JP3207543B2 - 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 apparatus for a vehicle which performs route guidance by screen display, and more particularly to improvement of display visibility.

[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. In this route guidance device, a map is displayed on a display provided around the driver's seat, and the current position of the vehicle is displayed on the map. Therefore, the driver can check the current position at any time by looking at the display.

In addition, in such a route guidance device, when a destination is input, a route from the current position to the destination is searched for, the resulting route is displayed on a display, and route guidance is performed. Therefore, the driver can select a route to be selected by himself / herself while viewing the route display.

Therefore, a route is displayed on a display, and the route is displayed on a map. Therefore, as a method of displaying a route on a map, a method of displaying a mark indicating a route on a line indicating a road on a map display or along the line is known. But,
The display of this mark may be duplicated if the density of the roads around is high, making it difficult to see the display, or the display around the route may need to be omitted.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 1-173817 proposes that a route is displayed by a thick line. According to this, since the road display itself can be distinguished, the route display can be easily viewed without adversely affecting the surrounding map display.

[0006]

However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
In the method described in JP-A-173817, the route display is easy to see if the bold line display is sufficiently conspicuous compared to the surrounding display, but otherwise, the route display becomes difficult to see. There was a point. That is, if the map display below the route display has a sufficient difference compared to the bold line display, the route display becomes easy to see. However, there is a problem that it becomes difficult to see. On the other hand, in order to make the normal map display easy to see, it is desired to make the expressway, the first-class national road, and the like stand out. However, in this case, there is a problem that the expression of the expressway and the route display are confusing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicular route guidance apparatus that can easily view both a normal map display and a route display.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a vehicle route guidance apparatus for displaying a current position of a vehicle on a map display on a screen and displaying a route to a destination to perform route guidance. At least including the type of road, in accordance with the type of the drawing element in the map display, a display control means for controlling the display of the screen, and a determination means for the presence or absence of the route display to the destination, the display control means When the determination unit determines that a route is displayed, the color type or the brightness of at least one type of drawing element other than the route is changed. A route guidance device for a vehicle that displays a current position of a vehicle on a map display on a screen and displays a route to a destination to perform route guidance. Display control means for controlling the display of the screen according to the type of the element, and means for determining whether or not a route to the destination is displayed,
Wherein the display control means changes the color type or brightness of a drawing element having the same display color as the route display color when the determination means determines that there is a route display. In addition, the display control means includes a palette for assigning a display color to each drawing element for each type, and the display control means changes the type or brightness of the color in the palette when it is determined that there is a route display. It is preferable to change the display color assigned to. Also,
It is also preferable that the drawing element for changing the color type or the brightness is a road.

[0009]

[Action] Thus, in the present invention, in the case of not performing the time of performing the route display, change the display color of the segment, such as a road in the map display (drawing element). Therefore, it is possible to make the route display easy to see while keeping the map display easy to see. In addition, display colors such as roads
By making the brightness and color type (hue) different from
Display.

[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 is provided for storing information such as roads, place names (intersection names), building names, river names, and the like, so that the stored map information can be read as needed. It has become.
Further, 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 traveling direction of the vehicle based on geomagnetism, A distance sensor 17 for detecting the traveling distance is provided, and the current position measuring unit 12 determines the current position of the vehicle based on the detection results of these sensors. 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 a destination, the destination is instructed on a screen of a display unit to be described later by the input unit 18 or is input by a place name or the like, and the current position calculated by the current position measuring 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 above-described arithmetic control unit 20
Is read from the map information storage unit 10 and displayed on the display unit 28 in a superimposed manner with the current position and traveling direction of the own vehicle and the route stored in the route storage unit 24. I do. The display data is supplied to the display unit 28 via the display control unit 29.

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. In the drawing, roads are distinguished by the thickness of the line, but in the present embodiment, the roads are distinguished by changing colors.

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. 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 guidance is performed 700 m before the intersection, and the second guidance is performed 300 m before the second 100 m before the intersection. These guidance voices are stored in the voice storage unit 32.
Is stored as digital data for each phrase.
Therefore, when outputting a guidance voice, a plurality of voices are read out, synthesized into a phrase, and output from the speaker 34 as a guidance signal. 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 the screen displaying the current location or requesting voice guidance in that state;
An air conditioner key 18d for displaying an air conditioner adjustment screen and an audio key 18 for displaying an audio adjustment screen
e, etc. are provided.

In this embodiment, the display unit 28
(For example, a color liquid crystal display) performs color display. That is, in order to make the map display easier to understand, the map display is made easier by assigning red to the national road, brown to the prefectural road, blue to the river, white to the base, black to the characters, and the like.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration of the arithmetic control unit 20 for display control. Thus, the display control unit 29, the main memory 50, the VRAM 52, and the pallet 54 are provided. It should be noted that the main memory 50 stores the arithmetic control unit 20.
Is used as appropriate in the entire operation of the DRA.
M.

The display data input to the display control unit 50 includes the map data stored in the map information storage unit 10 and the current position measurement unit 12 and the route guidance unit 2.
6 includes specific display data such as current position display data, route data to a destination as a search result, and touch key display. Therefore, the display control unit 29 receives these display data and converts them into display data for each pixel.

As shown in FIG. 5, the map data in the map information storage unit 10 includes latitudes (x) such as national roads and prefectural roads,
Longitude (y) is stored, and a predetermined range (predetermined latitude and longitude range) is stored in the map information storage unit 10.
And is stored in the main memory 50. On the other hand, the arithmetic control unit 20 stores in advance the assignment of color codes (drawing pixel color table) to each section of the map display, and according to the color code table shown in FIG. A corresponding color code is assigned to each pixel. That is, in the example of FIG.
Color code 3 is assigned to a city highway, color code 2 is assigned to a national road, and color code 9 is assigned to a background. Therefore, based on the map data stored in the map information storage unit 10, display divisions, that is, drawing elements are recognized, and a color code is assigned to each pixel according to the drawing elements.

The display data for each pixel from the display control unit 29 is a V that stores display data for one screen.
It is stored in the RAM 52. That is, when a national road as shown in FIG. 7A is displayed, as shown in the corresponding FIG. 7B, the color codes of the background (“9”) and the national road (“2”) are stored for each pixel. Is done.

Next, the color code for each pixel read from the VRAM 52 is converted into RGB data by the palette 54 and supplied to the display unit 28, where a color corresponding to the color code is displayed.

Here, the pallet 54 has a configuration as shown in FIG. That is, the color code supplied here for each pixel is converted into intensity data for each RGB. Therefore, the display unit 28 receives the RGB signals and performs a predetermined color display. In this embodiment, two types of conversion methods (pallet 1 and pallet 2) are provided. That is, on pallet 1, the RGB
(F, 7, 9: red) is assigned, but when pallet 2 is used, RGB (c, 8, a: purple) is assigned to the national road.

In the present embodiment, the display control unit 29 controls the switching between the pallets 1 and 2 depending on whether or not to display the route. That is, as shown in FIG. 9, the display control unit 50 determines whether or not to perform the route display based on the content of the specific display data (S1). This determination can be easily performed by the arithmetic control unit 20 such as whether or not the destination is set and the route search is performed by the route calculation unit 22. If no route is displayed, pallet 1 is selected (S2), and if route is displayed, pallet 2 is selected (S3).

In this way, the display color can be changed depending on the presence or absence of the route display. In this example, when there is no route display, the main roads are displayed in red (in the figure, black) as shown in FIG. 11, which is similar to a normal map display and is easy to see. On the other hand, when the route is displayed, the route to be selected by the user should be most prominent. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, the route is displayed in red, and the main road is displayed in purple (in the figure, diagonal lines).
As a result, the display of the main road is toned down, and the route is clearly displayed.

The change of other colors in the case where there is a route display is not limited to the above-described example. (I) In the map display, a color close to the route display color is changed to another color. (Ii) Route display (Iii) Reduce the brightness of the display other than the route display to the whole (iv) Increase the difference in hue, saturation, and brightness between the route display and the display other than the route display.

In addition to the presence / absence of the route display, a similar method can be used to turn the background black at night and white at daytime by turning on / off the light switch.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the presence or absence of the route display is determined, and the display color is automatically changed by changing the palette according to the result. Therefore, in both the case with the route display and the case without the route display, it is possible to perform the easy-to-view screen display.

[0028]

As described above, according to the route guidance apparatus for a vehicle according to the present invention, the display color of a section such as a road on a map display is changed with or without a route display. Therefore, it is possible to make the route display easy to see while keeping the map display in the normal state easy to see.

[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 screen display.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of map data.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between drawing elements and color codes.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing data contents in a VRAM 52.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the contents of a pallet.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a pallet change operation.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a display state when a route is displayed.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a display state when no route is displayed.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 20 arithmetic control unit 28 display unit 29 display control unit 52 VRAM 54 palette

──────────────────────────────────────────────────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-3-210700 (JP, A) JP-A-4-371990 (JP, A) JP-A-5-165406 (JP, A) JP-A-59-220611 (JP, A) JP-A-3-137680 (JP, A) JP-A-2-150708 (JP, A) JP-A-2-170300 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G08G 1 / 0969 G01C 21/00 G09B 29/10

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A vehicle route guidance device for displaying a current position of a vehicle on a map display on a screen and displaying a route to a destination to perform route guidance, wherein the map includes at least a type of road. Display control means for controlling the display of the screen in accordance with the type of the drawing element in the display; and determination means for determining whether or not there is a route display to the destination. The display control means displays a route by the determination means. If it is determined that there is a route change device, the color type or the brightness of at least one type of drawing element other than the route is changed. 2. A route guidance device for a vehicle, which displays a current position of a vehicle on a map display on a screen and displays a route to a destination to perform route guidance, wherein the map includes at least a type of a road. Display control means for controlling the display of the screen according to the type of the drawing element in the display, and determination means for determining whether or not there is a route display to the destination, wherein the display control means determines whether or not the route display is performed by the determination means. A route guidance device for a vehicle, wherein, when it is determined that there is, the type or brightness of a drawing element having the same display color as the route display color is changed. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a palette for assigning a display color to each drawing element for each type, wherein said display control means determines that there is a route display. And changing a display color assigned to a drawing element for changing the type or brightness of the color in the pallet. 4. The vehicle route guidance device according to claim 1, wherein the drawing element for changing the type or brightness of the color is a road.