JP2010164385A - Navigation apparatus and method, and facility information distributing server and system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To allow a user to eliminate troublesome input operations by accurately determining whether an own vehicle has visited a facility and automatically producing and memorizing the visit information about the facility. <P>SOLUTION: A navigation apparatus includes: a visit determining part 25 for determining that an own vehicle has visited an optional facility; a visit information producing part 26 for producing visit information showing the visit of the own vehicle to the facility based on a determination result by the visit determining part 25; and a visit information storage part 32 for memorizing the visit information produced by the visit information producing part 26. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation technology that uses stop-by information to any facility and a stop-information delivery technology, and in particular, automatically determines whether or not the host vehicle has stopped at the facility and creates stop-by information. Thus, the present invention relates to a navigation apparatus and method for storing the same, a facility information distribution server, and a facility information distribution system.

  In general, in a navigation apparatus mounted on a moving body such as a vehicle, map information prepared in advance is stored in a large-capacity hard disk drive (hereinafter referred to as HDD), and the stored map information is used to Display the map on the LCD screen.

  Further, the navigation device detects the current position of the host vehicle using a GPS function or the like, and acquires the host vehicle position information. Then, based on the acquired vehicle position information, a vehicle icon indicating the vehicle is displayed so as to overlap the road map displayed on the display screen of the liquid crystal display.

  In addition to map information, the HDD in the navigation device also stores information on facilities existing on the road map. The facility information includes at least the name and location information of the facility. The user can search the HDD and select a facility desired by the user as a destination.

  Then, the navigation device searches for the optimum route to the destination, starting from the position of the vehicle or an arbitrary point, and displays the searched route on the display screen of the liquid crystal display. At the same time, the vehicle can be guided and guided accurately to the destination by outputting a guidance display such as an arrow or a synthesized voice for guidance.

  By using the navigation device as described above, the user can arrive at the destination selected by the user without hesitation. In addition, when selecting a destination, it is easy to obtain information on an arbitrary facility. Such merit is one of the factors that support the high demand for navigation devices.

  By the way, now that the Internet has penetrated society, effective use of the Internet environment is also desired in the field of navigation technology. In particular, with the expansion of community functions through social networking services, the latest information is required for facilities selected as destinations and stops. Therefore, a system that distributes facility information as so-called “outing information” and “spot information” has attracted attention.

  In a facility information distribution system, facility information uploaded by a system administrator or user is usually collected and managed by a server, and distributed to facility information in response to a user request. The user downloads desired facility information from the server side using various communication means, and stores the downloaded information directly or once in a memory card and then saves it in the HDD in the navigation device.

  By acquiring desired facility information using such a facility information distribution system, the user can expand the options related to the destination and stopover location. Also, the downloaded facility information can be edited and customized by the user himself, making it possible to further enhance the enjoyment and comfort of driving.

  Here, a conventional example of the hardware configuration of the navigation apparatus that can use the facility information distribution system will be specifically described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 8, the navigation apparatus 1 mounted on the vehicle receives FM multiplex reception and processing unit 2 that extracts VICS information from FM broadcast waves, and identification information and VICS information of each beacon from an optical beacon and a radio beacon. A beacon receiving and processing unit 3 to be taken out is installed.

  Further, the navigation device 1 includes a control unit 4 including a main CPU and its peripheral circuits for controlling the entire system, a DRAM 5 for loading a main program, an SRAM 6 with a non-volatile memory and a battery backup function, and a control unit 4. A ROM 7 to be accessed and a VRAM 10 for displaying video on a display 11 to be described later are provided.

  Further, the navigation device 1 is provided with an HDD control unit 8 and a positioning unit 9. The HDD control unit 8 is means for reading various data such as a navigation program recorded in the HDD 19 from the database of the HDD 19.

  The HDD 19 stores map information and facility information including road data for route search in a database. The point and facility information is for the search list for the point and facility, including the name, location information indicated by longitude and latitude coordinates, arbitrarily determined genre, address, telephone number, etc. Data etc. are included.

  The positioning unit 9 is a part that detects the position of the host vehicle on which the navigation device 1 is mounted. More specifically, navigation information regarding the behavior of the host vehicle is acquired and the position of the host vehicle is detected by grasping the absolute and relative directions and the host vehicle speed as follows.

  That is, a GPS radio wave transmitted from a GPS satellite is received by an antenna, a receiver, or the like, and an absolute position coordinate or azimuth on the ground surface is calculated. Also, the relative orientation of the vehicle position is detected using a gyroscope or a geomagnetic sensor. Furthermore, the vehicle speed is calculated by taking a vehicle speed pulse from the vehicle.

  Further, the navigation device 1 is provided with an input unit in order to receive an operation such as a setting request from the user. Specifically, a touch panel portion of the touch panel display 11, a remote control light receiver 12, a remote controller 13 for transmitting a control signal thereto, and a microphone 14 for receiving a user's voice are installed.

  Moreover, as an output part in the navigation apparatus 1, a display panel of the display 11 for presenting visual information to the user and a speaker 15 for outputting sound at the time of guidance are arranged. A VRAM 10 for displaying video is incorporated in the display 11.

  Reference numeral 16 in FIG. 8 denotes an information transmission / reception unit connected to the server. The information transmission / reception unit 16 is network-connected to the server 18 by a computer / communication terminal 17, information is uploaded from the computer / communication terminal 17 to the server 18, and information from the server 18 to the computer / communication terminal 17 is uploaded. Is downloaded.

  At this time, the information downloaded from the server 18 to the computer / communication terminal 17 can be transferred to the storage area of the HDD 19 on the navigation device 1 side using a memory card such as an SD card. Similarly, information from the navigation device 1 side can be transferred to the computer / communication terminal 17 using a memory card, and uploaded to the server 18 side.

  Therefore, the information downloaded from the server 18 can be used and edited on the navigation device 1 side. Such a navigation device including the information transmission / reception unit 16 is suitable for use in the Internet environment, and the demand thereof is expanding.

  By the way, users who use navigation devices connected to the Internet environment tend to want to be information senders rather than just receivers of information, and Internet users also share and exchange information. I hope to do that. In particular, regarding facility information, importance is placed on information that the user has become a sender.

  The facility information in which the user is a sender is so-called post information that a user who is a facility user uploads to the server side by transmitting information. The posted information includes facility image data taken by the user, comments and evaluations when the facility is used, and the like. These pieces of posted information are fair facility information from the viewpoint of the facility user and are frequently accessed because they are considered to be highly reliable and useful.

  As described above, in the field of navigation technology, the attention of facility information is increasing against the background of the current state of information communication technology. For this reason, various technologies related to visiting the facility have been proposed, such as a technology for preventing a person from forgetting to visit the facility (Patent Document 1) and a technology for displaying the ease of visiting the facility (Patent Document 2).

  In the technique described in Patent Document 1, when there are a plurality of facilities to be visited, it is determined whether or not the facility has been visited, and a warning is issued for a facility that has not been visited so as to prevent forgetting to visit the facility. . Further, Patent Document 2 dealing with ease of visiting a facility determines whether or not the vehicle is easy to stop by the facility depending on whether or not the facility faces the oblique direction of travel of the vehicle. Is displayed.

  Furthermore, as in Patent Document 3, a system for transmitting and receiving facility information using a communication terminal such as a mobile phone has been proposed. In this technology, a user requests distribution of facility information to the server side, and in response to this, the server side grasps the usage status of the facility by the user. And according to the utilization condition on the user side, appropriate facility information is distributed.

JP 2006-317341 A JP 2007-71666 A JP 2003-303265 A

  However, the following problems have been pointed out in the conventional navigation technology and facility information distribution system. In other words, in the conventional technology, facility information downloaded from the server is used or edited on the navigation device side, but when the user visits the facility, a record that the user has visited is manually entered by the user. I had to do it. This was also the case when the server managed the records of the users who visited the facility.

  Providing information about the facility does not immediately benefit the user, and comments and evaluations are for the third party rather than for the person who wrote it. For this reason, even if there is a little troublesome operation, the user tends to forget to upload a record that he / she visited even if he / she visited the facility. Therefore, it is important to reliably determine whether or not a user has stopped at a facility in a navigation device premised on use in the Internet environment.

  The technique of Patent Document 1 described above determines whether or not a facility has stopped by, but it is mainly intended to prevent the facility from forgetting to stop by. For this reason, although a warning process is performed for a facility that has not been visited among facilities set in advance by the user, no processing is performed for a facility that has been visited.

  Therefore, even if the user tries to remember the facility at a later date, there is no record. As can be seen from the case of visiting an area where a plurality of temples are close to each other, it is difficult for the user to remember exactly which facility he / she visited later. That is, the trouble of manually entering the facility by the user himself is more troublesome than expected.

  In addition, when driving for sightseeing or leisure, users may stop at facilities that they do not plan to stop by. In the technology of the above-mentioned Patent Document 1, regarding a facility that the user has not set to stop in the first place, even if he / she does not stop at the facility, he / she will not forget to stop at the facility. Absent. In other words, in the technique of Patent Document 1, the stop-by determination of the facility is made only for the facility that is set to stop in advance.

  Furthermore, in the technology of Patent Document 3, the facility information is sequentially distributed to the user side according to the user's stop status in the server that manages the status of the user's stop. In order to realize this, It is premised that the schedule for visiting the facility is registered in advance on the server side, and the user makes a distribution request for facility information to the server.

  In the server of Patent Document 3 based on such a point, the distribution request from the user itself is a material for determining whether or not the user has stopped at the facility. In other words, if the facility information distribution request is not received from the user, the server cannot grasp the facility usage status.

  The “request for distribution of facility information” by the user here is substantially the same as “the user manually inputs a record that he / she has visited” described as an issue. That is, in the technique of Patent Document 3, the manual input operation pointed out as a conventional problem is an essential requirement.

  When the user mainly uses a communication terminal such as a mobile phone as in Patent Document 3, it is relatively natural to make a distribution request for information regarding the facility when the user arrives at the facility. However, compared to this, the user of the in-vehicle navigation device generally gets out of the vehicle after arriving at the facility. Therefore, it is unlikely that the user leaves the navigation device immediately after arriving at the facility, and takes an action of making a facility information distribution request using the information transmission / reception unit of the navigation device.

  As described above, in the technology that handles a facility visit in the navigation field, there has been a problem of forcing the user to input the facility visit record. In addition, it is a psychological burden on the user that the user must remember to drop in at the facility.

  Furthermore, the information on visiting the facility is not limited to navigation devices compatible with the Internet environment, but the navigation device alone has high utility value. That is, it is useful when the user selects a destination at a later date, and is also effective as a record in the case of a drive trip or the like. Therefore, there has been a demand for a technique for easily and surely recording information on visits to facilities.

  The present invention has been proposed in view of the above situation, and its purpose is to accurately determine whether or not the host vehicle has stopped at the facility, and automatically create and store the facility stop information. This saves troublesome input operations and reduces the user's psychological burden. In addition, it makes it easy to store information and provides a highly reliable navigation device and method, and facility information distribution. It is to provide a server and facility information distribution system.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention of claim 1 stores own vehicle position acquisition means for detecting the current position of the own vehicle and acquiring own vehicle position information, and map information for displaying a map. Map information storage means, facility information storage means for storing at least the name and location information of the facilities regarding the facilities existing on the map, departure place setting means for setting a departure place, and destination setting means for setting a destination A navigation device comprising: route search means for searching for a route from the departure place to the destination; and display means for displaying the vehicle position, the map, and the route on a display screen. A stop determination means for determining that the user has stopped at an arbitrary facility on the map, and a stop indicating that the host vehicle has stopped at the facility based on a determination result of the stop determination means. And drop information creating means for creating a lateral deviation information, stop by the information storage means for storing the drop information created in the drop information creating means, it is characterized in that it comprises a.

  The invention of claim 10 captures the invention of claim 1 from the viewpoint of the method, the vehicle position acquisition step of detecting the current position of the vehicle and acquiring the vehicle position information, and a map A map information storage step for storing map information for display; a facility information storage step for storing at least the name and location information of the facility for the facilities existing on the map; and a departure place setting step for setting a departure place; A destination setting step for setting a destination; a route searching step for searching for a route from the departure point to the destination; and a display step for displaying the vehicle position, the map and the route on a display screen. In the navigation method, a stop determination step for determining that the host vehicle has stopped at an arbitrary facility existing on the map, and a determination by the stop determination means Based on the results, a stop information creation step for creating stop information indicating that the host vehicle has stopped at the facility, and a stop information storage step for storing the stop information created in the stop information creation step are included. It is characterized by.

  In the present invention as described above, when the stop determination unit determines that the host vehicle has stopped at an arbitrary facility existing on the map, the stop information generation unit generates stop information based on the determination result, The information storage means stores the stop information.

  Therefore, the visit information can be saved without bothering the user with troublesome input work. For this reason, it is not necessary for the user to remember to visit the facility every time, and the user is relieved from the psychological burden. Furthermore, the stored stop information can be taken out later, and it is easy to effectively use the stop information.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the first aspect, when the destination setting means sets an arbitrary facility as a destination, the destination setting means sets the destination setting means as the destination. The facility location acquisition unit that acquires the location information of the facility from the facility information storage unit, the location information of the facility acquired by the facility location acquisition unit, and the host vehicle acquired by the host vehicle location acquisition unit A position match determination unit for determining whether or not the position information matches is provided.

  In the above invention of claim 2, the destination setting means sets an arbitrary facility as a destination, and the own vehicle position information acquired by the own vehicle position acquisition means is the position information of the facility set as the destination. If the position match determination unit determines that they match, the vehicle has reached the destination facility, and the stop determination means may determine that the vehicle has stopped at the facility. it can.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the first aspect, the stoppage determination unit includes a facility detection unit that detects the presence of the facility on the map displayed on the display screen by the display unit, and the facility Regarding the facility detected by the detection unit, the facility position acquisition unit that acquires the position information of the facility from the facility information storage unit, the position information of the facility acquired by the facility position acquisition unit, and the acquisition of the vehicle position acquisition unit A distance calculation unit that calculates the distance between the two based on the own vehicle position information, and a distance determination unit that determines whether the distance between the facility calculated by the distance calculation unit and the vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance , Is provided.

  In the above invention of claim 3, the distance calculation unit calculates the distance between the facility and the vehicle existing on the display screen of the display means, and the distance between the facility and the vehicle is a predetermined distance or less. When the distance determination unit determines, the stop determination unit determines that the own vehicle has stopped at the facility. In the invention according to claim 3, it is possible to acquire stop-off information not only for the facility set as the destination but also for any facility.

  In addition, although the invention of claim 3 estimates that the facility has just stopped at the place where the own vehicle position is the base point, the facility is scattered with a certain distance. In such a region, such estimation is sufficiently effective as a substantial judgment.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the third aspect, when the determination unit based on the distance determines that the position of the facility and the vehicle position are equal to or less than a predetermined distance, The present invention is characterized in that a determination unit based on a staying time for determining whether or not the state where the vehicle position is equal to or less than a predetermined distance has continued for a predetermined time or longer is provided.

  In the invention of claim 4 above, the determination unit based on the stay time can know whether or not the state where the own vehicle position and the facility position are within a predetermined distance has continued, so that the own vehicle can approach the facility, or It is not determined that the vehicle has just stopped at the facility. Therefore, the accuracy of determining whether or not the user has stopped by the facility is increased, and the reliability of the stop-by determination can be given.

  Invention of Claim 5 is the navigation apparatus of any one of Claims 1-4, The navigation apparatus connected to the server for facility information delivery which manages the said facility information collectively via a communication terminal And it is characterized by comprising information transmitting and receiving means for transmitting and receiving the drop-in information to the server.

  In the invention of claim 5 as described above, the information transmitting / receiving means of the navigation device transmits / receives the stop information to / from the server, so that the stop information can be managed collectively using the server. Therefore, it is possible to easily grasp the history of information on the drop-in information at the facility, and if the user has visited the facility in the past, the facility can be searched and confirmed from the drop-in information.

  The invention according to claim 6 is the navigation device according to claim 5, wherein post information related to the facility including at least one of the image information of the facility, comment information regarding the facility, and evaluation information regarding the facility is created. Post information creation means is provided, wherein the information transmission / reception means is configured to transmit to the server after adding the drop-in information to the post information related to the facility created by the post information creation means. Yes.

  In the invention of claim 6 as described above, post information about the facility can be sent to the server side after giving the stop information from the navigation device side, so the post information is sent from the user who actually stopped at the facility. It can be clearly stated that

  The invention according to claim 7 is a server that collectively manages the facility information, wherein the facility information is distributed to the navigation device according to claim 6 via a communication terminal. The posting information related to the facility is distributed to each navigation device.

  In the facility information distribution server according to claim 7 as described above, only the posting information with high credibility can be reliably distributed to the navigation device by adding the stop-by information to the posting information.

  The invention of claim 8 is a server that collectively manages the facility information, wherein the facility information distribution server distributes the facility information to the navigation device of claim 6 via a communication terminal. According to the presence / absence or the drop-in mode based on the drop-in information, the acceptance level of the posted information related to the facility received from the navigation device is switched.

  In the facility information distribution server according to claim 8 described above, by switching the acceptance level of the posted information according to the presence / absence of the drop-in information or the drop-in mode based on the drop-in information, the navigation device side changes the highly reliable drop-in information. You can narrow down and receive. For this reason, the reliability of the information delivered by the server is improved.

  The facility information distribution system according to the invention of claim 9 comprises the navigation device according to claim 6 and the facility information distribution server according to claim 7 or 8. According to such a facility information distribution system, posting information with high credibility can be shared when a community or the like is established by a social networking service of which a user is a member.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to accurately determine whether or not the host vehicle has stopped at the facility, and it is possible to automatically create and store the facility stop information. To provide a navigation device and method, a facility information distribution server, and a facility information distribution system that are excellent in operability, reliability, and security because it is possible to refer to information later without depending on the user's own memory. Can do.

  Hereinafter, an example of a typical embodiment according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. This embodiment is a navigation device that is premised on use in a network environment, as in the conventional example shown in FIG. Therefore, the same members as those in the conventional example of FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing virtual blocks in the control unit of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing items of facility information in the present embodiment, and FIGS. 3 to 5 are diagrams for explaining the operation of the present embodiment. It is a flowchart.

(1) Configuration of the present embodiment As shown in FIG. 1, the control unit 4 of the navigation device 1 includes, as virtual blocks, a host vehicle position acquisition unit 20, a departure point setting unit 21, a destination setting unit 22, a route. A search unit 23, a guidance control unit 24, a drop-in determination unit 25, and a drop-in information creation unit 26 are installed.

  The own vehicle position acquisition unit 20 is a part that acquires own vehicle position information based on the own vehicle position detected by the positioning unit 9. The departure place setting unit 21 takes in the own vehicle position information acquired by the own vehicle position detection unit 20 and sets the own vehicle position as the departure place, unless otherwise set by the user.

  The destination setting unit 22 is a part that receives destination setting by facility search or cursor setting on a map performed via the remote controller 13 as an input unit or the touch panel portion of the display 11.

  The route search unit 23 is a part that searches for a route after extracting a road link for a route from a set departure point to a destination. The guidance control unit 24 controls the guidance of the route searched by the route search unit 23. Specifically, the guidance control unit 24 determines a display part of the route, a display mode such as blinking emphasis, and a synthesized voice. The combined use is controlled.

  The drop-in determination unit 25 and the drop-in information creation unit 26 are main parts of the present embodiment. The drop-in determination unit 25 includes a facility detection unit 27, a facility position acquisition unit 28, a position match determination unit 29, a distance calculation unit 30, and a distance determination unit 31.

  In the drop-in determination unit 25, the facility detection unit 27 is a part that detects whether or not a facility exists on the map displayed on the display screen of the display 11 that is a display means. The facility position acquisition unit 28 is a part that acquires the position information of the facility regarding the facility set as the destination by the destination setting unit 22 or the facility detected by the facility detection unit 27.

  The position match determination unit 29 is a part that determines whether the facility position information acquired by the facility position acquisition unit 28 matches the vehicle position information acquired by the vehicle position acquisition unit 20. . The distance calculation unit 30 is a part that calculates the linear distance between the facility position information acquired by the facility position acquisition unit 28 and the vehicle position information acquired by the vehicle position acquisition unit 20. The distance determination unit 31 is a part that determines whether or not the linear distance between the facility and the host vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance.

  The stop information creation unit 26 creates a stop flag indicating that the host vehicle has stopped at the facility based on the determination result given by the stop determination unit 25. In addition, the drop-in information creating unit 26 updates the drop-in flag for updating the date and time information when the drop-in is made for facilities for which a drop-in flag has already been created.

  Furthermore, a drop-in information storage unit 32 and a drop-in information transmission / reception unit 33 are provided as main parts of the present embodiment. Among them, the information transmission / reception unit 33 for drop-in information is incorporated in the information transmission / reception unit 16 and is connected to the server 18 via the computer / communication terminal 17 via the network.

  The drop-in information storage unit 32 is a part that stores the drop-in information created by the drop-in information creation unit 26. The stop information is stored in a predetermined work area while the stop determination unit 25 or the like is operating, but is finally stored in the database of the HDD 19 together with the facility information.

  Accordingly, the storage facility information items stored in the database of the HDD 19 include, as shown in FIG. 2, the facility name, location information, drop-in flag, telephone number, and genre (used for searching, “eating / Japanese food” ”,“ Shop / bookstore ”,“ play / leisure ”, etc.).

(2) Control Process of this Embodiment FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the control process in this embodiment as described above. First, the user downloads arbitrary facility information from the server 18 to the navigation device 1 (S101), and stores the facility information in the HDD 19 of the navigation device 1 (S102).

  Subsequently, two types of processing, facility drop-in determination processing A and B, are performed for any facility (S103, S104). The facility stoppage determination process A will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 4 and the facility stoppage determination process B will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  In S105, based on the facility visit determination processing A and B, it is determined whether or not the stop determination unit 25 has stopped at any facility. If the stop determination unit 25 determines that the host vehicle has stopped at an arbitrary facility (Yes in S105), the stop information creation unit 26 creates and updates a stop flag (S106). Subsequently, the information transmission / reception unit 33 uploads the drop-in information to the server 18 via the computer / communication terminal 17 (S107), and the process ends.

  If the stop determination unit 25 determines that the host vehicle has not stopped at any facility (No in S105), information indicating that the vehicle has not stopped is uploaded to the server 18 via the computer / communication terminal 17. (S107), and the process ends.

(2-1) Facility drop-in determination processing A
In the facility drop-in determination process A, the facility a downloaded by the user from the server 18 to the navigation device 1 is set as the destination by the destination setting unit 22 (S201). The downloaded location information of the facility a is stored in a predetermined storage area such as the HDD 19 (S202).

  Further, the navigation device 1 searches for the parking lot x around the facility a as the destination, and if the parking lot x exists in the database of the HDD 19 (Yes in S203), the destination setting unit 22 sets the parking lot x. The destination is reset (S204). When the parking lot x around the facility a does not exist (No in S203), the destination resetting process is omitted and the facility (a) is left as the destination, and the process proceeds to S205.

  In S205, the facility position acquisition unit 28 acquires the position information from the HDD 19 or the like regarding the facility a or the parking lot x set as the destination by the destination setting unit 22. Then, the route search unit 23 searches for a route to the destination (S206), and the guidance control unit 24 starts guidance for the route searched by the route search unit 23 (S207).

  Subsequently, the host vehicle position acquisition unit 20 acquires host vehicle position information (S208). At this time, if the vehicle position information acquired by the vehicle position acquisition unit 20 does not match the position information of the facility a or the parking lot x set as the destination, the vehicle has reached the destination facility (No in S209), the process returns to S208.

  On the other hand, if the position match determination unit 29 determines that the vehicle position information acquired by the vehicle position acquisition unit 20 matches the position information of the facility a or the parking lot x set as the destination, If the vehicle has reached the destination facility (Yes in S209), the stop determination unit 25 determines that the host vehicle has stopped at the facility a (S210).

(2-2) Facility drop-in determination process B
The facility visit determination process B is a process of determining whether or not the user has visited any facility, not the visit determination for the facility selected as the destination. First, the facility detection unit 27 detects whether a facility exists on the map displayed on the display screen of the display 11 (S301).

  At this time, when the facility b exists on the map on the display screen of the display 11 (Yes in S301), the vehicle position acquisition unit 20 acquires the vehicle position information (S302). Further, the facility position acquisition unit 28 acquires the position information of the facility b from the HDD 19 or the like (S303).

  Next, the distance calculation unit 30 compares the position information of the facility b acquired by the facility position acquisition unit 28 with the own vehicle position information acquired by the own vehicle position acquisition unit 20, and calculates a linear distance between them. (S304). Then, the distance determination unit 31 determines whether or not the straight line distance between the facility b and the host vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance (S305). At this time, if the distance determination unit 31 determines that the distance between the facility and the vehicle exceeds a predetermined distance (No in S305), the process returns to S301.

  On the other hand, when the distance determination unit 31 determines that the linear distance between the facility b and the host vehicle is equal to or less than the predetermined distance (Yes in S305), the stop determination unit 25 indicates that the host vehicle has stopped at the facility b. A determination is made (S306). In addition, the above determination processes A and B can be simultaneously controlled for a plurality of facilities. For example, when the facility a is set as the destination and the facilities b and c are near the host vehicle, the determination processes A and B can be performed in parallel.

(3) Operational effects of the present embodiment The operational effects of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration are as follows. That is, the stoppage determination unit 25 determines whether or not the own vehicle has stopped at the facility. To do. Therefore, the user can leave a record of visiting the facility without being bothered by troublesome input work.

  Moreover, since the drop-in information storage unit 32 stores the drop-in information, it is not necessary for the user himself / herself to drop in at the facility, and the psychological burden on the user is reduced. Furthermore, since the stored stop information can be extracted from the stop information storage unit 32, the user can use the stop information meaningfully, such as setting a destination or recording a trip.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, when the destination setting unit 22 sets the facility as the destination by performing the determination process A, when the host vehicle reaches the destination facility, the stop determination unit 25 Can make a quick and accurate stop-by determination.

  Further, in the present embodiment, by performing the determination process B, even if any facility that is not set as the destination is within a predetermined distance from the facility, the stop determination unit 25 determines that the vehicle is You can make a decision that you have visited the facility. In this way, detailed stop information can be acquired by performing two kinds of determination processing.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the information sending / receiving unit 33 for visiting information transmits / receives the visiting information to / from the server 18, so that the server 16 can collectively manage the visiting information. Therefore, editing and processing of the drop-in information is facilitated, and the usage mode can be expanded.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the stop information is given from the navigation device 1 side, and post information about the facility (image data of the facility, comments and evaluation when using the facility) is sent from the information transmitting / receiving unit 16 to the computer Uploading to the server 18 side is possible via the communication terminal 17. At this time, it is clear that the posted information to which the drop-in information is added is sent from a user who actually stops at the facility, and high credibility can be obtained.

(4) Other Embodiments The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the configuration of each part can be changed as appropriate. The distance used as a determination criterion in the distance determination unit 31 can also be used. It can be selected as appropriate.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, an embodiment in which a stoppage time determination unit 25 is provided with a stay time determination unit 34 is also included. In this embodiment, when the distance determination unit 31 determines that the facility position and the vehicle position are less than or equal to a predetermined distance, the stay time determination unit 34 sets the facility position and the vehicle position to a predetermined value. It is determined whether or not the state of being below the distance has continued for a predetermined time or more.

  In such an embodiment, the stay time determination unit 34 determines the duration of the state where the vehicle position and the facility position are within a predetermined distance, so that the vehicle can approach the facility or a slight amount It is not determined that the user has stopped at the facility for a time or just when it stops at the facility.

  In other words, it is possible to exclude cases such as passing near the facility from the drop-in case of the facility, and there is a risk that it will be determined that the vehicle has just come close to the facility in a dense area of the facility. Absent. Therefore, the accuracy of the facility visit determination can be improved, and the reliability of the visit determination is improved.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to a navigation device, but also includes an aspect of a facility information distribution system 40 that includes a server for facility information distribution that can be connected to the navigation device, and the server and the navigation device (FIG. 7). reference). The facility information distribution server 18 according to the present invention shown in FIG. 7 is provided with an acceptance level switching unit 41 that switches the acceptance level of post information related to facilities received from the navigation device 1 side depending on the presence or absence of a stop flag.

  According to such a facility information distribution server 18, the acceptance level switching unit 41 can switch the acceptance level of the posted information based on the presence or absence of the drop-in flag, so that post information without the drop-off flag is received. Can be refused or restricted. Thereby, only the highly reliable drop-in information can be received from the navigation device 1 side, and the reliability of the information distributed by the server 18 is improved.

  Moreover, as a reference for switching the acceptance level of the posted information on the server 18 side, it is possible to set not only the presence / absence of a drop-in flag but also the stay time when a visit is made to the facility as a mode of dropping into the facility. In other words, when the staying time at the facility is very short, it is possible to reject or limit the receipt according to the posted information without the stop flag.

  By the way, the staying time at the facility can be calculated by the drop-in information creation unit 26. For example, it is also possible to obtain the start time and stop time at the facility, calculate the stay time from these times, and create the stay time information.

  The stop time at the facility is the time when the stop determination unit 25 determines that the facility has stopped. On the other hand, the stop-by time at the facility is defined as the time when the stop-by state is canceled after the stop determination unit 25 determines that the facility has stopped.

  The cancellation of the stop-by state is the time at which the match between the facility position information acquired by the facility position acquisition unit 28 and the vehicle position information acquired by the vehicle position acquisition unit 20 is separated by the position match determination unit 29. Alternatively, the distance determination unit 30 compares the facility location information acquired by the facility location acquisition unit 28 with the host vehicle location information acquired by the host vehicle location acquisition unit 20 to determine the location of the facility and the vehicle The time when the position is more than a predetermined distance.

The block diagram which shows a virtual block in the control part of typical embodiment which concerns on this invention. Explanatory drawing which shows the item of the facility information in this embodiment. The flowchart for demonstrating the operation | movement of this embodiment. The flowchart for demonstrating the operation | movement of this embodiment. The flowchart for demonstrating the operation | movement of this embodiment. The block diagram which shows a virtual block in the control part of other embodiment which concerns on this invention. The block diagram of other embodiment which concerns on this invention. The block diagram of the prior art example of the navigation apparatus connectable to a server.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Navigation apparatus 2 ... FM multiple reception and processing part 3 ... Beacon reception and processing part 4 ... Control part 5 ... DRAM
6 ... SRAM
7 ... ROM
8 ... HDD controller 9 ... Positioning unit 10 ... VRAM
11 Touch panel display 12 Remote control receiver 13 Remote control 14 Microphone 15 Speaker 16 Information transmitting / receiving unit 17 Computer / communication terminal 18 Server 19 HDD
20 ... Own vehicle position acquisition unit 21 ... Departure point setting unit 22 ... Destination setting unit 23 ... Route search unit 24 ... Guidance control unit 25 ... Drop-in determination unit 26 ... Drop-in information creation unit 27 ... Facility detection unit 28 ... Facility position acquisition Unit 29 ... Position match determination unit 30 ... Distance determination unit 31 ... Stay time determination unit 32 ... Visit information storage unit 33 ... Stop information transmission / reception unit 34 ... Stay time determination unit 40 ... Facility information distribution system 41 ... Acceptance level switching section

Claims (10)

A vehicle position acquisition unit that detects the current position of the vehicle and acquires vehicle position information, a map information storage unit that stores map information for displaying a map, and at least a facility relating to the facility existing on the map Facility information storage means for storing the name and location information, departure place setting means for setting a departure place, destination setting means for setting a destination, and a route for searching for a route from the departure place to the destination In a navigation apparatus provided with search means and display means for displaying the vehicle position, the map and the route on a display screen,
A stop determination means for determining that the host vehicle has stopped at any facility existing on the map;
Based on the determination result of the stop determination means, stop information creation means for creating stop information indicating that the host vehicle has stopped at the facility;
A navigation apparatus comprising: stop information storage means for storing the stop information created by the stop information creating means. When the destination setting means sets an arbitrary facility as a destination, the drop-off determination means includes
With respect to the facility set as the destination by the destination setting means, a facility position acquisition unit that acquires position information of the facility from the facility information storage means,
A position match determination unit for determining whether or not the facility position information acquired by the facility position acquisition unit and the host vehicle position information acquired by the host vehicle position acquisition unit match is provided. The navigation device according to claim 1. The drop-in determination means includes
A facility detector for detecting the presence of the facility on the map displayed on the display screen by the display means;
With respect to the facility detected by the facility detection unit, the facility position acquisition unit that acquires the location information of the facility from the facility information storage unit;
A distance calculation unit that calculates the distance between the facility position acquired by the facility position acquisition unit and the vehicle position information acquired by the vehicle position acquisition unit;
The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a distance determination unit that determines whether a distance between the facility calculated by the distance calculation unit and the host vehicle is equal to or less than a predetermined distance.   When the distance determination unit determines that the facility position and the vehicle position are less than or equal to a predetermined distance, whether the facility position and the vehicle position are less than or equal to the predetermined distance The navigation apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising a stay time determination unit that determines whether or not the stay time is present.   A navigation device connected via a communication terminal to a facility information distribution server that collectively manages the facility information, comprising: an information transmission / reception unit that transmits / receives the stop information to / from the server. The navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. Image information of the facility, comment information regarding the facility, and evaluation information regarding the facility, comprising post information creation means for creating post information regarding the facility including at least one,
The said information transmission / reception means was comprised so that it might transmit to the said server, after giving the said drop-in information to the posting information regarding the said facility which the said posting information creation means created. Navigation device. In the facility information distribution server that collectively manages the facility information and distributes the facility information to the navigation device according to claim 6 via a communication terminal,
A facility information distribution server configured to distribute post information relating to the facility together with the drop-in information to each navigation device. In the facility information distribution server that collectively manages the facility information and distributes the facility information to the navigation device according to claim 6 via a communication terminal,
A facility information distribution server configured to switch a reception level of post information related to the facility received from the navigation device according to the presence / absence of the stop information or a stop mode based on the stop information.   A facility information distribution system comprising the navigation device according to claim 6 and the facility information distribution server according to claim 7 or 8. A vehicle position acquisition step for detecting the current position of the vehicle and acquiring vehicle position information, a map information storage step for storing map information for displaying a map, and at least a facility regarding the facilities existing on the map A facility information storage step for storing the name and location information, a departure point setting step for setting a departure point, a destination setting step for setting a destination, and a route for searching for a route from the departure point to the destination In a navigation method including a search step and a display step of displaying the vehicle position, the map and the route on a display screen,
A stop determination step for determining that the host vehicle has stopped at any facility on the map;
Based on the determination result of the stop determination means, stop information creation step for creating stop information indicating that the host vehicle has stopped at the facility;
A navigation method comprising: a stop information storage step for storing the stop information created in the stop information creation step.

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