JP2009008505A - Navigation system and program for navigation - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To heighten the visibility of a display character string which indicates a search object. <P>SOLUTION: When a navigation system receives a reading of a location name from a user, it uses a location name data file 59 to highlight a part corresponding to the reading and display a location name corresponding to the reading. Display character strings for displaying location names are stored in the location name data file 59, and readings are stored for every significant part unit to the display character strings. A part corresponding to the reading among readings and display character strings is related depending on keyword ranges. The navigation system 1 can highlight the part corresponding to the reading and a significant part on the basis of a part of an inputted reading and display the location name. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device and a program, and for example, relates to a display for displaying a search target.

In recent years, guiding a vehicle by a navigation device has been actively performed.
The navigation device has a function of searching for a route from a departure place to a destination, a function of detecting a position of the own vehicle using a sensor such as a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite or a gyro, and a route to the destination and the own vehicle. It has a function to display the current location of the map on the map.

The navigation device stores geographical information such as the name of the facility and the location of the facility as point information in order to guide the route using the map.
For example, there is a search using a 50-sound search for a point search using the point information. This is because the navigation device matches this when a user inputs a 50-sound reading of a name such as a facility as a search word. Search for a point.

As a navigation device for searching for a name using such a 50-sound reading, there is “Navigation device and storage medium used for this device” in Patent Document 1 below.
This technique narrows down the names based on a predetermined standard, displays the narrowed names at the top, and displays the names that have been leaked down at the bottom, making it easier for the user to specify the result.
JP 2002-310712 A

However, when a name is searched for 50 sounds with the navigation device, a name that matches the search word is displayed, but there is a problem that it is difficult for the user to understand which part corresponds to the search word.
For example, if "Touki" is entered as a search term and "△△ Pottery Classroom" or "XX Registration Office" is searched, the parts "Pottery" and "Registration" correspond to "Touki" It was difficult to understand.

In some Internet search services, the input character string is highlighted, but the search result is always the same as the input character, and is correct in kana-kanji mixed languages such as Japanese. It will not be highlighted unless you type it (more precisely, it will not be searched).
For example, if you enter "Touki" into the Internet search service, "Toki Ecology" and "Pharmaceutical Toki" including Katakana "Touki" will be searched and the string "Touki" will be highlighted, but "Pottery" and " Character strings such as “registration” are not even searched.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to improve the visibility of a display character string representing a search target.

(1) In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a display character string storage unit that stores a display character string for displaying a search target, and a search word reception unit that receives an input of a search word Display character string acquisition means for acquiring a display character string including a display character corresponding to the accepted search word from the display character string storage means, and a display character corresponding to the search word in the acquired display character string And a display unit for displaying the specified character string portion so as to be distinguishable from other display characters. I will provide a.
(2) The invention according to claim 2 further comprises correspondence storage means for storing the correspondence between the display character and the reading of the display character, and the search word receiving means inputs the search word by reading. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the display character string acquiring unit receives the display character corresponding to the search word using the stored correspondence.
(3) In the invention according to claim 3, the correspondence storage means stores a reading of a character string part unit that makes sense, and the part specifying means stores the character string part by the character string part unit. The navigation device according to claim 2, wherein the navigation device is specified.
(4) In the invention described in claim 4, a computer having a display character string storage means for storing a display character string for displaying a search object is provided. The search word receiving means for receiving an input of a search word; Display character string acquisition means for acquiring a display character string including a display character corresponding to the search word from the display character string storage means, and in the acquired display character string, the display character string includes a display character corresponding to the search word, and A navigation program is provided for functioning as a part specifying unit that specifies a character string part that makes sense, and a display unit that displays the specified character string part so as to be distinguishable from other display characters.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the visibility by displaying the display form of the display character string representing the search target so as to be distinguishable from other characters.

(1) Outline of Embodiment When the navigation device accepts the reading of the spot name from the user, the navigation apparatus uses the spot name data file 59 (FIG. 2) to emphasize the part corresponding to the reading and correspond to the reading. The name of the point to be displayed is displayed.

In the point name data file 59, a display character string (for example, “Ceramics / Pottery Classroom”) for displaying the point name is stored, and for each partial unit that makes sense for the display character string (for example, , “Tougay”, “Touki”, “Kyotsutsu”) readings are stored.
Then, according to the keyword range, a reading (for example, “Toki”) is associated with a portion (for example, “pottery”) corresponding to the reading in the display character string.

Further, the navigation device 1 collates the input reading and the reading of the point name data file 59 with a forward match. For example, even if a part of the reading such as “Tokyo” is input, “Tokyo” etc. It is possible to search for readings in semantic units.
For this reason, the navigation apparatus 1 can display a point name by emphasizing a meaningful part corresponding to the reading from a part of the input reading.

(2) Details of Embodiment FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a navigation apparatus 1 to which this embodiment is applied.
The navigation device 1 is mounted on a vehicle and includes a current position detection device 10, an information processing control device 20, an input / output device 40, and an information storage device 50, as shown in this figure.
First, the current position detection device 10 has the following configuration.
The absolute azimuth sensor 11 is a geomagnetic sensor that detects in which direction the vehicle is located based on detection of the N direction based on a magnet, and may be any means that detects the absolute direction.

The relative azimuth sensor 12 detects, for example, whether or not an intersection is bent, and may be an optical rotation sensor attached to the rotating part of the handle, a rotational resistance volume, or an angle sensor attached to the wheel part. Further, a gyro sensor that detects a change in angle using an angular velocity may be used.
That is, any means capable of detecting an angle that has changed relative to the reference angle (absolute direction) may be used.
The distance sensor 13 may be, for example, one that detects and counts the rotation of a wheel, or one that detects acceleration and integrates twice. That is, any means capable of measuring the moving distance of the vehicle may be used.

The GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 14 is a device that receives a signal from an artificial satellite, and provides various information such as the signal transmission time, the position information of the receiver, the moving speed of the receiver, and the traveling direction of the receiver. Obtainable.
The beacon receiving device 15 is a device that receives a signal transmitted from a transmitting device installed at a specific point.
In particular, VICS information can be obtained, and information related to vehicle travel such as traffic jam information, current position information, and parking lot information can be obtained.
Thus, the navigation device 1 includes a current position acquisition (detection) unit.

The data transmission / reception device 16 is a device for communicating with the outside of the vehicle using a telephone line or radio waves and exchanging information.
For example, there are various usage methods such as a car phone, ATIS, VICS, GPS correction, and inter-vehicle communication, and it is possible to input / output information related to traveling.

  Next, the information processing control device 20 performs calculation and control based on the information input from the current position detection device 10 and the input / output device 40 and the information stored in the information storage device 50, and displays the calculation result on the display 42. , A means for controlling to output to the output means such as the printer 43 or the speaker 44.

The information processing control device 20 has the following configuration.
The central processing unit (CPU) 21 performs overall calculation and control of the entire navigation device 1.
The first ROM 22 is a program related to navigation, in particular, searching for point information necessary for guiding the route to the destination, and outputting the searched point information to the RAM 24 or the like for image display or voice output, It stores a navigation program that uses a data file 59 to search for the name of a point from reading.
The sensor input interface 23 is a means for receiving information from the current position detection device 10.

The RAM 24 stores information input by the user, such as destination information and passing point information, and also results calculated by the CPU 21 based on user input information, route search results, or information storage. It is a storage means for storing map information (including point information) read from the device 50.
The communication interface 25 is a means for inputting / outputting information from the current position detection device 10, particularly information obtained from the outside.

The second ROM 26 stores a program related to navigation, particularly a navigation program related to voice guidance.
The image processor 27 is processing means for processing the vector information processed by the CPU 21 into image information.
The clock 28 keeps time.
The image memory 29 is means for storing image information processed by the image processor 27.
The audio processor 30 processes the audio information read from the information storage device 50 and outputs it to the speaker 44.

The input / output device 40 includes an input device 41 for inputting data such as a destination, a passage point, and search conditions by a user, a display 42 for displaying images and search results, a printer 43 for printing information, and a speaker for outputting sound. 44.
The input device 41 includes, for example, a touch panel, a touch switch, a joystick, a key switch, and the like.

The information storage device 50 is connected to the information processing control device 20 via the transmission path 45.
The information storage device 50 includes a map data file 51, an intersection data file 52, a node data file 53, a road data file 54, a photo data file 55, a destination data file 56, a guidance point data file 57, a point information data file 58, a point. A name data file 59 and other data files are stored.
The information storage device 50 is generally composed of an optical storage medium such as a DVD-ROM, a CD-ROM, or a magnetic storage medium such as a hard disk, but various types such as a magneto-optical disk and various semiconductor memories. You may comprise with an information storage medium.
Information that needs to be rewritten may be constituted by a rewritable hard disk or flash memory, and other fixed information may be a ROM such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.

The map data file 51 stores map data such as a national road map, a road map of an arbitrary area, or a house map.
The road map is composed of roads such as main arterial roads, highways, narrow streets (relatively narrow roads), and ground targets (facility etc.). A house map is a city map in which a figure representing an outer shape of a ground structure, a road name, and the like are displayed.

The intersection data file 52 stores data relating to intersections such as the geographical position coordinates and names of the intersections.
The node data file 53 stores geographic coordinate data of each node used for route search on the map.
The road data file 54 stores road-related data such as the position and type of roads, the number of lanes, and the connection relationship between the roads.

The photo data file 55 stores image data, computer graphics image data, and the like that show various facilities, sightseeing spots, or places that require visual display such as major intersections.
The destination data file 56 stores data such as locations and names of places and facilities that are likely to be destinations such as major tourist spots, buildings, and companies / businesses described in the telephone directory. Yes.
The guide point data file 57 stores guide data of points that require guidance such as the contents of the guidance display board installed on the road and guidance of branch points.

  The point information data file 58 is a file that stores point information. Point information is also called POI (Point of Interest) information. For example, stores such as stadiums, theaters, restaurants and department stores, schools, administrative facilities, welfare facilities, private company headquarters and sales offices, sightseeing spots, etc. This is information regarding the display name of the point, reading of the display name, coordinates, address, telephone number, and other items of the point that the user is likely to be interested in route guidance.

The point name data file 59 stores data for searching for a point name such as a display character string for displaying the point name, its reading, and the correspondence between the display character string and the reading.
When the navigation device 1 searches for a spot name using the spot name data file 59, the search result is displayed in a list. When the user selects any of the search results, the spot information corresponding to the spot name is displayed in the spot information data file. 58 to provide to the user.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a logical configuration of the point name data file 59.
Since the data amount of the point name data file 59 is enormous, FIG. 2 shows a part of the data corresponding to the reading “Toki”.
The spot name data file 59 includes an item “point name” and “reading”, “number of keywords”, “keyword range”, “phone number”, and other items corresponding to the item.

In the item “point name”, a character string representing the point name is stored as a character code (represented by characters in the figure), and the navigation apparatus 1 displays this character string on the display 42 as a search result.
A character string for displaying the location name is called a display character string, and characters constituting the display character string are called display characters.

Display characters include symbols, pictograms, Greek characters, etc. in addition to kanji, kana, and alphanumeric characters. That is, any data with a character code can be used as a display character.
Thus, the point name data file 59 functions as a display character string storage unit that stores a display character string for displaying a search target (point name).

The item “reading” stores the reading of the point name in katakana.
The reading of the location name is, for example, divided into character string parts that make up the meaning of the location name, such as “Tougay / Tokyo / Kyoushitsu” for the location name “Ceramics / Pottery Classroom”.

The character string partial unit is used as a keyword when the navigation device 1 searches for a spot name.
For example, in “Tougay / Toki / Kyozutsu”, “Tougay”, “Toki”, and “Kyoushitsu” are matched with the search terms as keywords.
As described above, the point name data file 59 functions as a correspondence storage unit that stores the correspondence between the display character and the reading of the display character, and the correspondence storage unit reads the character string portion unit that makes sense. I remember it.

  This delimiter for each keyword can be realized by setting a delimiter character (for example, “/”) indicating division for each keyword in the reading data. That is, by inserting a delimiter character at a delimiter position in a character string representing a reading, the reading can be delimited in keyword units.

The item “number of keywords” is the number of keywords included in the reading.
For example, “Tougay / Toki / Kyoushitsu” includes three keywords “Tougay”, “Toki”, and “Kyotsutsu”, so the number of keywords is three.

The item “keyword range” is an item that defines the correspondence between the keyword and the display character string. Further, “1”, “2”,..., “N” (n is a natural number), It has sub-items whose item names are numbers from 1 to n.
The item names of these sub-items indicate the number of the keyword, and the sub-item includes the display characters from the display character to the display character corresponding to the keyword. Is stored.
That is, the range in the display character string of keywords corresponding to reading is set based on the number of characters in the display character string.

For example, in the location name “Ceramics / Pottery Class”, the sub-item “1” is “1-2”.
This indicates that the first keyword “Tougay” corresponds to the first to second display characters of the display character string “Pottery / Pottery Class”, that is, “Pottery”.
The sub item “2” is “4-5”.
This indicates that the second keyword “Toki” corresponds to the fourth to fifth display characters of the display character string “Pottery / Pottery Class”, that is, “Pottery”.
In addition, the item “telephone number” stores a telephone number corresponding to the location name.

In addition, although a point name may be searched for by a complete match of a search word and a keyword, the navigation apparatus 1 searches for a keyword that matches forward with the search word.
Thus, for example, when “Tokyo” is input, “Tokyo”, “Tokyo”, “Tokyo Tokyo”, and the like are searched for in front matching.
In this way, even if a part of a reading is input as a search term, a meaningful unit is specified as a keyword, so that the user does not need to input all of the reading and the user's input labor is reduced. be able to.

Thus, since the correspondence between the keyword and the display character can be obtained by the “keyword range”, the navigation apparatus 1 can display the display character corresponding to the search word in an emphasized manner.
The display character can be emphasized by, for example, changing the display form by highlighting, making it bold or italic, changing the font, or increasing the character size.

For example, if the search term is “Touki”, the display string “Ceramics / Ceramics Classroom” is highlighted with “Ceramics”, and “Tokyo Station Information Center” is highlighted with “Tokyo Station”. The
As described above, the navigation device 1 can emphasize a displayed character in a meaningful unit because it searches for a keyword by forward matching even when “TOKI” is input.

Although not shown, in the point name data file 59, for example, the area where the point is located, such as “Aichi Prefecture”, or the genre to which the facility or place belongs such as “restaurant” or “hotel” corresponds to the point name. It is attached.
These are used when narrowing down point names as will be described later.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the appearance of the display 42 from which the spot name search screen 60 has been searched.
A touch panel constituting the input device 41 (FIG. 1) is formed on the surface of the display 42. When the user touches a button or the like displayed on the display 42, information corresponding to the button is input to the navigation device 1. Can be done.

The reading input column 61 is a column for inputting a reading for searching for a spot name. A reading input in the reading input field 61 is used as a search term.
Although not shown, the display 42 displays character buttons for inputting 50 sounds, and the user can input readings by touching them.
In the example of the figure, the user inputs “Toki”, and the reading “Touki” is displayed in the reading input field 61.
The reading correction button 72 is a button to be touched when the reading of the point name is input and corrected.
When the reading correction button 72 is touched, the reading input in the reading input field 61 can be corrected.

The area input column 62 is a column for setting a search area for searching for a spot name. The areas include, for example, “all areas” where the whole country is a search area, “Osaka Prefecture”, “Aichi Prefecture”, “Tokyo”,.
Although not shown, the point name search screen 60 includes a search area setting menu so that the user can select a desired search area.

The navigation device 1 searches for a spot name in the area set in the area input field 62.
The area correction button 73 is a button to be touched when correcting the search area set in the area input field 62.
When the area correction button 73 is touched, the search area set in the area input field 62 can be corrected.

The genre input field 64 is a field for setting a genre for searching for a place name. The genre includes, for example, “restaurant”, “hotel”, “amusement park”, “tourist spot”,.
Although not shown, the point name search screen 60 includes a genre setting menu so that the user can select a desired genre.

The navigation device 1 searches for a spot name using the genre set in the genre input field 64.
The genre correction button 63 is a button that is touched when correcting the genre set in the genre input field 64.
When the genre correction button 63 is touched, the genre set in the genre input field 64 can be corrected.
As described above, the navigation device 1 reduces the search processing amount by performing a search after narrowing down the name of a point to be searched using an area and a genre.

The search result display column 66 is a column for displaying a list of searched spot names. In the example shown, up to 5 items can be displayed at a time.
In the spot name displayed in the search result display column 66, the display character corresponding to the keyword is highlighted.
For this reason, the user can easily recognize which part of the spot name matches the search term input by the user.

The detail button 67 is displayed for each spot name, and when the user touches the detail button 67 for the desired spot name, the navigation apparatus 1 searches the spot information data file 58 for spot information corresponding to the spot name and displays it. 42.
The previous button 74 and the next button 77 are buttons for scrolling down and scrolling up the point names in the search result display field 66 one by one.
The page buttons 75 and 76 are buttons for scrolling down and scrolling up the point names in the search result display field 66 in page units, respectively.

The scroll bar 71 represents the position of the currently displayed result among all the search results, and can be scrolled up or down by touching and dragging the scroll bar 71.
In the number display column 65, the number of searched spot names is displayed.

Next, the point name search procedure of the navigation apparatus 1 will be described using the flowchart of FIG.
The following processing is performed by the CPU 21 of the navigation device 1 according to a predetermined program.
First, the navigation device 1 accepts input of a search term by reading, for example, “Toki” in the reading input field 61 (FIG. 3) (step 5).
As described above, the navigation device 1 includes a search word receiving unit that receives an input of a search word.

  Next, the navigation device 1 narrows down data belonging to the areas and genres set in the area input field 62 and the genre input field 64 of FIG. Thereafter, the navigation device 1 performs a search for the narrowed data.

Next, the navigation apparatus 1 searches the input search word by the front matching for each keyword stored in the item “reading” of the point name data file 59 (FIG. 2) (step 10).
For example, keywords such as “Tokyo”, “Tokyo”, and “Tokyo Tokyo” are hit for the reading “Tokyo”.

Next, the navigation device 1 acquires the name of the spot where the reading is hit in the spot name data file 59 (step 15).
For example, for the keyword “Tokyo”, “Ceramics / Pottery Class” and “XX Registration Office” are specified, and for “Tokyo”, “△△ Sales Tokyo Service Center” is specified, and “Tokyo” For "Eki", specify "Tokyo Station Information Center".

Thus, the navigation device 1 includes a display character string acquisition unit that acquires a display character string including a display character corresponding to the search word from the display character string storage unit (the point name data file 59).
And the said display character string acquisition means acquires the display character corresponding to a search word using the correspondence memory | storage means (point name data file 59) which memorize | stored the correspondence of a display character and the reading of the said display character. ing.

Next, the navigation device 1 specifies the range to be emphasized by the display character string of the location name by referring to the “keyword range” of the location name data file 59 (step 20).
For example, in the case of “XX registration office”, since the keyword “Toki” hit in the search is the second keyword, the navigation device 1 refers to the sub-item “2” of the item “keyword range”.
Since the sub-item “2” is “3-4”, the navigation device 1 displays the third to fourth written characters of the display character string “XX registration office”, that is, “Registration”. "Is specified as a range to emphasize.

  In this way, the navigation device 1 stores the reading (keyword) of the character string portion unit that makes sense by the correspondence storage means (the point name data file 59), and the character string portion (keyword) by the character string portion unit. By specifying a character string portion that includes a display character corresponding to the search word and has a meaning.

Next, the navigation device 1 emphasizes the display characters in the range specified in Step 20 among the display character strings of the spot names specified in Step 15 by, for example, highlighting or changing the font (for example). Step 25).
Next, the navigation device 1 displays the display character string set with emphasis in the search result display field 66 (FIG. 3) (step 30).
Thus, the navigation device 1 includes display means for displaying the character string portion specified by the keyword so that it can be distinguished from other display characters.
In the display character string, the parts corresponding to the readings entered by the user, such as “Pottery”, “Registration”, “Tokyo”, and “Tokyo Station”, are emphasized in a semantic unit, so the user can easily find the keyword part that was hit Can be visually recognized.

According to the embodiment described above, the following effects can be obtained.
(1) When a reading is input as a search word, the search result is displayed by emphasizing a character string portion corresponding to the reading and making sense, so that the visibility of the matching portion with the search word can be improved. This can improve the user's recognizability and give the user a sense of security.
(2) By configuring the reading of the display character string in the semantic unit, the display character can be highlighted in the semantic unit.
(3) Since the input reading and the keyword are collated with front matching, the entire keyword can be searched even if the reading is a part of the beginning of the keyword, and further, a point name including this keyword is searched. can do.
(4) Since forward matching is performed for each keyword, even if there is a display character that makes sense after the first character of the point name, it can be searched.

Next, a modification of the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the appearance of a spot name search screen 60a according to this modification.
The spot name search screen 60a is obtained by adding a kanji selection button 81 to the spot name search screen 60 (FIG. 3).

On the kanji selection button 81, the display characters highlighted in the search result display field 66 are displayed as buttons.
When the user touches one of the buttons, the navigation device 1 narrows down the searched point names in which the display characters are emphasized and displays them in the search result display field 66.

Thus, in this modification, a point name can be narrowed down by the emphasized character.
The characters displayed on the kanji selection button 81 may be configured to display a frequently searched spot name regardless of the display in the search result display field 66.
As described above, in this modified example, an unnecessary spot name searched by the same reading can be excluded by designating a desired character by the user.

Next, another modification will be described.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a logical configuration of the point name data file 59a according to the present modification.
The point name data file 59a is obtained by changing the item “read” of the point name data file 59 (FIG. 2) to the item “character”.

In the present embodiment described above, the search term is input by reading “Touki”, but in the present modification, “ceramic” or the like is input by display characters.
For this reason, the navigation device 1 has a kana-kanji conversion function, and when the user inputs a search word using a kana, the navigation device 1 converts this into a display character and accepts the input of the search word.

In the item “character”, display characters are divided by semantic units, and here, these are called character string units.
The navigation device 1 searches for a search word by a character string unit and a forward match, similarly to the keyword of the point name data file 59.
Other processing, for example, identification of the keyword range, emphasis of display characters in the keyword range, and the like are the same as in the above-described embodiment.
As described above, in this modified example, since the search is performed based on the display characters, it is possible to exclude spot names including the same display but different display characters.

It is a system configuration figure of a navigation device. It is the figure which showed an example of the logical structure of a point name data file. It is the figure which showed an example of the point name search screen. It is a flowchart for demonstrating a point name search procedure. It is the figure which showed the modification of the point name search screen. It is the figure which showed the modification of the point name data file.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Navigation apparatus 10 Current position detection apparatus 20 Information processing control apparatus 21 CPU
40 I / O device 41 Input device 50 Information storage device 58 Point information data file 59 Point name data file

Claims (4)

Display character string storage means for storing a display character string for displaying a search target;
Search term accepting means for accepting input of a search term;
Display character string acquisition means for acquiring a display character string including a display character corresponding to the accepted search term from the display character string storage means;
In the acquired display character string, a part specifying means for specifying a character string part that includes a display character corresponding to the search term and makes sense,
Display means for displaying the specified character string portion in an identifiable manner from other display characters;
A navigation device comprising:
Corresponding storage means for storing the correspondence between the display character and the reading of the display character,
The search word accepting means accepts input of a search word by reading,
The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the display character string acquisition unit acquires a display character corresponding to the search word using the stored correspondence.
The correspondence storage means stores a reading of a character string part unit that makes sense,
The navigation device according to claim 2, wherein the part specifying unit specifies the character string part by the character string part unit.
A computer comprising display character string storage means for storing a display character string for displaying a search target,
Search term accepting means for accepting input of a search term;
Display character string acquisition means for acquiring a display character string including a display character corresponding to the accepted search term from the display character string storage means;
In the acquired display character string, a part specifying means for specifying a character string part that includes a display character corresponding to the search term and makes sense,
Display means for displaying the specified character string portion in an identifiable manner from other display characters;
Program for navigation to function.

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