JP4193742B2 - Car navigation system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a car navigation device that displays a road map screen based on map data and displays a current vehicle position on the road map screen.

Conventionally, for example, in a car navigation apparatus equipped with a VICS (Vehicle Information & Communication System) receiver compatible with level 3 mode, traffic fault information (congestion information, traffic regulation information, etc.) is included in the traffic information received by the VICS receiver. Is included, the failure point indicated by the traffic failure information can be displayed on the road map screen. For example, in a car navigation device as shown in Patent Document 1, when a traffic jam occurrence point is displayed when a route guidance operation from the current location to the destination is being performed on a road map screen, the guidance is provided. A traffic jam display symbol such as an arrow mark or symbol of a conspicuous color (for example, red or orange) at a position along a traffic jam location on a route is performed.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-300489

  Since the display of the failure point as described above is for the direction in which the host vehicle is about to travel, whether or not the host vehicle can easily pass through the place where the traffic obstacle has occurred on the opposite lane side. I can't know the information. On the other hand, for vehicle drivers, there is a wide range of proficiency in driving skills from beginners to skilled workers of the so-called Wakaba mark, so when driving in a place where traffic obstacles occur on the opposite lane side Even if there is a lane width that can easily pass or pass by other vehicles for a skilled person, passing or passing may be a difficult problem for a driver who is inexperienced in driving skills such as a beginner. Such a problem becomes particularly prominent on roads with one lane or less on one side. In some cases, the occurrence of a traffic fault on the opposite lane may cause traffic on the opposite lane (vehicle lane). There is also the possibility of causing obstacles.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the purpose of the present invention is information on whether or not it is possible to easily pass through a place where a traffic obstacle has occurred in the oncoming lane, that is, a vehicle driver who is immature in driving technology. The object is to realize a car navigation device capable of providing extremely useful information.

  In order to achieve the above object, the means described in claim 1 can be adopted. According to this means, the receiving means receives the traffic fault information including the location information indicating the location where the fault related to the vehicle running and the content information of the fault are received. Traffic obstacle information about the oncoming lane related to the traveling direction of the vehicle is extracted. The “opposite lane related to the traveling direction of the host vehicle” here is a concept including not only the oncoming lane of the road that is currently in progress but also the oncoming lane on a road that branches off from the road. The difficulty level determination means acquires the road width information of the location where the fault has occurred based on the traffic fault information and map data for the oncoming lane as described above, and the occurrence of the fault based on the road width information and the vehicle width information of the host vehicle. The degree of difficulty of passing the vehicle at the place is determined. In addition, the display control means displays the location where the failure has a passing difficulty level equal to or higher than a set level in a state that can be distinguished from other roads on the road map screen. Therefore, the vehicle driver can surely recognize whether or not the traffic lane in the opposite lane can pass easily based on the display on the road map screen. It can provide extremely useful information for a vehicle driver who is not skilled.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, the information extraction means, in a state where the route guidance operation from the current location to the destination is performed on the road map screen by the guidance means, changes the information received from the reception means to the guidance route. Traffic obstacle information about the opposite lane of the corresponding road will be extracted, so the road map screen will display the location where the traffic obstacle has occurred in the opposite lane of the road along the above guide route become. Therefore, it is possible to provide in advance an option of traveling on a route that avoids a traffic obstacle place based on the display content, which is beneficial for a vehicle driver who is immature in driving skills.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, when there is a road whose degree of difficulty of passing the vehicle is greater than or equal to a set level in the guide route, the guide means can guide a route that bypasses the road. Therefore, it becomes very convenient for a vehicle driver who is immature in driving skills.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 3 schematically shows the electrical configuration of the car navigation apparatus by a combination of functional blocks. In FIG. 3, the car navigation device 1 is provided with a position detector for a control device 2 (corresponding to information extraction means, difficulty determination means, display control means, and guidance means) having a function of controlling the navigation operation. 3, a map data input device 4, a voice recognition unit 5, a display device 6, an operation switch group 7, a voice output device 8, a VICS receiver 9 (corresponding to receiving means) and the like are connected.

  The control device 2 is constituted by a microcomputer provided with a CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O interface, a bus line connecting these, and the like (all not shown). Among these, the ROM stores a car navigation program and the like, and the RAM stores road map data acquired from the map data input device 4 and roads received by the VICS receiver 9 in addition to processing data at the time of program execution. Traffic information etc. are temporarily stored.

  The position detector 3 includes, for example, a geomagnetic sensor 10 for detecting an absolute azimuth, a gyroscope 11 for detecting a yaw angular velocity (yaw rate), a vehicle speed sensor 12 used for detecting a vehicle travel distance, and an artificial GPS device. The GPS receiver 13 that receives a signal from a satellite is a part that calculates the current position information of the vehicle. The position detector 3 performs detection with high accuracy while interpolating detection errors with each other because each component has detection errors with different properties. If the position can be calculated, it is not necessary to provide all the components. 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.

  The map data input device 4 is for reading map data from a large-capacity information recording medium 4a such as a CD-ROM or DVD-ROM. In this case, the information recording medium 4a 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, background layer In addition to place name data for displaying background data, place names, etc., various map data such as a facility name database in which facility names are arranged in alphabetical order, for example, a telephone number database indicating correspondence between telephone numbers and facilities are available. It is remembered. As the information recording medium 4a, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a large-capacity memory card, or the like can be used.

The speech recognition unit 5 includes a microphone, a speech extraction unit that converts speech input by the microphone into digital data, a speech recognition unit including a comparison pattern candidate dictionary for speech recognition (none of which are shown). Thus, the control device 2 is given a result of recognizing the voice uttered by the user.
The display device 6 includes, for example, a color liquid crystal display for displaying a map screen and the like, and is installed in the vicinity of the driver's seat of the vehicle. On the screen of the display device 6, a road map whose scale can be changed in a plurality of stages in normal times is displayed, and a pointer indicating the current position and traveling direction of the vehicle is displayed so as to be superimposed on the display. It has become. Further, when the route guidance function based on the route search result to the destination is executed, the guidance route to be traveled while being superimposed on the road map is displayed. Further, various input screens for searching for and inputting a destination by the user and various messages and information are also displayed.

  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 the operation input of various data and setting items. Is provided to give to. The voice output device 8 includes a voice synthesis circuit, an amplifier, a speaker, and the like, and is configured to generate a voice output corresponding to voice information from the control device 2.

  The VICS receiver 9 includes a VICS sensor unit and an FM multiplex broadcast receiver (both not shown). For example, road traffic information or FM by optical / radio wave beacons received by the VICS sensor unit from the VICS station. The road traffic information from the FM multiplex broadcast received by the multiplex broadcast receiver is provided to the control device 2. In addition, the road traffic information received by the VICS receiver 9 includes traffic information including position information indicating a traffic jam location on the road and content information indicating the length of the traffic jam, traffic information including location information indicating the traffic regulation location and control content information. Regulation information etc. are included as traffic obstacle information.

  Here, in addition to the basic map display function of executing the map matching process for positioning the current position on the map, the control device 2 uses the operation switch group 7 (or a remote controller (not shown)) to select a destination, a waypoint, and the like. When point data is input, the route search operation from the current position to the destination is performed based on the point data using, for example, the Dijkstra method, and the guidance route set based on the route search result is displayed on the map screen. It has well-known support functions such as a route 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. Yes.

  In addition to this, the control device 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 sightseeing area, a recommended drive course, and a point registration function are set. As functions directly related to the gist of the present invention, FIG. A function for executing control as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2 based on road traffic information received through the VICS receiver 9 is set. Note that the flowcharts of FIGS. 1 and 2 are simplified to the extent that the gist of the present invention can be grasped, and are actually more complicated control contents or control contents different from those shown in the drawing.

  In FIG. 1, the control device 2 first displays a road map screen on the display device 6 based on the map data acquired through the map data input device 4 (step A1), and in the road traffic information received through the VICS receiver 9. Traffic obstacle information (congestion information, traffic regulation information, etc.) is acquired from (step A2). Next, from the traffic fault information acquired in this way, the traffic fault information about the oncoming lane in the traveling direction of the host vehicle is extracted (step A3). The “opposite lane related to the traveling direction of the host vehicle” here is a concept including an opposite lane of a road that is currently in progress, and a portion that is assumed to be an opposite lane on a road that branches off from the road.

After this, after executing step A4 for acquiring the vehicle width information of the host vehicle in the state stored in advance, the passage difficulty level determination processing routine A5 is executed. Note that the vehicle width information can be input in advance through the operation switch group 7, for example.
In the passage difficulty level determination processing routine A5, road width information about the location of the failure is acquired based on the traffic obstacle information and map data about the oncoming lane, and based on the road width information and the vehicle width information of the host vehicle. The degree of difficulty of passing the host vehicle at the location where the failure occurs is determined. The degree of difficulty of passing is determined in a plurality of stages based on the size of the result of subtracting the vehicle width indicated by the vehicle width information from the road width indicated by the road width information, for example, For convenience of explanation, it is assumed that two levels of difficulty of passing are set, “easy to pass” and “attention to pass”.

  After execution of the passage difficulty level determination processing routine A5, the failure occurrence location determined as “passing attention” (corresponding to the failure occurrence location where the passage difficulty level in the present invention is equal to or higher than the set level), that is, passing of the own vehicle. The place where the trouble is caused is stored (step A6), and the stored place is displayed on the road map screen as a passage warning place (step A7), and then the process returns. In this case, the passing attention point is displayed in a state where it can be distinguished from other roads, and can be realized, for example, by displaying a shape that can be easily recognized.

  On the other hand, the control device 2 is configured to be able to perform a route guidance operation from the current location to the destination on the road map screen. During this route guidance operation, from the traffic fault information acquired through the VICS receiver 9 In addition to extracting the traffic obstacle information for the opposite lane of the road corresponding to the guide route, the same control as the step A4, the passage difficulty determination processing routine A5, the step A6, and the step A7 is performed. Therefore, during the route guidance operation, the location of the failure occurrence determined as “passing attention” in the opposite lanes of the road along the guidance route is displayed on the road map screen.

  Further, the control device 2 is provided with an automatic detour route selection function for automatically guiding a route detouring the location of the failure during the route guidance operation as described above. FIG. The control content related to the function is shown. That is, in FIG. 2, the control device 2 determines whether or not a function for detouring a place that hinders the passage of the vehicle (automatic detour route selection function) is set to an on state (step B <b> 1). This function can be turned on / off through the operation switch group 7.

  If the setting of the detour route automatic selection function is off, the process returns as it is. If the setting is on, step B2 for calculating a guide route that detours the place of failure, and route guidance based on the calculation result. After step B3 which starts operation | movement is performed sequentially, it returns.

  In short, according to the configuration of the present embodiment described above, in the opposite lane related to the traveling direction of the own vehicle (the opposite lane of the road currently in progress and the opposite lane on the road branched from the road) If a fault has occurred, the location of the fault location and road width information are specified based on the traffic fault information received through the VICS receiver 9, and based on the road width information and the vehicle width information of the host vehicle. Thus, the degree of difficulty of passing the vehicle at the location where the failure occurs is determined. In the case of this embodiment, two levels of such difficulty of passage are set as “easy to pass” and “passing caution”, and the place where the failure has been determined as “passing caution”, that is, the place that hinders passage. However, it is displayed on the road map screen in a state where it can be distinguished from other roads as a passage warning point. Therefore, the vehicle driver can surely recognize whether or not the traffic lane in the opposite lane can pass easily based on the display on the road map screen. It can provide extremely useful information for a vehicle driver who is unskilled in technology.

  Further, according to the present embodiment, in the state where the route guidance operation from the current location to the destination is being performed on the road map screen, an obstacle related to the traveling of the vehicle occurs in the opposite lane of the road along the guidance route. In the case where the failure occurs, the degree of difficulty of passing the vehicle at the failure occurrence location is determined in the same manner as described above, and the failure occurrence location determined as “passing attention” is displayed as another passage warning location on the road map screen. It will be displayed in a state that can be distinguished from the road. Therefore, based on the display content, the vehicle driver can be provided in advance with the option of traveling on a route that avoids a traffic obstacle location, which is beneficial for vehicle drivers who are not yet skilled in driving technology. In addition, since a detour route automatic selection function that automatically guides a route that detours the place where the failure occurred during such a route guidance operation is set, it becomes extremely convenient for a vehicle driver who is not skilled in driving technology.

The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings. For example, the following modifications and expansions are possible.
Although it is configured so that the determination of the difficulty of passing is performed at two levels of “easy to pass” and “attention to pass”, it may be configured to perform determination at multiple levels. In this case, the road map screen When displaying the location where the failure has occurred, a configuration in which a plurality of levels regarding the determined passage difficulty level are displayed in an identifiable state (for example, the location where the failure level is relatively high is displayed in red Display, and a failure occurrence location with a relatively low passage difficulty is displayed in another color). Although the VICS receiver 9 has been described as an example of the receiving means, it is needless to say that other means (for example, means for receiving the traffic fault information via the Internet) may be used as long as the means can receive the traffic fault information. is there.

Operation flowchart 1 showing one embodiment of the present invention Operation flow chart 2 Functional block diagram showing electrical configuration

Explanation of symbols

  1 is a car navigation device, 2 is a control device (information extraction means, difficulty determination means, display control means, guidance means), 3 is a position detector, 6 is a display device, and 9 is a VICS receiver (reception means). .

Claims (3)

In the car navigation device that displays the road map screen based on the map data and displays the current vehicle position on the road map screen,
Receiving means for receiving traffic fault information including location information indicating a place where a fault related to vehicle travel has occurred and content information of the fault;
Information extracting means for extracting traffic obstacle information about the oncoming lane related to the traveling direction of the host vehicle from the received content of the receiving means;
Based on the traffic fault information extracted by the information extracting means and the map data, road width information about the fault occurrence location is acquired, and the own vehicle at the fault occurrence location is acquired based on the road width information and the vehicle width information of the own vehicle. Difficulty level determination means for determining the difficulty level of passing,
It is characterized by comprising display control means for displaying on the road map screen a fault occurrence location having a passing difficulty level determined by the difficulty level determination means above a set level in a state distinguishable from other roads. Car navigation device. Comprising guidance means for performing a route guidance operation from the current location to the destination on the road map screen,
The information extracting means is configured to extract traffic obstacle information about the oncoming lane of the road corresponding to the guidance route from the content received by the receiving means during the route guidance operation by the guidance means. The car navigation device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The guide means is configured to be able to guide a route that bypasses the road when there is a failure occurrence location having a passing difficulty level determined by the difficulty level determination unit equal to or higher than a set level in the guide route. The car navigation device according to claim 2, wherein

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