JP3225954B2 - Navigation method, device and system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation method, apparatus, and system suitable for providing data necessary for route guidance from a center side to a mobile side.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a system for providing searched recommended route data and guidance data thereof (including data necessary for navigation such as a map image, hereinafter referred to as “route / search data”) from a center side to a mobile side, for example, JP 1
There is a navigation system disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 0-19588. This is a navigation system that transmits a map image and recommended route data (or optimal route data) necessary for guiding a vehicle to a destination from a center (base) side to a vehicle side. According to this system, communication is performed between the data transmission system on the center side and the navigation device of the vehicle on the mobile side. The data transmission system has a database that stores data necessary for guiding a vehicle to a destination.

[0003] Based on a request from a vehicle-side navigation device, necessary data is read from a database and a map image is created. Further, a route search is performed to create optimal route data. The created map image and data indicating the optimum route are transmitted from the data transmission system to the vehicle. In the vehicle navigation device, a corresponding map is displayed and route guidance is performed based on route / guidance data transmitted from the system side.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-334374 discloses an on-vehicle route guidance apparatus that transmits the latest recommended route from the center side to the vehicle side when the vehicle deviates from the recommended route due to a driving operation error. Have been. According to this system, the vehicle transmits the departure place and the destination to the control center as necessary, and receives the recommended route. It is determined whether the vehicle is traveling on the recommended route. If the vehicle deviates from the recommended route, the departure point is set again and transmitted to the control center together with the destination. The information center searches for a route from the departure place after resetting to the destination received from the vehicle, and transmits data of the searched recommended route to the vehicle.

[0005]

In a system for exchanging route / guidance data by communication between a center and a vehicle, if the route / guidance data required by the vehicle cannot be received, for example, a route display is performed. And inconveniences such as interruption of guidance on the way occur.

The present invention focuses on the above points, and provides a navigation method, a device, and a system capable of continuously receiving data necessary for navigation and continuously displaying a route and providing guidance. Its purpose is to provide.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention divides the route from the present location to the destination and the data of the guidance and transmits the divided data sequentially from the sending side to the moving side. When performing route guidance on the mobile side based on the data, each time there is a request from the mobile side, the center performs a route search every time to obtain new route and guidance data, and obtains the obtained route and guidance. , The information on the next divided route is transmitted from the center side to the moving side at a timing at which the transmitted divided route is not interrupted on the display screen of the moving side.
Further, the present invention is characterized in that when the display of the route on the moving side is interrupted, the entire route from the departure point to the destination and the current position on the moving side are displayed. The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail. (1) First Embodiment First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a navigation system according to the present embodiment. The navigation system according to the present embodiment includes an information center 1
0, the in-vehicle device 10 which is a navigation device on the moving side
0.

[0009] First, from the information center 10, the transmission / reception unit 12 is a communication device including a transmission device and a reception device, and transmits and receives data to and from the vehicle-mounted device 100. A communication system such as a car phone, a mobile phone, and a PHS may be used. The arithmetic processing unit 14 includes a CP
U is mainly configured. The memory 18 stores various programs and data executed by the arithmetic processing unit 14.

More specifically, a route search program 20 for searching for a route from the current position (start position or departure point) of the vehicle to a destination (end position of navigation), and performs a process of dividing the searched route. Various programs executed on the information center 10 side, such as a division processing program 22, a guidance data extraction program 24 for searching, extracting and editing guidance data in a search route, and a system control program 26 for controlling and managing the entire operation are stored. Have been. The memory 18 also has a working area used for executing those programs.

The database 30 includes route search data 32 for searching for a recommended route, guidance data 34 in which route guidance data is accumulated, and destination setting data 38 such as telephone numbers and addresses for setting destinations. The data required for the route search and the route guidance are stored. The route search data 32 includes data related to intersections, data related to roads, data related to node points, and road obstacle data such as traffic accidents and road congestion. The guidance data 34 includes various guidance data such as map data of each intersection or road, landmark data indicating major facilities, and voice guidance data.

Further, an external information collecting unit 40 is connected to the database 30. This external information collecting unit 40
Collects the latest road / traffic information and communication information, such as traffic accidents, road congestion, road construction, traffic regulations, new roads and facilities, and changes in communication areas, using a telephone line and stores it in the database 30. This is for updating the obtained data as needed.

Next, the in-vehicle device 100 will be described. The arithmetic processing unit 101 is mainly composed of a CPU. The memory 102 stores programs and data executed on the in-vehicle device 100. Of these,
As the program, a route and a landmark are displayed on the display unit 106 based on the route / guidance data transmitted from the information center 10, and the voice of the route guidance is output to the voice output unit 10.
7, a route request program 150 for requesting the center for route / guidance data for the next divided route, a control program 154 for controlling the overall operation, and a route end point calculation program 155 for calculating the route end point. and so on.

The data stored in the memory 102 includes route / guidance data 160 transmitted from the information center 10, ID data 162 unique to the vehicle, and the position measuring unit 1
Vehicle position data (longitude / latitude) 1 measured by 04
64, predicted travel time data 165 and the like. Further, the memory 102 also functions as a working area appropriately used when executing the program.

The vehicle position data 164 includes the position measurement unit 1
04, a plurality of past position data is included in addition to the current position data measured at predetermined time intervals. For example, position data of measurement points included in a certain distance or position data of a certain number of measurement points are stored. When the position is newly measured by the position measurement unit 104, the latest position data is stored and the oldest stored position data is deleted. By connecting these multiple location data,
The traveling locus of the vehicle can be obtained. This running track is
It is used for so-called map matching for specifying the road on which the vehicle is traveling.

Next, the position measuring unit 104 is a so-called GP.
For measuring the position of the vehicle using S etc.,
It is provided with a GPS receiver that receives signals from a plurality of GPS satellites and measures the absolute position of the vehicle, a speed sensor and a direction sensor for measuring the relative position of the vehicle, and the like. Speed sensors and direction sensors are used for autonomous navigation. The relative position measured by these sensors is used for obtaining a position in a tunnel or the like where the GPS receiver cannot receive radio waves from satellites, or for correcting a positioning error of the absolute position measured by the GPS receiver. .

The input unit 105 includes various switches, a touch panel attached to the display surface of the display unit 106, a remote controller, a data input device using voice recognition, and the like. In the touch panel, when a user touches an icon or the like displayed on the display unit 106 with a finger, corresponding data or an instruction is input. In a data input device using voice recognition, when a user utters a voice, data or a command corresponding to the voice is input.

The display unit 106 is a display such as a liquid crystal display or a CRT, and has a touch panel as described above. The transmission / reception unit 108 is a communication device for transmitting and receiving data to and from the information center 10, and is configured by communication devices including a transmission device and a reception device. In this case, similarly to the center side, a system such as a car phone, a mobile phone, and a PHS may be used.

<Operation on Information Center Side> Next, the operation of the information center 10 will be described. 2 and 3 show the operation of the route search and guidance data transmission process in the information center 10 as a flowchart. First, in the in-vehicle device 100, the control program 154 stored in the memory 102 is executed by the arithmetic processing unit 101. In this operation state, when the data request program 152 stored in the memory 102 is executed based on a user's input operation, each information of the vehicle current position and the destination measured by the position measurement unit 104 is transmitted to the information center 10 side. Transmitting and receiving unit 108
(See step S50 in FIG. 6 described later). At this time, an ID for identifying the own vehicle and the other vehicle is transmitted at the same time. Then, the information center 10 receives each piece of information received from the vehicle at the transmission / reception unit 12 (step S10).
Yes), and sends it to the arithmetic processing unit 14. The information center 10
The communication between the vehicle and the in-vehicle device 100 is performed by, for example, packet communication.

In the arithmetic processing section 14 of the information center 10, the system control program 26 stored in the memory 18
Is running. Then, upon receiving the information, the route search program 20 stored in the memory 18 is stored in the C
The process is executed by the PU 16 to search for a route. That is, first, vehicle current position information and destination information are extracted from the received information (step S12), and a destination is determined from the information (step S14). For example, when information such as a telephone number and an address is received as the destination information, the destination is determined using the destination setting data 38 of the database 30.

Next, the arithmetic processing unit 14 searches for a route from the current position of the vehicle to the destination (step S16). The route search is performed by using route search data 32 in the database 30,
That is, the processing is performed with reference to the intersection data, the road data, and the node data. This route search processing is known, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 1-173297 and 1-173.
This is performed by the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 298, and a recommended route is set under conditions such as making the route having the shortest overall route the optimum route.

In this embodiment, every time a request is received from the vehicle, a route from the current position of the vehicle to the destination is searched. In the information center 10, the external information collection unit 40
Thus, road information and traffic information are acquired from the outside, and the database 30 is updated to the latest information. Therefore, by performing a route search for each request from the vehicle, a recommended route based on the latest data and guidance data thereof are always provided to the vehicle, for example, to avoid traffic congestion.

Next, the arithmetic processing unit 14 executes the division processing program 22 stored in the memory 18, and first divides the searched route into segments which are navigation units (step S18). The unit to divide is
A constant data size (for example, 1024 bytes for one segment), a constant road length (for example, 2000 meters for one segment), and the like can be considered. All the searched routes are divided into segments 1, segments 2,..., For example, as shown in FIG. Each segment data includes a data head, intersection information, road information, node information, landmark information, and the like, as shown in FIG.

The advantage of segmenting such data is that even if the communication between the center and the vehicle is interrupted, it is possible to provide route guidance for the segment whose transmission has been completed at the time of the interruption. That is, it is only necessary to retransmit from the segment that was in the middle.
In other words, a segment is an information unit that can be decoded on the vehicle side. For example, if the route / guidance data of 10 km is transmitted to the vehicle as a whole as one file and cannot be decoded by the vehicle, route guidance cannot be performed for all of the 10 km. However, when the file is divided into segments each having a length of 2 km, a file can be decoded for each segment to provide route guidance.

Further, the arithmetic processing unit 14 divides the search path in units of the segments (step S20).
Examples of the division include division at a fixed distance, division at a fixed predicted traveling time, division at a data amount, division at a memory capacity of a vehicle, and the like.

Next, the arithmetic processing unit 14 executes the guidance data extraction program 24 stored in the memory 18,
With reference to the guidance data in the database 30, guidance data corresponding to the first divided route and the next divided route to be transmitted to the vehicle side is searched and extracted (step S22). The extracted guidance data 29 is stored in the memory 18.
Next, the arithmetic processing unit 14 executes the reception time calculation program 25 in the memory 18 and calculates the expected reception time required for the vehicle to receive the next route / guidance data to be transmitted (step S23). . The calculated expected reception time data 27 is stored in the memory 18.

The route / guidance data of the first divided route and the data of the expected reception time of the next divided route to be transmitted, obtained as described above, together with the ID of the vehicle making the request, are received by the receiving unit 12 by the on-board unit 100 (Step S24). At this time, the route / guidance data of the divided route is transmitted to the vehicle in order from the segment closest to the current position of the vehicle.

The above operation will be described with reference to FIG.
In the figure, L indicated by a bold line is a route searched for the destination PA from the current position PD. M is a mark indicating the vehicle position. This search route L has five segments S1
To S5, and the segment dividing points are P1 to P5.
4. For example, assuming that the route is divided by the amount of data receivable by the vehicle, the amount of receivable data in segments S1 to S3 is smaller than the total amount of segment data with respect to the receivable data amount LR. Therefore, the segments S1 and S2 are set as the first divided routes, and the corresponding route / guidance data is transmitted to the vehicle. The same applies to the next divided path. In the illustrated example, the segments S3 and S4 correspond to the next divided path.

<Operation on In-Vehicle Device> Next, the operation of the in-vehicle device 100 will be described. FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the request / route guidance process in the vehicle-mounted device 100. Step S50 is as described above. When all the route / guidance data 160 to the destination has been received, the operation ends (Yes in step S56).

The transmission / reception unit 108 transmits the route / guide data 160 and the estimated reception time data 27 described above to the information center 10.
(Yes in step S52), the arithmetic processing unit 101 stores the received route / guidance data 160 and the estimated reception time data 27 in the memory 102. And
Route guidance program 15 stored in memory 102
0, and guidance using the received route / guidance data 160 is performed (step S54). That is, the map and the landmark of the route are displayed on the display unit 106, and the corresponding voice guidance is output from the voice output unit 107 when the vehicle turns right or left at an intersection.

Next, the arithmetic processing unit 101 includes a memory 102
Is executed, and the time for the vehicle to travel from the end point of the received divided route to the screen edge of the display unit 106 is predicted (step S58). For example, as shown in a display example of FIG. 7A, it is assumed that the divided route received from the center is LDa, and the vehicle is traveling on the route as indicated by the mark M. Vehicle is distance ΔLD
When traveling a, the end point PE of the divided route LDa is just at the end of the screen, and when traveling further, the route is cut off as shown in FIG.

Therefore, in the arithmetic processing unit 101, the divided path L
Distance Δ from end point PE of Da to screen edge of display unit 106
The time that the vehicle travels in LDa is predicted, and the predicted travel time data 165 is obtained. On the other hand, the expected reception time data 27 necessary for receiving the route / search data of the next divided route from the center is received from the center and stored in the memory 102. If the route / search data of the next divided route can be received from the center during the predicted travel time of the distance ΔLDa, the route is not interrupted as shown in FIG. 7B.

Then, the arithmetic processing unit 101 compares the expected reception time data 27 and the expected travel time data 165, and calculates a timing which satisfies the condition of “expected travel time ≒ expected reception time and expected travel time> expected reception time”. (Step S60), and at that timing (Step S60).
Yes), a data request is made to the information center by the data request program 152 (step S5).
0). That is, the information of the current vehicle position and the destination is transmitted to the information center 10.

By repeating the above operation, the searched route is displayed on the display screen without interruption. FIG. 7C shows an example thereof.
The divided path LDb is displayed continuously to the divided path LDa.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the basic exchange of data between the information center 10 and the vehicle-mounted device 100. First, as shown by the arrow F1, the vehicle-mounted device 100 notifies the information center 10 of the current position and the destination. In the information center 10, as indicated by an arrow F2,
Route search, segment division, and guidance data extraction are performed based on the received data. Then, as indicated by an arrow F3, the obtained route / guidance data is transmitted to the vehicle. In the in-vehicle device 100, as indicated by the arrow F4, the received route
Route guidance is performed based on the guidance data. Route / guidance data that is no longer needed is discarded. here,
When the continuation data of the route guidance is required at the timing described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, the current position and the destination are notified to the information center 10 again as indicated by the arrow F5. Since then
The same operation is repeatedly performed until reaching the destination.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the next data is received from the center before the route is interrupted, in consideration of the display on the display screen. That is, data necessary for navigation is received without interruption, and route display and guidance are continuously performed.

(2) Embodiment 2 Next, FIGS. 9 to 11
Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. According to the above-described embodiment, the route / guidance data of the next divided route is received before the displayed divided route is interrupted on the screen, so that the route is displayed on the screen without interruption. However, when the data of the next divided route cannot be received due to a communication failure or the like, the route display may be interrupted. The present embodiment focuses on such a point, and when the data of the next divided route is not successfully received, the current position with respect to the entire route is displayed to give a sense of security to the user. Things.

FIG. 9 shows a system configuration according to this embodiment. As compared with the above-described embodiment, an all route display program 200 is provided in the memory 102 of the vehicle-mounted device 100.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the main operation in this embodiment. If the route / guidance data of the next divided route is received before the route display is interrupted, the operation of the first embodiment is performed (step S).
No of 200, Yes of S52). However, when the route display is interrupted (Yes in step S200), the in-vehicle device 10
0 is executed by the arithmetic processing unit 101.

That is, the total length of the search route from the departure point to the destination included in the route guidance data 160 received from the center side corresponds to the straight line on the screen,
The current position is displayed on this straight line with reference to the vehicle position data 164 (step S202). The entire route is displayed until the route / guidance data is received from the information center 10 (yes in step S52) and normal route guidance is executed (step S54).

In the first embodiment, if the route / guidance data of the next divided route cannot be received before the route display is interrupted, the display unit 106 has a display screen as shown in FIG. However, in the present embodiment, the entire route is displayed at the left end of the screen as shown in FIG. That is, the current position of the vehicle is indicated by the mark M in the search route L that connects the departure point PQ and the destination PA of all the routes by a straight line. With this display, even if the route display at the center of the screen is interrupted by the divided route LDa, the user can know the approximate current position in all the routes, and the anxiety is reduced.

The present invention has many embodiments, and can be variously modified based on the above disclosure. For example, the following is also included. (1) In the above embodiment, the destination is transmitted from the vehicle to the center every time. However, if the destination transmitted first is stored in the center, the destination is transmitted from the vehicle to the center first. The destination may be transmitted, and the communication time can be shortened and the destination setting process can be omitted. (2) In the above-described embodiment, the route search from the current position of the vehicle to the destination is performed for each request. Is also good.

(3) In the above embodiment, the entire route is displayed as a straight line. However, the entire route may be displayed as a curved line, or may be displayed as a line along the actual route shape. The display mode may be various modes such as blinking and coloring. (4) The above embodiment is an application of the present invention to a vehicle, but is applicable to various mobile objects such as portable mobile terminals.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The following effects are obtained. Since the information on the next divided route is received from the center side and displayed before the display of the route is interrupted, the route can be displayed continuously without interruption. When the route display is interrupted, the entire route and the current position are displayed, so that the user's anxiety is reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of a route search and guidance data transmission process on the center side.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of route search and guidance data transmission processing on the center side.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of segment division of a searched route and information on each segment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing how a search route is divided.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of a request and route guidance process on the vehicle side.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a route according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing how data is exchanged between a vehicle and a center.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a main operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a route according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Information center 12 ... Transmission / reception part 14 ... Operation processing part 18 ... Memory 20 ... Route search program 22 ... Division processing program 24 ... Guidance data extraction program 25 ... Reception time calculation program 26 ... System control program 27 ... Expected reception time data 29 ... Guidance data 30 ... Database 32 ... Route search data 34 ... Guidance data 38 ... Destination setting data 40 ... External information collection unit 100 ... In-vehicle device 101 ... Calculation processing unit 102 ... Memory 104 ... Position measurement unit 105 ... Input Unit 106 display unit 107 voice output unit 108 transmission / reception unit 150 route guidance program 152 data request program 154 control program 155 route end point calculation program 160 route / guide data 162 ID data 164 vehicle position data 165 … Estimated travel time data 200 ... All route display program L ... Search route LDa, LDb ... Division route LR ... Receivable data amount M ... Mark P1 to P4 ... Segment division point PA ... Destination PD ... Current position PE ... End point PQ ... Departure Ground S1 to S5: Segment ΔLDa: Distance

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-11-187456 (JP, A) JP-A-10-100393 (JP, A) JP-A-11-38872 (JP, A) (58) Fields studied (Int .Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01C 21/00 G08G 1/09-1/137 G09B 29/00-29/10

Claims (7)

(57) [Claims] 1. A navigation method for dividing a route from a present location to a destination and data of the guidance and sequentially transmitting the divided data to the moving side from the sending side to the moving side, and performing route guidance on the moving side based on the data. Obtaining a new route and guidance data by performing a route search on the center side every time there is a request from the moving side ; and obtaining information on the next divided route among the obtained route and guidance data. Transmitting from the center side to the mobile side at a timing at which the transmitted divided route is not interrupted on the display screen of the mobile side. 2. A navigation method for dividing a route from a start position to an end position of navigation and data of the guidance, transmitting the divided data from the sending side to the moving side, and performing route guidance on the moving side based on the data. Calculating the expected reception time required for the mobile side to receive the information on the next divided route to be transmitted; transmitting the calculated information on the estimated reception time to the mobile side; and displaying the divided route on the display screen. Calculating the expected traveling time of the moving side leading up to the interruption at the center; taking into account the estimated traveling time calculated by this and the expected reception time received from the center, the route is displayed at the timing at the center without interruption. Requesting information about the next divided route to the navigation method. 3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: when the route display on the moving side is interrupted, displaying the entire route from the starting point to the destination and the current position on the moving side.
Navigation method described. 4. A center apparatus for dividing a route from a start position to an end position of navigation and guidance data thereof and transmitting the divided data to a mobile side, wherein the mobile side receives information on a divided route to be transmitted next. A center apparatus comprising: an expected receiving time calculating means for calculating a required expected receiving time; and a transmitting means for transmitting information on the calculated expected receiving time to the mobile side. 5. A mobile device for dividing a route from a start position to an end position of navigation and guidance data thereof and receiving the divided data from a center, wherein the mobile device receives information on a divided route to be transmitted next. Receiving means for receiving information on the required expected reception time from the center side; expected travel time calculation means for calculating the expected travel time on the moving side until the divided route is interrupted on the display screen; Requesting means for requesting information about the next divided route to the center side at a timing at which route display is not interrupted. 6. An all route display means for displaying the entire route from the departure point to the destination and the current position of the mobile side when the display of the route on the moving side is interrupted.
A mobile device as described. 7. The center device according to claim 4, wherein:
Or a navigation system comprising the mobile device according to any one of claims 6 to 6.