JP3140187B2 - 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 route guidance device for a vehicle which performs route guidance by voice.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various devices for reducing the burden on a driver have been studied and are now mounted on vehicles. Among them, there is a route guidance device for guiding a route to a destination. This route guidance device has a function of notifying a driver of a route to be selected when passing through a junction such as an intersection, and a route guidance device using a guidance voice is known (for example, a route guidance device). JP-A-1-17819
No.).

In this route guidance apparatus by voice, the current position is always detected, and guidance by voice is automatically performed when approaching an intersection where the vehicle turns right or left. For example, a voice guidance such as "Go left 100 m ahead" 100 m before the intersection is provided.

[0004] Accordingly, the driver does not need to visually check the display or the like, so that the burden on the driver can be reduced and the correct route can be easily selected even on the first road.

[0005]

On the other hand, on a road to which a driver knows to some extent, a route search may have been performed, but guidance may not be necessary. Then, the display on the display is sufficient if the driver does not see it, but the voice guidance is heard when this is output. Therefore, it is conceivable to provide a switch for turning off voice guidance. In other words, if voice guidance is turned off, only route guidance using the display is performed,
The driver does not feel annoyed by the voice guidance.

However, the fact that the vehicle is traveling after performing a route search is considered that the driver wants route guidance to some extent. On the other hand, route guidance using a screen has a problem that it is more difficult to recognize than voice. For this reason, it is considered preferable that voice guidance can be performed when the driver requests.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a vehicle route guidance device capable of performing timely voice guidance on demand.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a vehicle route guidance device for outputting route guidance voice to provide route guidance, and selects whether or not guidance voice output is automatically performed at a predetermined timing. Means for selecting whether to perform the operation, prohibiting means for prohibiting the output of the guidance voice when the selection by the necessity selection means is not performed, and output request input means for inputting the output request when the guidance voice is desired. And create a guide voice
Judge the necessity of voice output based on the means and presence / absence of route guidance
Judgment means, and when the vehicle is being guided,
Determines that the audio output is needed by the determining means, in accordance with the output request of the voice guidance, the prohibition of the inhibiting means is canceled a predetermined period, outputs guidance created in the upper Symbol creating means
If the route is not guided,
It determines that the audio output is negative, characterized by chromatic and guide output means does not output the guide, the. In addition, the present invention
Is a route guidance for vehicles that outputs guidance voice and performs route guidance
Device that constantly generates guidance voices as the vehicle travels.
Creation means and a plan that is automatically performed at a predetermined timing
Means for selecting whether or not to output the internal audio;
When the selection by the rejection selection means is negative, the guidance voice
Prohibition means to prohibit the output of information and guidance voice
Output request input means for inputting the output request;
Prohibition of the above prohibition means is prescribed in response to a request to output a guidance voice
Cancel the period and issue the guide created by the above creation means
And a guidance output means for pressing .

[0009]

As described above, according to the present invention, in a state in which the guidance voice is prohibited (the route guidance is normally performed by the screen), the guidance voice is output when the driver requests. Can be. Therefore, if there is no request from the driver, voice guidance is not performed, and the driver does not feel troublesome. If voice guidance is desired, it is not necessary to prohibit. Therefore, it is possible to perform suitable voice guidance that meets the driver's request. In particular, the presence or absence of route guidance
Guidance sound is output only when route guidance is being performed
Therefore, unnecessary guidance voice is not output. Ma
In addition, by always providing guidance voices,
When a request is made, a guidance voice can be output immediately.
Wear.

[0010]

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 (intersection names), building names, and river names is provided, and the stored map information can be read as needed. I have. In addition, a satellite navigation system (hereinafter referred to as GPS) for measuring the current position of the vehicle
A GPS receiver 14 that uses the GPS receiver 14, a direction sensor 16 that detects the traveling direction of the vehicle based on the geomagnetism, and a distance sensor 17 that detects the traveling distance based on the number of rotations of the wheels. The current position measuring unit 12 determines the current position of the vehicle based on the detection result. Further, information from the steering sensor 19 is also input, and is used for map matching or the like for correcting the current location to the position of the intersection on the map when the intersection turns right or left.

When performing route guidance to the destination, the destination is instructed on the screen of a display unit to be described later by the input unit 18 or the destination is input by the place name or the like, and the current position calculated by the current position measurement unit 12 is calculated. The route from the position to the destination is calculated by the route calculation unit 22 included in the arithmetic control unit 20, and the calculated route is stored in the route storage unit 24. Note that an appropriate route search method is employed for calculating the route.

After inputting the destination and determining the route, actual route guidance is performed. The route guidance unit 26 included in the arithmetic control unit 20 reads the 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 with 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 change course.
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. At the same time as the display switching, the route guidance unit 26 instructs the voice control unit 30 to generate a voice corresponding to the route guidance at the intersection. The voice control unit 30 includes a voice storage unit 32
The information stored as digital data is read out, converted into an analog signal, and the speaker 34 is driven. Then, from the speaker 34, "about 300 m ahead **
* Turn left at the intersection. And the like, and instruct the driver to guide the route. This voice instruction is performed at predetermined intervals until the vehicle passes through the intersection. For example, when traveling on a road with two or more lanes, the first time 700 m before the intersection,
The second guidance is provided 300m before and the final guidance is provided 100m before. These guidance voices are stored in the voice storage unit 32 as digital data for each phrase. Therefore, when outputting a guidance voice, a plurality of voices are read out and synthesized into a phrase, and a speaker 3 is used as a guidance signal.
Output from 4. The output timing of the guidance voice is detected by the route guidance unit 26, and the voice control unit 30 performs a process for voice output.

In the present embodiment, the display unit 28 has a screen constituted by a touch panel.
Function as That is, the driver can input data by touching a place name or the like displayed on the display unit 28. The input unit 18 includes a menu key 18a for returning to a menu screen for selecting a process such as inputting a destination and adjusting a volume, and a map key 18 for displaying a map.
b, a current location / guidance key 18c for returning to a screen displaying the current location or requesting guidance in that state, an air conditioner key 18d for displaying an air conditioner adjustment screen, an audio key 18e for displaying an audio adjustment screen, and the like. Is provided.

In this embodiment, audio guidance is output using an audio speaker 34. That is, there are four speakers 34 for audio, and one of them (the right front speaker 34 arranged on the driver's seat side).
a) is used for guidance voice. For this reason, the output from the audio 40 is connected to three speakers 34, but the right front speaker 34 a is connected to the audio 40 via the audio control unit 30. Therefore, when the voice control unit 30 does not output the guidance voice,
The output from the audio 40 is supplied as it is to the speaker 34a.
0 instead of the output from the speaker 34a.
To supply. Therefore, the audio output from the speaker 34a is stopped, and the guidance voice is output from here.
The three speakers other than the speaker 34a in the speaker 34 are not affected by the output of the guidance voice.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration for outputting an audio signal from the audio control unit 30. The digital audio data read out from the audio storage unit 32 is temporarily stored in a RAM (not shown) or the like, and after being subjected to a process such as phrase synthesis, is converted into serial data as a D / A converter 30a.
And converted into an analog audio signal. Then, the analog audio signal is amplified by the amplifier 30b to a predetermined level specified by the volume signal, and supplied to the switch 30c.

The switch 30c selects one of the audio signal and the guidance sound from the amplifier 30 and supplies the selected signal to the speaker 34a. Normally, the switch 30c supplies the audio signal to the speaker 34a. ing. Then, only when outputting the guidance voice, the amplifier 30b
Select the signal from. This switching is performed by the route guidance unit 2
6 is performed by the voice control unit 30 based on the signal from the control unit 6.

The volume adjustment of the voice guidance is determined by touching the volume adjustment display displayed on the display unit 28 on the menu screen. That is, the display unit 2
The menu screen in FIG. 8 is as shown in FIG. 5, and a display for audio adjustment is provided at the bottom of the menu screen. By touching the "OFF" display among them, the attenuation factor by the above-mentioned volume signal becomes 128 dB, and the voice guidance is turned off. When the "OFF" key is touched on this screen, the voice control unit 30 fixes the switch 30c to the audio side. That is, the switch 30c is not switched even when a switch control signal for the switch 30c is received at the timing of the guidance output from the route guidance unit 26. Therefore, the guidance voice is completely stopped.

In this state, when the current position / guidance key 18c is operated, the screen shifts to the above-described route guidance screen shown in FIGS. However, since the voice guidance is prohibited because the switch is fixed, the guidance voice is not output.
When the current location / guidance key 18c is operated in the state of route guidance without voice, this is determined to be a voice guidance request. In this case, the guidance voice at that time is output. Therefore, FIG.
It will be described based on.

First, it is determined whether the sound volume is OFF (S11). If the sound volume is OFF, it is determined whether there is a request for guidance voice, that is, whether the "current location / guidance" key on the menu screen is operated (S12). ). If this operation has not been performed, there is no request, and the processing for outputting the guidance voice is not performed.

On the other hand, in S11, if the sound volume is not off (when normal voice guidance is performed) and if there is a guidance voice request, it is confirmed whether or not guidance voice is required (S13). In other words, if the route guidance was not originally performed and only the current location was displayed,
Since voice guidance cannot be performed, processing for outputting guidance voice is not performed.

When a route search is performed and guidance voice processing can be performed, phrase synthesis of the guidance voice is performed. That is, the phrases stored in the voice storage unit 30 are combined,
Create a guidance voice signal. Here, the normal voice guidance is
The guidance is performed at a timing when the current position reaches a predetermined position, such as 300 m before an intersection to be turned, but this guidance is at a timing different from this timing. That is, guidance is performed in response to the driver operating the current location / guidance key. Therefore, the contents of the guidance may naturally be different. For example, 50 of the intersection to turn
If it is 0 m, guidance is given that "about 500 m ahead *** intersection is to the left", and if it is near the passing intersection, guidance such as "it is passing near the *** intersection" is provided. Thus, a phrase corresponding to such guidance is synthesized.

Next, the audio control circuit 34
A signal is sent to the mute circuit 40a, which operates to mute the output of the audio 40 (S15). Then, the switch 30a is switched to the guidance voice side (S1).
6) Output a guidance voice from the speaker 32a (S1).
7). Thereafter, the switch 30a is switched to the audio side (S18), and the mute of the audio is released (S1).
9), end the processing.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the voice OF
If the current location / guidance key 18c is operated in the state of F, it is considered that voice guidance at that point has been requested, and guidance voice at that time is output. Therefore, it is particularly suitable for driving on a road that the driver knows to some extent and obtaining guidance only when necessary.

FIG. 7 shows another example of the operation, which is basically the same as FIG. In this example, the necessity of the guidance voice is first determined (S21). If the guidance is required, phrase synthesis is performed (S22).
As described above, when performing the route guidance, the guidance voice is always created as the vehicle travels. And the sound volume is OF
F is determined (S23), and if it is OFF, it is determined whether a request for guidance voice has been made (S2).
4) If the volume is not OFF or if there is a voice guidance request, a guidance voice is output. Operations S25 to S29 for outputting the guidance voice are the same as S15 to S19 described above.

By touching the "small" display on the menu screen, the amount of attenuation in the amplifier 30b is changed in a direction of increasing by a predetermined amount, and by touching the "large" display, the amount of attenuation is touched. Is changed in a direction to decrease by a predetermined amount.

Note that the menu screen can be displayed at any time by pressing the menu key 18a.
Can be flipped.

[0030]

As described above, according to the route guidance apparatus for a vehicle according to the present invention, a guidance voice can be output when a driver's request is made in a state where the guidance voice is prohibited. . Therefore, if there is no request from the driver, voice guidance is not performed, and the driver does not feel troublesome,
Suitable voice guidance that meets the driver's requirements can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of route guidance.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of route guidance near an intersection.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration for audio output of an audio control unit 30;

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a sound adjustment display on a menu screen.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing operation at the time of a voice guidance request.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating another example of a processing operation at the time of a voice guidance request.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 18 Input unit 18c Current location / guidance key 20 Operation control unit 28 Display unit 30 Voice control unit 32 Voice storage unit 34 Speaker

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tohru Ito 1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Inside Toyota Motor Corporation (72) Inventor Koji Kishi 1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Inside Toyota Motor Corporation ( 56) References JP-A-1-141314 (JP, A) JP-A-5-66131 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G08G 1/0969 G01C 21/00 G08B 7/00

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A route guidance device for a vehicle, which outputs a guidance voice to perform route guidance, comprising: a necessity selection means for selecting a necessity of outputting a guidance voice automatically performed at a predetermined timing; when selection by necessity selection unit was not, and inhibiting means for inhibiting the output of the guidance voice, if you want guidance speech, and an output request input means for inputting the output request, create for creating voice guidance Means for determining whether or not voice output is necessary based on the presence and absence of route guidance
Step and, if the vehicle is being guided,
Determines that the audio output is needed, depending on the required output of the guide voice, the prohibition of the inhibiting means is canceled a predetermined period, and outputs a guide created in the upper Symbol creating means, is route guidance
If no audio output is detected by the determination means,
Determines that that does not output the guidance information output means and, vehicle navigation system, characterized in that the have a. 2. A vehicle that outputs route guidance voice to provide route guidance.
Means for generating guidance voices as the vehicle travels, and output of guidance voices automatically performed at predetermined timing.
A necessity selecting means for selecting a necessity, when selected by the necessity selection unit was not, the proposal
Prohibition means for prohibiting the output of internal voice, and output for inputting this output request when guidance voice is desired
In response to a request input means and an output request for the guidance voice, the prohibition means is prohibited.
Canceled for a predetermined period of time and guide created by the above-mentioned creation means
And a guidance output means for outputting a vehicle route guidance.