JP3829687B2 - Data communication system and mobile image display terminal - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention performs data communication between a fixed station having a database storing point information for display on a map screen and a mobile image display terminal having a function of displaying the point information on the map screen. The present invention relates to a data communication system and a mobile image display terminal provided with display means for displaying spot information acquired by data communication from the fixed station side on a map screen.
[0002]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In recent years, car navigation devices having a function of performing data communication with a fixed station are becoming widespread. In this case, on the fixed station side, for example, location information (point coordinates) about the facility which is a point on the map, type (category) information indicating the type of the facility, and a facility indicating the business form or business hours of the facility A database storing point information including business information is provided, and a mark design (icon) group associated with type information is stored on the car navigation device side. On the car navigation device side, when the spot information is acquired from the fixed station by data communication, control is performed to display the spot information on the map screen. Specifically, for example, the mark design corresponding to the type information in the point information is displayed at the position indicated by the position information in the point information, and the facility sales information in the point information is displayed in multiple windows as necessary. To do. Therefore, in such a data communication system, it is possible to always obtain the latest point information on the car navigation device side, which is extremely useful in practice.
[0003]
When constructing such a data communication system, conventionally, for the purpose of reducing the communication load, the point information is constituted by an information group having a small data size mainly including text data. However, in such a configuration using point information based on text data, it becomes difficult to derive various applications such as using a lot of image information for car navigation display, and the development is poor. There was a problem. In addition, such a problem can be dealt with to some extent by storing various image information corresponding to the point information on the car navigation device side. There arises a new problem that the capacity of the necessary storage means becomes enormous.
[0004]
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances and has been made in consideration of the fact that broadbandization of mobile communication is progressing in recent years, and in a mobile image display terminal that performs data communication with a fixed station Provided is a data communication system capable of realizing a variety of display forms using a large amount of image data, improving the expandability of the system, and reducing the storage capacity required for the mobile image display terminal. The second object is to provide a mobile image display terminal suitable for such a data communication system.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the first object, the means described in claim 1 can be adopted. According to the data communication system using this means, the mobile image display terminal can be used when the selection operation for acquiring the stored information on the fixed station side is performed by the user specifying an arbitrary point or region. And uploading information that can identify the selected point or area to the fixed station. In this way, on the fixed station side that has received the upload of information from the mobile image display terminal, the uploaded information from the database that stores the location information including the location information and the type information about the location on the map is uploaded. A process of returning a candidate list for the spot information corresponding to the spot or area included in the information to the mobile object image display terminal is performed.
On the mobile image display terminal side that has received such a reply of the candidate list, the user performs an operation of displaying the candidate list on the display device and selecting an information acquisition target from the candidate list displayed on the display device. When it is performed, communication connection with the fixed station is performed, and information that can specify the selected information acquisition target is uploaded to the fixed station. On the fixed station side that has received the upload of such information, among the many pieces of point information stored in the database, the point information corresponding to the information acquisition target included in the uploaded information is the mobile image. Processing to reply to the display terminal is performed. If the mobile-body image display terminal side, that this way, the point information including the image information acquired by the data communication to the other, such as position information and type information about the map points or Database et locations fixed station In addition, the point information is displayed on the map screen, and in particular, the image information capable of visually recognizing the point corresponding to the point information is reproduced on the map screen. Therefore, on the mobile object image display terminal side, it is possible to realize a variety of display forms such as using a lot of image information about points on the map, and the expandability of the system can be improved. Further, since it is not necessary to store image information whose data size must be increased on the mobile image display terminal side, it is possible to reduce the storage capacity required on the mobile image display terminal side.
[0006]
In order to achieve the second object, the means described in claim 2 can be adopted. According to the mobile image display terminal by this means , when a selection operation for acquiring the stored information on the fixed station side is performed by the user specifying an arbitrary point or region, the communication connection with the fixed station is established. Uploading information that can identify the selected point or area to the fixed station, and responding to the point information corresponding to the point or area selected by the user returned from the fixed station side When the user performs an operation of selecting an information acquisition target from the candidate list displayed on the display means, the communication connection with the fixed station is obtained. And information that can identify the selected information acquisition target is uploaded to the fixed station. Further, in the mobile image display terminal, image information that can visually recognize a point corresponding to the information is included in the point information corresponding to the selected information acquisition target acquired by data communication from the fixed station. If added, the image information is reproduced on the map screen. Therefore, so that good suitable as a mobile object image display terminal for data communication system according to claim 1.
[0007]
Further, according to the mobile image display terminal according to the means described in claim 3, data communication with the fixed station can be performed by using a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone. It is possible to prevent the configuration from becoming complicated.
[0008]
Hereinafter, an embodiment in which a data communication system of the present invention is applied to a vehicle navigation apparatus will be described with reference to the drawings.
In FIG. 1 schematically showing the entire electrical configuration, a car navigation device 1 (corresponding to an image display terminal for a moving body) is connected to a control circuit 2 (corresponding to control means) having a function of controlling the navigation operation. On the other hand, the position detector 3, the map data input device 4, the external memory 5, the display device 6 (corresponding to the display means), the operation switch group 7, the voice output device 8, the mobile phone interface unit 9, the VICS (Vehicle Information & Communication). System : A transmission / reception unit 10 for a registered trademark of a road traffic information communication center ), a remote control sensor 12 for detecting a signal from a remote controller 11, and the like are connected.
[0009]
The control circuit 2 is configured as a microcomputer, and includes a CPU, a ROM, a RAM, an I / O interface, a bus for connecting them, and the like (all not shown). Among these, the ROM stores a car navigation program and the like, and the RAM temporarily stores processing data when the program is executed, road map data acquired from the map data input device 4, and the like.
[0010]
The position detector 3 includes a geomagnetic sensor 13 for detecting an absolute azimuth, a gyroscope 14 for detecting a yaw angular velocity (yaw rate), a distance sensor 15 for detecting the travel distance of the vehicle, and a GPS satellite. The GPS receiver 16 that receives the signal is a part that calculates the current position information of the vehicle. In this position detector 3, each component has a detection error having a different property. Therefore, the position detector 3 performs a highly accurate position detection while interpolating the detection errors with each other. However, the current position is detected with the required detection accuracy. It is not necessary to provide all the components as long as they can be calculated. Further, the position detector 3 may be configured by combining a rotation sensor for a steering wheel, a wheel sensor for detecting rotation of each tire, and the like.
[0011]
The map data input device 4 is for reading data from a large-capacity information recording medium (not shown) such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. In this case, the information recording medium includes map drawing data for map display, road data necessary for various processes such as map matching, route search, route guidance, intersection data composed of detailed intersection data, and background layer data. In addition to place name data for displaying background data, place names, etc., various data are stored, such as a facility name database in which facility names are arranged in the order of 50 notes, a phone number database indicating correspondence between telephone numbers and facilities, and the like. ing. In particular, the road data is in a state of covering information about all nodes and links (node position information, node attribute flags, etc.) about the map that can be displayed. As the information recording medium, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a large capacity memory card, or the like can be used.
[0012]
The external memory 5 is constituted by a flash memory card or the like, and is provided, for example, for storing program software for supporting information recording media of other standards, or for saving or calling specific data. ing.
The display device 6 includes, for example, a color liquid crystal display for displaying a map screen, and is installed near the driver's seat of the vehicle. The operation switch group 7 includes mechanical switches arranged around the display device 6, touch switches formed on the color liquid crystal display of the display device 6, and the like, and controls input of various data and setting items. 2 is provided. The remote control sensor 12 is also provided as an operation input means, and receives an operation input from the remote control 11 and gives it to the control circuit 2.
[0013]
The voice output device 8 includes a voice synthesis circuit, an amplifier, a speaker, and the like, and generates an arbitrary voice output according to the voice information from the control circuit 2. The mobile phone interface unit 9 is provided to perform data communication and voice communication through the mobile phone 17 in a state where the mobile phone 17 (corresponding to a mobile communication terminal) is connected thereto.
[0014]
The VICS transmission / reception unit 10 includes a VICS sensor unit and an FM multiplex broadcast receiver (both not shown). For example, the VICS sensor unit receives an information signal or FM by an optical / radio wave beacon received from a VICS station. An information signal from the FM multiplex broadcast received by the multiplex broadcast receiver is provided to the control circuit 2, and if necessary, the vehicle information is transmitted to the outside.
[0015]
Here, in addition to the basic function of executing the map matching process for positioning the current position on the map, the control circuit 2 receives point data such as a destination and a waypoint through the operation switch group 7 and the remote controller 11. A route that performs a route search operation from the current position to the destination based on the point data using, for example, the Dijkstra method, and displays the guide route set based on the route search result on the map screen Well-known support functions such as a calculation function (including a so-called reroute search function) and a route guidance function for performing various guides by voice or display based on the guidance route obtained by this function are provided.
[0016]
In addition to this, the control circuit 2 includes a well-known telephone number search function, postal code search function, search function using a unique code, 50 sound search function, genre search function, nearest facility search function, destination registration function Various support functions such as an information display function for displaying a tourist area or a recommended drive course, a point registration function, etc. are set, but as a function directly related to the gist of the present invention, Point information (facility type (category) information and name information, facility location information, facility type) for various facilities existing in an arbitrary point or area (near the host vehicle, around the destination, etc.) can be visually identified Display mark information (for example, icon: corresponding to image information in the present invention), appearance information that can visually recognize the appearance of a facility (illustration, photograph, etc .: corresponding to image information in the present invention) Facility information acquisition function for acquiring facility sales information including facility sales form, business hours, telephone number, etc. from a service center 18 (corresponding to a fixed station) installed as a content service provider. Yes.
[0017]
Here, the service center 18 is connected to the mobile phone base station 19 via the network 20, and is configured to be accessible from the car navigation device 1 side to the service center 18 through the mobile phone 17. The service center 18 is constructed with a database that stores the latest point information about various facilities, and the point information in the database is read and returned in response to a request from the car navigation device 1 side. It becomes the composition which is done. FIG. 2 shows the contents of a control operation executed in the control circuit 2 on the car navigation device 1 side in order to acquire such facility information, and this will be described below together with related actions. Note that the flowchart of FIG. 2 is simplified to the extent that the gist of the present invention can be grasped, and actually the control content is more complicated or the control content is different from the illustrated one.
[0018]
In FIG. 2, the control circuit 2 waits until the user performs a selection operation for acquiring stored information on the service center 18 side through the operation switch group 7 or the remote controller 11 (step A1). Such a selection operation is performed, for example, by the user specifying an arbitrary point or region, and the specifying operation specifies a map screen displayed on the display device 6 or a region / region. This is done through the menu screen. And when selection operation for acquiring the accumulation | storage information by the service center 18 side is performed, the process connected to the service center 18 through the mobile telephone 17 is performed (step A2).
[0019]
Thereafter, it is determined whether or not the connection to the service center 18 is successful (step A3). If the connection to the service center 18 is unsuccessful, the service center 18 is transmitted through one or both of the display device 6 and the audio output device 8. After executing step A4 that outputs a message notifying that the connection to the network has failed and that the selection operation for acquiring facility information needs to be performed again, the process returns to step A1.
[0020]
On the other hand, if the connection is successful, a list acquisition routine A5 for acquiring a candidate list from the service center 18 is executed. In this routine A5, information that can specify the designated point or area as described above is uploaded to the service center 18. Here, the service center 18 that has received such information upload returns a candidate list for the point information corresponding to the point or the region included in the information among the many pieces of point information stored in the database. In the list acquisition routine A5, a candidate list returned from the service center 18 side is acquired (stored in the RAM), and the candidate list is displayed on the display device 6.
[0021]
After the list acquisition routine A5 is executed, the process waits until the user performs an operation of selecting an information acquisition target from the candidate list displayed on the display device 6 or until the user performs a cancel operation (steps A6 and A7). . Note that such information acquisition target selection operation and cancellation operation are performed through the operation switch group 7 or the remote controller 11. In addition, a plurality of information acquisition targets or all information acquisition targets can be selected from the candidate list.
[0022]
When the user performs a cancel operation, the process returns to step A1, but when the user performs an operation of selecting an information acquisition target, point information including image information (display mark information and appearance information) is acquired from the service center 18. The information acquisition routine A8 is executed. In this routine A8, information capable of specifying the information acquisition target selected as described above is uploaded to the service center 18. Upon receiving such information upload, the service center 18 performs a process of returning the point information corresponding to the information acquisition target included in the information among the many pieces of point information accumulated in the database. In the information acquisition routine A8, the point information returned from the service center 18 side is acquired (stored in the RAM).
[0023]
After such point information acquisition operation is completed, it is determined whether or not the point information has been normally acquired (step A9). Then, when there is an abnormality or shortage in the acquired point information, the control after step A6 is re-executed, but when the point information is normally acquired, the point information is displayed on the display device 6. Move to routine. In addition, such display of the point information is included in the point information, for example, at a corresponding position in the road map screen displayed on the display device 6 (this position is specified by the position information in the point information). In addition to displaying the name information and display mark information (icon) of the facility to be displayed, the appearance information in the point information, that is, the appearance information consisting of illustrations, photographs, etc. that can visually recognize the appearance of the facility is displayed in a multi-window, When the currently displayed icon is selected and operated, the facility business information (business form, business hours, telephone number, etc.) in the point information is displayed in a multi-window.
[0024]
In short, in this embodiment, the database constructed on the service center 18 side includes various types of facility type information, name information, location information of each facility, business form, business hours, telephone number, etc. of each facility. In addition to a group of information accumulated in a data communication system with a conventional configuration such as facility sales information, display mark information (icons) that can visually identify the type of each facility, and an exterior that can visually recognize the exterior of the facility It is configured to accumulate point information including information (illustrations, photographs, etc.). Further, when the car navigation device 1 acquires the spot information from the database of the service center 18 by data communication via the mobile phone 17, the car navigation apparatus 1 displays the spot information on the map screen being displayed on the display device 6. In particular, display mark information and appearance information that can visually recognize the facility corresponding to the point information are reproduced on the map screen. Therefore, on the car navigation device 1 side, it is possible to realize a variety of display forms such as using a lot of image information about points (facility) on the map with respect to the display on the map screen, thereby enhancing the expandability of the system. be able to. Moreover, since it is not necessary to store image information (display mark information and appearance information) whose data size must be increased on the car navigation device 1 side, the storage capacity required on the car navigation device 1 side can be reduced. Can also be realized.
[0025]
In addition, since the data communication between the car navigation device 1 and the service center 18 can be performed using the mobile phone 17 connected to the car navigation device 1 through the mobile phone interface unit 9, the hardware configuration is complicated. Can be prevented.
[0026]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and the following modifications or expansions are possible.
Although the mobile phone 17 is used as the communication means, other mobile communication terminals may be used, and a dedicated communication means may be provided. As an example of the point information for data communication, image information about various facilities existing at an arbitrary point or region has been mentioned, but point information other than such artificial facilities (for example, forest, forest, lake, pond) , Rivers, etc.) may be data communication targets. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to a vehicle navigation device, but can be applied to a navigation device of a type carried by an individual or other moving body image display terminal.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is an overall electrical configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the contents of control by a control circuit.
1 is a car navigation device (moving body image display terminal), 2 is a control circuit (control means), 3 is a position detector, 4 is a map data input device, 6 is a display device (display means), and 17 is a mobile phone ( (Mobile communication terminal) 18 is a service center (fixed station).

Claims (3)

A fixed station having a database storing point information including location information and type information about points on the map, and the point information in the database is acquired from the fixed station by data communication and displayed on the map screen. In a data communication system comprising an image display terminal for a mobile object,
Image information capable of visually recognizing the corresponding point is added to the point information in the database,
The mobile image display terminal establishes a communication connection with the fixed station when a selection operation for acquiring stored information on the fixed station side is performed by a user specifying an arbitrary point or region. , Uploading information that can identify the selected point or area to the fixed station,
The fixed station receives the upload of information from the mobile object image display terminal, of a number of spot information stored in the database, for location information corresponding to the point or region is included in the information Processing to return the candidate list to the mobile image display terminal;
The mobile image display terminal acquires a candidate list returned from the fixed station side, displays the candidate list on a display device, and acquires information from the candidate list displayed on the display device by a user When an operation of selecting a target is performed, communication connection with the fixed station is performed, and information that can identify the selected information acquisition target is uploaded to the fixed station,
The fixed station receives the upload of information from the mobile image display terminal, and moves the point information corresponding to the information acquisition target included in the information among the many pieces of point information stored in the database. Process to reply to the body image display terminal,
The data display system according to claim 1, wherein the mobile image display terminal has a function of reproducing the image information in the point information acquired from the fixed station by data communication on a map screen. In the mobile image display terminal having display means for acquiring point information including location information and type information about points on a map from a database constructed in a fixed station and displaying them on a map screen,
When a selection operation for acquiring the stored information on the fixed station side is performed by designating an arbitrary point or region by the user, a communication connection with the fixed station is performed, and the selected point or region is Upload identifiable information to the fixed station,
A candidate list for the spot information corresponding to the spot or area selected by the user returned from the fixed station side is acquired, and the candidate list is displayed on the display means. When an operation for selecting an information acquisition target from the displayed candidate list is performed, communication connection with the fixed station is performed, and information that can identify the selected information acquisition target is uploaded to the fixed station,
The point information corresponding to the information acquisition subject said selected acquired by the data communication from the fixed station, when the point corresponding with the information visually recognizable image information has been added, the image information A moving body image display terminal provided with control means for performing control for reproducing the image on the map screen.   The mobile image display terminal according to claim 2, wherein a portable mobile communication terminal is provided so as to be connectable, and data communication with the fixed station is performed via the mobile communication terminal. .

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