JP3271958B2 - Navigation device - 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 device for outputting landmark information along a course to a destination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When visiting a land for the first time by car, in order to reach a destination without hesitation, it is necessary to consider a sufficient travel route in advance by a road map or the like. In examining this traveling route, it is of course necessary to first select the traveling route, but in order to travel the selected route without fail, landmarks such as intersections and features that turn right and left on the traveling route, It is necessary to remember road information such as the mileage up to. However, when the road network becomes complicated, the route that you travel for the first time forgets the names of intersections to be turned and features that are landmarks, and it is not easy to confirm while driving,
If you overlook the name of the intersection to be turned or a feature that serves as a landmark, you may not be able to determine the current position, and not only will you not smoothly follow the flow of the car, but you will also get stuck on the way.

A navigation device provides route guidance so that a user can safely visit a first destination without worry as described above, and various types of navigation devices have been proposed in recent years. Among them, those that set the route to the destination and display the road map and the set route on the display, the remaining distance and name regarding intersections that should be turned so that you can run the route without fail, turn right and left, etc. In addition, there are those which provide information on the above-mentioned information and teach a characteristic object so that the route during traveling can be confirmed, and those which provide guidance by voice as well as display.

In such a navigation device, it is necessary to first set a route. To set a route, you need to enter a departure point and a destination,
When the departure place and the destination are determined by this input, a route search process is performed from the road information data around the departure place and the destination and between them, and an optimum route is set from a plurality of routes. In addition, the method proposed by the present applicant does not set a specific route from the departure point to the destination, but sets a traveling road and a traveling direction to the destination at a specific point such as each intersection. There is also. In this case, travel information such as travel distance, steering angle, and intersection is collected to recognize the current position, and information on the traveling road and traveling direction set at the current position is provided to provide route guidance. Is going.

[0005] As described above, in the navigation device, it is necessary to input each position information, search for a route, and set a route in order to go from the departure place to the destination.
The present applicant has already proposed some position input methods such as a departure place and a destination (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 01-173820).
No. JP-A-02-048800). In these, an intersection is input by a code number, or an initial letter or the like is input from a menu screen, a desired intersection name is called on the screen, and a departure place or the like is input. In such a method, the registration positions to be registered, such as a departure place and a destination, are classified into genres such as sightseeing, parking lots, restaurants, etc. ing. In this case, in addition to directly inputting a code number, a method of displaying a menu and sequentially selecting and inputting from the menu has been proposed. In addition, a method has been proposed in which node data is stored, a road network is defined by linking the node data, and a position is input using coordinate values of east longitude and north latitude.

For example, in the case of a hotel, a symbol mark corresponding to the type of each facility such as "H" is stored in a memory, and a plurality of types of facilities are selected according to the type of the selected facility. An information display device has been proposed in which an arbitrary facility type is selected from the list and a symbol mark is displayed at a position where the facility exists on a map (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho 62-15188).
No. 1).

[0007]

However, in the conventional position input method such as a departure point and a destination which is indispensable as an initial operation in the navigation device, it takes time and effort to input a desired position as described above. There is a problem that it is not simple.

For example, in the code input method, each position is defined by a special code number, so that a code book is required, and the position cannot be input unless the code book is referred to one by one. In addition, the code book is enormous because all the codes are mounted, and must be carried.

In the menu system, a desired position cannot be input on one screen, and a desired position cannot be input unless a plurality of screens are sequentially switched and a predetermined item is selected on each screen. That is, since the display device used in the navigation device is mounted in a relatively easy-to-see space near the driver's seat, a compact device is adopted, and the amount of information that can be displayed at one time is small. Therefore, there is a problem that the screens are finely classified and the number of menu screens increases, and the input operation takes time and labor.

The method of inputting coordinates is also troublesome in that a position cannot be input without a coordinate table, and the coordinate value of the position to be input must be retrieved from the coordinate table.

Further, in the information display device for displaying a symbol mark, since the same symbol mark is used for each type of facility, a store according to preference, for example, a gas station or a family restaurant of a specific series is distinguished from the symbol mark. You cannot choose. Moreover, when the symbol marks are displayed on a city map, the symbol marks may be densely packed in a narrow area, and there is a problem that it is difficult to grasp the positional relationship between the symbol marks.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem, and aims to provide mark information along a course in an easy-to-view manner and improve visibility.

[0013]

For this purpose, the present invention provides an information storage means for storing facility data including map data, position information and identification information; a setting means for setting a route to a destination; Search means for searching for facility data or gas station data along the same, and output means for outputting identification information of the searched facility data or gas station data, and outputting the identification information along the route by the output means. Further, there is provided a selecting means for selecting identification information, wherein the setting means sets position information corresponding to the identification information specified by the selecting means as the point.

[0014]

According to the navigation apparatus of the present invention, information storage means for storing facility data including map data, position information and identification information; setting means for setting a route to a destination; Search means for searching for facility data and gas station data, and output means for outputting identification information of the searched facility data and gas station data, and outputting the identification information along the route by the output means. In addition, there is provided a selection unit for selecting identification information, and the setting unit sets position information corresponding to the identification information specified by the selection unit as the point, so that unnecessary identification information off the route is omitted. Therefore, only necessary information can be provided in an easy-to-read manner, and visibility can be improved.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a navigation device 1 according to the present invention.
FIGS. 2 to 5 show configuration examples of a map database, FIG. 6 shows a configuration example of a GS database, and FIG. 7 shows a configuration example of a TL database. .

In FIG. 1, 1 is a CPU, 2 is input means, 3 is position detecting means, 4 is a map database, 5 is G
An S database, 6 indicates an output unit, and 7 indicates a TL database. The CPU 1 is a navigation processing device provided with various programs necessary for navigation, such as a course guidance (navigation) program, a route search program, a current position tracking program, and the like, based on input information from the input means 2 and the position detection means 3. A predetermined program is started to execute a map database 4, a GS database 5, a TL
Imports and processes the data stored in the database 7,
The output means 6 provides the driver with course guidance information, menus for setting the course, and other necessary information. The input means 2 includes a touch panel, a keyboard, and the like. A touch panel is mounted on a display screen constituting a part of the output means 6 to input a destination, a departure place, and other information. The position detecting means 3 includes a group of sensors for detecting the direction of the running history and the position of the vehicle, such as a distance sensor, a steering sensor, and a geomagnetic sensor, and detects the running distance and the running direction of the vehicle to track the current position of the vehicle. It is used for The map database 4 has a road network and surrounding feature information based on road network data and coordinate data as shown in FIG.
Has information on each gas station GS in the area to be navigated as shown in FIG.
The database 7 has the data points of the GS database 5 concerning the gas stations included in the same local telephone number as shown in FIG. The output means 6 includes a display device such as a CRT, a liquid crystal display, and a plasma display, and an audio output device. These are mounted near the driver's seat at a position where necessary information can be accurately transmitted to the driver. Information is provided.

If there is a road network consisting of, for example, intersection numbers I to VII and road numbers to .largecircle.14 as shown in FIG. 2, the intersection data is FIG. 3, the road data is FIG. 5 has a data structure as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 3, the intersection data corresponds to the intersection numbers I to VII, and at least the smallest road number among the roads where the intersection is the starting point, and the data of the road where the intersection is the ending point. The information includes the smallest road number, the position of the intersection (East longitude, north latitude), and the name of the intersection.

The road data includes, as shown in FIG. 4, the next road number among roads having at least the same starting point, the next road number among roads having the same ending point, It has information on the start point, end point, node string pointer, and road length by number. In addition, as is clear from the figure, the next road number among roads having the same starting point,
The next road number among roads having the same end point can be generated by searching for the same number from the start point and the end point based on the intersection number. The road length can also be obtained by integrating the position information of the next node string data.

In the node string data, as shown in FIG. 5, the number of nodes is located at the head pointed by the node string pointer of the road data, and the node position (East longitude, North latitude) information for the node corresponding to the number is next. have. That is, a node sequence is configured for each road data. The illustrated example shows a node sequence with a road number.

As is apparent from the above data structure, the unit of the road number is composed of a plurality of nodes. That is, the node string data is a set of data relating to one point on the road, and when a connection between nodes is called an arc, a road is represented by connecting each of the plurality of node strings with an arc. . For example, regarding the road number, it is possible to access the node string data A000 from the node string pointer of the road data. Here, it can be recognized that the road number is composed of 15 nodes.

Also, for example, when attention is paid to the intersection number V, in a course starting from this point, first, a road number is obtained from the information of the road in which the intersection data appears, and then the next data having the same starting point in the road data relating to this road number is obtained. Road Number "
Is searched for the road number ○ 12. Then, from the same information on the road number １２12, the road number 、 14 and so on are searched. Here, since the road number is the first road number, it can be determined that there is no other road number as the surrounding road. This is the same for the end point. By using the intersection data and the road data in this way, it is possible to search for the road number that goes in and out of each intersection, and to determine the distance of the route connecting each intersection. Further, by adding driving conditions such as entry prohibition, right / left turn prohibition, and road width to these data, it is possible to provide, for example, information for performing a route search, which will be described later, extremely finely.

The GS database 5 includes, for example, telephone numbers, coordinate values of east longitude and north latitude, position information such as connecting intersections for linking with the map database 4 as shown in FIG.
It has identification information such as the name of the gas station and its mark pattern. Therefore, when a course based on an intersection row is set, a gas station on the course can be searched by searching for a connecting intersection in the GS database from the intersection, and the mark pattern of the gas station can be searched according to the coordinates of east longitude and north latitude. Etc. can be drawn on the course.

As shown in FIG. 7, the TL database 7 stores area code data consisting of pointers to local code data,
The local station number data is composed of a pointer to the GS data index, and the GS data index is composed of a pointer to the GS data. Therefore, from this information, the number of gas stations included in the local office number can be known from an arbitrary telephone number, and each GS data can be read.

In the navigation apparatus according to the present invention, when the departure place is input by telephone number using GS data as shown in FIG. 6 as landmark data in the system having the above configuration, the TL database 7 is accessed from the telephone number. To read the pointer of the GS data and draw the mark on the map of the course with the corresponding gas station as the departure point. Alternatively, if there is no corresponding gas station, the gas stations included in the local area code of the telephone number are displayed as a list, and these are set as departure place candidates. Then, starting from the gas station selected as the departure point and guiding the course to the destination.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the overall processing flow of the navigation device according to the present invention, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a start screen near the current position GS. In the navigation device according to the present invention, first, as shown in FIG. 8, a destination is input, and then a current position is input (steps to). In this case, the current position is input by a telephone number.

Next, a search is made from a gas station in the station number area to find a gas station GS near the current position.
Is selected, and a start screen near the current position GS starting from the gas station as shown in FIG. 9 is drawn (steps to). Then, GS near the current position
Wait until the GS name area is touched on the start screen of, and when it is confirmed that the GS name area is touched, route guidance is provided according to the set course (steps to
).

As described above, in the navigation device according to the present invention, if the telephone number of the gas station to be started is input, course guidance to the destination can be started from the gas station starting from there.
Even if you can not decide the gas station to start, enter the current location or a phone number in the vicinity, and the gas station near the destination is selected as the departure position from the gas station included in the local area code,
Easy entry of departure place.

Next, an example of the GS selection subroutine near the current position in the above processing will be described in further detail. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a GS selection subroutine near the current position, and FIG.
Is a diagram showing an example of a GS data search subroutine in the station number area, FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a search data initial setting subroutine, FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a correction start point and end point setting subroutine, and FIG. FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of an approaching surrounding road search subroutine, FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of an optimum route condition setting subroutine, and FIG. 17 is an example of an end condition confirmation subroutine. FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of selection of the GS near the departure position.

In the selection of the GS near the current position in the step of FIG. 8, as shown in FIG. 10, first, i) the station number area GS data is searched from the GS database through the TL database. GS in this station number area
In the data search, as shown in FIG. 11, first, the area code of the input telephone number is searched from the area code data of the TL database, and the number of the local area code and a pointer to the local area code data are stored in the work area. I do. Next, from the pointer position of the local office number data to the local office number data, the local office number of the telephone number inputted by the number of local office numbers is searched, and the pointer to the GS data index is stored. Subsequently, the number of GS data included in the station number area from the pointer position of the GS data index is stored, and the number of the GS data is stored by that number. Then, the data in the GS database is read out from the GS data number by the number of GS data and stored. This returns. ii) Next, search data is initialized. In this process, as shown in FIG. 12, ∞ is set for the distance L (c) from the search start point to the intersection C, and 0 is set for the search state flag F (c) and the search end flag F0 (c). Set k to 0. iii) Next, the search starting intersections s0 and s1 are set to the connecting intersection of the destination, and the distances L (s0) and L (s1) from the searching start point of the intersection are set to the distance from the destination, iv) Further, the number of GSs in the station number area is set to n, and the intersections of the GSs in the station number area are set to the search end intersections e0 _i and e1 _i . v) Next, a search start point and an end point are set. In this setting, as shown in FIG. 13, the search state flags F (s0) and F (s1) of the search start intersections s0 and s1 are set to “1” indicating that the search is being performed, and the search end intersections e0 _i and e1 _i are set. search end flag F0 (e0 _i), sets "1" indicating the search end to F0 (e1 _i). Next, a route search from the destination described later (FIG. 14) is performed. When the route search from the destination is completed as described above, the intersection having the search end flag F0 (c) of 1 is searched for the intersection having the minimum distance L (c) from the destination,
Let the intersection be C _min . ) Then, the gas station GS having C _min as the connecting intersection is set as the vicinity GS of the current position.

Next, a search for a route from a destination will be described.
In this process, as shown in FIG. 14, the flag F is not "2" (searched) and the distance L (c)
Is searched for an intersection number c _{0 in} which is the smallest. Run the entry surrounding road search subroutine, to search the surrounding road starting at the intersection number c _0. Check if there is a surrounding road. If YES, the process proceeds to the next process. If NO, the process proceeds to process ○ 11. An optimum route condition setting subroutine is executed to set road conditions and other conditions for searching for an optimum route. The intersection number of the starting point of the road is c ₁ , and the length of the road is l. The distance P to the intersection at the end point of the road is calculated.
Calculate P = L (c ₀ ) +1. Here, L (c ₀ ) is the distance from the departure point to the intersection number c ₀ , and P is the distance from the intersection number c ₀ through the road (the road under search) to the end intersection number c _1. . It is checked whether P <L (c ₁ ) and F (c ₁ ) ≠ 2. In the case of YES, the process proceeds to the next process １０10, and in the case of NO, the process returns. The distance from the starting point to the intersection number c ₁ in the search L
(C ₁ ) is P, the flag F (c ₁ ) of the intersection number c ₁
Is set to "1", and the road number R (c ₁ ) that has passed up to the intersection number c ₁ is set as the road number being searched. In the case of NO in the processing, F (c ₀ ) is set to “2”.
Set to. ○ 10 Execute the end condition confirmation subroutine. * 11 It is checked whether or not the processing is completed. If the determination is NO, the processing returns to the processing. By performing the above processing, the road number of the optimal course from the destination to the intersection number is set for each intersection number corresponding to each intersection number.

The approach surrounding road search subroutine of the above-described processing performs the processing shown in FIG. That is, it is checked whether or not the search for the surrounding road is the first time. If the determination is YES, the process proceeds to the process. If the determination is NO, the process proceeds to the process. Intersection c ₀ which are here from the intersection data stores removed road number which is the end point. Retrieve the prohibition road in reference to road number exiting the intersection c ₀ in the search road data. Check whether the road taken out is a prohibited road. YE
In the case of S, the process proceeds to the process, and in the case of NO, the process proceeds to the next process. The road that has just been taken out is stored as the surrounding road, and the process returns. The road number having the same end point as the previously searched road from the road data and having the next number is extracted. It is checked whether the road searched first and the road just taken out are the same. If YES, the process proceeds to the next process, and if NO, the process returns. Judge that there is no surrounding road and return.

The optimum route condition setting subroutine of the processing shown in FIG. 14 performs the processing shown in FIG. That is, the size W and the length 1 of the surrounding road are read from the road data. It is checked whether or not the size W of the surrounding road is 1 or less. If YES, the process proceeds to the next process, and if NO, the process proceeds. Let l be the length obtained by multiplying the length l by a. That is, if a road where D is larger than 1 is a normal wide road and a road where D is 1 or less is a thin road, the thin road is a
The evaluation is double the distance. Therefore, a is a number greater than one. The guidance unnecessary data of the road that has passed to the intersection currently being searched is read from the road data. It is checked whether there is a surrounding road that matches the guidance unnecessary data. If YES, the process returns. If NO, the process proceeds to the next process. Further, a value obtained by adding bm to the length l is set as a new length l, and the process returns. That is, for an intersection that requires guidance such as turning left or right with respect to an intersection that does not require guidance, the distance is converted into a distance and bm is added.

Then, in the end condition confirmation subroutine of the processing １２12 shown in FIG. 14, as shown in FIG. 17, it is checked whether or not the search end flag F0 (c ₀ ) of the search target intersection number c ₀ is “1”. If YES, the searched number k is incremented by one, and an end flag is set on condition that k has become n.

The GS near the departure point selected in this way
Is the gas station GS that is connected to the intersection on the shortest route from the destination among the gas stations GS in the area of the area of the departure place as shown in FIG. 18 (b).
On the other hand, for example, as shown in FIG. 7A, a mark pattern or name of the gas station GS in the station number area of the departure place is displayed as an option on the screen, and can be selected by touch as the gas station GS for starting guidance. You may do so.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible. For example, in the above embodiment, a telephone number is adopted as the selection information, and the departure place is inputted by the telephone number. However, it is used together with a menu method, a code input method, and a coordinate input method which adopt other selection information. Needless to say, the input method may be appropriately selected. Although the telephone number can be input only for the departure place, the telephone number may be input for the destination and the guidance start point. In this case, a gas station located in the destination city area area may be set as the destination, and guidance up to the gas station may be provided from the departure point. FIG.
Instead of a gas station as shown on the screen, another service mark such as a supermarket or a store or a public facility such as a station may be used as a mark.

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, information storage means for storing map data having coordinates and landmark data including position information relating to the coordinates of the map data, and selecting the drawing information Input means for inputting, and map drawing means for drawing a map on the map based on the mark data while drawing the map based on the map data, wherein the information storage means includes a mark corresponding to each position information as the mark data. By storing the pattern identification information and storing the mark pattern of the service mark corresponding to each pattern identification information, and selectively inputting the pattern identification information as the drawing information by the input means, the map drawing means searches the pattern identification information. And obtains and draws the mark pattern of the service mark corresponding to the searched pattern identification information. Can provide easy to see on the map in the mark of the mark, it is possible to improve the visibility.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a navigation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a map database.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a map database.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a map database.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a map database.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a GS database.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a TL database.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining the overall processing flow of the navigation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a start screen of a GS near the current position.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a GS selection subroutine near the current position.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a GS data search subroutine within a station number area.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a search data initialization subroutine.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a correction start point and end point setting subroutine.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a route search subroutine from a destination.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of an approaching surrounding road search subroutine.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of an optimum route condition setting subroutine.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of an end condition confirmation subroutine.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a selection example of a GS near the start position.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... CPU, 2 ... input means, 3 ... position detection means, 4 ... map database, 5 ... GS database, 6 ... output means, 7 ... TL database.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing on the front page (72) Koji Kadoya 10th Takane, Fujii-machi, Anjo, Aichi Prefecture Inside Aisin AW Co., Ltd.・ AW Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A-60-79500 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01C 21/00 G08G 1/0969 G09B 29 / Ten

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. Information storage means for storing map data, facility data including position information and identification information, setting means for setting a route to a destination, and search means for searching for facility data along the route. Output means for outputting identification information of the searched facility data, wherein the output means outputs identification information along the route. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising selection means for selecting identification information, wherein said setting means sets position information corresponding to the identification information specified by said selection means as said point. Navigation device. 3. An information storage means for storing map data, gas station data including position information and identification information, a setting means for setting a route to a destination, and a search for searching for gas station data along the route. Means, and output means for outputting identification information of the searched gas station data, wherein the output means outputs identification information along the route.