JP2010002362A - Navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem such that information on height difference of a route cannot be read out from a map display screen on which the routes are plotted, because the conventional navigation devices which have provided information on height difference of routes by display screens, while aiming at only height above sea level. <P>SOLUTION: The plotting of a recommended route onto the map display screen is performed with plotting colors different for every height from sea level of the route. Furthermore, slippery sections are displayed while being emphasized, based on information on grade angles, grade lengths, road surface states, and the like. Thereby, these information can be utilized when selecting route or running vehicle. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicle navigation apparatus.

  A vehicle navigation device that displays elevation difference information of a searched route is known (Patent Document 1). In such a navigation device, the elevation difference from the destination to the departure point is displayed on the screen as a two-dimensional line graph, and the vehicle position is displayed on the graph.

JP-A-9-159479

  In the above-described existing navigation device, the information related to the height difference of the route is provided by a display screen focusing only on the height difference. Therefore, the user cannot read the altitude of the route from the map display screen on which the route is drawn.

The invention according to claim 1 is a search means for searching for a route from a departure place to a destination, a display control means for displaying a map on a display monitor, and drawing the route searched by the search means on the map, And the display control means draws the route in different colors according to the altitude.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the first aspect, the display control means draws a portion of the route having an altitude less than a predetermined value in a color different from the other portions. Features.
The invention according to claim 3 is calculated by a search means for searching for a route comprising a plurality of sections from a departure place to a destination, a slope calculation means for obtaining a slope of each section of the route, and the slope calculation means. A navigation device comprising: an informing means for informing a section of the route having a gradient greater than or equal to a predetermined magnitude.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the third aspect, the road environment information acquisition means for acquiring road environment information, and the information acquired by the road environment information acquisition means, Determining means for determining for each section whether or not the environment is a predetermined environment, wherein the display control means is a section of the route in which the gradient calculated by the gradient calculation means is greater than or equal to a predetermined value. The section of the route determined to be a predetermined environment by the determination unit is notified.
The invention according to claim 5 is the navigation device according to claim 4, wherein the predetermined road environment information includes weather, temperature, road surface freezing, snow cover, curve curvature, surrounding topography, and pavement presence / absence. It is the information showing at least one of these, It is characterized by the above-mentioned.

  According to the present invention, the route can be drawn on the map display screen so that the user can read the altitude of the route.

-First embodiment-
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the navigation device according to this embodiment.

  The navigation device 1 includes a control circuit 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, a current location detection device 14, an image memory 15, a display monitor 16, a speaker 17, an input device 18, a VICS (registered trademark) (road traffic information communication system) information receiving unit 19, and A disk drive 21 is provided. The disk drive 21 is loaded with a DVD-ROM 22 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. When the control circuit 11 performs a predetermined route search (described later) based on the map data stored in the DVD-ROM 22, the processing result is displayed on the display monitor 16 as a recommended route (described later).

  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 display range of a map, a point where a route search is started, that is, a departure point, and the like based on the current location of the vehicle detected by the current location detection device 14 and displays the current location on the map. .

  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 based on the map data stored in the DVD-ROM 22. The navigation device 1 can perform map display and the like by using the image data generated in this way.

  The disk drive 21 reads map data from the DVD-ROM 22. 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 link information includes travel time (hereinafter referred to as “link travel time”) and altitude information of each link. The map display data includes map data at a plurality of scales from wide areas to details. The navigation device 1 can change the scale of the display map by switching the scale of the map display data to be used according to the user's request. The map data may be read from a recording medium other than the DVD-ROM 22, such as a CD-ROM or a hard disk.

  The display monitor 16 provides the user with various information such as a road 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 an input switch for a user to set various commands, and is realized by an operation panel, a remote controller, 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.

  When the destination is set by the user, the navigation apparatus 1 performs a route calculation from the current location detected by the GPS sensor 14c to the destination based on a predetermined control program. For example, the route calculation is performed by a control program that calculates a route that minimizes the travel time from the departure point to the destination (the total of the link travel time). Such route calculation is hereinafter referred to as route search. 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. 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.

  The VICS information receiving unit 19 receives VICS information such as traffic jam information provided from a VICS information center (not shown) and outputs it to the control circuit 11. This VICS information is transmitted mainly by radio beacons installed on highways, optical beacons installed mainly on general roads, or FM multiplex broadcasting. Radio wave beacons and optical beacons transmit VICS information to vehicles passing near the installation site, and FM multiplex broadcasting covers a wider communication area. The navigation device 1 receives the VICS information transmitted by them by the VICS information receiving unit 19. The VICS information received by the VICS information receiving unit 19 is reflected in the route search. For example, the link travel time of a section where traffic is jammed is weighted according to the degree of traffic jam. Therefore, the route search is performed with the weighted link travel time.

  Next, the recommended route display based on the altitude and the gradient in the navigation device 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is an example of the screen of the display monitor 16 on which the recommended route is displayed. The display screen 30 displays a recommended route that passes through the points 32, 33, 34, and 35 obtained by setting the starting point as the point 31 and the destination as the point 36.

  The recommended route displayed on the display screen 30 is drawn with a different drawing color according to the altitude. For example, the road from the point 31 to the point 32 and the road from the point 33 to the point 34 have different altitudes, so the drawing colors are different.

  FIG. 3 is a drawing color table for determining the drawing color of the recommended route based on the altitude. As described above, the road link holds the altitude information. When the navigation device 1 draws the recommended route, the navigation device 1 determines the drawing color of the road in the recommended route using the elevation information held by the road link to be drawn and the drawing color table shown in FIG.

  In the drawing color table shown in FIG. 3, the drawing color is changed at an altitude of 10 m. However, the intervals of the altitude at which the drawing color is changed need not be equal. Further, the altitude classification may be any number. For example, if it is desired to draw so that only points with an altitude of less than 0 m can be discriminated, two sections “less than 0 m” and “0 m or more” may be prepared.

  The specific processing contents of drawing the recommended route based on the altitude will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing recommended route drawing processing based on altitude. First, in step S11, an unselected road link included in the recommended route is selected closest to the departure place. In step S12, the elevation of the selected road link is acquired, and the drawing color corresponding to the elevation is selected from the drawing color table. In step S13, the road link selected in step S11 is drawn using the drawing color selected in step S12. In step S14, it is determined whether or not all road links included in the recommended route have been selected. If an unselected road link remains, a negative determination is made in step S14, and the process returns to step S11. On the other hand, if a positive determination is made in step S14, the process ends.

  In addition to the selection of the drawing color based on the altitude described above, the navigation device 1 according to the present embodiment performs a highlighted display of the recommended route based on the road gradient. The road slope is the ratio of the change in elevation relative to the road path. For example, when the altitude is 1 m higher when a certain road is advanced 100 m, the road gradient of the road is 1%.

  When there is a road having a road gradient exceeding 5% in the recommended route, the navigation device 1 displays the road surrounded by a broken line. In the recommended route of FIG. 2, the road from the point 34 to the point 35 is surrounded by a broken line 37.

  Next, specific processing contents of the highlight display of the recommended route based on the road gradient will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a recommended route highlighting process based on the road gradient. First, in step S21, it is assumed that one of the road links included in the recommended route is closest to the departure place. In step S22, an unselected road link included in the recommended route is selected closest to the departure place. In step S23, the altitude difference between the road link selected in step S22 and the road link on the departure side existing next to the road link is calculated. In step S24, the distance between the center positions of the road links whose elevation differences are detected in step S23 is calculated. In step S25, a road gradient is obtained using the elevation difference calculated in step S23 and the distance calculated in step S24. The road slope can be obtained by dividing the altitude difference by the distance. In step S26, it is determined whether or not the road gradient calculated in step S25 exceeds a threshold value (5% in the present embodiment). If the road gradient is 5% or less, a negative determination is made in step S26, and the process proceeds to step S28. On the other hand, if an affirmative determination is made in step S26, the process proceeds to step S27, the highlight flag is set for each of the two road links used in step S23, and the process proceeds to step S28. In step S28, it is determined whether all road links included in the recommended route have been selected in step S22. If an unselected road link still remains in the recommended route, a negative determination is made in step S28, and the process returns to step S22. On the other hand, if a positive determination is made in step S28, the process ends. Instead of obtaining the gradient from the elevation difference and distance of the road link, gradient data set in advance for the road link may be used.

  After all the above processing is completed, a broken line surrounding the road link for which the highlight flag is set is drawn. When the highlight flag is set for a plurality of adjacent road links, a broken line is drawn so as to surround all the road links. As a result, the user is informed of a portion having a predetermined gradient or more. Note that the highlighting based on the road gradient may be performed by a method other than the enclosed box. For example, the road may be displayed in a blinking manner or a balloon that reports the road gradient may be displayed. Further, when a road having a certain road gradient or more continues for a certain distance or more, highlighting different from the above case may be performed. Further, a plurality of highlighting patterns may be prepared, and different highlighting may be applied depending on the road type of the road to be highlighted.

  The drawing method of the recommended route described above is applied to all processes for drawing the recommended route on the screen. For example, in a situation where a plurality of recommended routes are displayed on the screen and only one recommended route used for navigation is selected, the above-described drawing method is applied to all the recommended routes. The same applies to drawing a recommended route from the vehicle position to the destination during traveling.

  Next, a method for drawing a recommended route will be described using an example different from FIG. FIG. 6 is an example of a map before a recommended route is drawn. A route that arrives at the destination via the roads 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, and 47 from the departure point is the recommended route. The numerical value written at the bottom of each road represents the distance and altitude of each road. Thereafter, the recommended route is drawn on the map shown in FIG.

  First, each road is drawn based on the drawing color table shown in FIG. FIG. 7 shows the result of drawing the recommended route of FIG. 6 using the drawing color table of FIG. The drawing color of the drawing color table is applied based on the altitude of each road.

  Next, the road gradient of each road in the recommended route is examined, and a process of highlighting a road having a certain road gradient is performed. FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a road gradient calculation method. Each road is drawn by shifting in the vertical direction at a rate proportional to the altitude shown in FIG. Since the altitude is assigned to the road links, the road gradient is calculated for each road link. First, the elevation difference is calculated for two adjacent road links. Next, the road gradient can be calculated by dividing this altitude difference by the distance between the center positions of the two road links. As a result of obtaining the road gradient in this way, only the road gradient between the roads 45 and 46 exceeds the threshold value of 5% as shown in FIG. Therefore, the road 45 and the road 46 are surrounded by a broken line.

  FIG. 9 is a map in which a steep road is highlighted in addition to FIG. As described above, the recommended route is drawn on the map shown in FIG. 6 as shown in FIG.

According to the navigation apparatus according to the first embodiment described above, the following operational effects can be obtained.
(1) The recommended route drawn on the plane map display screen has different drawing colors based on the altitude. Thereby, altitude information can be visually recognized simultaneously with map information.
(2) A steep section is highlighted. As a result, it is possible to recognize in advance a location that requires attention for driving.
(3) When selecting a plurality of recommended routes, drawing based on the altitude and the gradient is performed for each recommended route. This makes it possible to select a recommended route according to the altitude and the slope.
(4) The selection of the drawing color based on the altitude is determined not by the relative altitude but by the absolute altitude (sea level). This makes it possible to utilize, for example, avoiding lowland in the event of flood damage or stormy weather.

-Second embodiment-
In the first embodiment described above, whether or not the recommended route is highlighted is determined only by the road gradient. However, the influence of the road gradient on driving varies depending on the road environment. For example, even if the road gradient is 5% or more, it is difficult to slip if it is fine. Conversely, even if the road slope is 5% or less, it is easy to slip if the road surface is frozen or there is snow. Therefore, in the second embodiment described in detail below, it is determined whether to perform highlighting in consideration of the road environment in addition to the road gradient.

  FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of the navigation device in the second embodiment. The navigation device 101 includes a communication device 23 in addition to the navigation device 1 in the first embodiment. The communication device 23 is a mobile phone connected to the navigation device. The navigation device 101 can communicate with the information center 24 using the communication device 23.

  The control circuit 111 does not have a function of performing a route search. Instead, the route search is performed by the information center 24. When it becomes necessary to execute a route search, the control circuit 111 transmits information (current location, destination, search conditions, etc.) necessary for the route search to the information center 24 using the communication device 23. The information center 24 performs a route search based on the received information and transmits a recommended route to the navigation device 101. In this way, the recommended route can be acquired as if the control circuit 111 is executing a route search.

  As described above, the information center 24 has a function of executing a route search. In addition, the information center 24 accumulates weather information of each place. When transmitting the recommended route, which is the result of the route search, to the navigation device 101, the information center 24 also transmits weather information of each section included in the recommended route to the navigation device 101.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the recommended route highlighting process based on the road gradient in the navigation device according to the second embodiment. First, in step S31, it is assumed that one of the road links included in the recommended route is closest to the departure place. In step S32, an unselected road link included in the recommended route is selected closest to the departure place. In step S33, an altitude difference between the road link selected in step S32 and the road link on the departure side existing next to the road link is calculated. In step S34, the distance between the center positions of the road links whose elevation differences are detected in step S33 is calculated. In step S35, a road gradient is obtained using the elevation difference calculated in step S33 and the distance calculated in step S34. In step S36, it is determined whether or not the road gradient calculated in step S35 exceeds a threshold value (3% in the present embodiment). If the road gradient is 3% or less, a negative determination is made in step S36, and the process proceeds to step S41. On the other hand, if an affirmative determination is made in step S36, the process proceeds to step S37, where road environment information including the road link selected in step S32 is acquired, and the process proceeds to step S38. Here, the road environment information is information relating to the ease of slipping on the road surface, such as weather, air temperature, road surface freezing and snow accumulation. The road environment information includes the pavement state of the road surface and the presence / absence of surrounding sandy beaches. In step S38, it is determined from the magnitude of the road gradient obtained in step S35 and the weather information obtained in step S37 whether or not it is easy to slip. For example, when the temperature is 0 ° C. or lower, when the road surface is frozen, or when the amount of snow accumulation exceeds a threshold value set in advance according to the slope, it is determined that the slip is likely to occur. In step S39, the determination result in step S38 is determined. If a negative determination is made in step S39, the process proceeds to step S41. On the other hand, if an affirmative determination is made in step S39, the process proceeds to step S40, the highlight flag is set for each of the two road links used in step S33, and the process proceeds to step S41. In step S41, it is determined whether all road links included in the recommended route have been selected in step S32. If an unselected road link remains, a negative determination is made in step S41, and the process returns to step S32. On the other hand, if an affirmative determination is made in step S41, the process ends.

According to the navigation apparatus according to the second embodiment described above, the following functions and effects can be obtained in addition to the functions and effects obtained by the navigation apparatus according to the first embodiment.
(1) The road environment information is used to determine the presence / absence of highlighting, and attention is urged if the road is easy to slip even if the road gradient is relatively gentle. As a result, when selecting a recommended route or traveling, information serving as a determination material increases, and more appropriate driving can be performed.
(2) The route search is performed not by the navigation device but by the information center. Thereby, the cost of a navigation apparatus can be reduced.

The following modifications are also within the scope of the present invention.
(1) In the second embodiment, the navigation device 101 prepares map display data, but the information center may provide all of this. In this case, the navigation device receives all information necessary for screen display from the information center. The recommended route display process based on the altitude and the gradient is also executed by the information center.
(2) The navigation apparatus 101 in the second embodiment may receive only weather information from the information center. In this case, the navigation device 101 performs a route search in the same manner as the navigation device 1 in the first embodiment.
(3) In addition to the highlight display based on the road gradient, notification by voice may be performed. Moreover, when approaching a road on which highlighting is performed, that fact may be notified by display or voice.
(4) The navigation apparatus may transmit the road surface information acquired by the vehicle or the road surface information input by the user to the information center. In this case, vehicle position information and time information are also transmitted simultaneously. The information center that has received the information may distribute the information to other vehicles.

  As long as the characteristics of the present invention are not impaired, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and other forms conceivable within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention are also included in the scope of the present invention. .

  In addition, the correspondence between each component of the navigation device in the embodiment described above and each component of the claims is as follows. The search means and display control means of the present invention correspond to the control circuit 11.

  Note that the above description of the correspondence relationship is merely an example, and is not constrained when interpreting rights.

It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the navigation apparatus in 1st Embodiment. It is an example of the screen on which the recommended route is displayed. It is a drawing color table for determining the drawing color of a recommended path | route based on an altitude. It is the flowchart which showed the drawing process of the recommended path | route based on an altitude. It is the flowchart which showed the highlight display process of the recommended route based on the road gradient in 1st Embodiment. It is an example of the map before drawing the recommended route FIG. 6 shows the result of drawing the recommended route of FIG. 6 using the drawing color table of FIG. 3 in the first embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the calculation method of a road gradient. In 1st Embodiment, in addition to FIG. 7, it is the map which performed the highlight display of the steep road. It is a block diagram which shows the whole structure of the navigation apparatus in 2nd Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the highlight display process of the recommended route based on the road gradient in 2nd Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1,101 Navigation device 11, 111 Control circuit

Claims (5)

Search means for searching for a route from the starting point to the destination,
Display control means for displaying a map on a display monitor and drawing the route searched by the search means on the map;
The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display control means draws the route in a different color according to an altitude. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein
The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the display control means draws a portion of the route having an elevation less than a predetermined value in a color different from other portions. Search means for searching for a route consisting of a plurality of sections from the departure place to the destination;
A slope calculating means for obtaining a slope of each section of the route;
An informing means for informing a section of the route in which the gradient calculated by the gradient calculating means is greater than or equal to a predetermined value;
A navigation device comprising: The navigation device according to claim 3,
Road environment information acquisition means for acquiring road environment information;
Based on the information acquired by the road environment information acquisition means, further comprising a determination means for determining for each section whether the route is a predetermined environment,
The display control means notifies the section of the route that is determined to be a predetermined environment by the determination means, among the sections of the route in which the gradient calculated by the gradient calculation means is greater than or equal to a predetermined magnitude. A navigation device characterized by that. The navigation device according to claim 4, wherein
The predetermined road environment information is information representing at least one of weather, air temperature, road surface freezing, snow cover, curve curvature, surrounding terrain, and pavement. .

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