JP2010281770A - Navigation system and icon display method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a navigation system and an icon display method which enables easy search for locations which have been set as destinations and via points in the past by scrolling a map image. <P>SOLUTION: When a location which has been set as a destination before is present within the area of a currently displayed map image, by displaying an icon 52 of the location which has been set as a destination on the map image, regardless of the scale of the display of the map image currently displayed, it is possible to search for the location which has been set as a destination in the past, on the basis of the icon 52 displayed on the map image even if the map image is switched into a wide-area map display state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device and an icon display method, and is particularly suitable for a navigation device having a function of displaying a POI (Point Of Interest) icon as a landmark on a road map such as an accommodation facility or a restaurant. Is.

  In general, in-vehicle navigation devices detect the current position of a vehicle using a self-contained navigation sensor, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, or the like, read out map data in the vicinity of the vehicle, and display it on a screen. The vehicle position mark indicating the vehicle position is superimposed and displayed at a predetermined location on the screen so that the user can know at a glance where the vehicle is currently traveling. Further, in addition to the vehicle position mark, POI icons such as accommodation facilities and restaurants are displayed as landmarks so that the user can more easily know where the current position is.

  Most navigation devices have a route guidance function. This route guidance function uses map data to automatically search for the route with the lowest cost from the current location to the destination, and uses the searched route as a guidance route to change the color on the map screen and change the color. draw. Further, when the vehicle approaches a guidance intersection on the guidance route within a certain distance, an enlarged view of the intersection is displayed and the intersection is guided to guide the driver to the destination.

  Various techniques are provided for displaying the POI. For example, the number of times of selection and the destination arrival rate are calculated based on history information when a registered place within the display range of the map has been selected in the past, and the display form of the registered place icon is changed according to the calculation result (See Patent Document 1). There is also a technique in which the number of facility icons displayed on a road map screen is changed according to an information amount decreasing operation and an information amount increasing operation by a user (see Patent Document 2).

  In addition, it is determined whether or not the user has a land intuition regarding the map corresponding to the current position. If there is a land intuition, the place name information is superimposed on the map and displayed as a landmark of the destination. There is a technique in which place name information is not displayed when there is no intuition (see Patent Document 3). Furthermore, although not related to the display of POI, there is also a technique for displaying roads with a predetermined number of travels or more regardless of the display scale of the map so that the user can easily grasp the map. (See Patent Document 4).

  By the way, various methods are prepared as a user interface for searching for a destination in a navigation device. Among them, points that have been set as destinations and waypoints in the past are stored as setting history information, and names of a plurality of points are displayed in a list based on the setting history information. It has been. The user can easily set the destination by selecting an arbitrary point from the displayed list.

  However, even if you look at the name of a point displayed in the list, you may not remember which region it belongs to and what genre it belongs to. In that case, the destination cannot be set even if the setting history information is used. For example, while traveling to a certain destination, you may want to go back to a point that you have visited in the past. However, if you do not remember the name of the location you visited in the past, even if you display a list of multiple location names using the setting history information, which of the listed locations is the destination you are heading to It is not possible to specify whether or not this is a point where you stopped while driving.

  In such a case, a past stop point may be searched while scrolling a map image, and the cursor may be set to a POI icon displayed as a landmark of the point and set as a destination. Even if the user does not remember the name of the stop point in the past, as long as he / she remembers where it was, what is it like by searching for the stop point icon by scrolling the map image? It is possible to specify a past stop point from an icon designed so that it can be seen at a glance.

  However, the POI icon may or may not be displayed according to the display scale of the map image. When icons are displayed for all POIs regardless of the display scale, for example, in a wide-area map display state with a small display scale, the number of icons superimposed and displayed on the map image becomes too large, making it difficult to see both the map and the icons. Because. For this reason, even if the icon is displayed in the detailed map display state with a large display scale, the display may be omitted in the wide area map display state. In that case, even if the map image is scrolled in the wide area map display state, the icon of the past stop point is not displayed, and the stop point may not be searched.

  On the contrary, if the map image is set to the detailed map display state, the icon of the stop point that is being searched for is displayed on the map image. However, in this case, a large amount of scrolling is required to find the target icon, which is very troublesome. It is possible to first scroll the map image to the area where the target icon is likely to be displayed in the wide area map display state, then switch to the detailed map display state and search for the target icon. Since a complicated operation for switching is required, this is also troublesome for the user.

JP 2007-298338 A JP 2007-303878 A JP 2008-64605 A JP 2008-3275 A

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and makes it possible to easily find a point that has been set as a destination or waypoint in the past by scrolling a map image. With the goal.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, in the present invention, when there is a point that has been set as a destination or waypoint in the area of the currently displayed map image, the currently displayed map image Regardless of the display scale, the icon of the point set as the destination or waypoint is displayed on the map image.

  According to the present invention configured as described above, no matter how the display scale of the map image is set, icons of points that have been set as destinations or waypoints in the past are always displayed on the map image. Is displayed. For this reason, even if the map image is in the wide area map display state, it is possible to search for a point that has been set as a destination or waypoint in the past by relying on an icon displayed on the map image. That is, the user can perform a large amount of scrolling with the map image in the detailed map display state, or without performing troublesome operations such as scrolling while switching between the wide area map display state and the detailed map display state, A relatively small amount of simple map scrolling makes it possible to search for an icon of a target point.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the navigation apparatus by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen display of the display apparatus by this embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the operation example of the navigation apparatus by this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the other structural example of the navigation apparatus by this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the navigation device according to the present embodiment. The navigation device according to this embodiment includes a navigation unit 1, a map recording medium 2, a map data reading unit 3, an input operation unit 4, a GPS receiver 5, an autonomous navigation sensor 6, and a display device 7.

  The map recording medium 2 stores map data necessary for displaying a map image and searching for a guidance route, and is constituted by, for example, a DVD-ROM, a CD-ROM, a hard disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like. The map data is managed in hierarchies in units called levels, from a high-level map overlooking a wide area to a low-level map describing a narrow area in detail. And according to the display scale set to the navigation unit 1, a map image is displayed based on the map data of the level corresponding to the said display scale.

  Map data includes road data necessary for processing such as map matching and route search, background data necessary for displaying backgrounds such as green spaces and water areas, and POIs such as accommodations and restaurants as landmarks POI data necessary for display is included. The POI data includes a POI point name, position information, an icon for display on a map image, and the like. An icon display level is set in the POI data. That is, according to the display scale set in the navigation unit 1, an icon of a level corresponding to the display scale is displayed on the map image.

  The map data reading unit 3 reads map data including POI data from the map recording medium 2. The map data reading unit 3 outputs the read map data to the navigation unit 1. The input operation unit 4 allows the user to set various types of information (for example, route guidance destinations and waypoints) to the navigation unit 1 and perform various operations (for example, map scrolling and numerical value input). For example, it is constituted by a remote control, a touch panel of the display device 7 or the like.

  The GPS receiver 5 receives radio waves transmitted from a plurality of GPS satellites, performs a three-dimensional positioning process or a two-dimensional positioning process, and calculates the absolute position and direction of the vehicle. Then, the information on the calculated absolute position and direction of the vehicle is output to the navigation unit 1 together with the positioning time. The autonomous navigation sensor 6 includes an angle sensor such as a vibration gyro that detects the rotation angle of the vehicle, and a distance sensor that outputs one pulse for each predetermined travel distance. The autonomous navigation sensor 6 detects the relative position and direction of the vehicle using these angle sensors and distance sensors, and outputs the information to the navigation unit 1.

  The display device 7 displays map information around the vehicle position along with the vehicle position mark, various landmarks (POI icons), and the like based on the image data output from the navigation unit 1. When the guide route is set, the display device 7 further displays a guide route, an intersection guide image, and the like. When the map scroll is performed by the operation of the input operation unit 4, the display device 7 displays map information around the cursor position together with a cursor, various landmarks (POI icons), and the like.

  Next, the internal configuration of the navigation unit 1 will be described. The map buffer 11 is for temporarily storing the map data read from the map recording medium 2 by the map data reading unit 3. The map reading control unit 12 performs control when the map data reading unit 3 reads map data from the map recording medium 2. That is, the map reading control unit 12 is configured to display the center of the screen based on the vehicle position information supplied from the vehicle position calculation unit 13 or the scroll information supplied from the input operation unit 4 (information about the moving direction and moving amount of the scroll). The position is calculated, and an instruction to read out a predetermined range of map data including the center position of the screen is sent to the map data reading unit 3.

  Here, the map data in a predetermined range including the screen center position differs according to the display scale set in the memory (not shown) of the navigation unit 1 through the operation of the input operation unit 4. That is, the map reading control unit 12 outputs a map data reading instruction for the map display area belonging to the level corresponding to the display scale set in the memory to the map data reading unit 3. As a result, the map data required to display the map image and the POI icon corresponding to the display scale is read from the map recording medium 2 by the map data reading unit 3 and stored in the map buffer 11.

  Further, the map reading control unit 12 receives POI data of a destination (or waypoint, which is the same in the present embodiment) that has been set in the past in response to a request from the setting point determination unit 19 described later. The instruction is output to the map data reading unit 3. In this case, even if the destination POI data does not belong to a level corresponding to the display scale, the map readout control unit 12 outputs an instruction to read the destination POI data to the map data readout unit 3. As a result, in addition to the map data necessary for displaying the map image and the POI icon corresponding to the display scale, the POI necessary for displaying the POI icon of the destination that has been set in the past regardless of the display scale. Data is read from the map recording medium 2 by the map data reading unit 3 and stored in the map buffer 11.

  The own vehicle position calculation unit 13 includes the map data read to the map buffer 11, the absolute position information and direction information of the own vehicle output from the GPS receiver 5, and the own vehicle output from the autonomous navigation sensor 6. Based on the relative position information and direction information of the car, map matching processing is performed for each vehicle travel distance, and the travel position of the host vehicle is corrected on the road of the map data. Then, the vehicle position information after the position correction is output to the map read control unit 12 and the route search unit 16.

  The map drawing unit 14 generates map image data necessary for display on the display device 7 based on the map data stored in the map buffer 11. The map image data generated by the map drawing unit 14 is output to the image composition unit 21. In order to scroll the map image more smoothly, map data for a larger area than the map display area is stored in the map buffer 11, map image data for the wide area is generated, and the map display is displayed from there. The map image data for the area may be extracted and output to the image composition unit 21. The map drawing unit 14 and the image composition unit 21 correspond to a map display unit of the present invention that displays a map image based on map data.

  The destination setting unit 15 sets the destination of the guidance route through the operation of the input operation unit 4 by the user. The destination set by the destination setting unit 15 is supplied to the route search unit 16 and the history information storage unit 18. There are several methods for setting the destination. For example, based on the setting history information stored in the history information storage unit 18, a list of a plurality of points that have been set as destinations in the past is displayed, and the user selects one of them from the list. Can be set. It is also possible to search for a destination by a 50-sound search, a telephone number search, an address search, a genre search, or the like. Furthermore, it is also possible to scroll the map image through the operation of the input operation unit 4 and to set the destination by putting the cursor on the POI icon representing a desired point.

  The route search unit 16 uses the map data stored in the map buffer 11 to reach the destination set by the destination setting unit 15 from the current location indicated by the vehicle location information supplied from the vehicle location calculation unit 13. Search for the guide route with the lowest cost connecting the two. When the destination is set and the execution of the route search is instructed, the map readout control unit 12 receives a request from the route search unit 16 and reads out a predetermined range of map data including the current location to the destination. The instruction is output to the map data reading unit 3. Thereby, the map data necessary for the route search is read from the map recording medium 2 by the map data reading unit 3 and stored in the map buffer 11. The route search unit 16 searches for a guidance route using the map data stored in the map buffer 11 in this way.

  Based on the guidance route data searched by the route search unit 16, the guidance route drawing unit 17 changes the color of other roads and generates guidance route image data drawn thick. The guide route image data generated by the guide route drawing unit 17 is output to the image composition unit 21. The history information storage unit 18 stores point information representing a point set as a destination by the destination setting unit 15 as past setting history information. The destination point information includes a destination point name, position information, and the like.

  Based on the setting history information stored in the history information storage unit 18, the setting point determination unit 19 is a point (hereinafter referred to as a destination) set in the area of the map image displayed on the display device 7 in the past. It is determined whether there is a past set point). Here, the area of the map image displayed on the display device 7 is specified from the map data stored in the map buffer 11.

  When the setting point determination unit 19 determines that there is no past setting point in the area of the map image displayed on the display device 7, the setting point determination unit 19 notifies the icon generation unit 20 to that effect. Upon receiving this notification, the icon generation unit 20, based on the POI data stored in the map buffer 11, displays the vehicle position mark displayed at the vehicle position after the map matching process, a parking lot, a gas station, etc. Various landmarks (POI icons) for displaying the positions of the images are generated and output to the image composition unit 21. In this case, the icon generation unit 20 generates a POI icon at a level corresponding to the display scale being set and outputs it to the image composition unit 21.

  On the other hand, when the setting point determination unit 19 determines that there is a past setting point in the area of the map image displayed on the display device 7, the setting point determination unit 19 notifies the icon generation unit 20 to that effect, and A POI data acquisition request is output to the map readout control unit 12. This acquisition request includes the point name of the past set point in order to specify the POI data of the past set point.

  Upon receiving this acquisition request, the map reading control unit 12 outputs a POI data reading instruction for the previously set point to the map data reading unit 3. As described above, even if the POI data at the past set point belongs to a level other than the level corresponding to the display scale, the map read control unit 12 outputs the POI data read instruction to the map data read unit 3. . As a result, in addition to the map data necessary for displaying the map image and the POI icon corresponding to the display scale, the POI data necessary for displaying the POI icon at the past set point regardless of the display scale is the map data. The data is read from the map recording medium 2 by the reading unit 3 and stored in the map buffer 11.

  Here, the example in which the POI data of the past set point is read from the map recording medium 2 and stored in the map buffer 11 using the point name as a key has been described, but the key information for associating the past set point with the POI data is the point information It is not limited to a name. For example, it may be position information of a previously set point, or may be identification information uniquely assigned to each point.

  When the icon generating unit 20 receives a notification from the setting point determining unit 19 that there is a past setting point in the map area being displayed on the display device 7, the icon generating unit 20 responds to a request from the setting point determining unit 19. In addition to the POI icon of the level corresponding to the display scale of the map image displayed on the display device 7 based on the POI data stored in the display device 7, the POI icon of the past set point (the level corresponding to the display scale being set) Regardless of whether the image belongs to or not) and output to the image composition unit 21. The icon generation unit 20 and the image composition unit 21 correspond to the icon display unit of the present invention.

  The image composition unit 21 performs image composition by superimposing the POI icon output from the icon generation unit 20 on the map image data output from the map drawing unit 14, and outputs it to the display device 7. As a result, the synthesized image is displayed on the screen of the display device 7. When the guidance route is set, the image synthesis unit 21 further synthesizes the guidance route image data output from the guidance route drawing unit 17 and outputs it to the display device 7.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a screen display example of the display device 7. In the screen example shown in FIG. 2, the map image is displayed in a wide area map display state including the current location of the vehicle to the destination. Here, FIG. 2A shows an example of a screen displayed in the case of the prior art not applying this embodiment, and FIG. 2B shows an example of a screen displayed in the case of this embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, conventionally, only the POI icon 51 at a point set to be displayed corresponding to the display scale of the map image is displayed on the map image. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, in addition to the POI icon 51 of the point set to be displayed corresponding to the display scale of the map image, the destination is set in the past. A POI icon 52 of a point that has been displayed is displayed on the map image.

  Here, the POI icon 51 of the point set to be displayed corresponding to the display scale of the map image and the POI icon 52 of the past set point are displayed at different positions. It may be displayed at the overlapping position on the map image. In that case, it is preferable to display the POI icon 52 of the past set point so as to overlap the POI icon 51 of the point set to be displayed corresponding to the display scale of the map image.

  Next, the operation of the navigation device according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the navigation device according to the present embodiment. Note that the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 starts when the power of the navigation apparatus is turned on, and is repeated until the power is turned off.

  In FIG. 3, the map drawing unit 14 generates map image data based on the map data stored in the map buffer 11 (step S1). Further, the icon generation unit 20 generates a POI icon at a level corresponding to the display scale of the map image being displayed based on the POI data included in the map data stored in the map buffer 11 (step S2). . Then, the image composition unit 21 performs image composition by superimposing the POI icon generated by the icon generation unit 20 in step S2 on the map image data generated by the map drawing unit 14 in step S1, and displays it on the display device 7. (Step S3).

  Next, the setting point determination unit 19 determines whether or not there is a past setting point in the area of the map image displayed on the display device 7 based on the setting history information stored in the history information storage unit 18. Determine (step S4). Here, when it is determined that there is a past set point in the area of the map image being displayed, the set point determination unit 19 notifies the icon generation unit 20 to that effect and also acquires POI data of the past set point. The request is output to the map reading control unit 12.

  The icon generation unit 20 generates a POI icon of the past set point based on the POI data of the past set point read to the map buffer 11 by the map read control unit 12 in response to the acquisition request (step S5). ). Then, the image composition unit 21 superimposes the POI icon of the past set point generated in step S5 on the currently displayed map image data and the POI icon (corresponding to the display scale) regardless of the display scale. The images are combined and displayed on the display device 7 (step S6). Note that if the setting point determination unit 19 determines that there is no past setting point within the area of the map image being displayed, the processes of steps S5 and S6 are not performed.

  As described above in detail, in the present embodiment, when a point that has been set as a destination exists in the area of the currently displayed map image, the display scale of the currently displayed map image is set. Regardless, the POI icon at the point set as the destination is displayed on the map image. Thereby, no matter how the display scale of the map image is set, the icon of the point that has been set as the destination in the past is always displayed on the map image.

  For this reason, even if the map image is in the wide area map display state, it is possible to search for a point that has been set as a destination in the past by relying on the icon displayed on the map image. That is, the user can perform a large amount of scrolling with the map image in the detailed map display state, or without performing troublesome operations such as scrolling while switching between the wide area map display state and the detailed map display state, The icon of the past setting point can be searched for by a relatively small amount of simple map scrolling.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating another configuration example of the navigation device according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 4, those given the same reference numerals as those shown in FIG. 1 have the same functions, and therefore redundant description is omitted here. The navigation device shown in FIG. 4 includes a mode determination unit 31 and a control unit 32 in addition to the configuration shown in FIG.

  The mode determination unit 31 determines whether or not the map image scroll mode is set based on the operation signal input from the input operation unit 4. That is, the mode determination unit 31 determines that the scroll mode is set when an operation for performing map scrolling is started by the input operation unit 4. Only when it is determined by the mode determination unit 31 that the scroll mode is set, the control unit 32 performs the operation of the setting point determination unit 19 and the generation operation of the POI icon at the past setting point by the icon generation unit 20. To control.

  When configured in this way, the POI icon of the past set point is displayed on the map image only when the user starts scrolling the map in order to search for a point that the user has set and visited in the past. Can do. Thereby, in the normal display state in which the map is not scrolled, the number of POI icons displayed superimposed on the map image can be prevented from being excessively increased.

  In addition, each of the above-described embodiments is merely an example of actualization in carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed in a limited manner. In other words, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit or main features thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 14 Map drawing part 18 History information memory | storage part 19 Setting point determination part 20 Icon generation part 21 Image composition part 31 Mode determination part 32 Control part

Claims (5)

A map display unit for displaying a map image based on the map data;
A history information storage unit that stores point information representing a point set as a destination or waypoint as past setting history information;
Whether there is a point set as the destination or waypoint in the area of the map image displayed by the map display unit based on the setting history information stored in the history information storage unit A setting point determination unit for determining
When the set point determination unit determines that there is a point set as the destination or waypoint, regardless of the display scale of the map image displayed by the map display portion, the destination or waypoint A navigation device, comprising: an icon display unit that displays an icon of a point set as the above on the map image. A mode determination unit that determines whether or not the map image scroll mode is set;
And a control unit that controls to operate the set point determination unit and the icon display unit only when the mode determination unit determines that the scroll mode is set. The navigation device according to claim 1. The icon display unit displays an icon of a point set as the destination or waypoint on the map image in addition to the icon of the point set to be displayed corresponding to the display scale of the map image. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein: The icon display unit overlaps the icon of the point set to be displayed corresponding to the display scale of the map image and the icon of the point set as the destination or waypoint on the map image. When displaying at a location, the icon of the point set as the destination or waypoint is displayed over the icon of the point set to be displayed corresponding to the display scale of the map image. The navigation device according to claim 3. A first step of displaying a map image based on the map data;
With reference to a history information storage unit that stores point information representing a point set as a destination or waypoint as past setting history information, the above destination or waypoint is included in the area of the currently displayed map image. A second step of determining whether there is a point set as
When it is determined that there is a point set as the destination or waypoint in the second step, it is set as the destination or waypoint regardless of the display scale of the currently displayed map image. And a third step of displaying an icon of the spot on the map image.