JP4216102B2 - Navigation device - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a navigation apparatus having a function of processing various messages generated in a plurality of processes.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Some recent navigation devices have communication functions such as the Internet, and also have functions as a radio receiver and an audio device, and their functions are becoming more sophisticated and multifunctional. Such a navigation device operates as a computer that performs a predetermined process by executing a program stored in a ROM, a RAM, a hard disk device, or the like by a processor, and realizes a special specification as an in-vehicle device. In many cases, a dedicated operating system (OS) is used.
[0003]
Recently, however, there has been a demand for using a general-purpose operating system in order to make the operability as common as possible with a general personal computer (personal computer) and to use software used in the personal computer as it is. For example, by adopting Microsoft's Windows (registered trademark) as the operating system, Internet browsing software and other software can be used on in-vehicle navigation devices as they are, or with slight improvements. become.
[0004]
By the way, in order to execute various processes in parallel in such a general-purpose operating system, a technique is known in which messages generated in each process are stored in a message queue, and these messages are processed in the storage order (for example, , See Patent Document 1). By sequentially processing the messages held in the message queue by the operating system, a plurality of processes can be executed in a pseudo parallel manner. Using this method, in-vehicle navigation devices using a general-purpose operating system can execute various menu screen display processes, etc. in parallel with route search processing and vehicle running state monitoring processing. become.
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-243092 (page 4-5, FIG. 1-3)
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in the technique for processing messages generated in various processes using the message queue disclosed in Patent Document 1 or the like, an operation for instructing display of a menu screen as a user interface (for example, pressing a specific key of a remote control unit). Operation for instructing display of the menu screen) and processing not directly related to the user interface, such as route search processing, are handled in parallel, and messages generated in each are equally held in the message queue and processed. For this reason, if a message is frequently output corresponding to a process not directly related to the user interface, the time until the message related to the operation of the user interface is actually processed becomes longer. For example, the menu screen is displayed. Even if the instruction is given, it takes time until the image is actually displayed, which makes it difficult to smoothly implement the user interface.
[0007]
The present invention has been created in view of such a point, and an object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device that can smoothly implement a user interface.
[0008]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problem, the navigation apparatus of the present invention includes an operating system, a plurality of processing means, and a message scheduling processing means. The operating system has a message queue that holds an input message, and user interface means that realizes a predetermined user interface when a message output corresponding to the operation of the operation unit is read from the message queue. Then, the messages held in the message queue are read and processed in the order of input. Each of the plurality of processing means executes a predetermined process and outputs a message asynchronously with each other. The message scheduling processing unit adjusts the timing of outputting the message to the operating system for each of the plurality of processing units when the message is output from the plurality of processing units. As a result, even when a large number of messages are continuously output from each of the plurality of processing means, the message scheduling processing means adjusts the timing for outputting the messages to the operating system for each processing means. Therefore, the message corresponding to the user interface means can be reliably processed in a short time interval in the operating system, and the user interface can be implemented smoothly.
[0009]
Further, it is desirable that the message scheduling processing unit described above stops outputting the next message until a predetermined time elapses after the output of one message for each of the plurality of processing units. As a result, the maximum number of messages output from each processing means to the operating system within a predetermined time can be made the same as the number of processing means, so the number of unprocessed messages held in the message queue increases. It is possible to avoid a situation in which the processing of the message for the user interface is delayed too much.
[0010]
Further, it is desirable that the predetermined time during which the message output is stopped by the message scheduling processing means described above is the same as the time interval for switching the display screen of the display device. As a result, the time from when the operation unit is operated until the operation screen is displayed can be matched with the time interval for switching the display screen, and the delay until the operation screen is displayed can be eliminated.
[0011]
Further, the message scheduling processing means described above generates one message obtained by processing the contents of these messages when the contents of the plurality of messages output from each of the plurality of processing means are the same. It is desirable to output to the operating system instead of a message. As a result, the number of messages output to the operating system itself can be reduced, and the messages corresponding to the user interface means can be processed in the operating system in a shorter time interval, thereby further smoothing the user interface. Can be implemented.
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an in-vehicle navigation device according to an embodiment to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a navigation device according to an embodiment. The navigation device shown in FIG. 1 has a processing function required as an audio device in addition to the normal navigation device functions such as map display, route search processing, and facility search processing. The system includes an operating system 200, device drivers 300 and 310, an operation unit 320, and a display device 330.
[0013]
Note that the functions of the application processing unit 100, operating system 200, and device drivers 300 and 310 are realized by executing predetermined operation programs using a CPU, ROM, RAM, or the like. As the operating system 200, for example, Windows (registered trademark) of Microsoft Corporation, which is widely used, is used.
[0014]
The application processing unit 100 is for executing various processes by executing a predetermined application program, and includes a car navigation processing unit 110, an audio processing unit 112, a door opening / closing processing unit 114, a vehicle travel processing unit 116, A message scheduling processing unit 120 is included. The car navigation processing unit 110 performs various processes such as a map drawing process, a route search process, a route guidance process, and a facility search process necessary for operation as a navigation device. The map image drawing data created by the map drawing process is sent to the display device 330 without going through the operating system 200, and the map image is displayed on the display screen of the display device 330. The audio processing unit 112 performs various processes such as a volume control process necessary for the operation as an audio device, a music selection process in a CD player, an MD player, and the like. The door opening / closing processor 114 performs a process of detecting the open / closed state of the left and right doors of the vehicle on which the navigation device is mounted. The vehicle travel processing unit 116 performs processing for detecting the travel state of the vehicle.
[0015]
The message scheduling processing unit 120 receives various messages output from the car navigation processing unit 110, the audio processing unit 112, the door opening / closing processing unit 114, and the vehicle travel processing unit 116, and the messages received from the respective processing units. Are output to the operating system 200 at predetermined time intervals. For example, when a large number of messages are continuously output as processing requests to the operating system 200 from the car navigation processing unit 110, the message scheduling processing unit 120 extracts the large number of messages one by one in the order of input, This message is output to the operating system 200 at intervals. The same applies to the audio processing unit 112, the door opening / closing processing unit 114, and the vehicle travel processing unit 116, and the message scheduling processing unit 120 is configured to process each processing unit when a large number of messages are continuously output from each processing unit. Each message is extracted one by one in the order of input, and this message is output to the operating system 200 at a predetermined interval.
[0016]
In addition, the operating system 200 executes various application programs in order to implement the functions of the application processing unit 100, or receives a message from the operation unit 320 via the device driver 300 and executes processing corresponding to the message. Or an operation screen or the like is displayed on the display device 330 via the device driver 310. The operating system 200 includes a message queue 210 and a GUI (graphical user interface) processing unit 212. The message queue 210 holds messages input to the operating system 200 from the message scheduling processing unit 120 in the application processing unit 100 in the order of input. The retained messages are read in the order of input, and processing corresponding to each message is executed. The GUI processing unit 212 is for realizing a user interface using an image. When a GUI message is input to the message queue 210 and executed, an operation screen corresponding to the message is created.
[0017]
The device driver 300 controls an input operation using the operation unit 320. When the operation unit 320 is operated, the device driver 300 outputs a message corresponding to the operation content. This message is held in the message queue 210 of the operating system 200 in the order of input together with the message output from the message scheduling processing unit 120. The operation unit 320 is used by the user to give various operation instructions to the navigation device. For example, a remote control unit or a touch panel is used.
[0018]
The device driver 310 controls an image display operation by the display device 330 and displays an operation screen created by the GUI processing unit 212 of the operating system 200 on the display device 330. As described above, the map image created by the car navigation processing unit 110 is directly displayed on the display device 330 without passing through the operating system 200.
[0019]
The car navigation processing unit 110, the audio processing unit 112, the door opening / closing processing unit 114, and the vehicle travel processing unit 116 described above are a plurality of processing units, the message scheduling processing unit 120 is a message scheduling processing unit, and the GUI processing unit 212 is a user interface. Each means corresponds.
[0020]
The navigation device of the present embodiment has such a configuration. Next, the operation of the message scheduling processing unit 120 to which various messages are input in parallel will be described.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of the message scheduling processing unit 120. The message scheduling processing unit 120 captures a message from each processing unit (the car navigation processing unit 110, the audio processing unit 112, the door opening / closing processing unit 114, and the vehicle travel processing unit 116) (step 100), and processes the captured message for each processing. Each copy is held (step 101).
[0021]
Next, the message scheduling processing unit 120 examines the content of the message fetched for each processing unit, and determines whether there is the same (step 102). If there is a message with the same content, an affirmative determination is made, and then the message scheduling processing unit 120 performs processing for processing these into one message (step 103). For example, processing for adding the number of repetitions of the message to the content of the message is performed. Thereby, when the same content message is repeatedly output from each processing unit, the number of messages output from the message scheduling processing unit 120 to the operating system 200 can be reduced.
[0022]
After the processing of the message is completed, or when there is no message with the same content, a negative determination is made in the determination in step 102, and then the message scheduling processing unit 120 performs the processing from the previous message output for each processing unit. It is determined whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed (step 104). For example, it is determined whether or not a time of 16.7 ms that is an output interval of the vertical synchronization signal that is a screen update timing in the display device 330 has elapsed. If the predetermined time has not elapsed, a negative determination is made in the determination of step 104, the process returns to the above-described step 100, and the processing after the message capturing operation is repeated. If a predetermined time has elapsed since the last message output, an affirmative determination is made in the determination in step 104, and then the message scheduling processing unit 120 sends one message to the operating system 200 for each processing unit. (Step 105).
[0023]
As described above, even when a large number of messages are continuously output from each of the plurality of processing units 110 to 116, the message scheduling processing unit 120 sends a message to the operating system 200 for each processing unit. Since the output timing is adjusted, the operating system 200 can reliably process the message corresponding to the GUI processing unit 212 at short time intervals, and the user interface can be smoothly implemented.
[0024]
In addition, the message scheduling processing unit 120 stops outputting the next message to the operating system 200 for each of the plurality of processing units until a predetermined time elapses after the output of one message. Since the maximum number of messages output from each processing unit to the operating system 200 can be made the same as the number of processing units, the number of unprocessed messages held in the message queue 210 increases too much and GUI processing is performed. A situation in which processing of the message for the unit 212 is delayed can be avoided.
[0025]
In particular, by setting the predetermined time during which message output is stopped by the message scheduling processing unit 120 to be the same as the time interval for switching the display screen of the display device 330 until the operation screen is displayed after the operation unit 320 is operated. This time can be matched with the time interval for switching the display screen, and the delay until the operation screen is displayed can be eliminated.
[0026]
In addition, when the contents of a plurality of messages output from each of the plurality of processing units are the same, one message is generated by processing the contents of these messages. The number of messages output can be reduced, and the message corresponding to the GUI processing unit 212 can be processed in the operating system 200 at shorter time intervals, so that the user interface can be implemented more smoothly. it can.
[0027]
In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation implementation is possible within the range of the summary of this invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the application processing unit 100 includes four processing units (the car navigation processing unit 110, the audio processing unit 112, the door opening / closing processing unit 114, and the vehicle travel processing unit 116) has been described. The number and contents of the processing units can be changed as appropriate.
[0028]
In the above-described embodiment, the interval at which a message is output from the message scheduling processing unit 120 to the operating system 200 for each processing unit is matched with the switching timing of the display screen. It may be changed in consideration of the message processing time. For example, when the processing time of each message by the operating system 200 is short, the output of two or more messages may be permitted in accordance with the display screen switching interval. On the other hand, when the processing time of each message by the operating system 200 is slow, one message may be output for every display interval of two or more display screens.
[0029]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, even when a large number of messages are continuously output from each of the plurality of processing means, the message scheduling processing means directs each processing means to the operating system. Since the timing for outputting the message is adjusted, the message corresponding to the user interface means can be reliably processed in a short time interval in the operating system, and the user interface can be implemented smoothly.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a navigation device according to an embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation procedure of a message scheduling processing unit.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Application processing part 110 Car navigation processing part 112 Audio processing part 114 Door opening / closing processing part 116 Vehicle travel processing part 120 Message scheduling processing part 200 Operating system (OS)
210 Message Queue 212 GUI (Graphical User Interface) Processing Unit 300, 310 Device Driver 320 Operation Unit 330 Display Device

Claims (2)

A message queue that holds an input message, and user interface means that realizes a predetermined user interface when a message output in response to an operation of the operation unit is read from the message queue, An operating system that reads and processes the messages held in the message queue in the order of input;
A plurality of processing means for executing predetermined processing and outputting the message asynchronously with each other;
Message scheduling processing means for adjusting timing for outputting the message to the operating system for each of the plurality of processing means when the messages are output from the plurality of processing means ;
The message scheduling processing means, for each of the plurality of processing means, stops outputting the next message until a predetermined time elapses after the one message is output,
The message scheduling processing the predetermined time the output of the message is stopped by means navigation device according to claim same der Rukoto the time interval for switching the display screen of the display device. In claim 1,
The message scheduling processing means generates a message obtained by processing the contents of the messages when the contents of the plurality of messages output from the plurality of processing means are the same, and generates the messages A navigation device that outputs to the operating system instead of the operating system.

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