JP2008102047A - Navigation device and its route information distribution method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation device and its route information distribution method, capable of distributing route information to a destination and map information simultaneously and individually to a plurality of users. <P>SOLUTION: This navigation device for distributing a peripheral map and a route to the destination set by a portable terminal holder to the portable terminal is equipped with a radio communication part for communicating by radio with a plurality of the portable terminals, a certification part for setting a prescribed certification keyword by a request from the portable terminal when communication with the portable terminal becomes possible, a route searching part for searching for a route to the destination when the destination of the portable terminal holder is set and holding it in correspondence with the certification keyword, and a route distribution part for distributing from the radio communication part by adding the certification keyword to each route information of the plurality of the portable terminals when distribution of the route information is required. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device and a route information distribution method thereof, and more particularly, to a navigation device and a route information distribution method for distributing a surrounding map to a mobile terminal and a route to a destination set by the mobile terminal holder.

The vehicle-mounted navigation device detects the current position of the vehicle, reads map data in the vicinity thereof from a data storage medium such as a DVD or HDD, and displays it on the screen. In addition, a vehicle position mark indicating the vehicle position is displayed on the screen, and map data in the vicinity is scrolled as the vehicle progresses around the vehicle position mark, so that map information around the vehicle position is always displayed. It has come to understand. The in-vehicle navigation device is equipped with a route guidance function that allows the user to travel to the desired destination without making a mistake on the road. According to this route guidance function, the lowest cost route connecting from the starting point to the destination using map data is automatically searched through a simulation such as the horizontal search (BFS) method or Dijkstra method. The route is stored as a guidance route. And while driving, draw the guidance route on the map image in a different color from other roads and display it on the screen, or display an enlarged view of the intersection where the next vehicle enters and output guidance voice By this, the user is guided to the destination.
On the other hand, mobile phones and mobile information terminals (collectively referred to as mobile terminals) have also been developed that have a navigation function, and display the map and the route to the destination on the display section of the mobile terminal to bring the mobile terminal holder to the destination. It is designed to guide you. For example, a map to a surrounding map and a route from the information center to the destination are received and displayed via the Internet (see Patent Document 1). In addition, there has been proposed one that obtains and displays surrounding map data and route information to a destination from an in-vehicle navigation device, not from an information center. In this latter prior art, when getting off the car and walking to the destination, the route to the destination is searched by the in-vehicle navigation device, the route information and the surrounding map information are input to the portable terminal, and the portable terminal The map and route are displayed on the display. According to this method, there is an advantage that the communication cost is not required and the Internet function is unnecessary.
JP 2003-214869 A

However, in the prior art, it is necessary to connect the portable terminal and the navigation device with a cable. Further, in the conventional technology, when a plurality of users get on, route information and map information to a destination cannot be distributed individually to individual users at the same time.
From the above, an object of the present invention is to enable distribution of route information and map information from a vehicle-mounted navigation device to a destination individually for a plurality of users simultaneously.

A first aspect of the present invention is a navigation device that distributes a peripheral map and a route to a destination set by the mobile terminal owner to a mobile terminal, a wireless communication unit that wirelessly communicates with a plurality of mobile terminals, An authentication unit that sets a predetermined authentication keyword in the mobile terminal according to a request from the mobile terminal when communication with the terminal becomes possible, and when a destination of each mobile terminal holder is set, a route to the destination is A route search unit that searches and stores in correspondence with the authentication keyword, and a route that is distributed from the wireless communication unit with the authentication keyword attached to each route information of a plurality of portable terminals when distribution of route information is requested It has a distribution unit.
A second aspect of the present invention is a route information distribution method in a navigation device that distributes a surrounding map to a portable terminal and a route to a destination set by the portable terminal holder, and communicates with a plurality of portable terminals wirelessly. Providing a wireless communication unit, setting a predetermined authentication keyword in response to a request from the mobile terminal when communication with the mobile terminal becomes possible, and setting a destination for each mobile terminal holder A step of searching for a route up to and storing the route corresponding to the authentication keyword, and when delivery of route information is requested, the wireless communication unit adds the authentication keyword to each route information of a plurality of portable terminals. More distribution step, each mobile terminal has a step of acquiring and displaying route information to which an authentication keyword assigned to itself is added.

  According to the present invention, a wireless communication unit that wirelessly communicates with a plurality of mobile terminals is provided, and when communication with the mobile terminal becomes possible, a predetermined authentication keyword is set by a request from the mobile terminal, and each mobile terminal holder When a destination is set, a route to the destination is searched and stored in correspondence with the authentication keyword. When distribution of route information is requested, the authentication is included in each route information of a plurality of mobile terminals. Since the wireless communication unit is attached with a keyword, route information and map information from the in-vehicle navigation device to the destination can be simultaneously delivered to a plurality of users at the same time.

(A) Outline of the Present Invention FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory view of the present invention, in which 10 is a navigation device, 50a, 50b and 50c are portable terminals, for example, cellular phones. When the navigation device and each mobile phone 50a, 50b, 50c come close to each other, they are connected by Bluetooth, and wireless communication becomes possible.
When each mobile phone 50a, 50b, 50c becomes communicable with the navigation device 10, the navigation device issues an authentication keyword upon request (for example, by inputting a predetermined number). In FIG. 1A, for example, the keyword α is issued to the mobile phone (terminal A) 50a, the keyword β is issued to the mobile phone (terminal B) 50b, and the keyword γ is issued to the mobile phone (terminal C) 50c. Is issued. When the vehicle arrives at the parking lot near the destination, the destinations Dα, Dβ, and Dγ of the respective mobile terminal holders are input as shown in FIG. The navigation device 10 searches for a route to each destination, stores the route corresponding to the authentication keyword, and when distribution of route information is requested, as shown in FIG. Attach an authentication keyword and distribute it to each mobile phone 50a, 50b, 50c simultaneously by Bluetooth. Each mobile phone acquires route information to which an authentication keyword assigned to itself is added and displays a map and a route on the display unit.

(B) System Configuration FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram to which the present invention can be applied, and includes a navigation device 10, a plurality of mobile phones 50a, 50b, 50c, and an information center 70. The navigation device 10 and the mobile phones 50a, 50b, and 50c are connected by a wireless link using Bluetooth, and data is transmitted and received according to the Bluetooth procedure. The navigation device 10 and the information center 70 can communicate with each other by, for example, a well-known Internet connection, and the navigation device 10 can acquire predetermined map information from the information center 70.

(A) Navigation Device FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a navigation device, a Bluetooth interface unit (Bluetooth I / F) 11 configured with Bluetooth devices, an Internet communication I / F unit 12 that enables Internet communication, and navigation control. Navigation control unit 13 to perform, map database (DB) 14 for storing map information, operation unit 15, GPS receiver 16, autonomous navigation sensor 17, audio unit 18 for outputting guidance voice, display device 19 for displaying maps and menus It is configured with.
The Bluetooth I / F unit 11 is wirelessly connected to the Bluetooth I / F unit of the mobile phone 50 by Bluetooth, and transmits / receives various commands, map data, route data, and the like to / from the Bluetooth I / F unit. The navigation control unit 13 has a microcomputer configuration, executes various navigation controls based on a control program, communicates with the information center 70 via the Internet communication I / F unit 12, and receives a desired map from the information center. Information is acquired and registered in the map database 14. The operation unit 15 is a part that operates the navigation device, and sends various commands to the navigation control unit 13. The navigation control unit 13 performs control based on the commands. The GPS receiver 16 receives radio waves sent from multiple GPS satellites, performs 3D positioning processing or 2D positioning processing, calculates the absolute position and direction of the vehicle, and outputs these together with the positioning time To do. The autonomous navigation sensor 17 includes an angle sensor such as a vibration gyro that detects the vehicle rotation angle as a relative direction, and a distance sensor that outputs one pulse for each predetermined travel distance, and determines the relative position and direction of the vehicle. To detect. The audio unit 18 performs audio output such as intersection guidance audio based on the audio data output from the navigation controller 13. The display device 19 displays map information around the host vehicle based on the drawing data output from the navigation controller 12, or displays a guide route, a predetermined guide image, etc. on the map.

  FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the navigation control unit 13, to which a Bluetooth I / F 11 having a Bluetooth receiving unit 11a and a Bluetooth transmitting unit 11b is connected. When each mobile phone 50a, 50b, 50c can communicate with the navigation device 10 via Bluetooth, it requests an authentication keyword with its own identification name. The authentication keyword issuing unit 21 of the navigation control unit 13 issues an authentication keyword in response to the request and transmits it to each mobile phone via the Bluetooth I / F unit. The authentication key buffer 22 stores an authentication keyword issued corresponding to the identification name of the mobile phone. When the destination of each mobile phone holder is input together with the identification name from the operation unit of the navigation device, the destination information buffer 23 stores the destination information, and the route calculation unit 24 displays the route to each destination. A search is performed, and an authentication keyword is added to the searched route information, and the route information buffer 25 is stored. In this state, when distribution is instructed from the operation unit, the route distribution unit 26 wirelessly distributes each route information to which the authentication keyword is added to each of the mobile phones 50a, 50b, and 50c at the same time. Each mobile phone acquires route information to which an authentication keyword assigned to itself is added and displays it on the display unit.

(B) Mobile phone FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the mobile phones 50a to 50c. The antenna 51 receives a signal transmitted from the base station by radio and transmits a signal from the mobile phone to the base station by radio. To do. The transmitter 52 outputs the voice of the user, and the receiver 53 outputs the voice of the communication partner. The transmission / reception unit 54 operates when the power switch is on, and at the time of reception, converts the radio signal received via the antenna into a baseband signal, inputs the audio data included in the received signal to the handset 53, and controls data Or communication data is input to the control unit 54. Further, at the time of transmission, the transmission / reception unit 54 transmits the control data and communication data input from the control unit 54 and the voice data input from the transmitter 52 from the antenna 51 as radio signals.
The control unit 55 controls the entire mobile phone, and when it becomes communicable with the navigation device 10, requests an authentication keyword via the Bluetooth I / F unit as appropriate, receives map data and route data from the navigation device, and stores it. To remember. When there is an incoming call, the ring tone sending unit 56 outputs a melody set by the owner to notify the incoming call. The system memory 57 stores a program for controlling the entire mobile phone, an authentication keyword AKW received from the navigation device 10, and the like. The telephone directory memory 58 stores a telephone number corresponding to a name, and can be called by simply selecting the name of the other party to be called instead of inputting the telephone number. The operation unit 59 is provided with numeric keys and function keys for performing various settings and inputs. The GPS receiver 60 receives radio waves from GPS satellites and inputs position data of the mobile phone to the control unit 55. The map / route information storage unit 61 stores map data received from the navigation device and route information to the destination. The display control unit 62 generates various images for mobile phones, and in the map display mode, generates map images around the vehicle using map data, and generates route images to the destination based on route information. The display unit 63 displays the image generated by the display control unit 62. The Bluetooth I / F unit 64 is connected to the Bluetooth I / F 11 of the vehicle-mounted device 10 via Bluetooth, and transmits and receives data wirelessly.

(C) Route Information Distribution Processing FIG. 6 is a route information distribution processing flow of the navigation control unit 13 of the present invention, and FIGS. 7 and 8 are route information distribution processing explanatory diagrams.
Each mobile phone 50a, 50b, 50c requests an authentication keyword with an identification name when it can communicate with the navigation device 10 via Bluetooth, for example, before departure. In response to the request, the navigation control unit 13 issues an authentication keyword and transmits it to each mobile phone via the Bluetooth I / F unit 11 (step 101). After that, when traveling and arriving at a parking lot near the destination, for example, when arriving at a theme park, it is determined whether a detailed map for the theme park is necessary, and if necessary, the information center 70 makes Internet communication I / O Obtained via the F unit 12 (step 102), a detailed map image is generated and displayed on the display unit (step 103). FIG. 7A is a detailed map example of the theme park.
Next, the operation unit 15 is operated to enter the destination setting mode, the mobile phone is specified (identification name input), and the destination and passing point of the mobile phone holder are touched and input on the detailed map image. (Step 104). The route calculation unit 24 of the navigation control unit 13 searches for the route to the input destination, adds the authentication keyword α to the searched route information, and stores it in the route information buffer 25 (step 105). FIG. 7B shows a case where the owner of the mobile phone A sets a restaurant as a destination, and sets the attraction X as a stop in the middle. The route shown in FIG. 7 is searched and an authentication keyword is added to the route. Then, it is stored in the information buffer 25. Then, it is checked whether the destination setting and searching for all the mobile phones have been completed (step 106). If not completed, the processing from step 104 is repeated. Thus, the route of the owner of the mobile phone B (current location → attraction Y → restaurant) and the route of the owner of the mobile phone C (current location → attraction Z → restaurant) are respectively searched as shown in FIG. Each authentication keyword β, γ is attached and stored in the route information buffer 25.
When destination setting and route search are completed for all mobile phones and route distribution is instructed (step 107), the route distribution unit 26 of the navigation device 10 attaches an authentication keyword to each route information and creates a Bluetooth I / F. At the same time, the mobile phone 50a, 50b, 50c is wirelessly distributed from the unit 11 (step 108). Each mobile phone acquires route information to which an authentication keyword assigned to itself is added and stores it in the map / route information storage unit 61 (step 109), and the display control unit 62 uses the map and route information to A map image and a route image are generated and displayed on the display unit 63 (step 110). Then, the map is scrolled and displayed as the mobile phone holder moves. FIG. 8B shows an example in which a surrounding map image and a route image are displayed superimposed on the display units of the mobile phones 50a to 50c.
In the above, each mobile phone acquires and displays route information to which an authentication keyword assigned to itself is added. However, other route information is acquired and stored regardless of the authentication keyword. Based on the route information to which the authentication keyword assigned to itself is added, the route is overlaid on the map so that the route of another mobile phone holder can be selectively displayed upon request. In this way, it is convenient to know the behavior of other people.

(D) Other situations ・ Example 1
Company A's A and B had separate errands in M City on the same day. This is because Mr. A has a meeting with company Y in M city and Mr. B attends a seminar at the Z building in M city. To save money, I decided to go with one company-owned car. Both A and B had no intuition in M City. The two parked using a navigation system at a coin parking in M City.
In the case of the above example 1, it is expected that the following situation will occur in the prior art in which route information can be distributed only to one mobile phone.
In other words, because Mr. B had a seminar, and there was still time to start the seminar, Mr. A gave priority to Mr. A and downloaded the map from the in-vehicle navigation device to company Y on his mobile phone. Mr. B had time, so he wanted to eat somewhere before heading to Z Building. Mr. B couldn't find a place where he could eat on the way to the Z building, but he couldn't find it. Eventually I was hungry for the seminar.
According to the present invention, the above situation does not occur.
Mr. A searched for the route to Company Y using a navigation device, and Mr. B searched for the route to Z Building. However, Mr. B had time to eat, so when searching for the surroundings with the navigation device, he found only one restaurant in the immediate vicinity of the parking lot. B rerouted through the restaurant to the Z building. The route information was downloaded to the mobile phone of Mrs. A and B at the same time, and the two got out of the car.
The present invention is not limited to such an example, and the present invention is effective when a plurality of persons having different destinations are on a single vehicle for door-to-door sales, home delivery, and collection / delivery.

・ Example 2
The family has just moved near Y City. A family of three, father, mother and son, came to Y city for the first time shopping by car. The parents' purpose is to purchase a new refrigerator. Y city is large, and home appliance mass retailers such as A store, B store and C store are close to each other. The eldest son who loves books is not interested in refrigerators, but wants to go to a large bookstore called D Bookstore. The family parked in the parking lot near the A, B and C stores in Y City. In this case, the following situation is expected to occur in the prior art in which route information can be distributed to only one mobile phone.
The eldest son said he wanted to go to D bookstore, but today's purpose is that the fridge is the priority and his father gives up. I didn't know the way and could get lost, so I promised to go to the D bookstore after my work was done. My father downloaded routes A, B, C, and D from the navigation system to my mobile phone. Three people checked the performance and price of the refrigerator with A, and then turned around with B and C, but the price was cheaper with A, but only B had that design, so it was a round trip. In the end, when they purchased it, the three went down, D bookstore gave up, and only the mother was in good mood.
According to the present invention, the above situation does not occur.
Father downloaded routes A, B and C from his navigation device to his mobile phone, the eldest son downloaded the route to D on his mobile phone, and the three got out of the car. Then, until the father called me, “I bought a refrigerator so I can go back to the car,” the eldest son slowly searched for books and was able to buy the ones he liked. Only my father was in a bad mood. The present invention is effective when a family member wants to act away.

As described above, according to the present invention, route information and map information from a vehicle-mounted navigation device to a destination can be simultaneously delivered to a plurality of users simultaneously. For example, you can go to the common place closest to each user's destination with a single car, and after getting off the car, each user can reach each destination independently based on the route guidance information on the mobile device. Becomes easy. In addition, each user does not need to connect his / her mobile terminal to the navigation device with a cable.
In the embodiment, the destination of each mobile phone holder is set on the in-vehicle navigation device side, but the destination can also be input from the mobile phone. For example, a destination address or a telephone number is input from a mobile phone, and the destination is set in the navigation device. Alternatively, surrounding map data is sent from the navigation device to each mobile phone, the surrounding map is displayed on the mobile phone, and a predetermined point on the map is touched and input as a destination.
In the embodiment, the case where the navigation apparatus and the mobile phone are wirelessly connected via Bluetooth has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to Bluetooth.

It is a schematic explanatory drawing of this invention. 1 is a system configuration diagram to which the present invention can be applied. It is a block diagram of a navigation apparatus. It is a functional block diagram of a navigation control part. It is a block diagram of a mobile phone. It is a route information delivery processing flow of the navigation control part of this invention. It is route information delivery processing explanatory drawing (the 1). It is route information delivery processing explanatory drawing (the 2).

Explanation of symbols

10 Navigation device
50a, 50b, 50c Mobile terminal (mobile phone)

Claims (3)

In a navigation device that distributes a route to a destination set by a portable terminal owner and a surrounding map on a portable terminal,
A wireless communication unit for wirelessly communicating with a plurality of portable terminals,
An authentication unit that sets a predetermined authentication keyword in response to a request from the mobile terminal when communication with the mobile terminal becomes possible;
When a destination of each mobile terminal holder is set, a route search unit that searches for a route to the destination and stores the route corresponding to the authentication keyword,
A route delivery unit for attaching the authentication keyword to each route information of a plurality of portable terminals and delivering the route information from the wireless communication unit when delivery of route information is requested;
A navigation device characterized by comprising:   2. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein a destination is input from each portable terminal. In a route information distribution method in a navigation device that distributes a surrounding map to a portable terminal and a route to a destination set by the portable terminal holder,
A wireless communication unit that wirelessly communicates with a plurality of portable terminals is provided,
When communication with a mobile terminal becomes possible, a predetermined authentication keyword is set by a request from the mobile terminal,
When the destination of each mobile terminal holder is set, the route to the destination is searched and stored in correspondence with the authentication keyword,
When distribution of route information is requested, the wireless communication unit distributes the authentication keyword to each route information of a plurality of portable terminals,
Each mobile device acquires and displays route information with an authentication keyword assigned to it,
A route information distribution method characterized by the above.

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