JP2016161483A - Information providing device and information providing program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To minimize an amount of change in display position of a guidance display when displaying the guidance display using a head-up display.SOLUTION: A navigation device 1 is configured to: learn (accumulate and update) a position frequency (appearance position frequency) in which information (driving necessary information) necessary for driving such as preceding vehicles, traffic signals or the like appears in a road section upon travelling, and store the position frequency in appearance position frequency DBs 57 and 58; use the learned appearance position frequency corresponding to a current travelling position in parallel with leaning processing of the appearance position frequency due to the travelling; select an area (low appearance area) where a guidance display is hard to overlap with the driving necessary information; and consecutively display the guidance display in the selected low appearance area while travelling on a prescribed road section. Accordingly, the guidance display is displayed in the selected low appearance area throughout the same prescribed road section, which in turn prevents a display position from being frequently and largely changed.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus and an information providing program, for example, a technique for providing information to a driver of a vehicle by displaying desired information using a head-up display.

Conventional vehicle navigation devices use a small touch panel screen installed near the driver's seat, in-car speakers, microphones, etc. to accept input from the driver (driver), directions, road information, commercial facility information Or provide guidance information.
Recently, a technique has been proposed in which guidance information is displayed in front of the driver by using a head-up display (HUD) and projecting an image of the traveling direction indicated by an arrow onto the windshield. As a result, the driver can obtain desired guidance information without looking at the touch panel screen.

Patent Document 1 has been proposed as a technique for displaying guidance information on a real scene with a head-up display.
In this technique, the movement of the driver's line of sight is reduced by displaying the guidance information superimposed on a guidance target such as an intersection as much as possible.
On the other hand, in order to prevent the visibility of information necessary for driving (driving necessary information) such as the preceding vehicle, signals, signs, etc. from overlapping with the guidance information, there is driving necessary information at a position overlapping the guidance target The guide information is displayed at a position avoiding the necessary driving information.

FIG. 10 shows a change state of the display position of guidance information according to the prior art.
In FIG. 10, when guidance is given to turn right at an intersection existing ahead, a guidance arrow whose tip is bent rightward is displayed as a guidance display 99.
In this case, as shown in FIG. 10A, when the forward vehicle A exists but there is a sufficient inter-vehicle distance, a guidance display 99 is displayed over the traveling road in front of the forward vehicle A.
After that, as shown in 10 (b) and (c), when the vehicle approaches the intersection and the inter-vehicle distance from the front vehicle A becomes small, driving is required when the guidance display 99 is displayed at the same position as (a). Since the vehicle overlaps with the preceding vehicle A, which is information, the display position is moved to the right side without overlapping in order to avoid duplication with the necessary driving information.

  Thus, conventionally, since the display position of the guidance information has always been changed in accordance with the position of the necessary driving information that always changes depending on the driving state, the guidance display once displayed suddenly moves to another position. There is a problem that the driver has to confirm the destination and is troublesome.

JP 2014-181927 A

  An object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of change in the display position when displaying a guidance display using a head-up display.

(1) In order to achieve the above object, according to the first aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to claim 1, the current position detecting means for detecting the current position of the vehicle, and the current position corresponding to the current position of the vehicle Appearance position frequency information acquisition means for acquiring appearance position frequency information in which driving necessary information necessary for driving appears in the field of view ahead of the vehicle for a predetermined road section including information, and guidance displayed corresponding to the acquired current position Guide display specifying means for specifying display, display position determining means for determining the display position of the specified guide display based on the acquired necessary driving information, and the determined display position of the head-up display. And an information providing apparatus characterized by comprising display means for displaying the information on the display.
(2) In the invention described in claim 2, in the guide display, a reference display position and a reference size are defined in advance for each guide display image to be displayed. A providing device is provided.
(3) In the invention according to claim 3, the appearance position frequency information includes an appearance area and an appearance frequency in which driving necessary information appears in the predetermined road section, and the position determination means has the appearance frequency predetermined. The information providing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a guidance display image is displayed at a position closest to the reference display position within a low appearance area that is equal to or less than a threshold value.
(4) In the invention according to claim 4, the position determining means displays a guide display image having a reference size within a predetermined distance from a reference display position in a low appearance area where the appearance frequency is a predetermined threshold value or less. The information providing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein if not possible, the guidance display image is reduced to a maximum size image within a predetermined threshold and displayed in a low appearance area.
(5) The invention according to claim 5, further comprising road type determination means for determining a road type of a road corresponding to the acquired current position, wherein the appearance position frequency information acquisition means includes the acquired current position. 5. The appearance position frequency information corresponding to the determined road type is acquired when the appearance position frequency information for the predetermined road section cannot be acquired. The information providing apparatus described in 1. is provided.
(6) In the invention according to claim 6, a photographing means for photographing a real scene ahead, an area identifying means for identifying an appearance area where necessary driving information exists from the photographed real scene image, and the predetermined road section Based on the appearance area that is photographed by the photographing means at each predetermined timing and specified by the area specifying means, the number of appearances and the appearance area where the necessary driving information appears are obtained, and the appearance for the predetermined road section First appearance means for storing as position frequency information, wherein the appearance position frequency information obtaining means obtains appearance position frequency information for a predetermined road section including the current position from the first storage means. An information providing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5 is provided.
(7) The invention described in claim 7 includes second storage means for storing appearance position frequency information for each road type, wherein the second storage means obtains the appearance position frequency information for the predetermined road section. 6. The information providing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the appearance position frequency information for each road type of the determined road is updated using the number of appearances and the appearance area.
(8) In the invention according to claim 8, the number of appearances of the necessary driving information is weighted higher as the necessity for driving is higher. Providing the device.
(9) In the invention according to claim 9, a current position detection function for detecting the current position of the vehicle, and a view area in front of the vehicle with respect to a predetermined road section including the current position corresponding to the current position of the vehicle Appearance position frequency information acquisition function for acquiring appearance position frequency information in which necessary driving information necessary for driving appears, guidance display specification function for specifying a guidance display to be displayed corresponding to the acquired current position, and the specification The computer realizes a display position determination function for determining the display position of the guidance display based on the acquired operation necessary information and a display function for displaying the guidance display at the determined display position of the head-up display. An information providing program is provided.

  According to the present invention, when a guidance display is displayed using a head-up display, the amount of change in the display position can be further reduced.

It is explanatory drawing about the learning of appearance position frequency. It is explanatory drawing which represented notionally the appearance position frequency learned with respect to the predetermined area. It is explanatory drawing about the guidance display in driving | running | working. It is a system configuration figure of a navigation device. It is a flowchart showing appearance position frequency information recording processing. It is a flowchart showing the content of the appearance position frequency information recording process for every link. It is a flowchart showing the content of the appearance position frequency information recording process for every road classification. It is a flowchart showing the content of the guidance display drawing process. It shows the importance of the appearance position frequency and the appearance position frequency (number of appearances). It is explanatory drawing showing the change state of the display position of guidance information by a prior art.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the information providing apparatus of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG. 9 by taking as an example the case where the information providing apparatus is applied to a navigation apparatus.
(1) Outline of Embodiment The navigation apparatus 1 of the present embodiment captures a real scene in front of a vehicle with a front camera and uses a HUD (head-up display) to superimpose it on a scene (actual scene) visually recognized by the driver ( In addition, various guidance information such as the direction of travel is displayed.

When traveling, the navigation device 1 learns (accumulates and updates) the position frequency (appearance position frequency) at which information necessary for driving (driving necessary information) such as a preceding car and a signal appears in the road section, It is stored in the appearance position frequency information DB.
The appearance position frequency is learned for each predetermined road section of the road on which the vehicle travels and for each type of road. The appearance frequency indicates the frequency at which driving information such as signals and vehicles appear while traveling the entire predetermined road section when traveling on the predetermined road section. In the appearance position frequency information DB, which area has which appearance position frequency in the display area of the head-up display, that is, the appearance position frequency and the area having the appearance position frequency are stored.
In the present embodiment, a road information link used in route search or the like is used as a predetermined road section which is a unit for learning the appearance frequency position. Each link differs depending on the traveling direction of the vehicle. The traveling lanes are treated as the same link without being distinguished, but the link may be learned by distinguishing each lane by using the lane information stored in the road information.

On the other hand, in parallel with the learning process of the appearance position frequency by traveling, the learned appearance position frequency is used corresponding to the current traveling position, and the guidance display is difficult to overlap with the necessary driving information (low appearance area). While the vehicle is selected and travels on the predetermined road section, the guidance display is continuously displayed in the selected low appearance area.
For example, when traveling on the road shown in FIG. 10, the area of the guidance display 99 displayed in FIG. 10C can be determined as the low appearance area based on the appearance position frequency information DB previously learned by past travel. 10A and 10B, the guidance display 99 is displayed at the position displayed in FIG. 10C even in the actual scene state.
Thus, by displaying the guidance image in the low appearance area selected throughout the same predetermined road section, it is possible to prevent the display position from frequently changing greatly.

In addition, for each plan display, the position where the appearance position frequency is difficult to increase commonly for each road is defined as the reference position (default value), and the low appearance area closest to the reference position is selected as the display area. To do.
For each guidance display, a reference image size (display area) is defined as a reference size. If the low appearance area closest to the reference position is farther than a predetermined distance (predetermined distance threshold), the reference size guide display is reduced within a predetermined reduction ratio within a predetermined distance that can be displayed within a predetermined reduction ratio. Select and display the appearance area.
As a result, the guidance display can be displayed not only within the range of the predetermined road section but also for the entire travel section within a range that does not change significantly from the reference position.

(2) Details of the embodiment In the navigation device of the present embodiment, the frequency of the position where information necessary for driving such as a preceding vehicle appears in the traveling road section is learned, and based on this, guidance display and driving are necessary. A display area that is not easily covered with information is determined, and a guidance display position is determined.
First, learning of position frequency (appearance position frequency) at which information necessary for driving (driving necessary information) appears will be described.
Note that each processing such as learning, guidance position determination, and display is performed according to each processing program by the information processing device 20 to be described later.

FIG. 1 shows learning of appearance position frequency.
FIG. 1A shows an actual scene image obtained by photographing a range in which guidance is displayed on the head-up display with a front camera. Shooting of a real scene image by the front camera is performed every predetermined distance (for example, in units of 5 m) or every predetermined time (every second). In (a), time elapses from left to right.
Then, the information processing apparatus 20 detects an area where the necessary driving information exists from each photographed real scene image. Here, the driving necessary information is information necessary for making a driving operation determination such as a signal, a sign, a guidance sign, a road marking, a nearby car, a nearby pedestrian, and the like. FIG. 1A shows a state in which a front vehicle A, a speed limit road sign B, and a signal C, which are necessary driving information, are present in the actual scene ahead of the vehicle.

FIG. 1B shows a case where the area of the necessary driving information is detected for each real scene image.
In the present embodiment, the information processing apparatus 20 detects the position and area by extracting the necessary driving information existing in the actual scene image by matching the pattern image stored in the image recognition DB described later and the actual scene image. To do.
In FIG. 1B, each area (position and size) of the necessary driving information detected corresponding to the forward vehicle A, the speed limit road sign B, and the signal C existing in the actual scene image is represented by a to c. ing.
In the present embodiment, a square inscribed with the driving information is extracted as the area, but the area to be extracted is defined for each driving information (corresponding pattern image), and the specified area is extracted. You may make it do.

  Next, the information processing device 20 learns the frequency of appearance of the necessary driving information in a certain section of the road (predetermined road section) based on the area of the necessary driving information detected from the actual scene image taken at each timing. And recorded as appearance position frequency information, which will be described later. The learning of the appearance position frequency is performed after passing through the corresponding predetermined road section, but may be performed every time each real scene image is captured during traveling.

Here, as the predetermined road section of the present embodiment, a section in link units stored in the road data used in the route search process is used, but another section may be used as the predetermined road section.
For example, a section for each predetermined distance specified in advance may be used as the predetermined road section, or a section from the intersection of each road to the next intersection may be used as the predetermined road section. The predetermined road sections may be grouped together by the same road type, or may be grouped by prefecture in the case of prefectural roads, and may be grouped by municipality in the case of municipal roads.
In roads with a plurality of lanes, each lane may be treated as an individual predetermined road section, and the appearance frequency in each lane (the lane in which the vehicle is traveling) may be learned. The lane switching timing may be, for example, when the center of the vehicle straddles the boundary line, or when the boundary line straddles the center of the front camera image for capturing a real scene in front of the vehicle.

FIG. 2 conceptually represents the appearance position frequency learned for a predetermined section.
As for the appearance position frequency, an appearance area (appearance position) for each same appearance frequency is stored as appearance position frequency information together with the number of appearances.
As shown in FIG. 2 (a), the appearance position frequency is calculated by superimposing driving required information areas (see FIG. 1 (b)) extracted from a plurality of actual scene images taken in a predetermined road section. The number of appearances and the appearance position (region) are stored (learned).
In the example of FIG. 2 (a), the operation necessary information is a region where the right-down slanted line is narrowed 10 times in the region r1 where the right-down slanted line is narrow, and the region r2 where the right-downwardly slanted line is marked five times. This indicates that the object appears three times in r3, twice in the region r4 with a left-downward slanted line, and once in the region r with a vertical line. For the areas other than the areas r1 to r5, it is indicated that the necessary driving information does not appear in the predetermined road section.

  As the appearance position frequency, as shown in FIG. 2B, the appearance rate may be stored instead of the frequency for each region where the necessary driving information appears. Here, the appearance rate (appearance position frequency) is the number of times of appearance of the necessary driving information at a specific appearance position (region) corresponding to the actual scene image, and the number of times of sampling in the predetermined road section (real scene image shooting and processing) (Number of times) is P times, the number of appearances N ÷ the number of samplings P The appearance position is a position (area) in the display range of the head-up display.

Further, the appearance ratio may be stored as the appearance position frequency as shown in FIG. Here, the appearance ratio (appearance position frequency) is a value (N ÷ Q) obtained by dividing the number of appearances N at a specific appearance position by the maximum number of appearances Q at all the appearance positions for the predetermined road section. .
In the example of FIG. 2C, since the region r1 has the maximum number of appearances (10 times), the appearance ratio is 1.

In this embodiment, in addition to the appearance position and the number of appearances (FIG. 2A), the appearance rate and the total sampling count for calculating the appearance rate are stored as the appearance position frequency.
However, the appearance position and the number of appearances, the appearance position and the appearance rate, the appearance position and the appearance ratio, and the appearance position and the number of appearances and the appearance ratio may be stored.

In this way, links are used as a unit of a predetermined road section, and appearance position frequency information for each link is learned (saved).
In this embodiment, the appearance position frequency for each road type is further learned (saved) using the appearance position frequency for each link.
When the vehicle travels, the appearance position frequency for each link and the appearance position frequency for each road type are learned (saved), and a guidance display drawing process is performed in parallel with the learning process.
This guidance display drawing processing uses the learned appearance frequency of both appearances, selects the guidance display for guiding the direction of travel and the intersection, and selects an area (low appearance area) that is difficult to overlap with the necessary driving information. This is a process to display on the up display.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of guidance display during traveling.
As shown in FIG. 3A, the guide display images, reference sizes, and reference display positions of the guide displays L to N that are displayed on the head-up display are defined in advance. The reference position is determined in advance by examining an area where the appearance of necessary driving information is low for a general road.

And the display position which displays each guidance display is determined as follows.
That is, when traveling on a predetermined road, it is confirmed whether or not the appearance position frequency information associated with the predetermined road section is recorded. If it is recorded, based on the recorded appearance position frequency information The display position of each guidance display is determined.
In principle, as shown in FIG. 3A, for each guidance display, a guidance display image is displayed in a reference size at a reference position defined in advance. That is, when there is a low appearance area equal to or larger than the reference size at the reference position of the guide display image, the guide image is displayed at the reference position and reference size defined in advance.

However, when the guidance display image is displayed at the reference position in the reference size, if the display areas L to N overlap with the high appearance area (area where the appearance position frequency exceeds the threshold), the guidance display is displayed at the appearance frequency position. The display position or / and the size of each appearance position frequency are changed so as to fall within a range (low appearance area) that does not exceed the threshold value.
That is, in FIG.3 (b), the area | region r1-r4 enclosed with the thick line is a high appearance area, and this high appearance area and the display areas L-N of each guidance display have overlapped.
Therefore, as in the guidance display images L ′ to N ′ shown in FIG. 3B, the position and size are changed to display in the low appearance regions (regions outside r1 to r4), respectively.

The display position and size of each guidance display are changed based on, for example, the following change rule.
(1) Search for an area (low appearance area) T having a necessary size (greater than the reference size) within a certain distance from the reference position of the guidance display image and whose appearance position frequency does not exceed the threshold, and the low appearance area When T exists, the display image is displayed at a position closest to the reference position in the low appearance region T.
(2) When there is no low appearance area T that is equal to or larger than the reference size within a certain distance from the reference position, the size of the guidance display image is the largest in the range that can be accommodated in the low appearance area T, with a predetermined reduction ratio as the upper limit. Reduce to a size that can be displayed and draw.
By applying the above change rule not only within the range of the predetermined road section but also to all travel sections, the guidance display can be displayed within a range that does not change significantly from the reference position.

If there is no low appearance region T that can be drawn according to the above two change rules, a search is made as to whether there is a low appearance region T that is equal to or larger than the reference size at a distance other than a certain distance from the reference position. Drawing in the low appearance area T (3).
On the other hand, when there is no low appearance area T equal to or larger than the reference size outside a certain distance from the reference position, a predetermined reduction rate is set as the upper limit, and the size of the guidance display image is a size within a range that fits in the low appearance area T. The drawing is reduced to the size that can be displayed in the largest size (4).
Also in (3) and (4), when there is no low appearance area T for drawing the guidance display image, the guidance display image reduced at the upper limit reduction rate is drawn in the area where the appearance position frequency is as low as possible. (5).

Next, the configuration of the navigation device 1 to which the information providing device of this embodiment is applied will be described.
FIG. 1 shows a system configuration of the navigation apparatus 1.
The navigation device 1 is mounted on a vehicle and includes a current position detection device 10, an information processing device 20, a photographing device 30, an input / output device 40, and a storage device 50, and functions as an information providing device.

The current position detection device 10 includes an orientation sensor 12, a distance sensor 13, a GPS receiver 14, a geomagnetic sensor 15, and the like.
The azimuth sensor 12 is a means for detecting an angle that has changed relative to a reference angle (absolute azimuth), and uses, for example, a gyro sensor that detects a change in angle using an angular velocity. An optical rotation sensor attached to the rotating part of the handle, a rotary resistance volume, or an angle sensor attached to the wheel part may be used. The geomagnetic sensor 15 is a means for detecting an absolute azimuth, and detects which direction the vehicle is directed from the detection in the N direction based on the magnet.
The navigation apparatus 1 can determine the forward direction (that is, the traveling direction) of the host vehicle based on the direction detected by the direction sensor 12 or the geomagnetic sensor 15.

The distance sensor 13 is a means that can measure the moving distance of the vehicle, and for example, a sensor that detects and counts the rotation of a wheel or a sensor that detects acceleration and integrates it twice.
A GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 14 receives signals from a plurality of GPS satellites orbiting the earth. This signal includes time information, and the information processing device 20 processes the time information, whereby the navigation device 1 can obtain the position information of the host vehicle.

The information processing device 20 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 21, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 22, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 24, a clock 28, a sensor input interface 23, a communication interface 25, and the like.
The information processing device 20 performs various calculations for navigation such as route search and route guidance based on information input from the current position detection device 10, the imaging device 30, the input / output device 40, and information stored in the storage device 50. And control peripheral devices such as a display 42, a HUD (head-up display) 45, and a speaker 44, which will be described later, and output the calculation results to them.

The CPU 21 is a central processing unit, sends and receives information via the bus line 26, and executes programs stored in the ROM 22 and the storage device 50, thereby performing overall calculation and control of the entire navigation device 1. I do.
In the present embodiment, by extracting the range of the necessary driving information from the actual scene image in front of the vehicle photographed by the front camera 30, the appearance position frequency of the necessary driving information is obtained for each predetermined road section, and in parallel with this, A display area for guidance information necessary for route guidance or the like is specified from the learned appearance position frequency information and displayed on the HUD 45.

The ROM 22 is a read-only storage device, and stores a basic program for operating the information processing apparatus 20. Further, the navigation program 51 stored in the storage device 50 can be stored here.
The ROM 22 may be divided into a first ROM and a second ROM, and a navigation program related to voice guidance may be stored in the second ROM, and other programs may be stored in the first ROM.

The RAM 24 provides a working memory when the CPU 21 performs various calculations and controls, and the CPU 21 uses the memory space of the RAM 24 to perform an image recognition process of necessary driving information and determine an area for displaying guidance information. Or drawing a guidance information image to be described later.
The RAM 24 stores information input by the user (driver and other passengers) such as destination information and passing point information input by the input device 41 and based on user input information. The result calculated by the CPU 21, the result of the route search, or the map information read from the storage device 50 is stored.

The sensor input interface 23 is an interface connected to various sensors such as the azimuth sensor 12, the distance sensor 13, the geomagnetic sensor 15, and the vibration sensor.
The communication interface 25 is an interface connected to various peripheral devices via the transmission path 27. Specifically, the GPS receiver 14, the input device 41, the storage device 50, the front camera 31, and the like are connected via the transmission path 27.
The clock 28 is a transmitter configured using, for example, a crystal resonator, and provides operation timing of each part of the navigation device 1. In this embodiment, the front camera 30 is used for measurement at a predetermined timing (for example, every second) at which a real scene image ahead of the vehicle is captured.

  An image processor dedicated to image processing for processing vector information processed by the CPU 21 into image information by the display 42 or the HUD 45, and an image memory for storing image information processed by the image processor. A voice processor dedicated to voice processing for processing voice information read from the storage device 50 and outputting it to the speaker 44 may be provided.

The front camera 31 is a CCD (charge-coupled device) camera or the like, and is installed toward the front of the vehicle.
The front camera 31 continuously captures a scene (actual scene) viewed by the driver in the traveling direction (front of the vehicle) at a predetermined sampling rate and outputs it to the information processing apparatus 20.
Note that the visual field image obtained by the front camera 31 corresponds to the visual field that the driver obtains during driving.

The information processing apparatus 20 recognizes driving necessary information such as a preceding vehicle, an intersection, a branching point, a curve, and a signboard guide from an actual scene image (field-of-view image) captured by the front camera 31, and thus appearance frequency for each predetermined road section. While learning the information, necessary guidance information and its display position are selected from the appearance position frequency information learned for the predetermined road section corresponding to the current position and the travel information (travel route information, current position information, etc.).
Then, the information processing apparatus 20 uses these pieces of information to output guidance information required by the driver, such as right / left turn guidance, alerting, and driving assistance, to the HUD 45. In response to this, the HUD 45 superimposes and displays the guidance information on the scene viewed by the driver.

The input / output device 40 includes an input device 41, a display 42, a HUD (Head-Up Display) 45, a speaker 44, and the like.
The input device 41 includes, for example, a touch panel, a touch switch, a joystick, a key switch, and the like, and receives input of data such as a destination, a passage point, and a search condition from a user, for example.

  The display 42 is a small display installed in the vicinity of the driver's seat. The display 42 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display. Displays an image such as an input screen for inputting.

The HUD 45, for example, projects the image on the windshield using a projector, or displays the image on a transparent screen installed on the windshield, thereby superimposing the guidance information on the driver. provide. That is, the display screen by the HUD 45 corresponds to the driver's field of view.
The speaker 44 provides voice guidance information to the driver, for example, “Turn right 30 meters ahead”.

The storage device 50 includes a large-capacity storage medium and a drive device that drives the storage medium.
As the storage medium, for example, a DVD-ROM or CD-ROM that is an optical storage medium, a hard disk that is a magnetic storage medium, or the like can be used. The storage medium includes various information storage media such as a magneto-optical disk and various semiconductor memories. You can also
Information that needs to be rewritten may be constituted by a rewritable hard disk or flash memory, and other fixed information may be a ROM such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.

The storage device 50 includes a navigation program 51, a map DB (database) 52, road data 53, guidance information DB 54, an image recognition DB 56, an appearance position frequency information DB 57 by link, a road type appearance position frequency information DB 58, and other data. It is remembered.
The navigation program 51 is a program for causing the CPU 21 to exhibit functions for performing various calculations and controls necessary for navigation.
In the navigation program 51, processing related to learning of appearance position frequency (appearance position frequency information recording process, appearance position frequency information recording process for each link, appearance position frequency information recording process for each road type) in this embodiment is performed. And a program for performing guidance display drawing processing for displaying guidance display on the HUD 45.

The map DB 52 is a database composed of 2D map data, 3D map data, and the like.
In the two-dimensional map data, two-dimensional information necessary for route search and route guidance is registered.
In the 3D map data, in addition to normal map information, 3D information of features such as the shape and height of structures such as buildings and signals, and the height of topography is registered. Based on this three-dimensional information, a virtual simulated image corresponding to the visual field image is calculated.
Further, in the 3D map data, attributes (vehicles, intersections, curves, lanes, etc.) for matching with the image recognition result are stored corresponding to the feature objects.

Road data 53 is intended for roads such as highways (highway national highways and exclusive roads), general roads, narrow streets, etc., the position and type of each road, the number of lanes, and the connection relationship between the roads, etc. This data is related to roads and consists of node information and link information.
The road data 53 is used for route search and map matching, and is also used when the searched travel route is displayed over the map data.
The node information constituting the road data 53 is information representing the geographical coordinate data of each node used for route search on the map, and the node is a point where the state of the road changes such as an intersection or a point where the road curves. Is set to A straight line connecting each node is represented by a link, and information representing a distance of each link is link information.
Each node and link is given a node number and a link number. In the present embodiment, the appearance position frequency information is stored for each link number, and is associated with the link of the link number.

Although not shown, the storage device 50 stores destination data as data used for route search. This destination data is data about facilities, places, points, etc. that can be set as destinations, destination numbers, destination names, destination name readings, place name information, coordinates (latitude, light), telephone numbers, It consists of an address and a zip code.
Destination data is stored in a database of hierarchical destination lists so that users can easily select destinations. All destinations are classified by genre as destination-related information necessary for destination setting. Genre data classified into (meals, shops, public, lodging, etc.), regional data classified for each region, and the like are also stored.

The guidance display DB 54 is a variety of information such as a right / left turn guidance display such as an intersection included in 2D map data or 3D map data, a warning alert guidance display such as a curve, and a driving assistance guidance display such as a lane list. Information for displaying guidance is stored.
In the guidance display DB 54, the guidance display image, the reference display position, and the reference size described in FIG. 3A are stored for each guidance display as information for performing guidance display.
The guidance information is read out before the vehicle reaches the guidance point and displayed on the HUD 45.

The image recognition DB 56 is a database in which various pattern images for extracting and recognizing driving-required information from a real scene image (view image) in front of the vehicle captured by the front camera 31 by pattern recognition are registered.
Specifically, as described with reference to FIG. 1B, the image recognition DB 56 includes various types of vehicle images (images afterward, left and right side images), road signs, signal images, and guidance. A pattern image corresponding to various kinds of operation necessary information such as a display (blue signboard) image is stored.
The information processing apparatus 20 extracts and recognizes necessary driving information existing in the actual scene image by matching each pattern image in the image recognition DB 56 with the captured actual scene image.
Note that extraction means extracting a portion having a matched pattern from the field-of-view image, and recognition means determining that the extracted portion is, for example, a vehicle, an intersection, or a lane. is there.

The appearance position frequency information DB 57 for each link is a database that stores the appearance position frequencies described in FIG. 2 for each link. The appearance position frequency stored in the link-specific appearance position frequency DB 57 is a link unit that is a predetermined road section, and this link corresponds to the link stored in the road data 53, and is based on link information (link number). It is tied. In addition, when using a road between intersections instead of a link as a unit of the predetermined road section, the appearance position frequency linked by the road number and both the intersection numbers of the start point and the end point is stored in the database.
The appearance position frequency information DB 57 for each link stores appearance position frequencies (appearance count and appearance area), sampling count, and appearance rate.

The road type appearance position frequency information DB 58 is a database that stores the appearance position frequency obtained for each road type in the same manner as the appearance position frequency described with reference to FIG.
The road types include highways, main roads, general roads, and narrow streets.
In this embodiment, the appearance position frequency for each link and road type is learned and used. However, instead of each road type, the appearance position is learned for each road and stored in the road appearance frequency DB. You may do it. In this case, for example, the expressway may be a route name unit such as the Metropolitan Expressway XX, Tomei Expressway, ..., a national highway, etc. It may be.

As other data stored in the storage device 50, various threshold values (a predetermined distance threshold value, a threshold value of an appearance frequency position, etc.) used in the present embodiment, an upper limit reduction rate, and the like are stored.
Note that these values may be specified in each processing program.

Each process of this embodiment by the navigation apparatus 1 (information provision apparatus) comprised as mentioned above is demonstrated.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the appearance position frequency information recording process.
The information processing device 20 monitors whether or not the mounted vehicle is traveling based on the output value of the vehicle speed sensor, the state of the side brake, etc. (step 10), and is not traveling (step 10; N) Return to the main routine.
On the other hand, when the vehicle is traveling (step 10; Y), the information processing apparatus 20 acquires a traveling link (step 11). That is, the information processing apparatus 20 specifies the current position of the vehicle based on the input from the current position detection apparatus 10 and acquires a link corresponding to the current position from the road data 53.

The information processing device 20 determines whether or not the acquired link corresponds to a road, thereby determining whether or not the link is traveling on the road link (step 12). If the link is not on the road link (step 12) N) Return to the main routine.
On the other hand, if the vehicle is traveling on a road link (step 12; Y), the information processing apparatus 20 determines whether or not the appearance position frequency information associated with the link being traveled is a link-specific appearance position frequency information DB. (Step 13).
When there is appearance position frequency information that is completely connected to the running link (step 13; Y), the information processing apparatus 20 determines whether the freshness of the appearance position frequency information is within a threshold (step 14). Here, the freshness of the appearance position frequency information means the degree of progress since the last learning (final update) for the currently running link, and a threshold (for example, 12 hours, 1 day, 2 from the last update). Date), etc., it is determined that there is freshness.

If the freshness of the appearance position frequency information corresponding to the running link is within the threshold (step 14; Y), the elapsed time after learning (updating) the link is short, so that further learning is unnecessary. Return to the main routine.
On the other hand, when the freshness of the appearance position frequency information is not within the threshold value (step 14; Y), and when there is no appearance position frequency information exhausted in the running link, that is, when it is a link that travels for the first time (step 13). N), the information processing apparatus 20 performs an appearance position frequency information recording process for each link (step 15), further performs an appearance position frequency information recording process for each road type (step 16), and returns to the main routine. To do.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the contents of the appearance position frequency information recording process for each link.
The information processing apparatus 20 acquires a running link corresponding to the current position (step 21), and records appearance position frequency information as a link being acquired (hereinafter, the link being acquired is referred to as a link A) (step 22). ).
Then, the information processing apparatus 20 creates a record map of the appearance position frequency in the running link (step 23). That is, the guide unit 213 secures an area for recording the appearance position frequency in the RAM 24.

The information processing apparatus 20 acquires a link at the current position (step 24), and determines whether the vehicle is traveling on the link A for which appearance position frequency information is being acquired (step 25).
When traveling on the link A (step 25; Y), the information providing apparatus 20 captures a real scene image in the guidance display range with the front camera 30 (step 26).
Then, the information providing apparatus 20 detects an area (appearance area) where information necessary for driving is present in the photographed actual scene image (step 27). That is, as described with reference to FIG. 1, the information providing apparatus 20 exists in the actual scene image by the matching process between the captured actual scene image in front of the vehicle and each pattern image stored in the image recognition DB 56. An area (appearance area) of each operation necessary information is detected.

Next, based on the appearance area included in the photographed actual scene image, the information providing apparatus 20 adds the appearance position to the appearance position frequency recording map secured in the RAM in step 23 as described with reference to FIG. The frequency (appearance count and its appearance area) is reflected (step 28).
Further, the information providing device 20 adds 1 to the sampling number, thereby updating the sampling number after starting the travel of the link A (step 29). Note that the number of samplings coincides with the number of actual scene images that have been imaged and processed after the start of the link A.

The information providing apparatus 20 continues to monitor whether or not the next sampling timing has come (step 30).
Here, whether or not the next sampling timing has come is determined by determining whether or not the vehicle has traveled a certain distance, for example, 5 m from the position where the last sampling (capturing a real scene image) is performed, or for a certain time from the last sampling Judgment is made based on whether (for example, 1 second) has elapsed.
When the next sampling timing is reached (step 30; Y), the information providing apparatus 20 returns to step 24, and if traveling on the same link A (step 25; Y), learning by the next captured image is performed. continue.

On the other hand, when the current position of the vehicle deviates from the link A being acquired (step 25; N), the information providing device 20 creates the link A in the RAM 24 as described with reference to FIG. The appearance rate is calculated by dividing each appearance position frequency in the appearance position frequency record map by the number of samplings (step 31).
Next, the information providing apparatus 20 records the appearance position frequency information in the link-specific appearance position frequency information DB 57 in association with the link A (step 32). The recorded appearance position frequency information includes an appearance position frequency (appearance frequency and appearance area), sampling number, and appearance rate.
When the travel of the link A is the first time, the contents (appearance position frequency (appearance frequency and appearance area), sampling number, appearance rate) of the appearance position frequency recording map secured in the RAM 24 are used as they are. As information, it is recorded in link appearance position frequency information DB57.

On the other hand, if the appearance position frequency information associated with the link A has already been recorded in the link-specific appearance position frequency information DB 57, in step 32, the appearance position frequency information is updated.
That is, the appearance position frequency (appearance frequency and appearance area) and the sampling number already recorded are updated with the appearance position frequency and the sampling number obtained this time.
For the appearance position frequency (appearance count and appearance area), the appearance area is updated by superimposing the appearance area obtained in the current travel on the appearance area for each appearance count that has already been recorded. The appearance position frequency composed of the number of appearances in each appearance area is created and updated.
The sampling number is updated by adding both values.
Then, for each appearance region after update, a value obtained by dividing the number of appearances by the total number of samplings is updated as a new appearance rate.

  However, even when the appearance position frequency information associated with the link A is already recorded, the appearance position frequency information obtained this time is recorded as the latest appearance position frequency information instead of the recorded appearance position frequency information. It may be.

Next, details of the process (step 16 in FIG. 5) of recording the appearance position frequency for each road type from the appearance position frequency information obtained by the driving required information recording process for each link in FIG. 6 will be described.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the contents of the appearance position frequency information recording process for each road type.
The information providing apparatus 20 refers to the link A for which appearance position frequency information is being acquired (step 41). That is, the information providing apparatus 20 refers to the road data 53 for the link road type from the link number of the link A.
Then, the information providing apparatus 20 determines whether the road type of the link A as a result of referring to the road data 53 is a highway (step 42), a main road (step 43), a general road or a narrow street (step 44). I do.

If the link A is an expressway (step 42; Y), the information providing device 20 acquires the appearance position frequency information of the expressway from the appearance type frequency information DB 58 classified by road type (step 45).
Further, the information providing device 20 displays the appearance position frequency information of the main road if the link A is a main road (step 43; Y). If the link A is a narrow street (step 44; Y), the appearance position of the narrow street If the frequency information is a general road (step 44; N), the appearance position frequency information of the general road is acquired from the appearance position frequency information DB 58 for each road type (step 46 to step 48).

Next, with respect to the appearance position frequency information acquired corresponding to the road type of the link A, the information providing apparatus 20 sets the appearance position frequency (number of appearances and appearance area) and the sampling number to the link A in the process of FIG. The obtained appearance position frequency (appearance frequency and appearance area) and the sampling number are added (step 49).
Here, with respect to the appearance position frequency (appearance count and appearance area), the appearance area is updated by superimposing the appearance area obtained in the current travel on the appearance area for each appearance count already recorded. The number of appearances for each new appearance area is obtained.
As for the number of samplings, the number of samplings at link A obtained in the current travel is added to the number of samplings already recorded.
Further, the information providing apparatus 20 sets a value obtained by dividing the number of appearances by the number of added samples for each appearance area as a new appearance rate corresponding to the road type of the link A (step 50).

  Then, the information providing apparatus 20 uses the obtained appearance position frequency information, that is, the appearance position frequency (appearance frequency and appearance area), the sampling number, and the appearance rate as the appearance position frequency information of the road type corresponding to the link A. It records in the type-specific appearance position frequency information DB 58 (step 51), and returns to the main routine.

Next, a process of displaying a guidance display image on the HUD 45 using the link-specific appearance position frequency information DB 57 and the road type-specific both appearance position frequency information 58 recorded by the above processing will be described.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the contents of the guidance display drawing process.
The information providing apparatus 20 acquires a running link (step 60). That is, the information providing apparatus 20 specifies the current position of the vehicle based on the output from the current position detection apparatus 10 and acquires a link corresponding to the specified current position from the road data 53.

Next, it is determined whether or not the appearance position frequency information associated with the acquired traveling link exists in the link-specific appearance position frequency information DB 57 (step 61).
When the appearance position frequency information associated with the running link is present in the link-specific appearance position information DB 57 (step 61; Y), the information providing apparatus 20 uses the appearance position frequency information associated with the link as the appearance position information for each link. Obtained from the DB 57 (step 62).
On the other hand, when there is no appearance position frequency information associated with the running link (step 61; N), the information providing apparatus 20 determines the road type of the running link from the road data 53 (step 63 to step 65). ). Then, the information providing apparatus 20 determines the appearance position frequency information of the expressway if the running link is an expressway (step 63; Y), and the appearance position frequency of the expressway if the link is a trunk road (step 64; Y). If it is a narrow street (step 65; Y), the appearance position frequency of the narrow street is obtained from the appearance position frequency information DB 58 for each road type if it is a general road (step 65; N). (Step 66 to Step 69).

Next, as described with reference to FIG. 3A, the information providing apparatus 20 provides guidance information on a guide display image, a reference display position, and a reference size for one of the guide displays displayed on the HUD 45. Obtained from the DB 54 (step 70).
Here, the guidance display displayed on the HUD 45 is guidance information indicating the direction of travel, guidance information indicating the course change direction, as information to be guided corresponding to the current vehicle position if guidance for the searched travel route is in progress. Guidance information or the like representing an enlarged view of an intersection or the like whose course is to be changed is determined by the information providing apparatus 20.

As shown in FIG. 3B, the information providing apparatus 20 displays a high appearance area (an area where the appearance position frequency exceeds the threshold) when the acquired guide display image of one reference size is displayed at the reference display position. Is searched for (step 71), and it is determined whether there is an overlapping area (step 72).
If there is no area overlapping with the high appearance area (step 72; N), the information providing apparatus 20 draws the acquired guide display image of the reference size at the reference display position of the HUD 45 (step 73).
On the other hand, when there is an overlapping area (step 72; Y), as described with reference to FIG. 3C, the acquired guidance display image is displayed according to the above-described change rules (1) and (2). The (display size) is changed to the low appearance area and drawn on the HUD 45 (step 74).
The information providing apparatus 20 determines whether or not another guidance display exists (step 75). If it exists (step 75; Y), the information providing apparatus 20 returns to step 70 to perform display processing for the other guidance display. If it does not exist (step 75; N), the process returns to the main routine.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the guide image is displayed in the low appearance area selected throughout the same predetermined road section (link), thereby preventing the display position from frequently changing greatly. .
In addition, the guidance display can be displayed not only within the range of the predetermined road section but also within the range that does not change significantly from the reference position for all travel sections.
Furthermore, even if the appearance position frequency information associated with the currently traveling link (predetermined road section) does not exist in the link-specific appearance position frequency information DB 47, it is based on the appearance position frequency information corresponding to the road type of the link. The guide display image is displayed at the display position and display size as close as possible to the reference position and reference size, so that even if it is the first road, it changes greatly from the reference position size while avoiding areas that are high appearance areas. Guidance display can be performed within a range not to be performed.

The navigation device of the present embodiment has been described above, but other modifications can be made as appropriate.
For example, in the embodiment described above, the number of times of appearance is one for the area of the necessary driving information specified based on the actual scene image captured by the front camera 30, but the number of times of appearance depends on the importance of the necessary driving information. May be weighted.
FIG. 9 shows the importance of the appearance position frequency and the appearance position frequency (number of appearances).
As shown in FIG. 9 (a), for example, the control information of traffic lights C, road signs, etc. B, and further weights of vehicles, people, bicycles (not shown) ahead, etc. are set to 1, and guidance signs (blue signs) ) It is possible to set the weight of D to 0.5 or the like.

Moreover, in the described embodiment, the case where all the appearance position frequency information stored in the storage device 50 is recorded based on the traveling of the host vehicle has been described.
On the other hand, one or both of the appearance position frequency information DB57 classified by link and the appearance position frequency information DB58 classified by road type may be acquired from the outside and stored in both the DBs 57 and 58. In this case, for example, it is acquired from a predetermined information center by wireless communication or acquired via a predetermined storage medium.
In addition, when acquiring appearance position frequency information from the outside, it is desirable to acquire the driving requirement information for each link and the driving requirement information for each road type obtained by the same vehicle type as the vehicle on which the navigation device is mounted.
When the appearance position frequency information is acquired from the information center by communication through wireless communication, the information providing apparatus 20 replaces the appearance position frequency acquired externally with the appearance position frequency information of the link obtained in the processes of FIGS. Or may be updated by adding to the appearance position frequency information acquired from the outside.
Note that when the appearance position frequency is acquired from the information center by communication, the information providing apparatus 20 displays the appearance position frequency information for each link obtained by the processing of FIGS. 5 to 7 and / or the appearance position frequency for each road type. May be provided to the information center.

In the described embodiment, the case where the appearance position frequency (number of appearances and appearance area), the number of samplings, and the appearance rate are stored in both appearance position frequency information DBs 57 and 58 has been described. Only the appearance position frequency and the sampling number may be stored.
Further, instead of the appearance rate described in 2 (b), the appearance ratio represented by the number of appearances / the maximum number of appearances described in FIG. 2 (c) may be stored.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Navigation apparatus 10 Current position detection apparatus 20 Information processing apparatus 28 Clock 30 Front camera 40 Input / output apparatus 45 HUD
50 storage device 51 navigation program 52 map DB
53 Road data 54 Guidance information DB
56 Image recognition database
57 Appearance position frequency information DB by link
58 Appearance position frequency information DB by road type

Claims (9)

Current position detecting means for detecting the current position of the vehicle;
Appearance position frequency information acquisition means for acquiring appearance position frequency information corresponding to the current position of the vehicle in which driving necessary information necessary for driving appears in a view area ahead of the vehicle for a predetermined road section including the current position; ,
Guidance display specifying means for specifying a guidance display to be displayed corresponding to the acquired current position;
Display position determining means for determining the display position of the specified guidance display based on the acquired driving necessity information;
Display means for displaying the guidance display at the determined display position of a head-up display;
An information providing apparatus comprising: In the guidance display, a standard display position and a standard size are defined in advance for each guidance display image to be displayed.
The information providing apparatus according to claim 1. The appearance position frequency information includes an appearance area and an appearance frequency in which driving necessary information appears in the predetermined road section,
The position determining means displays a guidance display image at a position closest to a reference display position in a low appearance area where the appearance frequency is a predetermined threshold value or less;
The information providing apparatus according to claim 2. The position determination means, when the guide display image of the reference size cannot be displayed within a predetermined distance from the reference display position within the low appearance area where the appearance frequency is equal to or less than the predetermined threshold, the guide display image is within the predetermined threshold To reduce the image to the maximum size and display it in the low appearance area.
The information providing apparatus according to claim 3. Road type determination means for determining the road type of the road corresponding to the acquired current position;
If the appearance position frequency information acquisition unit cannot acquire the appearance position frequency information for a predetermined road section including the acquired current position, the appearance position frequency information acquisition unit acquires the appearance position frequency information corresponding to the determined road type.
The information providing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the information providing apparatus is characterized in that: Photographing means for photographing the front scene;
From the photographed real scene image, an area specifying means for specifying an appearance area in which driving necessary information exists;
Based on the appearance area photographed by the photographing means at a predetermined timing during the predetermined road section and specified by the area specifying means, the number of appearances and the appearance area where the necessary driving information appears are obtained, First storage means for storing as appearance position frequency information for a road section,
The appearance position frequency information acquisition means acquires appearance position frequency information for a predetermined road section including the current position from the first storage means.
The information providing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the information providing apparatus includes: A second storage means for storing appearance position frequency information for each road type;
The second storage means updates the appearance position frequency information for each road type of the determined road, using the appearance frequency and the appearance area obtained as the appearance position frequency information for the predetermined road section.
The information providing apparatus according to claim 5. The number of appearances of the need for driving information is weighted higher as the need for driving is higher,
The information providing apparatus according to claim 6. A current position detection function for detecting the current position of the vehicle;
Appearance position frequency information acquisition function for acquiring appearance position frequency information corresponding to the current position of the vehicle, in which the necessary driving information necessary for driving appears in the field of view ahead of the vehicle, for a predetermined road section including the current position; ,
A guidance display specifying function for specifying a guidance display to be displayed corresponding to the acquired current position;
A display position determination function for determining the display position of the specified guidance display based on the acquired driving necessity information;
A display function for displaying the guidance display at the determined display position of the head-up display;
An information providing program for causing a computer to realize the above.

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