JP2715214B2 - Vehicle travel guidance device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle travel guide system for providing travel guidance while displaying the position of a vehicle on a road map.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a route from a starting point of a vehicle to a destination is set on a road map displayed on a screen, and a position on a two-dimensional coordinate accompanying the traveling of the vehicle is sequentially determined. An in-vehicle vehicle travel guide device has been developed which displays the current position of the vehicle on the road map in an updated manner and guides the vehicle along the route.

Conventionally, in this type of vehicle travel guide device, deceleration or change of travel lane is performed in advance to make a right or left turn at an intersection on a route from a starting point to a destination. When the current position of the vehicle reaches a predetermined distance before the intersection on the preset route, the vehicle can go straight at the pre-input intersection required for the vehicle to travel on the route. Alternatively, guidance information for passing right or left turns is output by voice or the like.

[0004]

The problem to be solved is that the optimal timing for giving guidance information such as right or left turn to the driver ahead of the intersection before the intersection is the skill of the driver or the unguided area. Since the timing is different depending on the situation, if the timing at which the guidance information is issued in front of the intersection is fixed as before, the adaptability is lacking. For example, for an inexperienced driver, right and left turns etc. The timing at which the guidance information is output is too late, and it is difficult to respond to it.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a route from a starting point to a destination on a road map displayed on a screen is set, and a position on a two-dimensional coordinate with the traveling of the vehicle is sequentially determined. Then, when the current position of the vehicle is updated and displayed on the road map to guide the traveling of the vehicle according to the predetermined route, based on the road map data, the current position of the vehicle from the current position to the intersection on the route is determined. Determining the arrival distance or the arrival time, and outputting the guidance information of the passage at the intersection necessary to travel on the route when it reaches a preset distance or time, Depending on the driver's skill at that time or the situation such as whether or not the vehicle is in a non-guide area, the distance or time at which the guide information is output can be variably set by an input operation in advance. It has to.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As shown in FIG. 1, a vehicle traveling guide device according to the present invention comprises a distance sensor 1 for outputting a pulse signal for each unit traveling distance in accordance with, for example, the rotation of a tire of a vehicle, and an angular velocity in a yaw direction. Direction sensor 2 that outputs a signal proportional to the amount of direction change accompanying travel of the vehicle for detecting a change
And counting the number of pulse signals from the distance sensor 1 to measure the traveling distance of the vehicle, and changing the traveling direction of the vehicle in accordance with the output signal of the direction sensor 2 to obtain X- A signal processing device 3 comprising a microcomputer for obtaining the current position on the Y coordinate by sequential calculation and controlling the entire vehicle travel guide device, and a constantly changing XY coordinate obtained by the signal processing device 3 A travel locus storage device 4 for sequentially storing data of the current position of the upper position and storing the data as finite continuous position information of the vehicle, and a map information storage medium in which road map data digitized in advance is stored 5, a storage medium reproducing device 6 for selectively reading road map data of a required area from the storage medium 5, A predetermined road map is displayed on the screen based on the diagram data, and the current position of the vehicle is displayed on the road map displayed on the screen together with the traveling locus and the traveling direction of the vehicle at the current position, if necessary. While giving an operation command to the display device 7 for updating the display according to the traveling of the vehicle and the signal processing device 3,
The user selects and specifies a map to be displayed on the display device 7 and sets a starting point, a destination, and the like of the vehicle on the displayed map. Direction change of the running locus, shift of the display position, partial enlarged display of the map and running locus,
The operation device 8 is capable of appropriately changing the setting of the display mode, such as selecting the display scale.

[0007] In the above configuration, the selectively read road map is displayed on the screen of the display device 7 and the signal processing is performed according to the traveling of the vehicle from the starting point set on the map. The current position on the XY coordinates is calculated by the device 3 in accordance with a preset scale of the map, and the calculation result is sequentially transmitted to the travel locus storage device 4 to update the stored content. At the same time, the stored contents are read out and sent to the display device 7.

As a result, for example, FIG.
As shown in the figure, on the map displayed on the screen, a display mark M1 indicating the current position of the vehicle, a display mark M2 indicating the traveling direction of the vehicle at the current position, and a traveling locus from the starting point S to the current position. The display mark M3 is simulated and displayed following the running state of the vehicle.

According to the present invention, in the signal processing device 3, based on the road map data read from the map information storage medium 5, from the starting point set on the road map displayed on the screen to the destination. For example, by performing a route search that minimizes costs such as distance, average travel time, or a combination thereof on the route, the traffic condition such as one-way traffic is optimized in accordance with auxiliary information written in the road map data. The route is determined, and the optimal route on the road map displayed on the screen is displayed in a special color, and the vehicle is guided so that the current position of the vehicle is updated and displayed on the optimal route. Have to be able to.

Here, various known techniques are widely applied to the basic algorithm of the route search and the determination of the optimum route itself.

In the present invention, as one embodiment, the signal processing device 3 uses the road map data to
The position of the latest intersection is extracted from the current position of the vehicle on the predetermined route, the distance between the intersection and the current position of the vehicle is monitored to monitor the reaching distance to the intersection, and the vehicle at the intersection is The route according to the predetermined route is determined, and when the reaching distance to the intersection becomes the predetermined distance, the vehicle travels straight or turns right or left at the intersection necessary for traveling on the predetermined route based on the determination result of the route. For example, the pre-registered passage guidance information such as is read from the internal memory as appropriate, and the fact is notified.

[0012] Specifically, according to the guide information of the passage,
For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a head-up display (translucent display) 9 provided below the windshield of the vehicle so as not to obstruct the view,
An instruction mark to turn right at the intersection 00m ahead is displayed. Alternatively, an audio output such as "Please turn right at the intersection 100 m ahead" is generated through the audio generation device.

In this case, the present invention is characterized in that a means for variably setting a distance which is a timing for outputting guidance information for passing through an intersection by an input operation is adopted.

Specifically, under the control of the signal processing device 3, for example, as shown in FIG. By operating the touch switch 12 in the DOWN direction, 100
The distance m can be set or changed to be longer or shorter as appropriate.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 5, the operating device 8 is provided with a plurality of touch switches 13 to 15 capable of setting an arbitrary distance, and any one of the touch switches is selectively operated. By doing so, the distance can be set to a predetermined value.

According to the present invention, as another embodiment, the signal processing device 3 uses the
The position of the intersection that is recent to the current position of the vehicle on the predetermined route is extracted, the distance (L) between the intersection and the current position of the vehicle is determined, and the distance from the traveling speed (v) of the vehicle to the intersection is calculated. The arrival time (t = L / v) is calculated and monitored, and the course of the vehicle at the intersection according to a predetermined route is determined. When the arrival time at the intersection reaches a preset time, Based on the determination result of the course, the pre-registered passing guidance information such as straight ahead or right or left turn at the intersection necessary for traveling on the predetermined route is read from the internal memory as appropriate, and the notification to that effect is made as described above. Similarly, it is performed by display display or audio output.

In particular, the present invention is characterized in that a means for variably setting a time serving as a timing for outputting guidance information for passing through an intersection by an input operation is adopted.

More specifically, under the control of the signal processing device 3, for example, as shown in FIG. By operating the touch switch 18 in the DOWN direction, the standard set time of 10 seconds can be appropriately changed to be longer or shorter.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 7, the operation device 8 is provided with a plurality of touch switches 19 to 21 capable of setting an arbitrary time, and any one of the switches is selectively operated. Thus, the time can be set to a predetermined time.

It is needless to say that when outputting the guide information of the passage just before the intersection, the guide information may be output at a variable timing obtained by combining the distance and the time.

Further, as described above, the self-sustained inertial navigation which calculates the position on the two-dimensional coordinates and obtains the current position of the vehicle while detecting the change in the traveling distance and the traveling direction of the vehicle is used. The current position of the vehicle may be measured by radio navigation using a GPS or a sign post using an artificial satellite and displayed on a road map.

Furthermore, without automatically searching for a route from the starting point to the destination, each intersection which is a target of passing between the starting point and the destination is displayed on the road map displayed on the screen. , The route may be set by an input operation.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, the route from the starting point to the destination on the road map displayed on the screen is set, and the position on the two-dimensional coordinates accompanying the traveling of the vehicle is sequentially determined. In this way, the current position of the vehicle is updated and displayed on the road map to guide the traveling of the vehicle according to the predetermined route, and before the intersection on the predetermined route, When outputting guidance information such as going straight or turning right or left when passing an intersection ahead of time, the distance or time at which the guidance information is output depends on the driver's skill, whether it is a non-guide area, etc. It can be set variably according to the guidance information, so that it is possible to optimally respond to deceleration or change lane to make a right or left turn at the previous intersection according to the guidance information That.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a vehicle travel guide device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen in the device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing one mode of display of guidance information on passage at an intersection.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a distance setting unit serving as an output timing of guidance information.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating another example of a setting unit of a distance serving as an output timing of guidance information.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a time setting unit serving as an output timing of guidance information.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating another example of a time setting unit that is a timing for outputting guidance information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Distance sensor 2 Direction sensor 3 Signal processing device 4 Travel locus storage device 5 Map information storage medium 6 Storage medium reproduction device 7 Display device 8 Operation device 9 Head-up display

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-61-182200 (JP, A) JP-A-63-281013 (JP, A) JP-A-58-204307 (JP, A) JP-A-4-110720 (JP) JP-A-61-117699 (JP, A) JP-A-2-114117 (JP, A) JP-A-5-224600 (JP, A) JP-A-4-289416 (JP, A) 58-144710 (JP, A) JP-A-4-315191 (JP, A) JP-A-61-60400 (JP, U) JP-A-4-53511 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A means for obtaining a position on a two-dimensional coordinate of a vehicle and displaying a current position of the vehicle on a road map displayed on a screen, and from a starting point on the road map to a destination. Means for setting a route, and calculating a reaching distance or a reaching time from a current position of the vehicle to an intersection on the route based on the road map data, and when it reaches a preset distance or time. A means for outputting guidance information for passing at the intersection required to travel on the route, and a means for variably setting a distance or time at which the guidance information is output by an input operation. Vehicle travel guidance device.