JP3054272B2 - Route guidance device for vehicles - 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 route guidance device mounted on a vehicle for guiding a route to a destination, and more particularly to a voice or / and display for notifying a road to be selected at an intersection.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various devices for reducing the burden on the driver have been studied and mounted on vehicles. Among them, a route for guiding along a route to a destination is included. There is a guidance device. The route guidance device has a function of notifying a driver of a route to be selected when passing through an intersection including a junction such as a Y-shaped road. There is a route guidance device that provides an image display device with a display on a panel and informs the driver of the route. Also,
In addition to such notification by image display, a device that performs route notification by voice is also known. For example, JP-A-62-2
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 267900 discloses an apparatus for giving a voice instruction when a vehicle reaches a predetermined position before an intersection or a junction where a route is to be notified. According to such route guidance by voice, the driver does not need to look at the display or the like, and can concentrate on monitoring ahead.

Furthermore, it is preferable that such guidance at an intersection or the like be announced to some extent before the intersection or the like. That is, the driver may not be able to cope with the route guidance even immediately before the intersection. For example, if the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is two lanes and the vehicle is traveling on the left lane, it is not possible to immediately turn right even if the guidance of "turn right" is given. That is, it is necessary to change the lane to the right lane and then turn right. Like changing lanes,
It is necessary to perform a preparation operation for a left turn or a right turn in advance.

[0004] In order to make this extra time, it is necessary to give a notice to some extent before an intersection as described above. Then, stepwise guidance, such as providing guidance immediately before an intersection or the like, is preferable. by this,
Route guidance that enables smooth driving operation can be performed.

[0005]

However, as described above, in the route guidance apparatus that provides stepwise route guidance, when route guidance for an expected notice is not performed and route guidance is performed immediately before an intersection. However, the driver may not be able to cope with this quickly. That is, since the driver thinks that there is route guidance immediately before the intersection after the announcement guidance, there is a problem that if the route guidance without the announcement is performed, the driver may feel inappropriate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and when the advance notice is not provided,
It is an object of the present invention to provide a vehicle route guidance device that prohibits route guidance immediately before an intersection and does not make the driver feel unnecessary guidance.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a vehicle route guidance apparatus according to the present invention provides a notice of a selected route at an intersection by voice or / and display at a predetermined distance before the intersection. Means for guiding a route to be selected at the intersection by voice or / and display immediately before the intersection.
Further, a notice end determining means for determining whether or not the notice by the notice means has been performed, and a guide prohibiting means for prohibiting the guidance by the guide means when the notice has not been completed by the notice end determining means. have.

[0008]

The present invention has the above-described configuration, and detects whether or not the advance guidance has been performed. If the advance guidance has not been performed, the route guidance immediately before the intersection can be prohibited.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present apparatus. A map information storage unit 10 that stores information such as roads, place names, building names, river names, and the like is provided.
The stored map information can be read as needed. Also, a GPS receiver 14 using a satellite navigation system (hereinafter referred to as GPS) for measuring the current position of the vehicle, a direction sensor 16 for detecting the direction of travel of the vehicle based on geomagnetism, A distance sensor 18 for detecting the traveling distance is provided, and the current position measurement unit 12 determines the current position of the own vehicle based on the detection results of these sensors.

When performing route guidance to the destination, the destination is instructed on a screen of a display unit to be described later by the input unit 19, or the destination is input by the place name or the like. A route from the position to the destination is calculated by the route calculation unit 22 included in the calculation unit 20, and the calculated route is stored in the route storage unit 24.

After inputting the destination and determining the route, actual route guidance is performed. The route guidance control unit 26 included in the calculation unit 20 reads map information around the own vehicle from the map information storage unit 10 and superimposes the current position and traveling direction of the own vehicle on the route stored in the route storage unit 24. Is displayed on the display unit 28.

The display unit 28 is provided in an instrument panel near the driver's seat.
To check the position of the vehicle and obtain information about the future route. FIG. 2 shows an example of this display. In FIG. 2, the selected route is indicated by a thick solid line 100, and other roads are indicated by a thin solid line 102. The position of the host vehicle is indicated by a circle 104 and the traveling direction is indicated by a wedge-shaped arrow 106. For road markings,
The distinction can be made not only by the line thickness but also by changing the color.

At the intersection 10 where the position of the vehicle is to be changed
When the distance approaches 8, the display screen changes as shown in FIG. 3, and the intersection name 110 and the distance 112 to the intersection are displayed. The route guidance control unit 26 also instructs the voice control unit 30 to generate a voice corresponding to the route guidance at the intersection at the same time as the display switching. The voice control unit 30 reads information stored as digital data in the voice storage unit, converts the information into an analog signal, and drives the speaker 34. Then, the driver gives route guidance to the driver such as "turn left at the next intersection." This voice instruction is performed at predetermined intervals until the vehicle passes through the intersection.

Further, route guidance and notice guidance at an intersection will be described in more detail. In FIG. 4, when the vehicle comes 300 m (point A) before the intersection where the vehicle turns right,
A notice guidance command is issued by a notice unit 26a provided in the route guidance control unit. Display unit 28 and voice control unit 3
0 receives this and performs display and voice guidance corresponding to this.
In the voice guidance, guidance is given, for example, "300 m ahead, turn right at the intersection." Upon hearing the notice, the driver brings his / her vehicle to the center line and performs a right turn preparation operation. Then, when the vehicle reaches the position immediately before the intersection (point B), a route guidance command is issued by the guidance unit 26d provided in the route guidance control unit 26. The display unit 28 and the voice control unit 30 provide guidance according to this. Voice control unit 30
Provides route guidance, for example, "You are about to turn right at the intersection. Please be careful." The driver performs a right turn operation according to this guidance.

Further, in the apparatus according to the present embodiment, apart from such a series of guidance in which the route guidance is performed after the normal preliminary guidance, if the preliminary guidance is not performed, the route guidance by voice immediately before the intersection is performed. Is performed to prohibit. For example, when the vehicle stops at point C in FIG. 4 and starts after performing a route search, the route guidance immediately before the intersection is performed immediately before the intersection. In this embodiment, the route guidance by voice is performed in this embodiment. Ban. In such a case, even if the driver immediately receives a right turn guidance immediately before the intersection, the driver may not be able to turn the vehicle to the center line in time, and eventually cannot make a right turn. At this time, the driver may feel that inappropriate guidance has been received.

For this reason, as described above, the present embodiment prohibits the voice guidance at this time. FIG.
, The notice end determination unit 26b determines whether the notice guidance is performed by the notice unit 26a. When the announcement guidance is not performed, the guidance prohibition unit 26c instructs the guidance unit 26d to prohibit the route guidance. By this prohibition instruction, the route guidance by voice immediately before the intersection when the advance guidance is not performed is prohibited. In such a case, the driver performs the driving operation according to the instruction on the display unit 28. Also, as mentioned above, in addition to prohibiting voice route guidance,
Route guidance by display may also be prohibited.

As described above, when the advance guidance is not performed, the route guidance immediately before the intersection is prohibited, so that the driver can be prevented from feeling inappropriate guidance.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention, route guidance immediately before an intersection is prohibited if advance notice is not provided. Thus, it is possible to prevent the driver from feeling that an inappropriate instruction has been received.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a preferred embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the apparatus according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the apparatus according to the present embodiment, particularly illustrating an example of an enlarged display when approaching an intersection where a right or left turn is made;

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the device of the present embodiment when turning right.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 map information storage unit 26 route guidance control unit 26a notice unit 26b notice end determination unit 26c guidance prohibition unit 26d guidance unit

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yuki Morimoto 10 Takane, Fujii-machi, Anjo, Aichi Prefecture Inside Aisin AW Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shoji Yokoyama 10 Takane, Fujii-cho, Anjo, Aichi Aisin Ai・ Within W.K. (72) Inventor Kenji Kuroda, at 10 Takane, Fujii-cho, Anjo-shi, Aichi Prefecture Inside of Aisin AW Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-64-16915 (JP, A) JP-A-62 -267900 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G08G 1/0969 G01C 21/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vehicular route guidance device that provides guidance by voice or / and display at an intersection and guides a route to a destination, wherein the intersection is provided with a voice or / and / or display at a predetermined distance before the intersection. Notification means for giving an advance notice of the selected route in the above, guidance means for giving a voice or / and display to guide the route to be selected at the intersection immediately before the intersection, and determining whether or not the advance notice means has been given And a guidance prohibition unit for prohibiting the guidance by the guidance unit when the notification has not been completed by the notice termination determination unit.