JP3836906B2 - Route guidance device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a route guidance device such as a navigation device for guiding and guiding a vehicle along a preset route.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Prior art for guiding or controlling a vehicle such as an automobile traveling on a road so that it travels at an appropriate speed according to the degree of steepness when entering a curved road is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-236699. ing. However, with such a prior art, it is not possible to provide easy-to-understand route guidance that is required when the driver of the vehicle changes the traveling direction at an intersection in an urban area or the like.
[0003]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a navigation device that is mounted on a vehicle and performs route guidance performs route guidance at an intersection or the like by image display. In general, a method of enlarging and showing a two-dimensional map near an intersection is performed. When the three-dimensional display of the intersection as shown in FIG. 8 is performed, a display close to the situation of the intersection that the driver actually sees with the naked eye can be obtained, and the situation of the intersection can be grasped instantaneously. However, when the intersection 1, the road 2 that is running, the road 3 that is the course, and the other roads 4 and 5 are related, and the display by the route guidance 6 is performed from the road 2 that is running to the road 3 that is the course, With only the display, the difference from the actual landscape becomes large and it is difficult to grasp the situation of the intersection. If the landmark buildings 7 and 8 are extracted as landmarks related to the intersection 1 from the road map data and displayed as a three-dimensional image in accordance with the three-dimensional display of the road, the intersection 1 is actually visible to the naked eye You can guide with.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
If the route guidance of the intersection 1 is performed on the three-dimensional display guidance screen including the buildings 7 and 8 as shown in FIG. 8, it is considered that the display easy to understand for the vehicle driver is possible. However, as shown in FIG. 8, there is a case where a building 7 serving as a mark exists on the near side of the road 3 serving as a route, and the road 3 serving as a route is blocked by displaying the building 7 and cannot be seen. Arise. Such a display is close to the state of the intersection 1 that is actually seen by the driver, but when changing the traveling direction from the traveling road 2 to the traveling road 3 according to the route guidance 6, There is a possibility that anxiety remains because it is impossible to grasp the situation of the road 3.
[0005]
In addition, it is difficult to provide easy-to-understand route guidance for a driver who can see the screen only for a short time only with a three-dimensional guidance image including buildings 7 and 8 as shown in FIG. .
[0006]
An object of the present invention is to provide a route guidance device capable of easily providing route guidance at a guidance point to a driver.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The present invention is a route guidance device mounted on a vehicle and performing guidance guidance along a preset route by an image at a guidance point where a route is changed,
For the guide point, the road on which the vehicle is traveling is set to the top of the screen, the direction of travel is changed at the intersection to display the road that will be the course, and a three-dimensional guide image of the building that serves as a landmark is formed. Guidance image forming means for
When the vehicle approaches the guidance point, in the three-dimensional guidance image formed by the guidance image forming means, the road that becomes the course after the course change that changes the traveling direction at the intersection in front of the road on which the vehicle is traveling an image of a building hiding the display, and displays as visible behind the track, seen containing a display changing means for displaying an arrow indicating the direction of travel,
The display changing means displays a building image that hides the display of the road that becomes the course after the course change that changes the traveling direction at an intersection ahead of the course in which the vehicle is traveling, and a state that does not display the image of the building Are alternately displayed, and the image of the building is displayed in a blinking manner .
According to the present invention, for the guide point, the road on which the vehicle is traveling is set to the upper direction of the screen, the road direction is changed by changing the traveling direction at the intersection, and the three-dimensional building of the landmark is displayed. When the vehicle approaches the guidance point, the image of the building that hides the display of the road that becomes the course after the course change that changes the running direction at the intersection in front of the road on which the vehicle is running, Since the route is displayed so that the route can be seen, and the arrow indicating the traveling direction is displayed, the route can be easily seen. For example, when using an intersection as a guide point, even if you do not know how the direction changed at the first intersection, you can see the route after changing the route in advance, so danger prediction etc. It becomes possible. In addition, the state of displaying a building image that hides the display of the road that becomes the route after the route change that changes the traveling direction at the intersection in front of the route where the vehicle is traveling and the state that does not display the image of the building alternately Repeatedly, the image of the building is displayed blinking, so that it is possible to perform route guidance that is easier to understand.
[0015]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
FIG. 1A shows a schematic overall configuration of a navigation device as an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1B shows an example of route guidance display at an intersection as a guide point.
[0016]
In the navigation device 10 which is the route guidance device shown in FIG. 1A, an input means 11 for inputting a starting point or a destination point where the vehicle travels, a route search for searching for a route between the input points. Means 12 and a map database 13 in which road data of the route searched by the route search means 12 are stored are included. The guide image forming unit 14 forms an image for guiding and guiding the vehicle so that the vehicle can travel along the route searched by the route searching unit 12. When traveling on the way of a road, a two-dimensional road map display according to a suitably selected scale is performed.
[0017]
At a guide point such as an intersection set in advance, a guide image by three-dimensional display is formed. In order to form a three-dimensional guide image, the landmark extracting means 15 extracts landmarks around the guide point from the map database 13. Landmarks include public offices indicated by map symbols, public service facilities such as hospitals and schools, gas stations, convenience stores, banks, and the like. In the memory 16 composed of a semiconductor or the like, image data formed in advance according to the type of building is stored. The guide image forming means 14 forms a three-dimensional display image of the road according to the road data read from the map database 13 in order to perform the three-dimensional display of the guide point, and the landmark extracted by the landmark extracting means 15. The image of the building corresponding to is read from the memory 16 and added. In the three-dimensional guide image of the guide point formed by the guide image forming unit 14, it is determined by the display changing unit 17 whether or not a state where the route is blocked by the building as a landmark has occurred. When the route is blocked, the display mode of the building as a landmark is changed to display the state so that the route can be seen. The changed display image is displayed as an image by the display means 18 such as a CRT or LCD.
[0018]
The navigation device 10 includes current position detection means 19 that detects the current position of the vehicle. The current position detection means 19 can detect the current position of the vehicle as an absolute position based on latitude and longitude, for example, based on an output from a GPS receiver. Further, it is calculated by a correction process that performs map matching on the position estimated by dead reckoning navigation based on the travel distance of the vehicle and the direction of travel detected by a gyro sensor, or the position of the road in the map database 13. The current position can also be detected. The control means 20 displays a guidance image by three-dimensional display for each guidance point when the current position approaches the guidance point to a predetermined distance.
[0019]
The navigation device 10 also includes display control means 21, angle detection means 22, speed guidance means 23, and acoustic data 24 such as music and voice. Details of these operations will be described later. The acoustic information read from the acoustic data 24 is reproduced as a voice or music signal by the acoustic reproducing means 25 and converted into acoustic guidance for the vehicle by the speaker 26.
[0020]
FIG. 1B shows an example of an intersection guide image 30 formed by the guide image forming unit 14 of FIG. At an intersection 31 that is a guide point, a road 32 that is running, a road 33 that is a course, and other roads 34 and 35 intersect. Based on the landmarks extracted by the landmark extraction means 15 in FIG. 1A, buildings 37 and 38 serving as landmarks are displayed around the intersection 31. However, since the building 37 indicated by a broken line is displayed so as to block the road 33 serving as a route, the display changing unit 17 in FIG. 1A changes the display so that the building 37 is not displayed. As a result, when turning from the traveling road 32 to the road 33 as the course according to the route guidance 36, it is possible to foresee the situation ahead of the turn.
[0021]
FIG. 2 shows the operation of the navigation device 10 of FIG. The operation starts from step a1, and in step a2, the departure point and the destination point are input to the input means 11. In step a3, route search by the route search means 12 is performed. When the vehicle starts to travel at step a4, the current position is detected by the current position detecting means 19 at step a5. In step a6, it is determined whether or not the current position is approaching the guide point. When it is determined that the vehicle is approaching a predetermined distance, a guide image is formed by the guide image forming unit 14 in step a7. In step a8, the display changing means 17 determines whether or not there is a building before the course. When it is determined that it exists, the display mode of the building is changed in step a9. When it is determined that there is no building before the course, or after the display mode of the building is changed, guidance image display is performed by the display means 18 in step a10, and the process returns to step a5. If it is determined in step a6 that the vehicle is not approaching the guidance point, it is determined in step a11 whether or not the vehicle has reached the destination point. If not, the process returns to step a5. When it is determined that it has reached, the operation is terminated at step a12.
[0022]
In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the building 37 of the landmark on the near side of the road 33 that is the route is changed so as not to be displayed, but the display state and the display state are alternately repeated, 37 can be blinked. By blinking display, it is possible to display both the building 37 as a landmark and the road 33 as a route, and route guidance that is easier to understand.
[0023]
FIG. 3 shows a guide image according to still another embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, portions corresponding to the guide image 30 in FIG. 1B are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted. In the guide image 40a shown in FIG. 3A, the building 47a displayed in front of the building 33 serving as a course is displayed in a wire frame shape. By displaying in the form of a wire frame, it is possible to simultaneously display the image of the presence of the building 47a and the prospect of the road 33 as a course. FIG. 3B shows the guide image 40b as a guide image 40b in which a building 47b serving as a mark that blocks the route 33 is displayed in a translucent manner, and the presence of the building 47b serving as a mark and the prospect of the road 33 serving as a track are combined. Obtainable.
[0024]
Figure 4 is still another embodiment of the present invention, the navigation apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 (a), showing the display operation of the guide image which is performed by the table 示手 stage 18. The operation from step b1 is started and the operation from step b6 to step b6 is the same as the operation of each step from step a1 to step a6 shown in FIG. When it is determined in step b6 that the guide point is approached to a predetermined distance, in step b7, three-dimensional display guide images at a plurality of points along the route including the intersection as a guide point are displayed as guide images. It is formed by the forming means 14. In step b8, the formed image for guidance at a plurality of points is displayed by switching faster than the actual traveling speed, and the vehicle road ahead is guided to the vehicle driver. In step b9, the current position of the vehicle is detected by the current position detection means 19, and for example, it is determined in step b10 whether or not the display end position set as a predetermined distance before the guidance point has been reached. If not reached, the process returns to step b8, and the sequential display of the guidance images is repeated. When it is determined in step b10 that the display end position has been reached, the process returns to step b5 to continue route guidance along the road 33 as the route. If it is determined in step b6 that the vehicle is not approaching the guide point, the process proceeds to step b11. As in step a11 shown in FIG. 2, if the destination point is reached, the operation is terminated in step b12 and has not been reached. Sometimes return to step b5.
[0025]
With such repeated display, for example, when turning at an intersection, especially if it is the first intersection that passes for the first time, it is not possible to know what the bent point will be, but it is possible to see the road ahead before turning, so it is possible to predict the danger. It is expected that
[0026]
FIG. 5 shows an operation using the acoustic data 24 of FIG. 1B as a route guidance operation according to still another embodiment of the present invention. The operation from step c1 to step c7 is the same as the operation of each step from step a1 to step a7 in FIG. In step c8, the landmark extraction means 15 in FIG. 1A discriminates the type of building that serves as a guide point landmark from the landmark symbol. In step c9, the control unit 20 in FIG. 1A selects the acoustic data corresponding to the type of building extracted by the landmark extraction unit 15 from the acoustic data 24 stored in advance. The acoustic data includes, for example, voice guidance about a building as a landmark and music that is strongly associated. For example, if a building that serves as a landmark has a large number of advertisements that use commercial songs, such as a convenience store, it is easy to understand by playing such commercial songs and obtaining information aurally. Guidance can be provided. If the building that serves as a landmark is a pachinko parlor, it is possible to provide easy-to-understand guidance based on auditory associations by playing music that is often played in the parlor.
[0027]
If it is determined in step c6 that the vehicle has not approached the guide point, it is determined in step c11 whether or not the destination point has been reached. If not, the process returns to step c5. The point of ending the operation is the same as the operation of step a11, step a12 and step b11, step b12 in FIG. 2 or FIG.
[0028]
FIG. 6 shows an example in which, as route guidance according to still another embodiment of the present invention, guidance is performed so as to change the traveling speed according to the angle at which the traveling direction is changed before a guidance point such as an intersection. At the intersection 51, roads 53a and 53b and other roads 54, 55, and 56 branch from the traveling road 52 to branch. The roads 53a and 53b that are the courses differ in the angle required to change the course from the running road 52. The angle β when turning to the road 53b that is the course is smaller than the angle α when turning to the road 53a that is the course, and the direction change angle is steep, and the speed needs to be greatly reduced.
[0029]
FIG. 7 shows an operation of performing guidance for decreasing the speed according to the angle as shown in FIG. The control means 20 shown in FIG. 1A starts its operation from step d1, and in step d2, the angle detection means 22 obtains an angle with respect to the turning road from the map of the intersection of the map database 13. In step d3, it is compared with a predetermined reference angle, for example, 90 °, and it is determined whether or not the turning angle is steep. When it is determined that the speed is abrupt, in step d4, the speed guidance means 23 performs speed guidance that greatly reduces the speed. When it is determined in step d3 that the angle is greater than 90 ° and not steep, in step d5, the speed guide means 23 performs guidance that slightly decreases the speed. When the speed guide unit 23 instructs the guide image forming unit 14 to reduce the speed, and the guide image forming unit 14 causes the display unit 18 to display an image for speed guidance, the operation ends in step d6. It is also possible to directly control the speed of the vehicle.
[0030]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, at a guide point such as an intersection, the road on which the vehicle is traveling is set as the upper direction of the screen, and the road that becomes the course is displayed by changing the traveling direction at the intersection according to this, Display the three-dimensional guide image of the building as a landmark, and when the vehicle approaches the guide point, display the road that will be the course after the course change that changes the direction of travel at the intersection in front of the road on which the vehicle is traveling Since the image of the building to be hidden is displayed so that the route behind can be seen, and the arrow indicating the traveling direction is displayed, it is possible to provide route guidance that is easy for the driver to understand. Even if the guide point is, for example, the first intersection, and you do not know how the route changed, it is possible to know the route after changing the route in advance. It is expected that the vehicle can be operated, and the vehicle can be driven with peace of mind. In addition, the state of displaying a building image that hides the display of the road that becomes the route after the route change that changes the traveling direction at the intersection in front of the route where the vehicle is traveling and the state that does not display the image of the building alternately Repeatedly, the image of the building is displayed blinking, so that it is possible to perform route guidance that is easier to understand.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic electrical configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention and a diagram illustrating an example of a guide image.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the navigation device 10 of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a guide image according to another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of still another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of still another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the concept of speed guidance in still another embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart for performing speed guidance shown in FIG. 6;
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an image of a three-dimensional display of an intersection according to the premise technology on which the present invention is based.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Navigation apparatus 12 Route search means 13 Map database 14 Guidance image formation means 15 Landmark extraction means 16 Memory 17 Display change means 18 Display means 19 Current position detection means 20 Control means 21 Display control means 22 Angle detection means 23 Speed guidance means 24 Acoustic data 30, 40a, 40b Guidance images 31, 51 Intersections 32, 52 Roads 33, 53a, 53b that are being traveled Roads 34, 35, 54, 55 to be routed 36 Other roads 36 Route guidance 37, 38, 47a, 47b Buildings

Claims (1)

In a route guidance device that is mounted on a vehicle and performs guidance guidance along a preset route by an image at a guidance point for changing course,
For the guide point, the road on which the vehicle is traveling is set to the top of the screen, the direction of travel is changed at the intersection to display the road that will be the course, and a three-dimensional guide image of the building that serves as a landmark is formed. Guidance image forming means for
When the vehicle approaches the guidance point, in the three-dimensional guidance image formed by the guidance image forming means, the road that becomes the course after the course change that changes the traveling direction at the intersection in front of the road on which the vehicle is traveling an image of a building hiding the display, and displays as visible behind the track, seen containing a display changing means for displaying an arrow indicating the direction of travel,
The display changing means displays a building image that hides the display of the road that becomes the course after the course change that changes the traveling direction at an intersection ahead of the course in which the vehicle is traveling, and a state that does not display the image of the building Are alternately displayed, and the image of the building is displayed in a blinking manner .

Images