JP2009092560A - Navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation device enabling a foreign user to grasp, in an actual sense, a level of a toll to be paid in an automatic tall collection system. <P>SOLUTION: When an ETC in-vehicle device acquires information about a toll to be paid at a toll collection station, information 50b about the toll to be paid is displayed on a display monitor 16. Since a language used in the navigation device is set to English (USA), a currency of the toll is dollar, i.e., a currency in the USA. As a result, "1,160 yen" for the toll to be paid is converted to "10 dollars" in accordance with information about a currency exchange rate stored in a data storage device and the value of "10 dollars" is indicated on the display monitor 16 as the toll to be paid. In addition, information 60b of the toll to be paid converted to dollars is output from a speaker in English. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation apparatus that displays information on charges collected in an automatic charge collection system.

An on-board device for ETC that displays a toll on an expressway collected by an automatic toll collection (ETC: Electronic Toll Collection) system is known as a prior art (for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-317124 A

  A foreign user has a problem that even if he / she sees the amount of money in yen displayed on a conventional ETC on-board device as described in Patent Document 1, he / she cannot grasp the large amount of tolls. .

(1) The navigation device of the invention of claim 1 is a navigation device connected to the vehicle-mounted device used in the automatic toll collection system, a language setting means for setting a language used for the navigation device, and a collection by the automatic toll collection system. The collected fee information acquisition means for acquiring the information of the charges to be performed from the vehicle-mounted device, the currency determination means for determining the currency based on the language set by the language setting means, and the currency determined by the currency determination means And collecting fee information notifying means for notifying information on the collecting fee acquired by the collecting fee information acquiring means.
(2) The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that, in the navigation device according to claim 1, the collection fee information notification means notifies that the amount of the collection fee converted into currency is a reference amount.
(3) The invention according to claim 3 is the navigation device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the collection fee history information acquisition means for acquiring the history information of the fee collected by the automatic fee collection system from the vehicle-mounted device, the currency It is characterized by comprising collection fee history information notifying means for notifying the collected fee history information acquired by the collecting fee history information acquiring means in terms of the currency determined by the determining means.

  According to the present invention, the currency representing the fee collected in the automatic fee collection system is determined based on the language used in the navigation apparatus, and the user is notified of the fee collected in the automatic fee collection system in that currency. I tried to do it. Therefore, a foreign user can grasp the amount of charges collected in the automatic charge collection system as a real feeling.

  FIG. 1 shows a navigation device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The navigation apparatus 1 is connected to the ETC on-board unit 2 and can acquire information on charges collected in the automatic toll collection (ETC) system from the ETC on-board unit 2. The navigation device 1 displays the acquired fee information in a currency selected based on the language used for the navigation device 1. Further, the navigation device 1 can acquire information on the fee collection history recorded on the IC card inserted in the ETC in-vehicle device 2. The navigation device 1 includes a control circuit 11, ROM 12, RAM 13, current location detection device 14, image memory 15, display monitor 16, speaker 17, input device 18, communication device 19, data storage device 110, and disk drive 111. . The disk drive 111 is loaded with a DVD-ROM 112 in which map data is stored.

  The control circuit 11 includes a microprocessor and its peripheral circuits, and performs various controls by executing a control program stored in the ROM 12 using the RAM 13 as a work area. The control circuit 11 performs a predetermined route search process based on the map data stored in the DVD-ROM 112. Then, the processing result is displayed on the display monitor 16 as a recommended route.

  The current location detection device 14 is a device that detects the current location of the vehicle. The current location detection device 14 includes a vibration gyro 14a, a vehicle speed sensor 14b, a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor 14c, and the like. The vibration gyro 14a detects the traveling direction of the vehicle, the vehicle speed sensor 14b detects the vehicle speed, and the GPS sensor 14c detects a GPS signal from a GPS satellite. The navigation device 1 determines a map display range, a route search start point, and the like based on the current location of the vehicle detected by the current location detection device 14. Further, the current location of the vehicle detected by the current location detection device 14 is displayed on the map as the vehicle position mark.

  The image memory 15 stores image data to be displayed on the display monitor 16. The image data includes road map drawing data and various graphic data, which are appropriately generated in the control circuit 11 based on the map data stored in the DVD-ROM 112.

  The disk drive 111 reads map data from the DVD-ROM 112. The map data includes map display data, route search data, and the like. The map display data and the route search data include road link information and node information stored in the map data. The map display data has map data of a plurality of scales from wide areas to details, and the scale of the display map can be changed according to a user request. The map data may be read from a recording medium other than the DVD-ROM 112, such as a CD-ROM or a hard disk.

  The display monitor 16 provides the user with various information such as a map near the vehicle position as a screen display based on various information such as map data. The speaker 17 outputs sound for instructing the user to perform various input operations and for guiding the route. The input device 18 has operation keys that are operated by a user for setting various commands, and is realized by a button switch on the operation panel, a hard switch around the panel, or the like. The user sets the destination by operating the input device 18 in accordance with an instruction on the display screen of the display monitor 16 or a voice instruction from the speaker 17. Further, the user can select a desired item from the menu screen displayed on the display screen of the display monitor 16 by operating the input device 18.

  When the destination is set by the user, a route search end point is set at the destination. Then, route calculation from the route search start point to the route search end point is performed based on a predetermined algorithm using the route search data. The route thus obtained (hereinafter referred to as a recommended route) is displayed on the screen in a manner different from other roads by changing the display form, for example, the display color. Thereby, the user can recognize the recommended route on the map on the screen. Further, the navigation device 1 instructs the user in the direction of travel using a screen or voice so that the vehicle can travel according to the recommended route, thereby guiding the route of the vehicle.

  The communication device 19 is a device that performs data communication with an information center (not shown) using radio waves. The information on the foreign exchange rate as shown in FIG. 2 can be acquired from the information center using the communication device 19. The navigation device 1 acquires information on the foreign exchange rate from the information center once a day at a predetermined time.

  The data storage device 110 is a storage device configured by a rewritable recording medium such as a flash memory or a hard disk. The data storage device 110 stores foreign exchange rate information as shown in FIG. 2 acquired from the information center.

  The ETC in-vehicle device 2 performs wireless communication with a roadside antenna (not shown) provided at the toll gate, transmits information on the toll gate entrance when entering the toll road, and then collects the toll collected (hereinafter collected) Information). The collection fee will be charged and paid to the user at a later date. Further, the IC card 21 is inserted into the ETC in-vehicle device 2, and the charge collection history is stored in the IC card 21. When the ETC onboard equipment 2 receives the information on the collection fee received from the road side antenna, it outputs the information to the navigation device 1. Further, the ETC in-vehicle device 2 can output the fee collection history information stored in the IC card 21 to the navigation device 1.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 3 to FIG. 6, notification to a user of a fee collected in the ETC system in an embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIG. 3A, the user can set the language to be used for the navigation device 1 by selecting the “language selection” item 31 displayed on the menu screen 30. When the item 31 of “language selection” is selected, language candidates 41 to 45 used for the navigation device 1 are displayed as shown in FIG. For example, when the user selects “Japanese” 41 from the language candidates 41 to 45, a menu screen or the like is displayed in Japanese, and voice guidance can be received in Japanese.

  Further, when the ETC on-board unit 2 acquires the collection fee information at the toll booth, the collection fee information 50a is displayed on the display monitor 16, as shown in FIG. Since the language used for the navigation device 1 is set to Japanese, the collection fee information 50a is displayed in "yen" which is the currency of Japan. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, collection fee information 60 a is also output from the speaker 17 in Japanese voice.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 5A, when the user selects a language other than “Japanese” 41, for example, “English (USA)” 42 from the language candidates 41 to 45, FIG. ), Menu screens etc. are displayed in English.

  When the ETC on-board unit 2 acquires the collected fee information at the toll gate, the collected fee information 50b is displayed on the display monitor 16, as shown in FIG. Since the language used for the navigation apparatus 1 is set to English (USA), the collection fee information 50b is displayed in “dollar” which is the currency of the United States. The amount of the collected fee displayed is converted into dollars based on the foreign exchange rate information stored in the data storage device 110 and calculated. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, collection fee information 60 b converted into dollars is also output from the speaker 17 in English voice.

  Next, notification processing of charges collected in the ETC system in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The processing of FIG. 7 is executed in the control circuit 11 by a program that starts when a power switch (not shown) of the navigation device 1 and the ETC on-vehicle device 2 is turned on.

  In step S701, it is determined whether or not fee collection information is output from the ETC on-board unit 2. If the toll collection information is output from the ETC on-board unit 2, an affirmative determination is made in step S701, and the process proceeds to step S702. If the fee collection information is not output from the ETC on-board unit 2, step S701 is repeated.

  In step S702, the currency for converting the collection fee is determined from the language used in the navigation device 1. In step S703, the collection fee is converted into the currency determined in step S703 from the information of the foreign exchange rate stored in the data storage device 110.

  In step S704, the converted collection fee is displayed on the display monitor 16. In step S705, the converted collection fee is output from the speaker 17 by voice. Then, return to the start.

The navigation device 1 according to the above embodiment has the following operational effects.
Based on the language used for the navigation device 1, the currency representing the fee collected in the automatic fee collection system is determined, and the user collects the fee collected in the automatic fee collection system in that currency. Therefore, a foreign user can grasp the amount of charges collected in the automatic charge collection system as a real feeling.

  In particular, since the currency representing the fee collected in the automatic fee collection system is determined based on the language used in the navigation device 1, a currency that allows foreign users to grasp the amount of the fee collected as a real feeling. Can be selected automatically. The reason is as follows. The foreign user selects a familiar language as the language used in the navigation device 1. By selecting a national currency in which this familiar language is mainly used, it is possible to select a currency familiar to foreign users.

The navigation apparatus 1 of the above embodiment can be modified as follows.
(1) Although information on the foreign exchange rate is acquired from the information center, information on the foreign exchange rate may be acquired from a radio broadcast text broadcast. Alternatively, a mobile phone may be connected to the navigation device 1 to obtain information on the foreign exchange rate via the mobile phone instead of the communication device 19.

(2) As described above, the collection fee is charged to the user at a later date. Since the foreign exchange rate fluctuates, the amount of the collection fee paid by the foreign user in the foreign currency may be different from the amount of the collection fee displayed on the navigation device 1 in the foreign currency. In this way, the amount of the collection fee converted to the foreign currency notified from the navigation device 1 is a reference amount and not a fixed amount. For this reason, when notifying the amount of the collection fee converted into a foreign currency, it may be notified that this amount is a reference amount and not a fixed amount. Thereby, it is possible to prevent a foreign user from misidentifying the notified amount as a fixed amount at the time of payment. For example, it may be displayed on the display monitor 16 in the language used for the navigation device 1, “Charges may vary due to credit settlement.” Alternatively, the speaker 17 may output the voice in the language used for the navigation device 1 as “a charge may be different due to credit payment”.

(3) The fee collection history information acquired from the ETC in-vehicle device 2 may be converted into a foreign currency corresponding to the language set in the navigation device 1 and displayed. Thereby, the foreign user can grasp the amount of the collection fee as a real feeling for the collection fee displayed in the history of the collection fee. For example, when the language used for the navigation device 1 is selected as English (USA), as shown in FIG. 8, the charge collection history information 70 acquired from the ETC in-vehicle device 2 is converted into US dollars. Displayed after conversion. By viewing the toll collection history 71 in the toll collection history information 70, on August 27, 2007, the toll road traveled from point “A” to point “B”, and the toll at that time was US $ It turns out that it was 9 dollars in conversion.

  The above description is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment.

The correspondence between the elements of the claims and the embodiments will be described.
The language setting means of the present invention corresponds to the control circuit 11 and the input device 18, and the collection fee information acquisition means and the currency determination means correspond to the control circuit 11. The collection fee information notification means corresponds to the control circuit 11, the display monitor 16 and the speaker 17. The collection fee history information acquisition unit corresponds to the control circuit 11, and the collection fee history information notification unit corresponds to the control circuit 11 and the display monitor 16. In addition, the above description is an example to the last, and when interpreting invention, it is not limited to the correspondence of the component of said embodiment and the component of this invention at all.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus of embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the information of the foreign exchange rate acquired from an information center. It is a figure for demonstrating operation which selects the language used for a navigation apparatus to Japanese. It is a figure for demonstrating the notification of the charge collected in the ETC system when the language used for a navigation apparatus is selected to Japanese. It is a figure for demonstrating operation which selects the language used for a navigation apparatus to English. It is a figure for demonstrating the notification of the charge collected in the ETC system when the language used for a navigation apparatus is selected to English. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the notification process of the charge collected in the ETC system in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the log | history display of the charge collected in the ETC system when the language used for a navigation apparatus is selected to English.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Navigation apparatus 2 ETC onboard equipment 11 Control circuit 16 Display monitor 17 Speaker 18 Input apparatus 19 Communication apparatus 30 Menu screen 50a, 50b Information of collection fee 41-45 Language candidate 110 in navigation apparatus Data storage apparatus

Claims (3)

In the navigation device connected to the vehicle-mounted device used in the automatic toll collection system,
Language setting means for setting a language used for the navigation device;
Collection fee information acquisition means for acquiring information on a fee collected by the automatic fee collection system from the vehicle-mounted device;
Currency determining means for determining a currency based on the language set by the language setting means;
A navigation apparatus comprising: a collection fee information notifying unit for converting the currency determined by the currency determination unit to notify the collection fee information acquired by the collection fee information acquisition unit. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein
The said collection fee information notification means notifies that the amount of the collection fee converted into the said currency is a reference amount. The navigation device according to claim 1 or 2,
Collection fee history information acquisition means for acquiring information on the fee history collected by the automatic fee collection system from the vehicle-mounted device;
A navigation apparatus comprising: a collection fee history information notifying unit for notifying the collection fee history information acquired by the collection fee history information acquisition unit in terms of the currency determined by the currency determination unit.

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