JP3353472B2 - Road information display 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 road information display device having a function of displaying a name of a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, road information display devices mounted on automobiles have become widespread.
The bal Positioning System does not have a function of displaying the name of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling on the screen. Therefore, when it is desired to know the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, map information is stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, and necessary information is selected from the map information when necessary and displayed on a map. Switching to a reduced scale level or scrolling or other moving means is used to display the road information.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional GPS device, it is difficult to know at a glance the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling, and it is troublesome to perform several operations. There was a problem that it caused trouble. Further, in a GPS device or the like having a level switching function such as enlargement / reduction, there is a problem that the name of the road is not displayed due to the enlargement / reduction.

Accordingly, the present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional problems, and uses a part of the screen to automatically display the name of the road on which the vehicle is traveling using a map matching function. It is an object to provide a display device.

[0005]

For this purpose, a road information display device according to the present invention has a storage means for storing map information having a plurality of levels of hierarchy, and an information readout for reading out the map information stored in the storage means. Means, a current position determining means for determining a current position based on radio waves from artificial satellites, and a map matching function unit for determining a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling based on the current position determined by the current position determining means. , The road name is changed from the upper level to the lower level for each level of the map information.
If you search through the levels and the road name is registered,
Road information search means for ending the search, road name search means for determining a road name based on the search by the road information search means, and a map for determining a map to be displayed from the map information read by the information read means The search means and the display means for displaying the determined road name of the map are constituted.

[0006]

According to the present invention, since the road information including the name of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling can be displayed by using a part of the screen of the display means, it is possible to drive in a strange land without worry. it can.

[0007]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a road information display device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a bus line, 2 is a central processing unit which is a control body for controlling equipped functions and the like based on all information, 3 is an output device such as an LCD for displaying, 4
Is a RAM for storing search data and the like, 5 is a ROM for storing programs and the like, 6 is a CD-ROM for storing map-related information such as map information and road information and drive-related information, and 7 is a GPS satellite. Is a GPS unit that calculates the position of the vehicle using the position information sent from the vehicle.

The state and operation of the hardware configured as described above will be described below. First, C
The map information is read from the D-ROM 6. Next, GPS
The unit 7 calculates the position of the own vehicle using the position information sent from the GPS satellite. Next, the GPS is executed by the central processing unit 2.
Based on the own vehicle position calculated by the unit 7, map information including the own vehicle position is read from the CD-ROM 6. Next, the map, drive-related information, and the current position are displayed on the output device 3 by using a function of recognizing the current position on the map from the map information read by the central processing unit 2.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a software configuration of the road information display device according to one embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, 11 is storage means for storing various map information,
Reference numeral 12 denotes a current position determination unit capable of recognizing the current position, 13 denotes an information reading unit, 14 denotes a map matching function unit,
5 is a map search means, 16 is a road name search means, 17 is map information, 18 is road information, 19 is a display means, and 20 is a road information search means.

The state and operation of the software configured as described above will be described below. First,
The information reading means 13 reads the map information and the road information stored in the storage means 11. Current position determination means 12
Determines the current location based on radio waves from satellites. Next, based on the road information read by the information reading unit 13 and the current position determined by the current position determination unit 12, the map matching function unit 14 determines the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling.

Next, the level of the road information including the road name is searched by the road information search means 20, and the road name search means 1 is searched.
At 6, the road name is determined. Next, based on the map information 17 read by the information reading means 13, the map searching means 15 is used.
Is used to determine the map to be displayed. Next, the determined map and the road name are displayed on the screen of the display unit 19.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of data of the same road information according to one embodiment of the present invention for each scale level, so that it is possible to recognize that the roads are the same even if the scales are different. I have. FIG. 3 shows five levels. 300
Indicates scale map data at the highest level, 301 indicates scale map data at the intermediate level, and 302 indicates scale map data at the lowest level. Reference numeral 303 denotes an upper level data address indicating the next higher level, reference numeral 304 denotes a lower level data address indicating the next lower level, reference numeral 305 denotes a road name indicating a flag indicating whether or not there is a road, and reference numeral 306 Indicates level road information (data).

The structure of the data of the road information of the embodiment constructed as described above will be described below. Since the scaled map data 300 at the highest level (hereinafter, referred to as level 1) does not have data above it, as shown in the figure, the upper level data address 30
No three. Scaled map data 302 at the lowest level
(Hereinafter referred to as level 5) does not have lower data, and therefore does not have the lower level data address 304 as shown. Intermediate scale map data 301
(From level 2 to level 3) have upper and lower scale levels, so the upper level data address 303,
It has a lower level data address 304. The lower level data address 304 has an address in which level 3 road information (data) 306 is stored, and the same road can be selected even if the scale is different. Similarly,
The upper level data address 303 has an address in which level 1 road information (data) 306 is stored, and is configured such that the same road can be selected even if the scale is different.

Next, a flag 305 indicating the presence / absence of a road name contains information on whether or not the road information (data) 306 includes the road name. Flag 305 is 1
In the case of, when the area of the name of the road information (data) 306 is read, the name can be known. Flag 305
Is 0, since there is no information in the area of the name of the road information (data) 306, the process jumps to the next level, and the flag 305 is similarly searched there. By doing so, the data search time can be reduced.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a series of processing from the calculation of the current position to the display of the road name on the screen according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. Hereinafter, the flow and procedure of this processing will be described using examples. This processing occurs when there is a request to display the road name on the screen. In addition, it is assumed that the scale level is at the highest level. First, in step 1, one function of the current position determination means 12 is used to receive information on the current position from the GPS unit 7. Next, in step 2, the current position determination means 12 is used.
Determine the current position. In step 3, using the map search means 15 from the map information stored in the storage means 11, search for map information including the current location determined in step 2, read the information using the information read means 13,
In step 4, a map is displayed using the display means 19. Next, in step 5, the traveling road is determined by the map matching function unit 14. In step 6, the road information stored in the storage unit 11 is searched using the road information search unit 20, and the road information is read. In step 7, the road name search means 16
Is used to search for data on road names. At this time, the data configuration flag 305 shown in FIG. 3 is used. If not, in step 8 the road information search means 2
It is determined whether or not there is a lower level using 0, and if so, the process proceeds to step 9 and the lower level road information (data)
306 is searched using the road name search means 16. At this time, the data configuration of FIG. 3 is used. Then step 10
Then, a search is made using the road name search means 16 to determine whether data on the road name exists. At this time, the data configuration flag 305 shown in FIG. 3 is used. At this time, road information (data) 3
If no road name is registered in 06, the process returns to step 8. If it has been registered, the process proceeds to step 11, and the display unit 19 displays the road name on the screen. Step 8
If there is no lower level, the process exits without displaying in step 12. If registered, go to step 11,
Display the road name on the screen. For example, when the name of Route 3 is at the lowest level, steps 8 to 10 are repeated until the name goes to the lowest level.

As described above, according to the flowchart of the series of processing from the calculation of the current position to the display of the road name on the screen according to the embodiment of the present invention, when the road name has been registered, the road name is displayed on the map. can do. Therefore, a map and a road name can be displayed on the screen. FIG.
Is an example of a display screen. In this example, an area is taken at the upper right of the screen, and the road name 500 is displayed as "the current driving road is Route 3."

[0017]

As described above, according to the road information display device of the present invention, the same road information can be searched from the map information having different scales, and the searched information can be displayed on the map. Therefore, the name of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling can be displayed on the display means even at the scale level where the road name is not written, and therefore, driving can be performed with confidence even on unfamiliar land.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a road information display device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a software configuration of the road information display device according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of data of the same road information according to one embodiment of the present invention for each scale level;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a series of processes from calculation of a current position to display of a road name on a screen according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a display screen diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Storage means 12 Current position determination means 13 Information readout means 14 Map matching function part 15 Map search means 16 Road name search means 17 Map information 18 Road information 19 Display means

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Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage means for storing map information having a plurality of hierarchical levels, an information reading means for reading the map information stored in the storage means, and a current position determined based on radio waves from artificial satellites. A current position determining means, a map matching function unit for determining a road on which the vehicle is currently traveling based on the current position determined by the current position determining means, and a road name for each level of the map information from a higher level to a lower level. Lebe
Search for the name of the road, and if the road name is registered, search
Information search means for ending the search, a road name search means for determining a road name based on the search by the road information search means, and a map search for determining a map to be displayed from the map information read by the information read means And a display means for displaying the determined road name of the map.