JP3520703B2 - Bird's eye view display control 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 display control technique applicable to, for example, a vehicle navigation device, and more particularly to a bird's-eye view display control device applicable when displaying a map in a bird's-eye view format.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional vehicle navigation device, for example, a "vehicle-mounted map display device" described in JP-A-62-288516 is known. This kind of device
The moving direction and the current position of the vehicle are detected, the map data recorded in advance corresponding to the current position is read, and the road map and the current position of the vehicle are displayed on the display screen.

Further, this type of device is capable of changing a map displayed on the screen and scrolling the displayed map on the screen in response to a switch operation of a driver or the like. Therefore, even if the map ahead is far away from the current position of the vehicle, it is possible to refer to the distant map by using this scroll function. Furthermore, in recent years, a vehicle navigation device that can display a map in a bird's-eye view format on the screen has also appeared.

[0004]

However, in the conventional vehicular navigation device, the navigation information is displayed on a screen that is extremely distant from the current position being displayed, such as a map of a destination or a waypoint. In order to display a map at a position that is not present, it is necessary to operate the switch for scrolling the map and the switch for changing the scale of the map many times, which compels the operator to perform troublesome operation work. There was a problem. For example, if you have a scroll function that allows you to specify a point on the displayed map and move it to the center point of the screen, the distance that can be moved by one operation is limited to about half the display width of the screen. , In order to scroll from the current position to a distant position, I had to perform scrolling operation many times.

In addition, for example, when a scroll function for moving to a relatively long distance predetermined by one switch operation is provided, the number of operations may be reduced. However, in this case, since the map screen showing the point after scrolling does not exist on the screen of the current position, there is a problem that it is difficult for the operator to intuitively grasp the distance moved by the scroll operation. It was In particular,
If you change the display scale of the map that has been displayed on the screen up to now and perform a scroll operation, it will be affected by the change in the visible area due to the difference in the display scale. Since it is difficult to understand the difference between the two, the operator sometimes performed scroll operation and scale adjustment operation many times.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to provide a bird's-eye view display control device capable of scroll-displaying a map of a target area with a simple operation.

[0007]

The invention according to claim 1 is
In order to solve the above problem, in a device that displays map information of a certain surroundings around a specific point as a bird's-eye view including an empty area, a map displayed on the display screen of the device.
If the above 1 point is specified, the position of the indicated 1 point
The coordinates on the map are calculated by converting to the coordinates on the map, and when one point in the empty area in the displayed bird's-eye view is designated, it is regarded as outside the displayed map information and the above-mentioned designation is made. Position coordinate calculation means for converting the coordinates on the display screen showing the position of the sky region to the coordinates on the map, and calculating the coordinates of the position of the designated sky region on the map.
Scrolling means for scrolling the display screen so as to form a bird's-eye view centered on the position coordinates calculated by the position coordinate calculating means .

According to the second aspect of the present invention, map information recording means for recording map information in advance, and coordinate conversion means for converting the read map information into bird's-eye view information obtained by seeing through the projection plane from a fixed position viewpoint, A bird's-eye view display control device having a display unit for adding sky area information to the bird's-eye view information and displaying it on a display screen, the position information input unit inputting position information in association with coordinate positions on the display screen. And the above
The position information input by the device information input means is displayed on the display.
When showing on the map displayed on the means display screen, the bird
The location represented by the position information from the reference point in the perspective view
A scroll for moving the origin of the displayed coordinates to the point on the diagram.
Information is calculated and input by the position information input means.
If the location information indicates the empty region, and the scroll information calculating means for calculating a scroll information to move the origin of the display coordinate from a reference point in the bird's eye view to a point on the map represented by the position information , The scroll
Based on the scroll information calculated by the information calculation means ,
It is characterized by further comprising: scroll control means for sequentially reading the pre-recorded map information, converting it into bird's-eye view information, and controlling the bird's-eye view information to be displayed while scrolling.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 2, wherein the scroll information calculating means is responsive to the height in the sky region represented by the input position information. The point is to change the amount of movement to the point to be displayed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the second aspect of the present invention, the scroll information calculating means sets an area adjacent to a map area being displayed as a map area after scrolling. The gist is to determine the movement amount and the movement direction so that

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, map information recording means for recording map information in advance, and coordinate conversion means for converting the read map information into bird's-eye view information obtained by seeing through a projection plane from a fixed position viewpoint, A bird's-eye view display control device having display means for adding sky area information to the bird's-eye view information and displaying it on a display screen, wherein the area names of a plurality of areas located outside the currently displayed map information are written in characters. Displayed in the sky region as information, according to the horizontal distance and vertical distance from the reference position on the map corresponding to the reference point in the bird's-eye view,
A place name display means for determining a horizontal position and a vertical position for displaying the area name in the empty area, a position information input means for inputting position information in association with a coordinate position on the display screen, and the position. The position entered by the information input means
A map in which the location information is displayed on the display screen of the display means.
In the case of the above, the reference point in the bird's eye view
Therefore, move the origin of the displayed coordinates to the point on the map.
Calculate the scroll information for moving and enter the position information.
If the position information inputted by the force means indicating the empty area, calculates the scroll information to move the origin of the display coordinate from a reference point in the bird's eye view to the point of location names that are specified by the position information Based on the scroll information calculation means and the scroll information calculated by the scroll information calculation means , the pre-recorded map information is sequentially read out and converted into bird's-eye view information, and then the bird's-eye view information is displayed while scrolling. And a scroll control means for controlling.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the scroll information calculating means sets the movement amount and the movement amount so that the area name designated by the input position information is the area after scrolling. The gist is to determine the moving direction.

According to a seventh aspect of the invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the fifth aspect of the invention, the place name display means is one of a plurality of regions located outside a map region being displayed. The gist is to display the area name preferentially from the reference position on the map corresponding to the reference point on the display or the one that is closer to the viewpoint of the current bird's-eye view.

According to an eighth aspect of the invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the fifth aspect of the invention, the place name display means displays a wide-area place name indicating a relatively wide area in a relatively upper part of the sky region. On the other hand, while displaying, the gist is to display the narrow area place name assigned to a range narrower than the wide area place name relatively below the empty area.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 9 is the invention according to claim 5, wherein the place name display means displays the name of a municipality, a prefecture, or a region name adjacent to the map area being displayed. The gist is to display the sky regions from the bottom to the top.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the fifth aspect of the invention, instead of the position information inputting means, the line of sight of the operator is directed on the display screen. It has a line-of-sight direction detecting means for detecting position information and a voice recognizing means for recognizing voice information from the operator, and the voice information from the operator is a word indicating confirmation of the position information or screen scrolling. In this case, when the position information indicates the sky area, the gist is to pass the detected position information to the scroll information calculation means.

[0017]

[0018]

According to the present invention as set forth in claim 1, when one point in the sky region in the displayed bird's-eye view is designated, it is regarded as outside the displayed map information, and the designated position is determined. It is possible to scroll and display the map up to the target area by calculating the coordinates of, and scrolling the display screen so as to form a bird's-eye view centering on the calculated position coordinates.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the position information is input in association with the coordinate position on the display screen, and when the position information indicates a sky area, the position information is calculated from the reference point in the bird's-eye view. The scroll information for moving the origin of the display coordinates to the point represented by is calculated. Next, based on this scroll information, pre-recorded map information is sequentially read and converted into bird's-eye view information, and the control is performed so that the bird's-eye view information is displayed while scrolling. You can scroll up to the map.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the amount of movement to the point to be displayed can be changed according to the height in the sky region represented by the input position information, so that it is possible to perform a simple operation. The map up to the point can be scrolled according to the height. As a result, the scroll distance per operation can be adjusted in a wider range, and the number of scroll operations can be reduced. Also, since the perspective expressed by the bird's-eye view and the change in scroll distance match,
It can be easily recognized by the operator.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the movement amount and the movement direction are determined so that the area adjacent to the map area being displayed becomes the map area after scrolling, the map currently displayed is displayed. Adjacent regions can be displayed with a very simple operation.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the area names of a plurality of areas located outside the currently displayed map information are displayed in the empty area as character information and correspond to the reference points in the bird's-eye view. The horizontal position and vertical position for displaying the place name are determined according to the horizontal distance and the vertical distance from the reference position on the map. It is possible to visually understand the distance between the position and the area to be displayed next.
Further, the position information is input in association with the coordinate position on the display screen. Here, when the input position information indicates a sky region, scroll information for moving the origin of the display coordinates from the reference point in the bird's-eye view to the point of the area name specified by the position information is calculated. Next, based on the scroll information, the pre-recorded map information is sequentially read out and converted into the bird's-eye view information, and then the bird's-eye view information is controlled to be displayed while scrolling, so that the target is a simple operation. You can scroll the map to the area.

According to the invention of claim 6, the moving amount and the moving direction are determined so that the area name specified by the input position information becomes the area after scrolling. You can scroll.

According to the invention of claim 7, the reference position on the map corresponding to the reference point on the display or the viewpoint of the current bird's-eye view among a plurality of regions located outside the displayed map region. By preferentially displaying the area name from the one that is closer to, the area name that is relatively close to the current position of the vehicle can be displayed first, and the passing area name can be preceded before driving. Can contribute to recognition.

According to the eighth aspect of the present invention, a wide area name indicating a relatively wide area is displayed relatively above in the sky area, and is allocated to a range narrower than the wide area name at a relatively lower area in the sky area. By displaying the narrow area place name, the operator can easily recognize whether the place name is a wide area place name or a narrow area place name.

According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, by displaying the names of cities, towns and villages, prefectures, and regions that are adjacent to the displayed map area in the empty area from the bottom to the top, respectively.
It is possible to display a wide range of place names from near to far, and it is possible to contribute to prior recognition of a passing area name prior to traveling.

According to the tenth aspect of the invention, the position information is detected according to the direction of the line of sight of the operator directed on the display screen, and the voice information from the operator is recognized, and the voice from the operator is recognized. When the information is a word indicating confirmation of the position information or scrolling of the screen, and when the position information indicates a sky area, the detected position information is handed over to the scroll information calculation means so that the operator uses his hand. It is possible to instruct to scroll the displayed map without specifying the position.

[0028]

[0029]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a vehicle navigation device 1 to which a bird's-eye view display control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention can be applied. In the figure, the GPS receiver 3 is a GP for measuring the current position and azimuth represented by latitude and longitude based on radio waves from a plurality of satellites received via an antenna (not shown).
It is an S (Global Positioning System) receiver. The azimuth sensor 5 detects the direction of travel of the vehicle by detecting geomagnetism or rotation by a gyro. The traveling sensor 7 outputs a pulse signal generated in response to the rotation of the tire of the vehicle, and the pulse signal can be counted to obtain the moving distance of the vehicle. In general, even when the GPS receiver 3 cannot output valid position information, the current position is calculated using the past position information, the azimuth information from the azimuth sensor 5, and the travel information from the travel sensor 7. can do.

The CD-ROM 9 has a map database recorded in advance, and is loaded in the CD-ROM driver 11. The CD-ROM driver 11 is
This is a device for reading out map data at an arbitrary position recorded in the CD-ROM 9 as needed. The touch panel display 13 includes a display device having an LCD screen for displaying a map and a touch panel input device arranged on the screen, and when the operator touches the screen of the display device with a finger or the like. Is the coordinate information corresponding to the position on the screen,
Information indicating that there was input is output. The controller 15 includes an MPU (microprocessor) 15a that executes various calculations and control processes, a ROM 15b that stores control programs and control data in advance, a writable and readable RAM 15c, and the various sensors and devices. It is composed of various interfaces (not shown) for inputting / outputting data, and controls the entire navigation device.

Next, the operation of the vehicle navigation device 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 while referring to FIGS. First, when the power of the apparatus is turned on, step S10
Then, with the current position information detected by the GPS receiver 3,
The controller 15 uses the azimuth information detected by the azimuth sensor 5.
Take in. Next, the controller 15 reads the map information recorded in the CD-ROM 9 via the CD-ROM driver 11 based on the detected current position information and orientation information, and temporarily stores the read map information in the RAM 15c. . Next, the map information stored in the RAM 15c is converted into bird's-eye view information obtained by seeing through the projection plane from the viewpoint at the fixed position and developed in the RAM 15c. The principle of generating a bird's-eye view from map information is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-2
This is realized by utilizing the technology of "navigation system with bird's eye view display function" described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 20055.

Now, referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the CD-RO
The coordinate conversion process for generating a bird's-eye view from the plane map data recorded in M9 will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, it is assumed that the map exists along a horizontal plane parallel to the X and Y axes, and the viewpoint position is arranged at the viewpoint 23 having the height h. When looking down on the map plane located in the lower front from the viewpoint 23, the bird's-eye view can be seen through the window formed by the rectangular area 25 parallel to the X and Z axes. A trapezoidal area 27 surrounded by points A, B, C and D on the map shown in FIG. 4 is a map area displayed as a bird's-eye view. Therefore, by projecting the map information of the trapezoidal area 27 onto the rectangular area 25 so as to be seen through, and converting the map coordinates, a bird's-eye view to be displayed in the rectangular area 25 can be obtained. When the rectangular area 25 is associated with the screen of the touch panel display 13, the map area 27 shown in FIG. 4 becomes points A, B, on the screen 13a shown in FIG.
The bird's-eye view 17 of the rectangular area surrounded by C and D is displayed. The trapezoidal area 27 shown in FIG. 5 is a plan view of the trapezoidal area 27 shown in FIG. 4 when viewed from above. The actual length L of the trapezoidal area 27 shown in FIG.
It is about Km, and the actual length of the side AB connecting the points A and B is about 500 m.

The controller 15 also sets the current position mark information at the position on the RAM 15c corresponding to the reference point on the display. The controller 15 is a RAM 15c
The map information and the current position mark are read out from the touch panel display 13 at the display rate.
Displayed on the screen of. Thus, a map of a certain range including the current position as a reference is displayed on the screen of the touch panel display 13 in a bird's eye view format as shown in FIG. 3, and the current position mark 21 is displayed at the current position on the screen. Is displayed.

Since the processing shown in step S10 is repeatedly executed, the display is updated each time. When the current position moves as the vehicle travels, the range of the displayed map is changed and the displayed map is updated so that the moved current position matches the reference position on the display. That is, the map on the screen is automatically scrolled as the vehicle travels. The controller 15 provides the CD-ROM driver 11 with map data in a predetermined range necessary for displaying the map.
It is read out from the CD-ROM 9 via and used.

Referring to FIG. 3, on the screen 13a of the touch panel display 13, a map represented by a bird's-eye view 17 is displayed in a rectangular area surrounded by points A, B, C and D. The empty area 19 is assigned to be displayed in the rectangular area surrounded by the points C, D, E, and F. As described above, by assigning the sky region 19 to the upper portion of the screen 13a and displaying the bird's-eye view 17 and the sky region 19 in combination, it is possible to match the geographical positional relationship and obtain a visually natural feeling. Will be available. As shown in FIG. 3, a point V representing a reference point on the display is located near the center of the bird's-eye view 17, and a current position mark 21 representing the current position of the vehicle is displayed at the position of the reference point V.

Next, in step S20, the output signal from the touch panel input device provided in the touch panel display 13 is monitored to determine whether or not there is an input by the operator, that is, whether or not a finger or the like touches the surface of the display screen. To judge. When it is determined that there is an input, the process proceeds to step S30, while when it is determined that there is no input, the process proceeds to step S10.
Return to. Therefore, if there is no input, the process shown in step S10 is repeated, and as shown in FIG. 3, the display mode in which the current position mark 21 in the map is fixed at the position of the reference point V in the screen is continued. become.

Next, in step S30, the output signal from the touch panel input device provided in the touch panel display 13 is monitored, and the position coordinates of the input position touched by a finger or the like on the display screen are displayed in the empty area shown in FIG. It is determined whether it is within 19. If the input position is the sky region, the process proceeds to step S40, while if the input position is the map region 17, the process proceeds to step S80.

In this way, the operation mode during scrolling is switched. That is, as will be described later, step S4
When the processing shown in 0, S50, and S60 is executed, scroll processing is performed so that a predetermined position which has not been displayed on the screen until now is sequentially moved to the position of the reference point V on the screen. On the other hand, when the processing shown in step S80 is executed, the scroll processing is performed so that the reference point V is sequentially moved to the input position in the map displayed on the screen so far. Next, in step S40, the scroll direction of the map is determined according to which position in the empty area 19 on the display screen 13a shown in FIG. 3 is input. Next, in step S50, the scroll distance with respect to the map is determined according to which position in the empty area 19 on the display screen 13a is input. Next, in step S60, the CD-ROM is read based on the scroll direction and the scroll distance.
The map information is read from 9 to update the contents stored in the RAM 15c, and the displayed map is sequentially scrolled.

Here, detailed contents of steps S40 to S60 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
Note that step S40 shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to steps S110, S120, S130, and S140 shown in FIG. 6, and step S50 has steps S150, S160, and S170.
And step S60 corresponds to steps S180 and S19.
Equivalent to 0. For example, in the display screen 13b shown in FIG. 7, when there is an input at the position indicated by the point T, the scroll direction is the direction of the point T0 viewed from the current position V. This point T0 is the intersection of the vertical line passing through the point T parallel to the vertical axis on the screen 13b and the side CD of the rectangle forming the empty area.
For convenience of description, it is assumed here that the display screen 13b has α-β coordinates with the α axis in the horizontal direction and the β axis in the vertical direction, as shown in FIG.

First, in step S110, the coordinates (T0α, T0β) of the point T0 are input. Next, step S1
At 20, the distances Δα and Δβ in the respective axial directions on the α-β coordinates (on the display screen) between the point T0 and the reference position V are obtained. Next, in step S130, predetermined coordinate conversion is performed so that the distances Δα and Δβ in the respective axis directions on the α-β coordinate are calculated on the respective axes on the XY coordinate on the map plane shown in FIG. The distances in the directions are converted into ΔX and ΔY.

Next, in step S140, the angle θ of the direction of the point T0 with respect to the front direction is obtained based on the distances ΔX and ΔY in the respective axial directions. In step S150, the vertical distance t between the point T and the point T0 on the display screen is obtained. Next, in step S160, the point V on the XY coordinate is set.
The distance L0 between the point T0 and the point T0
It is determined based on the distance LV from the point V on the XY coordinates to the tip of the display area (determined by the scale of display: see FIG. 4).

In step S170, step S150
And the distance t obtained in step S160
The distance L to be moved by the scroll processing based on
1 is obtained using the equation (1). L1 = L0 + K (t × t) (1) where K is a positive constant Note that the distance L1 is a monotonically increasing function of the distance t, and the distance t
Becomes larger, the distance L1 also becomes larger. Therefore, in the empty area 19, as the input position on the screen 13b is higher, the scroll distance per operation is larger. That is, the scroll distance L1 on the map is determined according to which position in the empty area 19 on the display screen is input.

For example, as shown in FIG. 8, scroll processing is performed so that the position of the point V2 existing outside the map area 27 represented by the trapezoidal area ABCD being displayed is sequentially moved to the reference position V on the display. In the case of applying, the distance L1 on the XY coordinates of the line segment connecting the points V and V2 is the scroll distance. However, since the position of the point V2 is outside the display range, which position on the map is to be associated with the point V2 cannot be uniquely determined. Therefore, the expression (1) may be modified as necessary.

In step S180, X- of the reference position V
Based on the position (Vx, Vy) on the Y coordinate, the distance L1 and the angle θ in the scroll direction, the coordinates (V2x, V2y) of the point V2, which is the next reference position, are obtained. Next, in step S190, the position of the point V2 on the map plane indicated by the XY coordinates is associated with the position (Vα, Vβ) of the point V on the display plane indicated by the α-β coordinates, and the map on the screen is displayed. Update the display. As a result, the point V determined by the distance L1 and the angle θ
The map is scrolled on the screen by the difference in position between the point V2 and the point V2.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9, the map area ABCD having the reference point V is sequentially scrolled and the reference point V is changed.
The map area A2B2C2D2 having 2 is moved to and displayed. In this case, the controller 15 stores the map data of the map area from the reference point V to the reference point V2 in the CD-ROM 9
Are sequentially read from the RAM 15, coordinate conversion processing is performed, and the RAM 15
At the same time as writing to c, the bird's-eye view data stored in the RAM 15c at the display rate is read and a map of a new area is sequentially drawn on the screen. As a result, the bird's-eye view shown in FIG. 7 is sequentially scrolled and moved to the bird's-eye view shown in FIG. The bird's-eye view shown in FIG. 10 is a bird's-eye view after scrolling.

Returning to FIG. 2, in step S70, it is checked whether or not there is an input at a specific position in the empty area 19 on the screen. That is, as shown in FIG. 10, the empty area 1 of the display screen
A “return” button 29 is displayed in 9. If there is an input including the position information of the "return" button 29, the process returns to step S10 to return to the map screen before scrolling, and the map screen before scrolling, that is, the current position mark 21 as shown in FIG. Redisplays the map at the reference position V on the display.

On the other hand, in step S80, the position on the map showing the XY coordinates displayed at the input position on the screen is moved to the reference position V on the display screen showing the α-β coordinates. Move the displayed map. For example, when the position of the point V1 is touched with a finger or the like on the screen shown in FIG. 3, the trapezoidal area ABCD including the reference point V shown in FIG.
, Which are sequentially scrolled and displayed in a direction reaching the trapezoidal area A1B1C1D1.

In this case, the controller 15 determines that the reference point V
From the reference area V1 to the reference point V1 on the CD-R
RA is sequentially read from the OM9 and subjected to coordinate conversion processing.
At the same time as writing to M15, RAM15c at the display rate
The bird's-eye view data stored in is read and a map of a new area is drawn on the screen in sequence. As a result, the bird's-eye view after scrolling is displayed on the display screen of the touch panel display 13. In this way, when the operator touches the map area 17 on the display screen with his / her finger, the map display is sequentially performed so that the map position substantially visually matching the input position is scrolled and displayed near the center of the screen. Move to.

As described above, even if the map is far from the current position and has not been displayed on the screen so far, touching the empty area of the screen leads to the far position even if a relatively small number of operations are input. A scroll screen can be displayed. Moreover, the direction and distance at which the far point called on the screen exists can be easily specified by the input position in the sky region.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a vehicle navigation device to which a bird's-eye view display control device 31 according to a second embodiment of the present invention can be applied. The feature in the figure is that the controller 15 shown in FIG. 1 is replaced with a controller 33.
Other configurations are the same as those in FIG. In addition, the controller 33
12 operates in accordance with the flowchart shown in FIG. 12, step S50 shown in FIG. 2 is replaced with step S250, and other steps are the same as the steps shown in FIG. That is, except for the scroll distance determination process in step S250, the process is the same as that of the vehicle navigation device 1 described in the first embodiment. Therefore, the processing content of step S250 will be described in detail here.

When there is an input to the empty area in the screen displayed on the touch panel display 13, the controller 33 determines the scroll distance L1 in step S250 by the method described below. FIG. 13 shows the positional relationship between the currently displayed map area ABCD and the map areas A2B2C2D2 that are displayed after being sequentially scrolled. Referring to FIG. 13, a point V on the X-Y coordinates
Between the point T0 and the point T0, the point T0 and the point V2 on the XY coordinates
From the distance L2 between them and the angle θ obtained in step S40,
When the scroll distance L1 is calculated, L1 = L0 + L2 = (L−m) / cos θ + m / cos θ = L / cos θ (2)

Further, if the distance L1 is calculated as L1 = L / cos θ−α (3) using a positive constant α, some overlap depending on α is provided between two adjacent regions. This makes it easier to visually understand the relative positional relationship between the map areas before and after the movement.

As described above, the map of the area which is not displayed so far from the current position can be called by a small number of scroll operations, and particularly, the area adjacent to the displayed area can be scrolled once. Easy to call.

(Third Embodiment) FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a vehicle navigation device 41 to which a bird's-eye view display control device according to a third embodiment of the present invention can be applied. The feature in the figure is that the controller 15 shown in FIG. 1 is replaced with the controller 43.
Other configurations are the same as those in FIG. In addition, the controller 43
15 operates according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 15. Step S310 is inserted between step S10 and step S20 shown in FIG. 2, and steps S40, S50, S60 shown in FIG.
350 and S360, respectively, and other steps are the same as the steps shown in FIG. Therefore, here, the changed processing content will be described in detail.

In step S10, a bird's-eye view map of the region including the current position and the sky region are drawn on the screen of the touch panel display 13 by the controller 43. Next, in step S310, the area name of the area adjacent to the area displayed as a bird's-eye view on the touch panel display 13 is displayed as character information in the empty area on the screen. In the empty area of the screen of the touch panel display 13, for example, as shown in FIG.
"A", "BBB", "CCC", "DDD", "EE"
"E", "FFF", "GGG", "HHH", "II
Area names such as “I”, “JJJ”, “KKK”, and “LLL” are displayed.

Now, with reference to FIG. 18, the detailed contents of step S310 will be described with reference to FIG. First,
In step S410, the position coordinates of points D, P, Q, R, C, F, S, T, U, and E on the XY coordinates shown in FIG. 18 are obtained. As shown in FIG. 18, the trapezoidal area CDE
F is an area adjacent to the trapezoidal area ABCD currently displayed on the far side, and the scale of the map currently displayed and the point V
And the position of. The points P, Q, and R are line segment CD 4
The points S, T, and U are at equal positions and the points S, T, and U are line segments E
It is in each position that divides F into four equal parts.

In step S420, of the position data recorded on the CD-ROM 9, all the place names on the map and the position information on the map where they are displayed are searched, and the XY data is searched. The data of the place name and its position included in the trapezoidal area CDEF on the coordinates are input. Next, in step S430, these input data are divided into four sets according to their respective positions. That is, point C shown in FIG.
A region 45 surrounded by E, U, R, a region 47 surrounded by points R, U, T, Q, a region 4 surrounded by points Q, T, S, P
9. The data is divided into four sets according to which of the place names belongs to the area 51 surrounded by the points P, S, F and D.

Further, in step S440, the four sets of divided data are rearranged in the order of decreasing distance from the point V. Next, in step S450, three pieces of data having a short distance from the point V are extracted from each of the four sets of data. That is, a total of 12 sets of data are extracted. In step S460, for each of the 12 sets of extracted data, the display position on the screen is determined according to the region to which it belongs and the distance from point V. First, the horizontal arrangement of the regions 45, 47, 49, 51 is associated with the horizontal position on the display screen. That is, the data included in the area 45 is the data "DDD", "HH" in the screen shown in FIG.
The data included in the area 47 at the positions of "H" and "LLL" are "CCC", "GGG", and
The data included in the area 49 at the position of "KKK" is shown in FIG.
"BBB", "FFF", "JJJ" in the screen shown in FIG.
The data included in the area 51 is associated with the positions of "AAA", "EEE", and "III" in the screen shown in FIG. Further, the place name data of the four sets of areas are arranged so as to be lined up from the lower side to the upper side of the sky area in the order of decreasing distance. For example, for the area 45, "D
The place name "DD" is the closest, the place name closest to the second place is "HHH", and the place name close to the third is "LLL".
"DDD" is placed at the bottom and "HHH" is in the middle.
“LLL” is arranged in the upper row.

In step S470, character information indicating each place name is displayed at each determined position. next,
In step S480, the representative position assigned to each of the 12 displayed place name data is stored in the table on the RAM 43. As the representative position, the position of the center of gravity within the range indicated by the place name or the position of a main target such as a government office is assigned. As a result of the above processing, as shown in FIG. 17, after the place name information is displayed in the empty area, if there is an input to this empty area, steps S30 to S shown in FIG.
Proceed to 340.

In step S340, the coordinate information input on the screen is compared with the position of each of the 12 displayed place names on the screen to detect the place name corresponding to the input position. Next, in step S350, the table on the RAM 43c is referred to, and the coordinates on the map corresponding to the representative position assigned to the detected place name are input. next,
In step S360, the display range is sequentially moved and the display is scrolled so that the coordinates on the map corresponding to the input representative position match the reference position V on the display.

As described above, a map of a desired area which is largely apart from the current position and which is not displayed on the screen can be easily called by a single scroll operation. Moreover,
Since the place name is displayed in characters, it is possible to easily call up the map of the target area. Further, since the plurality of displayed place names are lined up in the lateral direction according to the region (direction) to which they belong, it is easy to understand the positional relationship between the current position and the map to be called.

(Fourth Embodiment) FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a vehicle navigation device 52 to which a bird's-eye view display control device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention can be applied. The feature in the figure is that the controller 15 shown in FIG. 1 is replaced with a controller 53.
Other configurations are the same as those in FIG. In addition, the controller 53
Step S310 of the flowchart shown in FIG.
20 is the same as the flowchart shown in FIG. 15 except that the contents shown in FIG. 20 are replaced.

Similar to the third embodiment, in the present embodiment as well, for example, as shown in FIG. 17, the map on the touch panel display 13 displays the map and the character information of the place name arranged in the empty area. To be done. However, the content of the place name arranged in the empty area is slightly different from that of the third embodiment. That is, the search range of the displayed place name is much wider in the trapezoidal area CDHG shown in FIG. 21 than in the trapezoidal area CDEF shown in FIG. In addition, in the present embodiment, the displayed place name includes three types of names, that is, adjacent municipalities, adjacent prefectures, and adjacent regions.

The process of each step of the flowchart shown in FIG. 20 will be described below.

In step S510, X- shown in FIG.
Points on Y coordinate D, P, Q, R, C, H, S, T, U, G
The respective position coordinates of are obtained. As shown in FIG. 21, the trapezoidal area CDHG is an area that is distantly adjacent to the currently displayed trapezoidal area ABCD. The points P, Q, R are at respective positions obtained by dividing the line segment C-D into four equal parts, and the points S, T,
U is at each position obtained by dividing the line segment H-G into four equal parts.

Next, in step S520, the CD-RO
Of the data recorded by M9, all the place names on the map and the position information on the map where they are displayed are searched, and the trapezoidal area CDHG on the XY coordinates shown in FIG. 21 is searched. Enter the place name and its position data included in. However, the search here is limited to only the map data having a small amount of information, which is divided by a mesh of a higher order than the displayed map among various data on the CD-ROM 9. Even if the area to be processed is vast, the amount of data actually handled is designed to be relatively small.

Next, in step S530, these input data are divided into four sets according to their positions. That is, a region 55 surrounded by points C, G, U, and R shown in FIG. 21, a region 57 surrounded by points R, U, T, and Q, and points Q, T, S, and P shown in FIG.
The data is divided into four sets according to which one of the area 59 surrounded by and the area 61 surrounded by the points P, S, H, and D belongs. Further, in step S540, the divided 4
Each set of data is further divided into three sets according to the type. The types classified here are adjacent municipalities, adjacent prefectures, and adjacent regions. Next, in step S560, for each of the 12 sets of data, only the one data closest to the point V is extracted.
That is, data such as adjacent municipalities, adjacent prefectures, and adjacent regions is extracted for each area.

Next, in step S570, the extracted 1
For each of the two sets of data, the display position on the screen is determined according to the region to which it belongs and the type of place name. First, the horizontal arrangement of the areas 55, 57, 59, 61 is associated with the horizontal position on the display screen. That is, the data included in the area 55 is "DDD" in the screen shown in FIG.
The data included in the area 57 at the positions of “HHH” and “LLL” are “CCC” and “GG” in the screen shown in FIG.
The data contained in the area 59 at the positions of "G" and "KKK" are "BBB", "FFF", and "J" in the screen shown in FIG.
The data included in the area 61 at the position "JJ" is associated with the positions "AAA", "EEE", and "III" in the screen shown in FIG. Regarding the type of place name, the adjacent municipality is the lowest position, the adjacent prefecture is the middle position, and the adjacent region is the highest position. Therefore, for example, in the area 55, "DDD" in the lowermost row is the closest city name, "HHH" in the middle row is the closest prefecture name, and "LLL" in the upper row is the closest distance. Corresponds to the neighboring local names in close proximity.

Next, in step S470, the character information indicating each place name is displayed at each position thus determined. In this way, a map of a desired area which is far from the current position and which is not displayed on the screen can be easily called by only one scroll operation. Moreover, since the place name is displayed in characters, the map of the target area can be easily called. Further, since the plurality of displayed place names are lined up in the lateral direction according to the region (direction) to which they belong, it is easy to understand the positional relationship between the current position and the map to be called.

(Fifth Embodiment) FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a vehicle navigation device 62 to which a bird's-eye view display control device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention can be applied. 1 is that the controller 15 shown in FIG. 1 is replaced with the controller 63, and a line-of-sight measurement device 65 and a voice recognition device 67 are added to the controller 63, and other configurations are the same as those in FIG.

The line-of-sight measuring device 65 determines which position of the line of sight of the person operating the vehicle navigation device, generally the driver in the driver's seat of the vehicle, on the display screen of the touch panel display 13 of the navigation device. As a known technique, it can be realized by utilizing, for example, the technique of "gaze direction detecting device" described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-121620. The voice recognition device 67 inputs the voice uttered by the operator, that is, the driver with a microphone (not shown), and outputs "next", "front",
The speech recognition is executed for a word registered in advance such as “first”, and as a known technique, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
This can be realized by utilizing the technique of "HMM voice recognition device" described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 113298.

Further, the controller 63 operates in the same manner as that shown in FIG. 2 except that steps S20, 30 and S80 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 2 are replaced by steps S620, S630 and S640 shown in FIG. 23, respectively. It is a thing. In addition, in the present embodiment, FIG.
The input device provided in the touch panel display 13 shown in 2 is unnecessary.

Hereinafter, steps S620, S630, S6
The processing of 40 will be described. First. Step S620
Then, the controller 63 monitors the output information from the voice recognition device 67, and detects a pre-registered word such as “next”, “forward”, “forward”, that is, a word meaning forward relative to the current position. Determine whether it has been recognized. If this pre-registered word is recognized, in step S30 it is considered that "voice input is present" and the process proceeds to step S630, while if it is not recognized, the process returns to step S10.

In step S630, the controller 63
Monitors the output information of the line-of-sight measurement device 65, and
At 620, the direction of the driver's line of sight immediately after detecting the voice input is input, and it is determined whether or not the direction of the line of sight matches the sky region 19 on the display screen. If the line-of-sight direction matches the direction of the sky area on the display screen, the process proceeds to step S40,
If not, the process proceeds to step S640.

In step S640, the controller 63
Recognizes a position on the display screen that matches the direction of the line of sight detected in step S630 as an input position, and moves the position on the map corresponding to this input position to the reference position V on the display. Scroll the displayed map to move sequentially. For example, when the driver shifts his line of sight to the position of the point V1 on the screen shown in FIG. 3 and says “Next”, the trapezoidal area ABCD shown in FIG. 5 becomes a trapezoidal area A1B1C1.
D1 is sequentially scrolled and displayed. At this time, the controller 63 sends the map data in the range surrounded by the points A1, B1, C1, D1 to the CD-ROM driver 11
The map data is read from the CD-ROM 9 via the, the coordinate conversion process for converting the read map data into a bird's-eye view is performed, and the bird's-eye view data is drawn in the RAM 63c. Next, the bird's-eye view data stored in the RAM 15 is read out at the display rate so that the reference position is sequentially moved from the point V to the point V1 and displayed on the touch panel display 13.
As a result, when the driver utters "next" or the like while looking at the map area 17 of the display screen, the position on the map that substantially matches the driver's line of sight is sequentially moved to near the center of the screen.

According to the embodiment described above, even if the map is located far from the current position and is not displayed on the screen, by performing line-of-sight and voice input in the empty area of the display screen, The screen can be called with a relatively small number of operations. Moreover, the direction and distance at which the point to be called on the screen exists can be easily specified with the line of sight by the input position in the sky area. When scrolling the map, the user naturally pays attention to the part that is not currently visible,
The words "next", "forward", "forward", etc. are imagined, and the device allows the user to instruct scrolling very naturally.

In this embodiment, the voice recognition device 67 and the line-of-sight measuring device 65 are used to input the voice information and the line-of-sight direction so that the operator can display the position designation without using his / her hands. Although it is possible to instruct to scroll the map, the present invention is not limited to such a case, and can be similarly applied to the first to fourth embodiments.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a vehicle navigation device 1 to which a bird's-eye view display control device according to a first embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the vehicle navigation device 1.

FIG. 3 is a view showing a bird's-eye view and a sky region displayed on the vehicle navigation device 1.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a coordinate conversion process for generating a bird's-eye view from plane map data.

5 is a plan view of the trapezoidal region 27 shown in FIG. 4 when viewed from above.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing steps of a part of the flowchart shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing that the screen displayed on the touch panel display 13 is touched with a finger.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a part of the displayed map viewed from above.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between points V and V2 on the plan view.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a display example of a bird's-eye view after scrolling.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a vehicle navigation device to which a bird's-eye view display control device 31 according to a second embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the vehicle navigation device 31.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing the positional relationship between the map area being displayed and the map area after scrolling.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a vehicle navigation device 41 to which a bird's-eye view display control device according to a third embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the vehicle navigation device 41.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing details of step S310.

FIG. 17 is a front view showing an example of displaying area names on a display screen.

18 is a plan view showing a location area on the map of the area name shown in FIG.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a vehicle navigation device 52 to which a bird's-eye view display control device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 20 is another flowchart showing details of step S310.

FIG. 21 is another plan view showing the area where the area name shown in FIG. 17 is located on the map.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing a system configuration of a vehicle navigation device 62 to which a bird's-eye view display control device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 23 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the vehicle navigation device 62.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 GPS receiver 5 Direction sensor 7 Running sensor 9 CD-ROM 11 CD-ROM driver 13 Touch panel display 15, 33, 43, 53, 63 controller 17 Bird's-eye view 19 Sky area 21 Current position mark 65 Line-of-sight measurement device 67 voice recognition device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI G08G 1/0969 G08G 1/0969 G09B 29/12 G09B 29/12 (56) Reference JP-A-4-159590 (JP, A) JP-A-8-137390 (JP, A) JP-A-8-233591 (JP, A) JP-A-6-138817 (JP, A) JP-A-62-93613 (JP, A) JP-A-6-83937 (JP, A) JP 7-262411 (JP, A) JP 8-241035 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G09B 29/00-29 / 14 G01C 21/00 G06T 17/40 G06T 17/50 G08G 1/0969

Claims (10)

(57) [Claims] 1. A device for displaying map information of a certain surroundings centering on a specific one point as a bird's-eye view including an empty area, and pointing one point on the map displayed on the display screen of the device.
If it is done, the position of the designated one point is the coordinate on the map.
To calculate the coordinates on the map, and when one point in the sky area in the displayed bird's-eye view is specified,
Considering that it is outside the displayed map information, the coordinates on the display screen showing the position of the instructed sky area are converted into coordinates on the map, and the coordinates of the instructed sky area on the map are converted. A bird's-eye view display control device comprising: a position-coordinate calculating means for calculating coordinates; and a scroll means for scrolling a display screen so as to form a bird's-eye view centered on the position coordinates calculated by the position-coordinate calculating means . 2. Map information recording means for recording map information in advance, and coordinate conversion means for converting the read map information into bird's-eye view information obtained by seeing through a projection plane from a fixed position viewpoint.
A bird's-eye view display control device having display means for adding sky area information to the bird's-eye view information and displaying it on a display screen, wherein the position information input means inputs position information in association with coordinate positions on the display screen. And the position information input by the position information input means
When showing on the map displayed on the display screen of the display means
Is represented by the position information from the reference point in the bird's-eye view.
To move the origin of display coordinates to a point on the map
Calculate the scroll information and use the position information input means
If the position information entered is indicative of the empty area, a scroll information calculating means for calculating a scroll information to move the origin of the display coordinate from a reference point in the bird's eye view to a point on the map represented by the position information And, based on the scroll information calculated by the scroll information calculating means, scroll control for sequentially reading pre-recorded map information and converting it into bird's-eye view information, and controlling the bird's-eye view information to be displayed while scrolling. And a bird's-eye view display control device. 3. The scroll information calculation means changes the amount of movement to a point to be displayed in accordance with the height in the sky region represented by the input position information. Bird's-eye view display control device. 4. The scroll information calculation means determines the movement amount and the movement direction so that an area adjacent to the map area being displayed becomes a map area after scrolling. Bird's-eye view display control device. 5. Map information recording means for recording map information in advance, and coordinate conversion means for converting the read map information into bird's-eye view information obtained by seeing through a projection plane from a fixed-point viewpoint.
A bird's-eye view display control device having display means for displaying sky-area information on the display screen by adding sky area information to the bird's-eye view information, wherein the region names of a plurality of regions located outside the currently displayed map information are written in characters. Displayed in the sky area as information, according to the horizontal distance and the vertical distance from the reference position on the map corresponding to the reference point in the bird's-eye view, the horizontal position for displaying the area name in the sky area and a place name display means for determining the vertical position, a position information input means for inputting position information in association with the coordinate position on the display screen, the position information inputted by said position information input means, before
When showing on the map displayed on the display screen of the display means
Is represented by the position information from the reference point in the bird's-eye view.
To move the origin of display coordinates to a point on the map
Calculate the scroll information and use the position information input means
If the position information entered is indicative of the empty area, a scroll information calculation that calculates a scroll information to move the origin of the display coordinate from a reference point in the bird's eye view to the point of location names that are specified by the position information Means, and based on the scroll information calculated by the scroll information calculating means , the pre-recorded map information is sequentially read out and converted into bird's-eye view information, and then the bird's-eye view information is controlled to be scrolled and displayed. A bird's-eye view display control device comprising: scroll control means. 6. The scroll information calculation means determines the movement amount and the movement direction so that the area name designated by the input position information is the area after scrolling. The described bird's-eye view display control device. 7. The place name display means is a reference position on a map corresponding to a reference point on the display among a plurality of regions located outside the map region being displayed,
Alternatively, the bird's-eye view display control device according to claim 5, wherein the area name is preferentially displayed in order of the distance from the viewpoint of the current bird's-eye view. 8. The place name display means displays a wide area name representing a relatively wide area in a relatively high position in the sky area, and a range narrower than the wide area name in a lower area in the sky area. 6. The bird's-eye view display control device according to claim 5, wherein the assigned narrow area name is displayed. 9. The place name display means displays the names of cities, towns and villages, prefectures, and regions that are adjacent to the map area being displayed in the sky area from the bottom to the top, respectively. The described bird's-eye view display control device. 10. A line-of-sight direction detection unit that detects position information according to the line-of-sight direction of the operator directed on the display screen, instead of the position-information input unit, and recognizes voice information from the operator. When the voice information from the operator is a word indicating confirmation of position information or scrolling of the screen, when the position information indicates the empty area, the detected position information is displayed. The bird's-eye view display control device according to claim 2 or 5, wherein the control information is delivered to the scroll information calculation means.