JP2010159996A - Navigation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation apparatus for minimizing a cost by sharing specifications. <P>SOLUTION: A method for setting position information to the navigation apparatus has steps of: (S103) connecting a storage medium including road map information, country information relating to countries or regions, and positional information relating to the country information to the navigation apparatus; (S105) selecting countries or regions concerned by referring to the country information stored in the storage medium; (S106) acquiring the positional information of the selected countries or regions from the storage medium; and (S107) storing the acquired positional information in memories of the navigation apparatus. Programs of the navigation apparatus control a navigation operation by referring to the stored position information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation apparatus, and more particularly, to a global navigation apparatus that can operate in each destination with a common specification.

  The vehicle-mounted navigation device has a function of detecting a vehicle position using a GPS receiver, a gyro sensor, or the like, displaying road map data around the vehicle position on a display, and performing road guidance.

  Normally, when a navigation device is shipped from a factory, an initial setting corresponding to the destination is made. The initial setting includes position information of a country or region where the navigation device is used, and this position information is used to determine whether the road map data such as a CDROM attached to the navigation device is correct or incorrect. If the initially set position information is country A and the road map data of the attached CD-ROM is country B, a warning is given that the attached CD-ROM is in error.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-133867 updates the initially set position information to the position information of the mounted storage medium when the position information initially set in the navigation device is different from the position information of the mounted storage medium. The storage medium can be used in the apparatus.

JP 2007-93325 A

  As described above, the conventional navigation device must set position information of the country or region that is the destination for each navigation device. Since this position information is incorporated into the program (or software) of the navigation device, a program with a specification common to each country or region cannot be installed. For this reason, the cost of the navigation device cannot be sufficiently reduced.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem and to provide a navigation device that reduces costs by sharing specifications as much as possible.
Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device, a storage medium, and a setting method thereof that can set position information of a destination required for the navigation device from the storage medium.

  A storage medium according to the present invention stores data used by a program installed in a navigation device, and the data is associated with road map information, country information about a country or a region, and the country information. The position information is used to control the operation of the navigation device. Preferably, the position information is an area defined by latitude and longitude. The data may include road map information of a plurality of countries or regions, country information regarding a plurality of countries or regions, and position information of a plurality of countries or regions. The data may further include language information associated with multiple countries or regions. Further, the storage medium can be detachably attached to the navigation device.

  The navigation device of the present invention includes the above storage medium, storage means storing a program for navigation operation, and control means for executing the program stored in the storage means. When the initial operation of the apparatus is set, the position information is acquired from the storage medium, and the navigation operation is controlled based on the acquired position information. Preferably, the control means stores the position information acquired from the storage medium in a rewritable memory.

  The navigation device further includes an input unit and a display unit, and the control unit displays the country information read from the storage medium on the display unit when the initial operation of the navigation device is set, and the input unit Position information corresponding to the selected country information can be acquired from the storage medium. Further, the control means compares the position information acquired from the storage medium with the position information stored in the memory at the time of initial operation setting of the navigation device, and when the position information of both is different, the control information is stored in the memory. The updated position information can be updated to the position information acquired from the storage medium.

  Preferably, the control means regulates a scroll range based on the position information when an instruction to scroll the road map screen displayed on the display means is given from the input means. The navigation device further includes own vehicle position detecting means for detecting the own vehicle position, and the control means includes the own vehicle position information detected by the own vehicle position detecting means and the position information acquired from the storage medium. The appropriateness of the vehicle position information is determined by comparison.

  A method for setting a program mounted on a navigation device according to the present invention includes a step of connecting a storage medium including road map information, country information about a country or region, and position information associated with the country information to the navigation device; , Referring to country information stored in the storage medium, selecting a corresponding country or region, obtaining position information of the selected country or region from the storage medium, and obtaining the acquired position information. A step of storing the program in a memory of the navigation device; and a step of executing the program, wherein the program uses position information stored in the memory in operation control of the navigation device. The program determines the appropriateness of GPS positioning data from a GPS receiver using the position information, or regulates the scroll range of the road map screen displayed on the display using the position information. be able to.

  According to the present invention, the location information of the destination used by the program of the navigation device is set from the storage medium, so that the specification of the program of the navigation device can be made common in each country or each region. Thereby, the cost of a navigation apparatus can be reduced.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the embodiment of the present invention, the navigation device performs the initial setting operation using the position data of the country or region stored in the storage medium. Country or region location data is a program (or software) stored in the navigation device.
This position data is appropriately selected according to the destination country or region. Preferably, the position data is used for determining the appropriateness of the GPS positioning data by the GPS receiver, so that the GPS receiver can be checked for malfunction or inappropriate GPS positioning. Furthermore, the position data is used to limit unlimited scrolling on the display of the navigation device.

  The type of the storage medium is not particularly limited, but may be removable from the navigation device (removable) or may be fixedly attached to the navigation device. The storage medium is configured using, for example, a CD-ROM, DVD, Blu-ray disc, semiconductor memory, hard disk storage device, and the like. The navigation device main body is equipped with a processing device for executing a navigation function and the like, and the processing device executes a program or software stored in a memory such as a ROM or a RAM. The processing device is composed of, for example, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, and a computer device. In addition, a part of the program executed by the processing device can be replaced by equivalent hardware.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The navigation device 1 of the present embodiment includes a vehicle position detection unit 10 that detects the vehicle position, an input unit 20 that inputs an instruction from a user, a storage medium 30 that stores road map data and other data, An audio output unit 40 that outputs audio, a display output unit 50 that displays a road map screen on a display, and the like, and a control unit 60 that controls a navigation operation according to a program or the like are configured.

  The own vehicle position detection unit 10 includes a GPS receiver, and detects the latitude, longitude, and altitude of the own vehicle based on GPS positioning data using GPS satellites. Furthermore, the own vehicle position detection unit 10 can also use autonomous navigation that detects the own vehicle position based on steering angle information and vehicle speed information obtained by a gyro sensor or a vehicle speed sensor.

  The input unit 20 includes an input interface such as a touch panel, a remote controller, and a keyboard displayed on the display, and the control unit 60 executes various operations in response to inputs from the input unit 20.

  The storage medium 30 is attached to the navigation device at the time of factory shipment or when use is started by the user. For example, if the storage medium 30 is a CD-ROM, the CD-ROM is inserted into the disk drive unit of the navigation device 1. The control unit 60 accesses the storage medium 30 when the storage medium 30 is connected, when an instruction is received from the user, or when other conditions are met, and the necessary data stored in the storage medium 30 is stored. read out. In addition, if the storage medium 30 is a writable storage medium, the control unit 60 can write data there.

  FIG. 2 is an example of a data structure stored in the storage medium. The storage medium 30 stores a global content file 100 including information on a country or region, road map (map) data 110 of the country or region, and facility (POI) data 120 of the country or region.

  The global content file 100 includes country information related to the country or region and area coordinates indicating the position of the country or region in the lower layer. Below the country information are the country code for identifying the country or region, the first language of the country or region, the GPS protected coordinates used when determining the appropriateness of the GPS positioning data by the GPS receiver, and the scroll range. Scroll protection coordinates used when restricting the parameters, and parameters used when searching for a route to the destination are included. The road map data 110 includes a region code for identifying a region of the road map data, basic data of the road map, a road name, a city name, and the like. The facility data 120 includes a facility location, type, facility polygon, and the like.

  FIG. 3 is an example of GPS protected coordinates. The GPS protected coordinates define minimum longitude, maximum longitude, minimum latitude, and maximum latitude according to the country or region. Here are examples of the coordinates of countries, regions, worldwide, Japan, North America, Europe, Australia, South America. The GPS protected coordinates define a two-dimensional rectangular area 200 as shown in FIG. 4A, and the rectangular area 200 is set to include a territory or territorial sea range 210 of a country or region. . In addition to setting the minimum and maximum latitude and longitude, the GPS protected coordinates set the area 200A by a plurality of latitude and longitude points A1, A2, A3, and A4 as shown in FIG. 4B. be able to. These latitude and longitude points may be composed of five or more.

  Similarly to the GPS protect coordinates, the scroll protect coordinates can be set using the minimum longitude, maximum longitude, minimum latitude, and maximum latitude according to the country or region. The scroll protect coordinates can be set to a different size from the GPS protect coordinates, but can also be set to the same coordinates. In the following description, the GPS protect coordinates and the scroll protect coordinates may be referred to as “position data of destination” for convenience. The storage medium 30 may store position data and road map data for one country or region, or may store position data and road data for a plurality of countries or regions. In the latter case, the position data of the destination country or region is selected, and the selected position data is set in the navigation device.

  The control unit 60 includes a memory that stores a program and an arithmetic processing unit that executes the program read from the memory, for example, a microcomputer or a microprocessor. FIG. 1B is a block diagram illustrating functions of a program executed by the control unit. As shown in the figure, the control unit 60 includes an initial operation setting function 62 for enabling the navigation device to be used at the destination, and navigation for executing route search to the destination and road traffic guidance. Function 64 is provided. Although not shown here, the navigation device 1 has a function of reproducing audio data and video data stored on a CD, DVD, etc., a function of receiving a television broadcast or a radio broadcast, an external server or electronic device and data. The control unit 60 can include an audio / video playback function 66, a data communication function 68, and the like.

  Next, an operation for setting destination data to the navigation device will be described. The initial operation setting function 62 is used when the navigation device is powered on for the first time when a program is executed, when a specific code is input from the input unit 20, or when the storage medium 30 is attached to an unattached navigation device 1. It is executed when the navigation device is shipped from the factory.

  First, an initial setting operation when the destination position data is not set in the navigation device is shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5A. When the navigation device is powered on (step S101), the initial operation setting function 62 is executed (step S102). The initial operation setting function 62 confirms whether or not the storage medium 30 is connected (step S103). If it can be confirmed that the storage medium 30 is connected, the initial operation setting function 62 sets the specification of the destination on the display. A screen is displayed (step S104). The initial operation setting function 62 accesses the storage medium 30, displays the country information read from the storage medium 30, and causes the user to select one of the destination country and region.

  When the destination country or region is selected by input from the user (step S105), the initial operation setting function 62 retrieves the country code of the selected country or region from the storage medium 30 and associates it with the country code. The position data of the designated destination, that is, the GPS protect coordinates and the scroll protect coordinates are read out (step S106).

  Next, the initial operation setting function 62 stores the destination position data, that is, the GPS protect coordinates and the scroll protect coordinates in the initial setting memory in the control unit 60 (step S107). The initial setting memory is preferably a rewritable nonvolatile memory, and for example, a flash memory can be used. The destination location data stored in the initial setting memory is referred to when the navigation function 64 is executed, as will be described later.

  Next, the flowchart of FIG. 5B shows the initial setting operation when the destination position data is already stored in the initial setting memory. Steps S101 to S105 are the same as the float of FIG. 5A. When the user selects a country or region as the destination, the initial operation setting function 62 determines whether the selected country or region matches the country or region of the destination set in the initial setting memory. Is determined (step S110). If it is determined that they match, the setting operation is terminated without updating the destination position data. On the other hand, if they do not match, the position data of the country code is read from the storage medium 30 (step S111), and the position data of the initial setting memory is updated with the read position data (step S112). In this way, the destination position data stored in the storage medium 30 is set in the navigation device.

  When the navigation function 64 of the control unit 60 detects the position of the vehicle using a GPS satellite, the program for determining the appropriateness of the GPS positioning data and the road map screen displayed on the display are scrolled. And a program that restricts scrolling. When these programs are executed, the destination location data stored in the initial setting memory is used.

  FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart for determining the appropriateness of the GPS positioning data. First, when the navigation function 64 is started (step S201), GPS positioning data is received by the GPS receiver of the vehicle position detection unit 10 (step S202). The GPS positioning data includes the own vehicle position, that is, the latitude and longitude of the own vehicle. Next, the navigation function 64 reads the GPS protected coordinates from the initial setting memory (step S203), compares the GPS protected coordinate area 200 (see FIG. 4A) with the GPS positioning data (step S204), and It is determined whether the GPS positioning data is within GPS protected coordinates (step S205).

  If the GPS positioning data is within the GPS protected coordinates, it is determined that the GPS positioning data is appropriate (step S206), and the vehicle position is determined using the GPS positioning data (step S207). On the other hand, if the GPS positioning data is outside the range of the GPS protected coordinates, it is determined that the GPS positioning data is not appropriate (step S208), and the vehicle position is determined without using the GPS positioning data (step S209). .

  Next, the operation when scrolling the road map screen is shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, when the navigation function 64 is executed (step S301), the navigation function 64 reads road map data from the storage medium 30 based on the position information detected by the vehicle position detection unit 10 (step S302), and displays it. The road map data is output to the unit 50 (step S303). As a result, as shown in FIG. 8, the vehicle position mark M and the road map screen around the vehicle position are displayed on the display 52.

  The navigation function 64 monitors a scroll instruction from the input unit 20. For example, when a predetermined key for scrolling the screen is pressed, a selection screen 54 for selecting a scroll direction (eight directions in the drawing) is displayed on the display 52. One of the scroll directions is selected by a scroll key or a touch panel, and a scroll instruction is given.

  When there is a scroll instruction from the input unit 20 (step S304), the navigation function 64 reads the scroll protect coordinates from the initial setting memory (step S305), and also reads the road map data corresponding to the scroll direction from the storage medium 30. put out. Then, the navigation function 64 compares the coordinates of the read road map data (for example, the center coordinates (Px, Py) of the display when the road map data is displayed on the display) and the scroll protect coordinates (step S306). It is determined whether or not the coordinates of the road map data are within the scroll protect coordinate range (step S307).

  If it is within the range, the navigation function 64 scrolls the screen based on the read road map data (step S308), and if it is out of the range, stops scrolling the road map screen (step S309). At this time, the navigation function 64 can give a display such as “The map cannot be scrolled” or give a voice output indicating that the voice output unit 40 cannot scroll. When the scroll direction is selected to return, the road map screen is scrolled in that direction. By limiting the range of such scrolling, the indefinitely instructed unlimited scroll is stopped at a certain position, and a time delay when returning to the original screen can be suppressed.

  Note that the scroll restriction function is applied not only to displaying a road map around the vehicle position but also to, for example, scrolling performed when searching for a destination from the road map.

  Next, another example of the present invention will be described. The initial operation setting function 62 can set the first language of the destination country or region in addition to setting the location data of the destination. The initial operation setting function 62 reads the position data of the destination from the storage medium 30 and also reads the first language information (see FIG. 2) of the country or region of the destination and sets it in the initial setting memory together with the position data. To do. The storage medium 30 stores the relationship between the country or region and the first language information as shown in FIG.

  The first language information of the destination country or region is set by the initial operation setting function 62. When the navigation function 64 is executed later, the city name, road name, facility name, etc. displayed on the road map screen are displayed. It is marked in the first language, or voice guidance such as intersection guidance is performed according to the first language.

  Some users do not necessarily like the first language. Therefore, it is desirable to store the information of the second language in the storage medium 30, and the initial operation setting function 62 sets this in the initial setting memory when the second language is selected by the user. You may do it.

  Further, the initial operation setting function 62 can set parameters for route search in the destination country or region. When searching for a route to the destination, the navigation device selects an optimum route from a plurality of candidates. For example, when selecting the route that takes the shortest time to the destination, the costs of the routes are compared and the route with the lowest cost is selected. The cost includes a plurality of factors such as the travel time of the link, the road type, and the road shape, but these costs vary depending on the road traffic situation and traffic regulations in the country or region. The storage medium 30 stores parameters according to the country or region, for example, the link travel time, the road type, and the coefficient relating to the road shape, and the initial operation setting function 62 corresponds to the destination country or region. The parameter is read from the storage medium 30 and set in the initial setting memory. When searching for a route to the destination, the navigation function 64 reads a set parameter, calculates the cost by multiplying the parameter, and thereby selects an optimum route.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 10 shows the configuration of an in-vehicle navigation device 1A according to the second embodiment. The navigation apparatus 1A of the second embodiment includes a data communication unit 70 in addition to the one of the first embodiment. The data communication unit 70 performs data communication with the external server 80 by wireless communication means, and stores data received from the external server 80 in the storage medium 30. The data received from the external server 80 can include, for example, road map data, location data of the destination country or region, language information, parameters, and the like. The data communication unit 70 receives all or a part of these data and stores them in the storage medium 30, and the initial operation setting function 62 reads the data from the storage medium 30 as in the above-described embodiment, Can be set in the setting memory. In the case of the second embodiment, the storage medium 30 is not necessarily required, and the data obtained from the data communication unit 70 can be directly set in the initial setting memory.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention described in the claims. Deformation / change is possible.

  In the above embodiment, the initial operation setting function 62 sets the destination location data read from the storage medium 30 in the initial setting memory. However, the initial setting operation function 62 is included in the navigation function 64. That is, the navigation function 64 may perform the initial operation setting function.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function of a control part. It is a figure which shows the data structure of a disc. This table summarizes GPS protection by country. It is a figure which shows a GPS protection range. It is a flowchart which shows the initial setting operation | movement of the position data of the destination of the navigation apparatus which concerns on a present Example. It is a flowchart which shows the initial setting operation | movement of the position data of the destination of the navigation apparatus which concerns on a present Example. It is a flowchart which shows the determination operation | movement of the appropriateness of the own vehicle position of the navigation apparatus which concerns on a present Example. It is a flowchart which shows the map scroll restriction | limiting operation | movement of the navigation apparatus concerning a present Example. It is a figure explaining the scroll of a road map screen. It is a table showing the relationship between the country and the first language. It is a figure which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus which concerns on 2nd Example of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 1A: Vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus 10: Own vehicle position detection part 20: Input part 30: Storage medium 40: Audio | voice output part 50: Display output part 60: Control part 70: Data communication part 80: External server

Claims (14)

A storage medium storing data used by a program installed in a navigation device,
The data includes a road map information, country information about a country or region, and position information associated with the country information, and the position information is used to control operation of a navigation device. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the position information is an area defined by latitude and longitude. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the data includes road map information of a plurality of countries or regions, country information about a plurality of countries or regions, and position information of a plurality of countries or regions. The storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the data further includes language information associated with a plurality of countries or regions. The storage medium according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the storage medium is detachable from a navigation device. A storage medium according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
Storage means for storing a program for navigation operation;
Control means for executing a program stored in the storage means,
The said control means is a navigation apparatus which acquires the said positional information from the said storage medium at the time of the initial stage operation setting of a navigation apparatus, and controls navigation operation | movement based on the acquired positional information. The navigation device according to claim 6, wherein the control unit stores the position information acquired from the storage medium in a rewritable memory. The navigation device further includes an input means and a display means,
The control means displays the country information read from the storage medium on the display means at the time of initial operation setting of the navigation device, and the position information corresponding to the country information selected by the input means from the storage medium. The navigation device according to claim 6, wherein the navigation device is acquired. The control means compares the position information acquired from the storage medium with the position information stored in the memory at the time of initial operation setting of the navigation device, and when the position information of both is different, the position stored in the memory The navigation device according to claim 6, wherein the information is updated to position information acquired from the storage medium. The navigation device according to claim 6, wherein the control means regulates a scroll range based on the position information when an instruction to scroll the road map screen displayed on the display means is given from the input means. The navigation device further includes own vehicle position detecting means for detecting the own vehicle position, and the control means includes the own vehicle position information detected by the own vehicle position detecting means and the position information acquired from the storage medium. The navigation apparatus according to claim 6, which compares and determines the appropriateness of the vehicle position information. A method for setting a program installed in a navigation device,
Connecting a storage medium including road map information, country information about a country or region, and location information associated with the country information to a navigation device;
Referring to the country information stored in the storage medium and selecting a corresponding country or region;
Obtaining location information of a selected country or region from the storage medium;
Storing the acquired position information in a memory of the navigation device;
Executing the program,
A setting method in which the program uses position information stored in the memory in operation control of a navigation device. The setting method according to claim 12, wherein the program determines appropriateness of GPS positioning data from a GPS receiver using the position information. The setting method according to claim 12, wherein the program regulates a scroll range of a road map screen displayed on a display using the position information.

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