JP2944866B2 - How to set the position or section on the map screen - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is suitably applied to a so-called navigation device capable of displaying a vehicle position and a destination on a map screen. The present invention relates to a method for setting corresponding positions or sections.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The navigation device is mounted on an automobile, and displays the position of the own vehicle on a map screen.
This device updates the display as the vehicle travels. In recent years, in this navigation device, by inputting the current location and a destination or a waypoint,
From the current location to the destination or transit point, for example, a route having the shortest distance is calculated, and a route search function for displaying the route as a recommended route has been added.

[0003] Therefore, it is necessary to set a vehicle position for setting the current position and the destination.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example at the time of position setting according to a typical conventional technique. In the navigation device, the map screen is recorded on a recording medium such as a so-called CD-ROM disk, and a map screen of a desired area is read out and displayed in accordance with the progress of the vehicle or an input operation by an operator. You. The map information recorded on the CD-ROM disk or the like includes coordinates of points indicated as nodes, such as intersections and intersections obtained by approximating curves, and distances of road sections called links connecting the nodes. And so on.

On the other hand, the set destination and waypoint are stored, for example, with their latitude and longitude with an accuracy of about 1/10 second. In a typical prior art, in FIG.
Is moved to a desired position and the setting is performed, thereby completing the setting of the current position and the destination as indicated by reference numeral P2.

[0006]

The search for the recommended route to the destination set in this way is performed from the current location to the node closest to the destination. Therefore, in the above-described related art, at an intersection having a complicated shape or the like, the road section indicated by the reference numeral L2 may be set instead of the road section indicated by the reference numeral L1 instead of the originally set road section. There is also. In this case, when the set position is the destination, for example, a recommended route is calculated based on an erroneous road section indicated by reference L2 with respect to a road section of a correct recommended path indicated by reference L1. I will.

In order to prevent such a problem, a typical conventional technique requires a complicated operation for switching the scale of the map screen. However, even if the scale is selected to be the largest, it is still difficult to set accurately at a place where the road shape is complicated such as an intersection.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method for setting a desired position or a desired section such as a traffic congestion section and a construction section on a map screen with a simple operation and accurately. is there.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for setting a position or a section on a map screen, the method comprising: moving a cursor on the map screen to temporarily set a desired position; A map screen near the tentatively set position is displayed in an enlarged scale in response to the setting, and a desired position or section is permanently set by moving a cursor on the enlarged display screen. The upper position or section setting method.

Further, according to the present invention, the map screen is formed to include a point such as an intersection or a turning point of a curve, and a road section connecting the points, and the desired position or section is defined by the temporary location. It is characterized in that it can be selectively set on the point or road section near the set position.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the cursor is sequentially moved and displayed adjacent to the point or the road section near the temporarily set position in response to a key operation. I do.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that information on the selected point or road section is displayed.

[0013]

According to the present invention, navigation used for route guidance or the like is performed by displaying a desired position such as a current location or a destination on a map screen or displaying a desired section such as a congested section or a construction section. In the apparatus or the like, when setting the position or the section, first, the operator moves a cursor on the map screen and temporarily sets the position near a desired position. In response, the map screen near the temporarily set position is enlarged and displayed. Subsequently, the operator moves the cursor on the enlarged screen to set a desired position or section. Therefore, a desired position or section can be accurately set by a simple operation even near an intersection having a complicated shape.

Preferably, the map screen includes a point such as an intersection or a turning point of a curve, and a road section connecting the points, and the position or the section is set correspondingly. In the vicinity of the temporarily set position, it can be selectively set on the desired point or road section.
Therefore, it is possible to easily set a desired position or section on the point or the road section without requiring a fine movement operation of the cursor.

Still more preferably, a cursor is sequentially moved and displayed adjacent to a point or a road section near the temporarily set position in response to a key operation. This makes it possible to easily search for a position or section to be permanently set without requiring a complicated cursor operation.

[0016] Preferably, information on the selected point or road section, for example, the name of an intersection or a road, or the type of a traffic congestion section or a construction section is displayed by an image or a sound. This makes it possible to easily confirm the position or section to be set.

[0017]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electric configuration of a navigation apparatus 1 using a setting method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The navigation device 1 is mounted on an automobile and displays a current position and a route guide to a destination, and is used for determining a course of a driver.

Therefore, roughly, in the navigation apparatus 1, the central processing unit 3 realized by a microcomputer or the like responds to the input operation to the operation key 2 via the communication bus 10 and the CD-ROM device. Instruct 4 to read map information of a desired area. In response to the instruction, the processing circuit 5 reads the corresponding area map information from the map information recorded on the CD-ROM disc 7 as the recording medium via the decoder 6. Thus, the processing circuit 5
The central processing unit 3 drives the display device 9 realized by a liquid crystal display device or the like via the display drive circuit 8 in accordance with the map information input from the The map screen display of the desired area is realized.

When the current location is set as described later, the central processing unit 3 responds to the detection results of the geomagnetic sensor 12 and the wheel speed sensor 13 input from the processing circuit 11 via the communication bus 10. Then, the azimuth and distance of travel of the vehicle are calculated, the map information of the map screen corresponding to the current location is read from the CD-ROM device 4, and the map screen is scrolled and displayed together with the current location.

Further, at predetermined intervals, the traveling locus of the vehicle is compared with the road shape obtained from the map information. For example, when the vehicle turns right or left at an intersection, the current position is corrected so that the traveling locus matches the road shape. Perform the matching process to be performed. In this way, as indicated by reference numeral P11 in FIG. 2A, the marker indicating the current position and the traveling direction of the own vehicle is updated and displayed together with the map screen according to the traveling of the own vehicle.

Further, as described above, the present location is input, and then the map screen is scrolled, and the operator searches for the destination, sets the position of the destination, and selects the route search. As shown in FIG. 2 (2), a recommended route having the shortest distance, for example, from the current location indicated by the reference symbol P11 to the destination indicated by the reference symbol P12 is calculated and displayed.

The map information recorded on the CD-ROM disk 7 is referred to as coordinates of points indicated as nodes, such as intersections and intersections obtained by approximating curves, and links for connecting the nodes. The distance of each road section, the road width of each link, and the type of each link, such as an expressway or a national road, are shown. Also, the set destinations and stopovers are
The latitude and longitude are stored with an accuracy of about 1/10 second,
When a route search is instructed, a route to the nearest point or link to the latitude and longitude of the destination or the waypoint is searched.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram for explaining the operation of calculating and displaying a recommended route as described above. When a current location, a destination, or a stopover is input from the input unit 21 such as the operation key 2 or the processing circuit 11, the route search unit 2
2 reads out the map information from the CD-ROM device 4 or the like as indicated by a reference numeral 23, stores the read out map information in the storage unit 24, performs the arithmetic processing in the data operation unit 25, and For example, a route having the shortest distance is calculated and output to the route guidance unit 26.

On the other hand, the map information is also stored in the current location detecting unit 2.
7, an image in which the current position is combined with the map screen is displayed and output on the output unit 28 such as the display device 9. The route guide unit 26 displays the recommended route input from the route search unit 22 on the output unit 28, compares the recommended route with the current location detected by the current location detection unit 27, and adds, for example, an intersection name or a road name. When it is time to display information, the information is output via the output unit 28.
The output of the additional information may be performed not only by image display but also by audio display.

In the navigation device 1 configured as described above, the operation key 2 is a current position setting key 2a.
, Destination setting key 2b, waypoint setting key 2c, cursor key 2d, setting key 2e, route search key 2f
It is comprised including. The above setting operation will be described in detail below using these keys 2a to 2f.

The operator operates the cursor key 2d to move the marker P to a position near a desired position as shown in FIG.
When the current position setting key 2a, the destination setting key 2b, or the transit point setting key 2c is operated by moving the key 21, the provisional setting is performed, and the screen display changes to the marker P21 as shown in FIG. A predetermined range around the center is enlarged. In this state, in one embodiment of the present invention, the operator operates the cursor key 2d again to move the cursor P20 to a desired position, and operates the setting key 2e. Thus, the setting of the position such as the current position, the destination, or the waypoint is completed.

Thus, an intersection P called a node
22, P23, P24, and road section L called a link
The desired position can be accurately set in relation to 21 to L27. In addition, the setting can be easily performed without requiring complicated operations such as changing the scale.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a setting operation according to another embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the setting is performed after first selecting whether the desired position is set on a point such as the intersection or a turning point or on a road section. Therefore, when the point setting is selected, FIG.
As shown in (1), a point such as an intersection is denoted by a reference symbol P.
Markers are displayed as indicated by 31, P32, and P33, and the cursor P is operated by operating the cursor key 2d.
35 sequentially moves through these points P31, P32, and P33, and the point indicated by the cursor P35 when the setting key 2e is operated. In the case of FIG. 5A, the point P33.
Is set as a desired position.

On the other hand, when the section setting is selected, as shown in FIG. 5B, the sections L21 to L27 are sequentially selected by operating the cursor key 2d, and the cursor P35 moves. The section indicated by the cursor P35 when the setting key 2e is operated, that is, FIG.
In the case of (2), the section L23 is set as a desired section.

As still another embodiment of the present invention, when there is information related to a point or a section indicated by a cursor, for example, an intersection name or a road name, as shown in FIG. The information may be displayed on the corner, and the operator may be notified by voice or the like. As a result, it is possible to quickly and accurately search for a position or section desired by the operator.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of setting a desired position or section as described above.
In a state where the marker P21 is moved to a position near a desired position as shown in FIG. 4A by operating the cursor key 2d, in step n1, the current position setting key 2a, the destination setting key 2b, or the via point setting is performed. When any one of the keys 2c is operated, a position setting request is generated, and temporary setting is performed in step n2. In step n3, FIG.
As shown in (2), the vicinity of the temporarily set position is enlarged and displayed.

In step n4, in accordance with the selected state of the point / section selection key, it is selected whether to set a point such as an intersection or a turning point or a road section between the points. In step n5, the desired position is adjusted by operating the cursor key 2d. In step n6, when the point or section specified in step n5 has related information such as an intersection name or a road name, or a type such as a congestion section or a construction section,
The information is displayed as shown in FIG.

In step n7, it is determined whether or not the setting key 2e has been operated. If not, the process returns to step n4. If so, the process proceeds to step n8, where the setting operation is terminated, and the set position or section is set. Display the marker and end the operation.

In the above embodiment, the geomagnetic sensor 12 and the wheel speed sensor 1 are used to determine the travel route of the vehicle.
3 was used, but as another embodiment of the present invention,
The so-called GPS (Global Pos), which receives signals from satellites orbiting the earth and measures the current location by triangulation
The current position may be measured by using a directional system, or another direction sensor such as a vibration gyro sensor or an optical fiber gyro sensor may be used instead of the geomagnetic sensor 12.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention, when setting a desired position such as a current position or a destination or a desired section such as a traffic congestion section or a construction section on a map screen, temporary setting is first performed. Since the map screen near the provisionally set position is enlarged and the main setting is performed based on the enlarged screen, a desired operation can be accurately performed without a complicated operation such as changing the scale. A position and a desired section can be set.

[0036] Preferably, the map screen is formed to include points such as intersections or curves, and road sections connecting the points, and correspondingly, the position or section setting is temporarily set. Since it is possible to selectively set the desired point or road section near the set position,
It is possible to easily set a desired position or section on the point or the road section without requiring a fine movement operation of the cursor.

Still more preferably, the cursor is sequentially moved in response to a key operation and displayed adjacent to a point or a road section near the temporarily set position. The search can be easily performed without requiring a complicated cursor operation.

Preferably, information on the selected point or road section, for example, an intersection name, a road name, or the like is displayed as an image or a voice, so that the position or section to be set can be easily confirmed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of a navigation device 1 using a setting method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example of a current location and a recommended route.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram for explaining the operation of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an operation of setting a position or a section according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a position or section setting operation according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example of still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining a position setting operation according to the related art.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Navigation device 2 Operation key 2a Current position setting key 2b Destination setting key 2d Cursor key 2f Route search key 3 Central processing unit 4 CD-ROM device 5,11 Processing circuit 9 Display device 12 Geomagnetic sensor 13 Wheel speed sensor

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for setting a position or a section on a map screen, the method comprising: moving a cursor on the map screen to temporarily set a desired position; A map screen near the specified position is enlarged and displayed, and the desired position or section is set permanently by moving a cursor on the enlarged display screen. 2. The map screen is formed to include a point such as an intersection or a turning point of a curve, and a road section connecting the points, and the desired position or section is temporarily set. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the method is capable of selectively setting a point or a road section near a position. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the cursor is sequentially moved and displayed adjacent to the point or the road section near the temporarily set position in response to a key operation. How to set the position or section on the map screen described. 4. The method according to claim 2, wherein information on the selected point or road section is displayed.