JP3409656B2 - Vehicle navigation device and storage medium - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle navigation device and a storage medium for providing voice guidance at a road junction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, various route guidance devices have been proposed for smoothly driving on an unguided road. In these devices, by inputting a destination, the driver can drive to the destination. There is a route guidance device that guides an appropriate road. In this route guidance device, when approaching the waypoint,
For example, when turning right (left) at a branch point, "about 300 m
"To the right (left) direction", "To the right (left) direction",
"It will be in the right (left) direction soon", "It will be a toll road" near the entrance of the toll road, "It will be an exit soon" near the exit of the toll road, "It will be a destination soon" when approaching the destination When approaching the stopover point, voice guidance such as "I will stop at this point soon" is given.

[0003]

However, in the conventional device, at the branch point on the guide route, the direction (angle) of the guide road exiting from the branch point is calculated with respect to the road entering the branch point, and "soon. Since the guidance is "right (left) direction", "soon diagonally right (left)",
When there is another road in the same direction in the classification of the road to be guided out of a complicated branch point or intersection and the voice guidance, the guidance may be difficult to understand.

The present invention is intended to solve the above problems, and provides a vehicular navigation device capable of providing easy-to-understand direction guidance even when there is a complicated guidance junction or another road in the same direction. The purpose is to provide a storage medium.

[0005]

According to the present invention, a current position detecting means for detecting the current position of a vehicle, an input means for inputting information necessary for calculating a route, and an information for route guidance are output. Output means, information storage means for storing area information for direction guidance of a road exiting from a guidance branch point, and data necessary for performing route guidance including direction guidance phrase data corresponding to each area, A route calculation unit that calculates a route based on the information input by the input unit, a route information storage unit that stores information about the route calculated by the route calculation unit, a route calculated by the route calculation unit, and the current Guidance control means for outputting guidance information of a next guidance branch point to the output means based on the current position detected by the position detection means. All the road information that exits from the guidance branch point on the route stored in the information storage means is acquired to determine which area each road belongs to, and there are two roads in the right turn area or the left turn area, and in the adjacent areas. On the condition that there is no road, the direction guide information is output using a direction guide phrase of an adjacent area for a road having a large angle with respect to a line perpendicular to the entering road. Further, in the present invention, the guidance control means obtains all road information that exits from a guidance branch point on the route stored in the route information storage means, determines which area each road belongs to, and makes a right turn or There are 3 roads in the left turn area,
If there are no roads in the adjacent area, the two roads are smaller than 90 ° and the other one
One road is greater than 90 ° or two roads are 90 °
Greater than ° and one other road less than 90 °,
It is characterized in that the direction guidance information is output to the roads on both sides of the three using the direction guidance phrases of the adjacent areas.

The present invention also includes a current position detecting means for detecting the current position of the vehicle, an input means for inputting information necessary for calculating the route, and an output means for outputting information for route guidance. A vehicle having area information for direction guidance of a road exiting from a guidance branch point and information storage means for storing data necessary for route guidance including direction guidance phrase data corresponding to each area In a storage medium containing a program for controlling the navigation device, a route is searched based on the information input by the input unit, and the route is searched based on the searched route and the current position detected by the current position detection unit. The next guidance branch point is obtained, information on all roads exiting from the guidance branch point is acquired, and which area each road belongs to is determined. On the condition that there are two roads in a and there is no road in the adjacent area, a direction guidance phrase of the adjacent area is output from the information storage means for a road having a large angle with respect to a line perpendicular to the entering road. It is characterized in that the vehicular navigation device is controlled so as to read out and output to the output means. The present invention also searches for a route based on the information input by the input means,
Based on the searched route and the current position detected by the current position detecting means, the next guidance branch point on the route is obtained, and information about all the roads from the guidance branch point is acquired to determine which area each road is. It is determined whether or not to enter, and if there are three roads in the right turn or left turn area and no roads in the adjacent areas, the two roads are smaller than 90 ° and other When one road is larger than 90 °, or two roads are larger than 90 ° and the other one is smaller than 90 °, direction guidance of adjacent areas to both sides of the three roads The vehicle navigation device is controlled so that the phrase is read from the information storage means and output to the output means.

[0007]

The present invention obtains information on roads entering a guidance junction and all roads exiting from the junction,
If there are two roads in the right-turn area or the left-turn area and there are no roads in the adjacent area, use the direction guidance phrase of the adjacent area for the road with a large angle with respect to the line perpendicular to the entering road. Output direction guidance information, and on the condition that there are 3 roads in the right turn or left turn area and no roads in the adjacent area, the 2 roads are 90 ° Small and one other road is greater than 90 °, or two roads are greater than 90 ° and one other road is less than 90 ° and adjacent to both sides of the three By outputting the direction guidance information using the direction guidance phrase of the area, it is possible to differentiate the guidance of each road and provide guidance that is easy for the driver to understand.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a navigation device according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, a navigation device according to the present invention includes an input / output device 1 for inputting / outputting information on route guidance, a current position detecting device 2 for detecting information on the current position of the vehicle, and a navigation necessary for calculating a route. Data storage device 3 and information storage device 3 in which display / voice guidance data necessary for route guidance and programs (applications and / or OSs) and the like are recorded,
It is composed of a central processing unit 4 which performs route search processing and display guidance processing necessary for route guidance and controls the entire system.

The input / output device 1 instructs the central processing unit 4 to perform navigation processing according to the driver's intention so that the driver can input the destination or output the guidance information by voice and / or screen when the driver needs it. In addition, it has a function of printing out the processed data. As a means for realizing the function, the input unit has a touch switch 11 and an operation switch for inputting a destination by a telephone number, coordinates on a map, or requesting route guidance. Of course, an input device such as a remote controller may be used. In the output unit, input data is displayed on the screen, or a display 12 that automatically displays route guidance on the screen in response to a driver's request, data processed by the central processing unit 4, and stored in the information storage device 3 are stored. A printer 13 that prints out the data and a speaker 16 that outputs the route guidance by voice are provided.

Here, a voice recognition device for enabling voice input and a recording card reading device for reading data recorded on an IC card or a magnetic card can be added. In addition, an information center that stores data necessary for navigation and provides information via communication lines at the driver's request, and a notebook-type electronic device that stores driver-specific data such as map data and destination data in advance. It is also possible to add a data communication device for exchanging data with an information source such as a device.

The display 12 is composed of a color CRT or a color liquid crystal display and is necessary for navigation such as a route setting screen based on map data or guidance data processed by the central processing unit 4, a section map screen, an intersection map screen, etc. In addition to outputting all screens in color display, buttons for setting route guidance, guidance during route guidance, and screen switching operations are displayed on this screen. In particular, passing intersection information such as the name of a passing intersection is displayed in a pop-up color on the section map screen at any time.

The display 12 is provided in the instrument panel near the driver's seat, and the driver can confirm the current position of the vehicle by looking at the section map and obtain information on the route from now on. it can. Further, the display 12 is provided with a touch switch 11 corresponding to the display of the function buttons, and is configured to execute the above-mentioned operation based on a signal input by touching the button. The input signal generating means including the button and the touch switch constitutes an input section, but a detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

The present position detecting means 2 obtains information by utilizing the present position satellite navigation system (GPS) of the vehicle.
By using the PS receiver 21, the VICS information receiver 22 for obtaining information using FM multiplex broadcasting, radio wave beacons, optical beacons, etc., mobile phones, personal computers, etc., an information center (for example, ATIS) Data transmitter / receiver 23 for bidirectionally communicating information with other vehicles
And an absolute azimuth sensor 24 that detects the traveling azimuth of the vehicle in an absolute azimuth by using, for example, geomagnetism, and a relative azimuth that detects the traveling azimuth of the vehicle in a relative azimuth by using, for example, a steering sensor or a gyro sensor. The sensor 25 and, for example, a distance sensor 26 that detects the traveling distance of the vehicle from the number of rotations of the wheels are used to transmit and receive information regarding the traveling of the vehicle, such as road information and traffic information, and information regarding the current position of the vehicle. It is a device for detecting and transmitting / receiving information on the current position.

The information storage device 3 is an external storage device that stores a navigation program and data, and is composed of, for example, a CD-ROM. The program is a program for performing processing such as route search, a processing program shown in the flowchart of this embodiment, a display output control required for route guidance, a program for performing voice output control required for voice guidance, and Necessary data, and further, display information data necessary for route guidance and map display are stored. Also, the data is map data, search data,
It consists of files such as guidance data, voice guidance phrase data, map matching data, destination data, registration point data, road data, genre data, landmark data, etc., and stores all data necessary for the navigation device. The present invention can be applied to a type in which only data is stored in the CD-ROM and the program is stored in the central processing unit.

The central processing unit 4 has a CPU 40 for executing various arithmetic processes, a flash memory 41 for reading and storing a program from a CD-ROM of the information storage device 3,
ROM 42 storing a program (program reading means) for performing program check and update processing of flash memory 41, set destination point coordinates, road name code No. Based on the display output control signal from the RAM 43, the image memory 44 in which the image data used for the screen display on the display is stored, the RAM 43 for temporarily storing the searched route guidance information and the data being calculated. An image processor 45, C for extracting image data from the image memory 44, performing image processing and outputting the image data to a display.
Information storage device 3 based on audio output control signal from PU
The speaker 1 which synthesizes the voice, the phrase, the sentence, the sound, etc. read from
6, a voice processor 46 for outputting to 6, a communication interface 47 for exchanging input / output data by communication, a sensor input interface 48 for taking in a sensor signal of the current position detection device 2, and a date and time for writing internal diagnostic information. It is equipped with a clock 49 and the like. Here, the route guidance is performed by screen display and voice output, and the presence or absence of voice output can be selected by the driver.

The program for performing the above-mentioned update process may be stored in an external storage device. The programs according to the present invention and other programs for executing navigation may all be stored in a CD-ROM that is an external storage medium, or some or all of these programs may be stored in the ROM 42 on the main body side. Good.

Various navigation functions are realized by inputting data and programs stored in the external storage medium as external signals to the central processing unit of the navigation apparatus body and performing arithmetic processing.

The navigation device according to the present invention, as described above, has a relatively large capacity flash memory 41 for reading a program from the CD-ROM of the external storage device.
A small-capacity ROM 42 storing a program (program reading means) for performing a CD startup process is built in.
The flash memory 41 is a non-volatile storage means that retains stored information even when the power is turned off. Then, as the CD startup processing, the program of the ROM 42, which is the program reading means, is activated to check the program stored in the flash memory 41, and the disc management information of the CD-ROM of the information storage device 3 is read. Program loading process (update process)
It is performed by judging from this information and the state of the flash memory 41.

2 to 4 show examples of the structure of main data files stored in the information storage device 3 according to the present invention shown in FIG. FIG. 2A shows a guide road data file in which data necessary for calculating a route by the route calculating means and performing route guidance is stored. For each number of roads n, the road number, length, and road Address of attribute data, shape data, address of size and guidance data,
It consists of each size data. The road number is set for each of the roads between the branch points (direction, return). As shown in FIG. 3 (A), the road attribute data as road guidance auxiliary information day includes information on the number of lanes, whether the road is an elevated road, an elevated road, an underpass, an underpass, a branch data ( A flag indicating whether or not there is a branch) and lamp data (a flag indicating whether or not there is a branch). As shown in FIG. 2B, when the road is divided into a plurality of nodes, the shape data has coordinate data of east longitude and north latitude for each m node number.

As shown in FIG. 2C, the guidance data includes intersection (or branch point) name, caution point data, road name data, road name voice data address, size and destination data address, size. It consists of each data. As shown in FIG. 4A, the caution data is data indicating information such as railroad crossings, tunnel entrances, tunnel exits, width reduction points, and no cautions. It is data for calling the driver's attention in the case such as As shown in FIG. 3B, the road name data includes information on road types of highways, urban highways, toll roads, general roads (national roads, prefectural roads, etc.), highways, urban highways, and toll roads. It is data indicating information indicating whether the road is a main line or an installation road, and is composed of road type data and an in-type number which is individual number data for each road type.

As shown in FIG. 2D, the destination data includes a destination road number, a destination name, an address of destination name voice data, a size and a destination direction data, and travel guidance data. The destination name also includes a direction name. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2E, the destination direction data is invalid (does not use the destination direction data), unnecessary (does not require guidance), straight ahead, rightward, diagonally rightward, rightward return, leftward. Data indicating the direction, the diagonal left direction, and the direction returning to the left. The driving guidance data is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, data for guiding which lane to drive when there are a plurality of lanes is stored, and is data indicating information from the right, the left, the center, or none.

In the data structure of FIG. 2, the road data stores the information about the intersection. However, as shown in FIG. 5, the intersection data is provided separately from the road data, and the presence / absence of a traffic signal and the crosswalk data are stored. , Branch feature data, road data entering an intersection, road data exiting an intersection,
Information such as landmark data may be stored. However, if the road data has connection information, it is easier to have data such as that a certain road cannot enter from a certain road,
The amount of data is small.

FIG. 6 shows an example of guidance phrase data for voice guidance. A guidance sentence is divided into distance phrases, direction phrases, and characteristic phrases, and when outputting guidance voice data, each phrase is combined. Then, for example, a message such as "I will turn right soon" is created and output at the set guidance branch point. In the present invention, as will be described later, road information about all roads entering and exiting a guidance branch point is acquired, and in advance for the classification area on the direction guidance,
Straight (straight), slightly right (left) direction (slight right (left) turn), right turn (right bear), left turn (left bear), road (keep), right road (keep right), left road ( Key left), fork,
Phrase data such as a sharp right turn (sharp right turn) and a sharp left turn (sharp left turn) is set, and this is selected appropriately according to the actual situation of the guidance branch point to provide detailed direction guidance. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an example of correspondence between the classification area on the direction guidance and the direction guidance phrase,
In FIG. 7A, areas 1 to 6 are classified according to the angle with respect to the road entering the guidance junction, areas 1 and 2 are sharp turn areas, areas 3 and 4 are turn areas, and areas 5 and 6 are bare areas. Here is an example. Then, as shown in FIG. 7B, the directions 1 to 6 are associated with the areas 1 to 6, and the table is stored in the information storage device.

Next, the processing flow of the vehicle navigation device of the present invention will be described. FIG. 8 is a flow chart for explaining the flow of the entire system of the vehicle navigation device according to the present invention.

When the CPU 51 of the central processing unit 4 activates the program of the route guidance system, the current position detecting device 2 detects the current position, displays the peripheral map around the current position, and displays the name of the current position. Etc. are displayed (step S1). Next, a destination is set using a target name such as a place name or a facility name, a telephone number, an address, a registration point, etc. (step S2), and a route search from the current position to the destination is performed (step S3). When the route is determined, the current position is traced by the current position detection device 2 and the route guidance / display is repeatedly performed until the destination is reached (step S4). When the detour setting is input before reaching the destination, the search area is set, the search is performed again in the search area, and the route guidance is repeated until the destination is reached. The present invention relates to a case where voice guidance is provided in the route guidance at the guidance branch point in the route guidance / display in step S4.

In performing voice guidance at an intersection, until now, the angle was calculated from the relationship between the road on the route entering the intersection and the road on the route, and the content of the voice guidance was determined based on that angle. However, with this method, as shown in Fig. 9, when there is no significant difference in the angles of the roads 1 and 2 with respect to the roads that enter, guidance such as "it is rightward" is given to both roads 1 and 2. It is difficult to differentiate the guidance for the two roads. Therefore, in order to differentiate the roads 1 and 2 by voice at the intersection in such a case,
Get all the roads exiting the intersection.

First, referring to FIG. 9, a method of acquiring a road exiting from an intersection when there is no intra-intersection link will be described. The circles are nodes (intersections), and the bold lines are routes. In FIG. 10, roads a, b, c, and d are facing roads, and the route is ad. At that time, roads b, c, and d that exit the road a at the intersection in FIG.

Next, the road acquisition when there is an intra-intersection link will be described. Here, the link within the intersection means that the place that is originally the site of the intersection is created in terms of data,
It is a fictitious road that occurs because it is represented by lines and nodes.
The conditions for road acquisition at such an intersection are as follows. Of the roads exiting from an intersection, all consecutive links within an intersection are not treated as exit roads but are postponed, and roads that are no longer links within an intersection are treated as roads exiting from that intersection. Those that are not on the route and do not have the attribute of an in-intersection link are treated as roads exiting from that intersection.

FIG. 11 is an example of an intersection in which an intra-intersection link exists. In the figure, circles are nodes (1 to 5), j to n are roads having intra-intersection link attributes, and roads a to i are separated into upper and lower lines. The one-way traffic and the route are aj-lg. Node 1
The roads exiting from are b and j. The road b is treated as an exit road because it does not have the link attribute in the intersection. Also, j
Is a road having an intra-intersection link attribute on the route, it is postponed, and the roads k and l from node 2 are targeted.
Road k is postponed because it has an intra-intersection link attribute, and roads d and e from node 3 are targeted. d and e
Has no intra-intersection link attribute and is treated as an exit road. On the other hand, since the road 1 is a road having an intra-intersection link attribute on the route, it is postponed and the node 5
Roads m and g exiting from are targeted. Road g is treated as a road that exits because it is on the route and does not have the intra-intersection link attribute. Further, since the road m is the road having the first intra-intersection link attribute that exits from the route, it is postponed and the roads i and n that exit from the node 4 are targeted. Road i does not have the link attribute in the intersection and is therefore treated as an exit road. However, since n is a road having an intra-intersection link, it is postponed, and road b and road j have already been processed and are not treated as exit roads. Therefore, the roads at this intersection are b, d, e, g, and i.

After acquiring all the roads exiting from the intersection in this way, the direction of each road is determined. The method of calculating the road angle for that purpose will be described below.
FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a road angle calculation method for an intersection that does not have an intra-intersection link. In FIG. 12, when calculating the angles of the roads 1 and 2 that exit from the road that enters the intersection a, the point that has returned 20 m from the road that enters the intersection a (point b in FIG. 12) is used as the reference point for angle calculation. . next,
Sampling three points on the road. Here, 20m, 40m, 60m points of the road leaving the intersection (Road 1
Then, sample points c, d, and e). However, when the length of the road is 60 m or less, the remaining distance is calculated using the guide-free road that exits from the road. That is, the exit road 2 is located at another intersection (end point of road 2) at the 30m point.
There is a 20m point f of the exit road 2 and the exit road 2
40m, 60m points g and h on the road that does not require guidance on the extension of
Sample points and. When there is no guidance unnecessary road, the end point of the sampled road is sampled as the point. Finally, the angles of the sampling points (the angles formed by the line connecting the reference point and the sampling point with respect to the line connecting the reference point and the intersection) are calculated, and these angles increase with increasing distance from 20 m, 40 m, and 60 m, Alternatively, if there is a decreasing tendency, the angle of the farthest 60 m is acquired as the angle of the road. In the case of the exit road 1, the angle tends to decrease, so the angle at point e is acquired. When the tendency is not the increasing tendency or the decreasing tendency, the average value of the three sampled angles is acquired as the angle of the road.

Next, a method of calculating an angle of an intersection having a road having an attribute of an intra-intersection link will be described with reference to FIG. As described above, when there is a road having the attribute of an intra-intersection link on the other side of the guidance intersection, the road exiting from the intersection is a road that can be acquired as a result of being postponed until it does not have the intra-intersection link attribute. In a), a is the entering road, b (broken line) is the link at the intersection, and c
Is an exit road, d is a guidance intersection, e is an unneeded guidance point, and f is another exit road. Here, as shown in FIG. 13B, the starting point of the exit road c is translated to the guidance intersection d. In FIG. 13B, c1 is a parallel translation of the exit road c, and g is the angle of the road c. Next, 20 m, 40 m, and 60 m points are sampled from the start point, and the angle of each sampling point is calculated and increased in the same way as in the case of FIG. 12 with 20 m before the intersection d of the road entering the end as a reference. If there is a tendency or a decreasing tendency, the angle of the point of 60 m is acquired as the angle of the road, and if not, the average value of the three sampled angles is taken as the angle of the road.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a processing flow of angle calculation. First, the coordinates of a point (reference point) 20 m before the intersection of the entering road and the coordinates of the intersection are acquired (steps 11 and 12), and then 20 m of the road exiting from the intersection,
The coordinates of the 40 m and 60 m points and the starting point coordinates of the exit road are acquired (steps 13 and 14). Next, it is judged whether or not there is an intra-intersection link (step 15). If the intra-intersection link exists, the start point of the exit road is translated to the intersection, and the coordinates of the sample point of the exit road are corrected. (Step 16). Next, the angle from the road entering at each sampling point is calculated (step 17), and it is determined whether the calculated angle has an increasing or decreasing tendency for each sampling point (step 18). If the angle of the sample point is increasing or decreasing, it is adopted as the angle of the road leaving the angle of 60m point, and if the angle of the sample point is not increasing or decreasing, take the average value of the angle of each sample point. , Adopted as the angle of the road exiting it.

In this way, after all the angles of the roads leaving the intersection are calculated, the directions of those roads are determined.
The present invention is not limited to this, and the direction determination may be performed using the destination direction data of FIG. 3E, or the angle calculation described above and the destination of FIG. The direction may be discriminated using the direction data together.

After obtaining all the roads exiting from the guidance branch point in this way, it is determined to which area of the area on the direction guidance classification shown in FIG. 7A the other roads belong to the same area. If there is a predetermined condition within the area, the direction is changed by moving the area to provide guidance without confusion.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a processing flow of direction conversion. First, the exit areas of all roads are acquired (step 21). That is, the angle obtained by the processing of FIG.
Alternatively, it is calculated which of the areas, for example, the roads are shown in FIG. 7A, based on the directions obtained from the destination direction data shown in FIG. Next, it is judged whether or not another road exists in the same area as the road to be guided (step 22), and if another road exists in the same area,
Further, it is determined whether or not there is a road in at least one area out of both sides of the road area to be guided (step 23). When there is no road in at least one area of both sides (when it is an empty area), it is judged whether or not the road to be guided is closer to the empty area than other roads (step 24). On condition that the road to be guided is closer to the empty area than other roads, the empty area is moved to the road to be guided and guidance is provided using the direction guidance phrase of the moved area. Also, if there is no other road in the same area as the road to be guided, or there are roads in both adjacent areas, or if the road to be guided is farther from the empty area than other roads, In each case, the area is not moved, and guidance is provided using the direction guidance phrase for that area.

By this processing, even if there is a road in the same area and the direction guidance is confusing, it is moved to an adjacent area and guidance is performed using the direction guidance phrase of that area, and the guidance is differentiated from other roads. It becomes possible.

Next, an example of such a guiding method will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG. Fig. 16 shows 2 other than roads that do not require guidance.
It is a figure which shows the example in case there are two roads and they are in the same area. FIG. 16A shows a case where there are bare areas on the left and right with respect to the guide-free road, and roads 1 and 2 exist in the bare light area (hatched area in the figure). Conventionally, both guides "bare light (turning to the right)", but this cannot differentiate roads 1 and 2. Therefore, in this example, since the right-turn area is empty and is near, the area on the road 2 is moved to the right-turn area to guide the “right turn”, and the road 1 is directly guided to the “bearlight”.

FIG. 16B shows the case where road 1 and road 2 exist in the sharp right turn area (hatched area in the figure). In this example, the area for the right turn is empty and is near, so the area of the road 2 is moved to the right turn area for the guidance of the "right turn", and the road 1 is directly provided for the "the right turn".

FIG. 16C shows a case where there are bare areas on the left and right with respect to the guide-free road, and roads 1 and 2 exist in the bare left area (hatched area in the figure).
In this example, the left turn area is empty and it is close, so move the area on road 1 to the left turn area and give a "left turn" guidance.
On the road 2, the "bare left" guidance is provided as it is.

FIG. 16D shows a case where road 1 and road 2 exist in the sharp left turn area (hatched area in the figure). In this example, the area for the left turn is empty and it is close, so move the area of road 1 to the left turn area and guide the "left turn",
Road 2 will continue to guide you to "turn left".

FIG. 16E shows a case where two roads exist in the right turn area. Entering angle relative to a straight line which forms a 90 ° counterclockwise with respect to the road, a road 1, theta _1, When the road 2 theta _2, theta ₁ <theta road 1 right turn road 2 for ₂ to Bearaito (Bearaito Area movement) When θ ₁ > θ ₂ Road 1 makes a sharp right turn (area moves to a sharp right turn) Road 2 guides as a right turn. This is also the same in the left-turn area.

FIG. 17 shows a case where there are three or more roads other than the road not requiring guidance and some of them are in the same area. In Fig. 17 (a), there is no guidance-free road,
This is a case where there are road 1 and road 2 in the right side area and road 3 is in the right side area. In this case, the leftmost road 1 is used as a right turn, the middle road is used as a straight road, and the rightmost road is used as a right turn.

FIG. 17 (b) shows 3 in the light area.
When there are two roads 1, 2, and 3, the leftmost road 1 is straight ahead, the middle road 2 is slightly rightward (slight light turn), and the rightmost road 3 is right turn (area movement).

FIG. 17 (c) shows 3 in the light saft area.
When there are two roads 1, 2 and 3, turn left on the leftmost road 1, turn the middle road 2 slightly leftward (slight left turn), and guide the rightmost road 3 as a straight road.

FIG. 18 shows a case where there is no guidance-free road and there are two roads divided into a slightly right (left) direction (slight right / left turn) and a straight driving area. The angle from the extension of the entering road is θ ₁ for road ₁ and θ _{2 for} road _2.
When, θ _1> 15 °, when the θ ₂ <-15 °, the road 1 slightly leftward (scan light left turn) Road 2 just right (scan light lights turn) theta _1> when theta _2, the road 1 Is slightly left (slight left turn) When the road 2 is straight ahead θ ₁ <θ ₂ , the road 1 is straight ahead and the road 2 is slightly right (slight right turn).

FIG. 19 shows a case where there are three roads in the right turn area. 2 roads for the extension of the road
(Middle), the angle of the road 3 (outside) is smaller (or larger) than 90 °, and the angle of the other road 1 is 9
When the angle is larger (or smaller) than 0 °, turn the road (road 1 in the figure) that is the most sharply right turn (turn to the next area),
Turn the middle road (road 2 in the figure) to the right, and the road closest to the bear light (road 3 in the figure) as the bear light (area movement). The same applies to the left turn area.

When the area movement as described with reference to FIGS. 16 to 19 is performed, the same processing is performed as an independent road for another road that is not in the area to be moved. In that case, the same area may be moved to a road on the opposite side of the empty area, resulting in the same guidance phrase. However, the adjacent areas where the left and right sides are opposite sides are not considered to be adjacent, and the areas are moved.

In other cases than the above examples, only area determination is performed, and even if there are a plurality of areas in the same area, guidance is provided using the phrases in that area. FIG. 20A shows a case where there is a guide unnecessary road, and the bare left area and the left turn area and the bare right area and the right turn area are set at the same angle on the basis of the guide unnecessary road. Then, the roads within the range of each area are guided by the guide phrase of the area. Also, FIG.
(B) is a case where all the exiting roads require guidance, which is different in that a straight ahead area and a slightly left (right) direction (slight left (right) turn) area are set. In addition, the roads within each area are guided by the guide phrase of the area.

In the case where there is a guidance-unnecessary road, it has been described that the area is determined by deciding the angle with reference to the guidance-unnecessary road. However, the following may be adopted. For example, the area between the mud that comes out and the road that comes in may be divided at a fixed rate.
Further, when combined with the guide-free road standard, if the exit road is curved with respect to the entrance road, the area of each area increases or decreases.

Further, the angle can be determined based on the road that exits the "diagonal" area, and the area can be determined as the area of the "diagonal" area having a constant angle with respect to the reference. In this case, by determining the minimum angle of the right or left turn area, if it becomes smaller than this area, the "slant" area is reduced by half each of the difference, and the right or left turn area is reduced. May be increased.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a main data file according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a main data file according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a main data file according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of intersection data.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of guide phrase data.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an exit area of a road at a guidance intersection and a direction guidance phrase.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the flow of the entire system.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of road acquisition at an intersection.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of road acquisition at an intersection without an intra-intersection link.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of road acquisition at an intersection having an intra-intersection link.

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a road angle calculation method for an intersection that does not have an intra-intersection link.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method for calculating an angle of a road exiting from an intersection having a road having an attribute of an intra-intersection link.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a processing flow of angle calculation.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a processing flow of direction conversion.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example in the case where there are two exit roads other than the guidance-free road and they are in the same area.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example in which there are three roads other than the guidance-free road and some of them are in the same area.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example in which there is no guidance-free road and there are two roads divided into a slightly right (left) direction and a straight ahead area.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example when there are three roads in a right-turn (or left-turn) area.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a case where only the area determination is performed and guidance is provided using a phrase of the area even if there are a plurality of areas.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Input / output device, 2 ... Present position detection device, 3 ... Information storage device, 4 ... Central processing unit, 11 ... Touch switch, 12
... display, 13 ... printer, 16 ... speaker, 2
1 ... GPS receiver, 22 ... Beacon receiver, 23 ...
Data transmitting / receiving device, 40 ... CPU, 41 ... Flash memory, 42 ... ROM, 43 ... RAM, 44 ... Image memory, 45 ... Image processor, 46 ... Voice processor, 4
7 ... communication interface, 48 ... sensor input interface, 49 ... clock

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Koji Kishi 1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture Toyota Automobile Co., Ltd. Within Ar (56) Reference JP-A-6-301891 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G01C 21/00 G08G 1/0969 G09B 29/00-29/10

Claims (4)

(57) [Claims] 1. A current position detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle, an input means for inputting information necessary for calculating a route, an output means for outputting information for route guidance, and a guidance branch point. Area information for direction guidance of the road exiting from, and information storage means storing data necessary for route guidance including direction guidance phrase data corresponding to each area, and information input by the input means. A route calculation means for calculating a route based on the route, a route information storage means for storing information on the route calculated by the route calculation means, a route calculated by the route calculation means, and a current detected by the current position detection means. A guide control unit for outputting guide information of the next guide branch point to the output unit based on the position, and the guide control unit is stored in the route information storage unit. All road information from the guidance branch points on the selected route is acquired to determine which area each road belongs to, there are two roads in the right turn area or the left turn area, and there is no road in the adjacent area. Under the condition, the vehicle navigation device outputs the direction guidance information by using the direction guidance phrase of the adjacent area for the road having a large angle with respect to the line perpendicular to the entering road. 2. A current position detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle, an input means for inputting information necessary for calculating a route, an output means for outputting information for route guidance, and a guidance branch point. Area information for direction guidance of the road exiting from, and information storage means storing data necessary for route guidance including direction guidance phrase data corresponding to each area, and information input by the input means. A route calculation means for calculating a route based on the route, a route information storage means for storing information on the route calculated by the route calculation means, a route calculated by the route calculation means, and a current detected by the current position detection means. A guide control unit for outputting guide information of the next guide branch point to the output unit based on the position, and the guide control unit is stored in the route information storage unit. All the road information that comes out of the guidance branch point on the selected route is acquired and it is determined which area each road enters. It is confirmed that there are three roads in the right turn or left turn area and no roads in the adjacent areas. 2 for the extension of the road to enter
When one road is less than 90 ° and one other road is greater than 90 °, or two roads are greater than 90 ° and one other road is less than 90 ° A vehicle navigation device that outputs direction guidance information to a road by using direction guidance phrases in adjacent areas. 3. Current position detection for detecting the current position of a vehicle
Enter the means and the information needed to calculate the route
Force means and output means for outputting information for route guidance
And an area for direction guidance of the road exiting from the guidance junction
Information and direction guidance phrase data corresponding to each area
Information that stores the data required for route guidance
Controlling a vehicle navigation device including a storage means
In the storage medium containing the program to search, the route is searched based on the information input by the input means.
And the detection of the said the searched route the present position detecting means
The next guidance branch point on the route is calculated based on the current position
In order to obtain each road information from the guidance branch point,
Determine which area the road enters, and if there are two roads in the right turn area or the left turn area and there are no roads in the adjacent areas, select a road with a large angle to the line perpendicular to the entering road. On the other hand, the direction guidance phrase of the adjacent area is read from the information storage means and the output means
A storage medium for controlling a vehicular navigation device so as to output to a storage medium. 4. Current position detection for detecting the current position of a vehicle
Enter the means and the information needed to calculate the route
Force means and output means for outputting information for route guidance
And an area for direction guidance of the road exiting from the guidance junction
Information and direction guidance phrase data corresponding to each area
Information that stores the data required for route guidance
Controlling a vehicle navigation device including a storage means
In the storage medium containing the program to search, the route is searched based on the information input by the input means.
And the detection of the said the searched route the present position detecting means
The next guidance branch point on the route is calculated based on the current position
In order to obtain each road information from the guidance branch point,
It is determined which area the road enters, and if there are three roads in the right-turn or left-turn areas and no roads in the adjacent areas, the two roads are more than 90 ° with respect to the extension line of the entering road. One small road is larger than 90 °,
Or when two roads of the other one at greater than 90 ° road is smaller than 90 °, the information recording direction guidance phrases adjacent areas respectively three of each side of the road
Vehicle to read from storage means and output to the output means
Storage medium for controlling a navigation device for vehicle.