification, a middle classification, and a minor classification indicating the type of guidance sentence in association with a template of the guidance sentence.   3. The voice according to claim 2, wherein the template of the guidance sentence includes a first template having a format capable of notifying a relatively detailed road environment and a second template having a format in which the guidance content is relatively omitted. Guide device.   The input unit includes one or both of a voice recognition processing unit that recognizes an input voice and a button operation determination unit that inputs a response by a user's manual operation. Voice guidance device.   The notification ranking assigning section includes a predetermined ranking rule, and assigns a priority order to the guidance sentences created by the guidance sentence creation section based on the ranking rules. The voice guidance device according to Item 1.   The history information stored by the selection history unit includes road map information for specifying a guide point, guide classification information for specifying a guide sentence notified to the guide point, and a guide date. The voice guidance device according to claim 1.   The holding information stored in the location information holding degree estimating unit includes registration information including home address and geographical information of a point designated by the user, and traveling history information including the number of times of traveling for a specific point within a predetermined period. The voice guidance device according to claim 1, wherein:   A guidance point passage detection unit for detecting whether or not the guide point has passed, and a guidance confirmation unit for checking whether or not the guide notified before the guide point after passing the guide point is satisfactory for the user; The voice guidance device according to claim 1, further comprising:   The guidance confirmation unit includes an allowance time calculation unit for calculating the time between the guidance point A that has been guided immediately before and the next guidance point B, and a guidance explanation that is associated with the guidance text that can be selected at the guidance point A. A guide explanation creating unit for creating a guide time, and when the time calculated by the allowance time calculation unit is a predetermined time or more, after the guide confirmation unit passes the guide point A, before the guide point A The output unit confirms whether the notified guidance is satisfactory for the user and, when there is a response that the input unit is dissatisfied, the output unit can select the guidance text desired by the user, 11. The voice guidance device according to claim 10, wherein the guidance explanation is output by voice.   12. A navigation apparatus comprising: the voice guidance apparatus according to claim 1; and a display unit that displays the map information.