JP2867589B2 - Voice guidance device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a moving object, for example, a car used for an automobile.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation system for detecting a current position of a moving body in a navigation location system and guiding a driver, a passenger, and the like of geographic information near the current position by voice.

<Conventional Technology> Conventionally, a car navigation system that provides a driver with vehicle position information and route guidance information has been provided. This system is equipped with a direction sensor such as a geomagnetic sensor and a gyro, a mileage sensor that measures the mileage, a map memory, and a display.The current position of the vehicle is obtained, and the position and the vector of the traveling direction are displayed on the display. This is superimposed and displayed on a map.

The driver can grasp the position on the map and the direction in which the vehicle is traveling while looking at the display.

In the above car navigation system,
Since the driver must look at the display while driving, it is dangerous, so the location information of the vehicle is displayed on the screen, and at the same time, the location name, intersection name, A device for notifying a driver of a road name by voice has been proposed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 64-75911 and 64-16915).

For example, when approaching an intersection or the like, a voice such as "You are at an intersection in 1 km" or "Please turn right at a three-way" can be issued to instruct the driver of the distance to the intersection or the direction of turning.

However, the above voice guidance device has the following problem.

Only ordinary names such as "intersection" and "three-way intersection" are uttered, and guidance based on actual place names such as "Tokyo Station" or "intersection of Ginza x Chome" is not possible, so the ability to appeal to drivers is weak.

Since only a limited number of fixed phrases such as "I'm going to be at Xkm xxx" or "Please turn right" are uttered, the driver gets tired of listening immediately and the driver stops paying attention.

Therefore, the present applicant has filed a patent application for the purpose of proposing a voice guidance device that can provide voice guidance in accordance with an actual place name, and can provide a voice guidance by creating a sentence that does not get tired of change. ("Audio guidance device" on April 17, 1990).

According to this voice guidance device, a guide text suitable for the site can be created on the spot and output as a voice, and the guide text can have a wide variety of variations.

Therefore, qualified and abundant information can be provided to the driver while traveling, and great support can be provided in case of geographical guidance.

<Problem to be Solved by the Invention> However, one problem is how to set the timing for guiding an object.

For example, it is conceivable to start guidance when the distance between the vehicle and the object approaches a certain distance, but if you are driving at high speed or if the guidance text is long, before reading the guidance text, It is inconvenient to pass by the object to be guided and to look back to see the object.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve this problem, and a voice guide that can appropriately guide a driver or a passenger by controlling the length of a guide text according to the speed of a vehicle. It is intended to provide a device.

<Means and Actions for Solving the Problems> As shown in FIG. 1, a voice guidance device according to the present invention for achieving the above object includes a road map storage unit A storing road map data, Guide information storage means B storing the name and description of the point in association with the position of the specific point above, position detection means C for detecting the vehicle position,
When detecting that the position of the vehicle has approached a specific point on the map, a sentence generating means D for searching for the name and description of the specific point and creating a guidance message, and converting the created guidance message into an audio signal Based on the position obtained from the speed detecting means F for detecting the speed of the vehicle and the position detecting means C, together with the voice rule synthesizing means E for conversion, a point at a predetermined distance before the object to be guided is The time to reach is determined by the speed obtained from the speed detecting means F,
Priority is assigned to each part of the guidance message created by the road map storage means A, the arrival time prediction means G calculated using the geographical information obtained from the guidance information storage means B, and the text generation means D. Within the arrival time calculated by the arrival time calculated by the ranking means H, the reading time calculation means I for calculating the time required to read each part of the guide sentence created by the text generation means D, and the arrival time prediction means G,
According to the time required to read each part of the guidance sentence calculated by the reading time calculation means I and the priority given by the ranking means H, the guidance sentence is selected and selected so that the guidance sentence is almost completely read. A sentence selecting means J provided to the voice rule synthesizing means E at a point at a predetermined distance before the object.

According to the above voice guidance device, the position of the vehicle is obtained by the position detecting means C and transmitted to the text generating means D. The sentence generation means D searches the road map storage means A and the guidance information storage means B according to the position of the vehicle to create a guidance sentence.

On the other hand, the arrival time predicting means G obtains an arrival time from a predetermined distance before the object to be guided to the arrival at the object. The sentence selection means J determines the time required to read each part of the guidance sentence calculated by the reading time calculation means I and the priority assigned by the ranking means H so that the guidance sentence is almost completely read within the arrival time. The guidance text is selected according to the rank and provided to the voice rule synthesis means E at a point at a predetermined distance before the object. The voice rule synthesizing means E converts the guidance sentence into a voice signal and starts voice guidance.

The guide information storage means B may store the names and descriptions of the locations and the priorities corresponding to the respective parts of the descriptions. The ranking calculation by the ranking means H becomes unnecessary, and the ranking means H can be omitted.

Further, the guidance information storage means B may store the reading time of each part of the explanation together with the name and explanation of the point. According to this, the calculation of the reading time by the reading time calculation means I becomes unnecessary, and the reading time calculation means I can be omitted.

<Example> Hereinafter, an example will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the voice guidance device. The voice guidance device is mounted on the body 11 of a car, and includes: a road map database 4 storing road map data; and a unique name of a specific point on the road map corresponding to the position information of the point. A guidance information database 1 stored and stored; a geomagnetic sensor 10 mounted on the roof of the vehicle body 11; a wheel speed sensor 9 mounted on wheels of the vehicle body 11; azimuth information of the geomagnetic sensor 10 and running of the wheel speed sensor 9; A position / speed detection unit 8 that calculates a traveling locus based on the distance information and detects the current vehicle position and speed; and when detecting that the position of the vehicle has approached a specific point on the map, the specific point A sentence generation unit 2 that searches for a unique name and description of the point based on the location information of the location, and creates a guidance sentence along with a fixed sentence. The text generation unit 2 reaches an object to be guided. Arrival time prediction using the position and speed of the vehicle obtained from the position / speed detector 8, the road information obtained from the road map database 4, and the position of the target obtained from the guidance information database 1. Unit 12, a ranking unit 13 that ranks the guidance sentence created by the sentence generation unit 2 from the sentence that appears first, and a time required to read each part of the guidance sentence created by the sentence generation unit 2. A text-to-speech-time calculating unit 14 for calculating the sentence for discarding the guidance text according to the priority given by the ranking unit 13 so that the guidance text is almost completely read within the arrival time calculated by the arrival time prediction unit 12. A selecting unit 15; a voice rule synthesizing unit 3 for converting the created guidance text into a voice signal; a speaker 7 for outputting the synthesized voice; a map obtained from the road map database 4;
A display control unit 5 for displaying the current vehicle position detected by the speed detection unit 8 on the display 6; and a display 6.

The speaker 7 may be prepared for exclusive use, or a part of an audio device such as a car stereo mounted on the vehicle may be used.

The configuration of the voice guidance device is not limited to the above. For example, a gyro (mechanical gyro, laser gyro, optical fiber gyro) may be used instead of the geomagnetic sensor 10 to detect the turning angular velocity of the vehicle body, and the direction information may be obtained by time integration. Instead of the wheel speed sensor 9, the travel distance may be obtained by using an odometer attached to the vehicle. Further, the position / speed detecting unit 8 performs matching between the detected vehicle position and the road on the map, and corrects the error of the vehicle position by using the restriction that the vehicle travels only on the road. (See JP-A-63-148115).

The guide information database 1 may be constituted by, for example, a CD-ROM, or may be other optical disks, magnetic disks,
Various media such as a semiconductor memory can be used. In order to reduce the hardware cost, for example, one CD-ROM area may be divided and shared by the road map database 4 and the guidance information database 1.

The guidance information database 1 stores a unique name, coordinates, and detailed description of the guidance target. Table 1 shows an example of the stored data.

The sentence generation unit 2 is composed of, for example, a microcomputer function, and has a fixed sentence, for example, "There is XXXX soon." This "xxx"
The unique name obtained by the search of the guide information database 1 is applied to the portion corresponding to "x", and the detailed description is searched from the guide information database 1 and the voice is output together.

If the text generation unit 2 and the display control unit 5 are provided by the function of one microcomputer, they can be shared by one piece of hardware, so that a reduction in hardware development load and a reduction in cost can be realized. The functions of the arrival time predicting unit 12, the reading end time calculating unit 13, and the guidance start control unit 14 can also be realized by using a microcomputer, so that all of them can be realized by one microcomputer.

The voice rule synthesizing unit 3 uses a so-called text synthesizing device that inputs a sentence mixed with kanji and kana. In the case of text synthesis, the text is collated with a dictionary containing kanji and kana mixed sentences, converted to reading, and then subjected to speech synthesis. It is also possible to display sentences on the display 6.

In the above voice guidance device, the position / speed detection unit 8 detects the current vehicle position, and when it is determined that the vehicle is approaching Yamada Shrine, the position information is transmitted to the text generation unit 2. The sentence generation unit 2 searches the guidance information database 1 according to the position of the vehicle, creates a guidance sentence about Yamada Shrine, and sends it to the voice rule synthesis unit 3.

For example, (1) "Year soon Yamada Shrine" It almost disappeared in the late fire, but it was rebuilt in the Taisho era. (4) A night shop will open on the 15th of every month.

Of these, (1) applies the sentence pattern "Soon, there is XXXX." To the unique name of "Yamada Shrine", and (2), (3), and (4) are guidance It is obtained by searching the detailed information of the information database 1.

The reading time calculation unit 14 receives this sentence and calculates the time required to finish reading the text. For example, to output at a rate of about 8 syllables per second, in this example, (1) is
There are 15 syllables, so it is predicted about 2 seconds, (2) is 40 syllables, so it is about 5 seconds, and (3) is about 65 syllables, about 8
Seconds are predicted, and (4) is predicted to be about 2.3 seconds because it is about 18 syllables.

On the other hand, the arrival time prediction unit 12 predicts the time that the vehicle will reach Yamada Shrine. For example, based on a point 150m in front of Yamada Shrine, it is predicted that the vehicle speed is 9 seconds at an average vehicle speed of 60km, 13.5 seconds at an average vehicle speed of 40km, and 18 seconds at an average vehicle speed of 30km. .

The ranking unit 13 ranks the sentences (1), (2), (3), and (4). (1) is indispensable for understanding the guidance target, so it is set to the highest rank [0], and (2),
(3) and (4) are [1], [2], and [3], respectively, according to the description in the database.

The sentence selection unit 15 selects sentences in ascending order of priority as far as possible within the time predicted by the arrival time prediction unit 12, and sends the selected sentences to the speech rule synthesis unit 3. For example, if the arrival time is 9 seconds, (1) and (2) are selected (speaking time is 7 seconds). If the arrival time is 13.5 seconds, select (1), (2) and (4) (reading time is 9.3 seconds). If the arrival time is 18 seconds, (1), (2), (3), and (4) are selected (reading time is 17.3 seconds).

The speech rule synthesizing unit 3 receives the selected sentence, converts it into speech, and outputs it. Therefore, it is possible to pass near Yamada Shrine by the time the audio output of the guidance message ends.

The output audio signal is an audio amplifier (not shown)
Through the speaker 7 to be heard by the driver and passengers.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the ranking unit 13 may be omitted, and the guide information database 1 may store the priorities of the explanation units. According to this, the storage contents of the guidance information database 1 are as shown in Table 2.

Further, the reading time calculation unit 14 may be omitted, and the reading information time of each unit described in the description may be stored in the guidance information database 1.

Furthermore, the speech rule synthesizing unit 3 is not limited to a text synthesizing device if it is not intended to display it on the display 6 in the form of a kanji-kana mixed sentence. The sentence generation unit 2 may directly generate a sentence expressed in the form of phonetic characters, and the speech rule synthesis unit 3 may convert the sentence into speech. In this case, the guidance information database 1 may be registered in a reading form.

Further, the present invention can be applied to other moving objects such as ships and aircraft (for example, pleasure boats and pleasure planes).

<Effects of the Invention> As described above, according to the voice guidance device of the present invention, the content of the guidance text is changed according to the priority order so that the guidance target can be passed just after the guidance is completed. You can choose.

Therefore, the guide object is always passed when the guide is completed, and the contents of the guide and the target object can be related to each other, so that guidance based on the actual place can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a voice guidance device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a voice guidance device according to an embodiment. A: road map storage means, B: guidance information storage means, C: position detection means, D: text generation means, E: voice rule synthesis means, F: speed detection means, G: arrival time Predicting means, H ... ranking means, I ... reading time calculating means, J ... sentence selecting means

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G08G 1/0969 G01C 21/00

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A road map storage means (A) storing road map data, and a guide information storage means (B) storing a name and description of a specific point on a road map in association with the position of the point. Position detecting means (C) for detecting the position of the vehicle; and detecting that the position of the vehicle has approached a specific point on the map, searching for the name and description of the specific point, and creating a guidance text. Sentence generating means (D), voice rule synthesizing means (E) for converting the created guidance text into voice signals, speed detecting means (F) for detecting the speed of the vehicle, and position detecting means (C). Based on the position to be guided, the time required to reach the target from a point at a predetermined distance before the target to be guided is determined by the speed obtained from the speed detecting means (F), the road map storage means (A), and the guidance information. Storage means (B)
Arrival time prediction means (G) calculated by using geographical information obtained from the information processing apparatus; and ranking means (H) for prioritizing each part of the guide text created by the text generation means (D). A reading time calculating means (I) for calculating the time required to read each part of the guidance sentence created by the sentence generating means (D); and a reading time calculating means (G). In order to almost finish reading the guidance text, the guidance text is read according to the time required to read each part of the guidance text calculated by the reading time calculation means (I) and the priority given by the ranking means (H). A voice guidance device, comprising: a sentence selection means (J) for selecting and providing the voice rule synthesis means (E) at a point at a predetermined distance before the object. 2. The voice guidance apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ranking means (H) is omitted, and the guide information storage means (B) stores the names and descriptions of the spots and the priorities of the explanation parts. . 3. The reading time calculating means (I) is omitted, and the guidance information storage means (B) stores the reading time of each part of the description together with the name and description of the point. Voice guidance device.