JP2008286688A - Navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation system of enhanced user-friendliness capable of searching a route upon roads passed once at least in times past, in afield cases. <P>SOLUTION: Of the navigation system 100, a present position detecting means (a present position detecting section 1 and the like) detects the present position, a map information acquiring means (a map information acquiring program 54c and the like) acquires map information including road information, a road record information storage means (a road record storage section 532b and a road record information storage program 54c and the like) memorizes road information concerning roads passed through in times past, a route searching means (a route searching program 54d) searches the from route the present position detected by the present position detecting means upon roads in road information memorized by the road record information storage means and a supplying means (a supplying program 54e) supplies route guidance information concerning the route searched by the route searching means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device.

  2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a navigation device that uses a GPS (Global Positioning System) or the like to search for a current route or a travel route from a departure place to a destination and provides route guidance information based on the searched travel route. Has been put to practical use.

In Patent Document 1, two types of recommended routes to a destination are searched based on past travel locus data, and a road with higher frequency of use is preferentially selected from the two recommended routes. A navigation system has been proposed that can increase the degree of freedom in selecting a guide route and can preferentially select a road according to the user's preference.
JP-A-9-292252

By the way, when a user gets lost during movement, the user may want to search for a route to reach a road that has been in the past or a main road.
However, the conventional navigation apparatus including the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 searches for a route to a certain destination, and does not search for a route to a past road or a main road.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device that can search for a route to a road that has been passed at least once in the past in the case of getting lost, and has improved usability.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is a navigation apparatus comprising: a current position detecting unit that detects a current position; and a map information acquiring unit that acquires map information including road information.
Road history information storage means for storing the road information relating to roads that have passed in the past;
Route search means for searching for a route from the current position detected by the current position detection means to the road in the road information stored by the road history information storage means;
Providing means for providing route guidance information related to the route searched by the route searching means;
It is characterized by providing.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the navigation apparatus according to the first aspect, the route search means searches for a route that can reach the road in the shortest time.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the first or second aspect, the route search means is configured to search for roads of a predetermined level or higher based on the map information acquired by the map information acquisition means. It is characterized by searching.

The invention according to claim 4 is a navigation apparatus comprising: a current position detecting unit that detects a current position; and a map information acquiring unit that acquires map information including road information.
Road history information storage means for storing the road information relating to roads that have passed in the past;
Route search means for searching for a route from the current position detected by the current position detection means to the road in the road information stored by the road history information storage means;
Providing means for providing route guidance information related to the route searched by the route search means,
The route search means searches for a route that can reach the road in the shortest time, and searches for a road of a predetermined hierarchy or higher based on the map information acquired by the map information acquisition means. To do.

According to the present invention, the current position is detected by the current position detecting means, the map information including the road information is acquired by the map information acquiring means, and the road information related to the road that has passed in the past is stored by the road history information storing means. The route searching means searches the route from the current position detected by the current position detecting means to the road in the road information stored by the road history information storing means, and the providing means searches for the route by the route searching means. Route guidance information about the route is provided.
Therefore, the route to the road that has passed in the past is searched, and in the case of getting lost, it is possible to search for the route to the road that has passed at least once in the past, and the usability is further improved. A navigation device can be provided.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
The navigation device 100 of the present embodiment is a portable navigation device mounted on a vehicle, for example, and provides the user with various information such as map information and route search / route guidance to a destination.

First, the configuration of the main part of the navigation device 100 will be described with reference to FIG.
The navigation device 100 includes, for example, a current position detection unit 1, a communication unit 2, a display unit 3, an input unit 4, a control unit 5, and the like as current position detection means in the device main body.

The current position detection unit 1 includes, for example, a GPS positioning unit that detects absolute coordinates of the navigation device 100, detects current position information of the navigation device 100 itself, and generates a current position detection signal based on the detected current position information. Output to the control unit 5.
Specifically, the GPS positioning unit receives, for example, radio waves from a plurality of (for example, at least three) artificial satellites whose positions are known by a GPS antenna (not shown), and receives the radio waves received from each artificial satellite. From the arrival time, the distance from each artificial satellite to the navigation device 100 is calculated, and the latitude / longitude data of the intersection of the distance from each artificial satellite is specified.
Further, the current position of the navigation device 100 may be detected by an azimuth sensor such as a gyro sensor that detects angular velocity, a travel distance detection unit that detects a travel distance by measuring a pulse according to travel, and the like. .

  For example, the communication unit 2 is connected to an information providing apparatus (not shown) via a network, and receives various information such as route guidance and map information transmitted from the information providing apparatus via the network.

  The display unit 3 is configured to include a display such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), for example, and displays map information and other various information on the display according to control from the control unit 5.

The input unit 4 includes, for example, a character / number key, various function keys, a touch panel configured integrally with the display unit 3, and the user inputs various information such as a destination point and a departure point.
Specifically, the input unit 4 outputs a key press signal based on the key press by the user to the control unit 5, and calculates the coordinates of the touch operation when the user performs a touch operation on the touch panel, A pressing signal based on the calculated coordinates is output to the control unit 5. Further, the input unit 4 may be provided, for example, in a remote controller or the like so that it can be operated remotely.
The input unit 4 may be provided with a dedicated route search button for searching for a route to a road that has been passed at least once in the past. As a result, when the user is lost, the user can search for a route from the position to the past road only by operating the route search button.

  The control unit 5 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 51, an RTC (Real Time Clock) 52, a memory unit 53, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 54, and the like.

  The CPU 51 executes various programs stored in the ROM 54 in accordance with input signals or the like input from each unit of the navigation device 100, and outputs an output signal to each unit based on the execution program. The overall control of 100 operations is controlled.

  The RTC 52 counts the current time and outputs the counted current time to the CPU 51.

  The memory unit 53 includes a work area 531 made of a volatile memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), for example. The processing result generated when various programs are executed by the CPU 51, input data, and the like The work area 531 is stored.

  The memory unit 53 includes a data area 532 made of a nonvolatile memory such as an EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM). The data area 532 stores, for example, a map information DB 532a, a road history storage unit 532b, and the like.

The map information DB 532a stores, for example, map information of different types and scales in a hierarchical structure. For example, in addition to roads displayed on wide-area maps and high-speed automobile national roads and general national roads, roads displayed on pre-prefecture roads and municipal roads, and roads displayed on medium-area maps In addition, a detailed map containing narrow streets is stored.
In addition to road information, this map information includes address information, information on buildings, facilities, stores, parks, railways, topographic information, and the like. Further, as needed, the communication unit 2 updates the latest map information downloaded from the information providing apparatus (not shown) via the network N.

The road information included in the map information DB 532a is composed of node information and link information.
The link information defines a link (road) that is a line segment connecting nodes. The link information includes, for example, a link ID unique to each link, the coordinates of the node that is the end point (start point / end point) of the link, the link length indicating the link length, the road name, the road type, the width, the number of lanes, the traffic regulation, It consists of the link ID of the link connected to the node that is the end point of the link, the average transit time of the link, and the like.
The node information specifies link intersections (intersections), link end points (dead ends), and points where link attributes change (for example, highway national highways → prefectural roads). It is composed of a node ID, node coordinates, intersection name, link ID of a link connected to the node, and the like.

The road history storage unit 532b stores a history of road information related to a road that the navigation device 100 has passed in the execution of a road history information storage program 54c described later.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the road history storage unit 532b. As shown in FIG. 2, the road history storage unit 532b, for each history, arrives at the destination after the history ID, departure point coordinate information / date information, destination coordinate information / date information, and departure from the departure point. It stores the link ID of the link that has passed through. Further, the road history stored in the road history storage unit 532b is deleted when a predetermined period (for example, six months) elapses after storage, and only the movement history for the predetermined period is retained.
For example, the road history with the history ID “001” in the road history storage unit 532b of FIG. 2 starts from the departure place A and passes through the link b, the link c, the link d, the link e, the link f, and the link g. Thus, the fact that the destination B has been reached is stored.

  The ROM 54 has a program storage area composed of a nonvolatile memory. Specifically, a current position detection program 54a, a map information acquisition program 54b, a road history information storage program 54c, a route search program 54d, a provision program 54e, etc. It has.

The current position detection program 54a is a program for causing the CPU 51 to realize a function of detecting the current position, for example.
Specifically, the CPU 51 causes the current position detection unit 1 configured by a GPS positioning unit or the like to acquire current position information of the navigation device 100 itself, and generates a current position detection signal output from the current position detection unit 1. Based on this, the coordinates (latitude / longitude) as the current position of the navigation device 100 are specified. Further, map matching processing is performed based on the specified current position, and the road on which the vehicle on which the navigation device 100 is mounted is matched with matching data (illustrated) stored in a predetermined area such as the data area 532. Specified based on (omitted). The map matching process includes, for example, pattern matching that obtains a road that is a candidate for matching according to the traveling locus of the vehicle, identifies the road with the highest correlation from the matching candidate, and matches the current position on the road. Use.
The CPU 51 functions as a current position detection unit together with the current position detection unit 1 by executing the current position detection program 54a.

The map information acquisition program 54b is a program for causing the CPU 51 to realize a function of acquiring map information, for example.
Specifically, the CPU 51 determines the navigation device specified by the execution of the current position detection program 54a in the route search processing by the execution of the route search program 54d described later and the route guidance information provided by the execution of the provision program 54e described later. The map information including 100 current positions is searched from the map information DB 532a, and the searched map information is acquired.
The CPU 51 functions as a map information acquisition unit by executing the map information acquisition program 54b.

  The road history information storage program 54c is a program for causing the CPU 51 to realize a function of storing road information regarding roads that have passed in the past, for example.

Here, for example, when a vehicle on which the navigation device 100 is mounted moves a route between points AB indicated by bold lines in FIG. Processing to be stored in the history storage unit 532b will be described.
For example, when the navigation device 100 passes through two nodes that are end points of a link, the CPU 51 determines that the link between these nodes has passed.
First, the user starts from a point A set as a departure point, passes through a link a, and reaches (passes) a node 1 indicated by a white circle in FIG. Next, when the link b is reached and the node 2 is reached, the CPU 51 determines that the link b between the node 1 and the node 2 has been passed, and determines that the link b has been passed and stores it in the road history storage unit 532b. Remember. When the user passes the link c and reaches the node 3, the CPU 51 determines that the link c between the node 2 and the node 3 has passed, and stores the link c in the road history storage unit 532b. . Furthermore, when the user passes the links d, e, f, and g, the roads are stored in the road history storage unit 532b as the roads through which the links d to g pass at the points of the nodes 4, 5, 6, and 7. It becomes.
After that, when the user arrives at the destination B and the traveling is finished, the CPU 51 starts the link (for example, the link) that has passed from the departure point A to the destination B as shown in FIG. A road history ID (for example, “001”) is attached to the road history in which the link information related to b to g) is stored to form one record.
The CPU 51 functions as a road history information storage unit together with the road history storage unit 532b by executing the road history information storage program 54c.

For example, the route search program 54d has a function of searching the CPU 51 for a route from the current position detected by the execution of the current position detection program 54a to the road in the road information stored by the execution of the road history information storage program 54c. It is a program for realizing. The route search program 54d searches for a route that can reach the road in the shortest time, and searches for a road of a predetermined level or higher based on the map information acquired by executing the map information acquisition program 54b.
The CPU 51 functions as route search means by executing the route search program 54d.

Here, for example, when the vehicle on which the navigation device 100 is mounted gets lost in the road in X of FIG. 4, the route search program 54d is executed to search for a route to a road that has passed in the past. The case will be described.
First, when a route search to a road that has passed in the past is instructed by the user's operation of the input unit 4, the CPU 51 causes the display unit 3 to display a search road designation screen illustrated in FIG. 5 as a search target. Let the user specify the road hierarchy. The roads are classified in advance according to the road type, the width of the road, the number of times the road has passed, and the like, and data relating to the classification is stored in a predetermined storage area.
On the search road designation screen, for example, when the user designates a road to be searched as “a road higher than a prefectural road”, a search is made for municipal roads and narrow streets existing in the lower hierarchy of the prefectural road. The search target is a prefectural road and a high-speed automobile national highway or a general national highway existing in a higher hierarchy of the prefectural road. Further, for example, when the user does not specify the road hierarchy to be searched on the search road designation screen, all roads that have been passed once in the past are set as search targets. Furthermore, a road to be searched can be specified by a combination of the road type, the width of the road, and the number of times the road has passed.

When a user selects a hierarchy of roads to be searched (for example, “a road having a width of 10 m or more”) on the above-described search road designation screen, the CPU 51 then executes the current position detection program 54a. The current position X of the navigation device 100 is specified, and the road where the current position is located (for example, link r) is performed. Then, a link that has passed in the past within a predetermined range (for example, within a radius of 5 km) from the current position X of the navigation device 100 is detected based on the road history storage unit 532b. Thereby, for example, the links b to g and m to p are detected as links that have passed in the past. If there is no link that has passed in the past in the predetermined range, the CPU 51 extends the detection range to a range where a detectable link exists.
Furthermore, CPU51 extracts the link of width 10m or more used as search object among the detected links based on the width information of each link in link information. Thereby, for example, the links b to g are extracted as roads having a width of 10 m or more.

  When a link of a predetermined level or higher existing within a predetermined range from the current position X of the navigation device 100 is specified, the CPU 51 uses the current position X as a departure point to determine a route to reach a node constituting each link as link information. And detection based on node information. In the example of FIG. 4, a first route that reaches the node 1 that is the end point of the link b through the link r and the link t from the current position X that exists in the middle of the link r, and exists in the middle of the link r. A second route that reaches the node 3 that is the end point of the link c and the link d from the current position X that passes through the link r, the link u, the link v, and the link w, and the current that exists in the middle of the link r From the position X, the third route that passes through the link r, the link s, and the link y and reaches the node 6 that is the end point of the link f and the link g reaches a road of a predetermined level or higher that has passed in the past. Detected as root.

  Further, the CPU 51 calculates the travel time or travel distance of each route to a road of a predetermined level or higher that has passed in the past based on the link information, and determines the shortest time or the shortest distance route from the calculated routes. To do. For example, in the example of FIG. 4, when specifying the shortest distance route, the travel distance of the first route is calculated as 700 m, the travel distance of the second route is 1200 m, and the travel distance of the third route is calculated as 1500 m. The first route is determined as the shortest distance route.

The provided program 54e is a program for causing the CPU 51 to realize a function of providing route guidance information related to a route searched by executing the route search program 54d, for example.
Specifically, when the route that reaches the road at a predetermined level or higher in the past is determined by the execution of the route search program 54d described above, the CPU 51 executes the map information acquisition program 54b. Map information including the current position and the determined route is read from the map information DB 532a. Then, a mark is displayed at the current position of the navigation device 100 on the map, the searched route is displayed in a color different from other roads, and the map information is displayed on the display unit 3 as route guidance information. Inform the user of the route to be taken. Further, route guidance information by voice guidance may be provided along with the traveling of the vehicle.
The CPU 51 functions as a providing unit by executing the providing program 54e.

According to the navigation apparatus 100 in the present embodiment described above, the current position is detected by the execution of the current position detection program 54a by the CPU 51, and map information including road information is acquired by the execution of the map information acquisition program 54b. By executing the road history information storage program 54c, road information related to roads that have passed in the past is stored. From the current position detected by executing the current position detection program 54a by executing the route search program 54d, a road history information storage program is stored. The route to the road in the road information stored by the execution of 54c is searched, and the route guidance information related to the route searched for by the execution of the route search program 54d is provided by the execution of the providing program 54e.
Therefore, the route to the road that has passed in the past is searched, and in the case of getting lost, it is possible to search for the route to the road that has passed at least once in the past, and the usability is further improved. A navigation device 100 can be provided.

  Further, since the route search program 54d by the CPU 51 executes a search for the shortest route that can be reached on the road, the user can reach the road that has passed at least once in the past through the earliest route. .

  Further, since the route search program 54d is executed by the CPU 51, roads of a predetermined level or higher are searched based on the map information acquired by the execution of the map information acquisition program 54b. Or a road having a predetermined width, a road that has passed a predetermined number of times, or the like.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and various improvements and design changes may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
For example, the storage medium such as the map information DB 532a and the road history storage unit 532b is a hard disk (Hard Disc), a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), etc., optical, magnetic, semiconductor Any storage medium such as a memory may be used. Further, it may be fixed (for example, magnetic tape, hard disk, etc.) or detachably provided (for example, FD, MO, DVD, etc.).
Further, for example, when passing through each link, the time required for the passage of the link is stored in the road history storage unit 532b, and the passage time stored based on the actual passage and the link included in the link information are stored. Based on the average passing time, the time to the road that has passed in the past may be calculated.
Further, the road history storage unit 532b that stores road information related to a road that has passed is not limited to that shown in the above embodiment.
Further, a configuration may be adopted in which a plurality of routes reaching a road that has passed in the past are presented and a user selects a desired route.
Furthermore, in the execution of the route search program 54d, a route search can be performed by allowing the user to specify a road name, road number, etc. in addition to the type of road, the width of the road, and the number of past passes. good.

It is a block diagram which illustrates the principal part composition of the navigation device in this embodiment. It is a figure which illustrates a road history storage part. It is a figure for demonstrating the route which the navigation apparatus moved. It is a figure for demonstrating the route from the present position to the road which passed in the past. It is a figure which illustrates the search road designation | designated screen displayed on a display part.

Explanation of symbols

100 Navigation device 1 Current position detection unit (current position detection means)
51 CPU (current position detection means, map information acquisition means, road history information storage means, route search means, provision means)
532b Road history storage unit (road history information storage means)
54a Current position detection program (current position detection means)
54b Map information acquisition program (map information acquisition means)
54c Road history information storage program (road history information storage means)
54d Route search program (route search means)
54e Provided program (providing means)

Claims (4)

In a navigation apparatus comprising: a current position detecting unit that detects a current position; and a map information acquiring unit that acquires map information including road information.
Road history information storage means for storing the road information relating to roads that have passed in the past;
Route search means for searching for a route from the current position detected by the current position detection means to the road in the road information stored by the road history information storage means;
Providing means for providing route guidance information related to the route searched by the route searching means;
A navigation device comprising:   The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the route search means searches for a route that can reach the road in the shortest time.   The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the route search unit searches for a road of a predetermined level or higher based on the map information acquired by the map information acquisition unit. In a navigation apparatus comprising: a current position detecting unit that detects a current position; and a map information acquiring unit that acquires map information including road information.
Road history information storage means for storing the road information relating to roads that have passed in the past;
Route search means for searching for a route from the current position detected by the current position detection means to the road in the road information stored by the road history information storage means;
Providing means for providing route guidance information related to the route searched by the route search means,
The route search means searches for a route that can reach the road in the shortest time, and searches for a road of a predetermined hierarchy or higher based on the map information acquired by the map information acquisition means. Navigation device.

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