JP4319884B2 - Navigation device, method and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation apparatus, method, and program for displaying the direction of a service area in which communication by telephone or the like is possible.

  In recent years, navigation device technology has become widespread against the background of the spread of automobiles and the advancement of digital technology. The navigation device displays the position of the vehicle for a moving body such as a vehicle in real time using a GPS (Global Positioning System) or a gyro in real time, or displays an appropriate position to a designated destination. The route is searched and guided. The road and map data used by the navigation device is called road map data. The road map data is stored in advance in a vehicle such as a DVD in the in-vehicle device, and all processing such as route searching is completed in the in-vehicle device (onboard). There is a communication-type navigation device (off-board) of a type in which processing such as holding all or part of road map data and route searching is outsourced to a server facility separated by wireless access such as a cellular phone line.

  In the conventional communication type navigation device shown in FIG. 9, the in-vehicle navigation device 51 does not perform a route search or a point search, but via a communication line composed of the equipment of the mobile phone 52, the radio tower 14, and the telephone operator 15, By connecting the telephone line to the navigation server 16 via the Internet and performing data communication, services such as acquisition of necessary portions of the road map data managed by the server 16, route search, and point search are provided.

In this case, the vehicle-mounted navigation device-equipped vehicle 13 is connected to the server 16 by data communication and the Internet regardless of the type of the telephone 52. The map can be freely downloaded from the server 16 or the route can be searched by the operation of.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-153953

  However, in the conventional communication type navigation apparatus as described above, since the communication means with the server is a mobile phone line, the telephone carrier (carrier) does not provide the service as shown at point A in FIG. There was a problem that the above services could not be used in areas (out of service area) where telephone reception was insufficient. In addition, since the user of the in-vehicle navigation device usually does not have information on the service area, once entering outside the service area where there is no radio wave, it is impossible to determine which service area the radio wave is in, so inconvenience is significant.

  Moreover, in order to make inquiries somewhere, the mobile phone is outside the service area and there is no means of contact, and the area outside the service area has few public telephones and stores. It was strongly anticipated. Although there is an example in which necessary information is acquired before entering the out-of-communication area (see, for example, Patent Document 1), a technique for providing countermeasures after entering the out-of-communication area has not been known.

  The present invention solves the problems of the prior art as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a navigation apparatus, method, and program for displaying the direction of a service area in which communication by telephone or the like is possible.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention obtains a route to a destination based on road map data by acquiring at least one part of the road map data or at least one of route search results to the destination by communication. In the navigation device that performs guidance guidance for the above, service area information that indicates where the communication service area is represented by representing position coordinates and information on the communication service area area ratio for each area obtained by dividing the map vertically and horizontally And the service area area ratio is larger than a predetermined value from each of adjacent areas surrounding the area including the current location by referring to the service area information outside the service area The largest area among the adjacent areas is determined as the target area, and the determined pair is determined based on the service area information. Characterized in that and an information output means for determining and outputting a direction that exists in the region.

The present invention can also be grasped from the viewpoint of a method, and at least one part of road map data or at least one of route search results to a destination is acquired from the outside by communication, and the object based on the road map data is obtained. In the navigation method for guiding and guiding the route to the ground, the computer is capable of the communication by representing position coordinates and information on the communicable service area area ratio for each area obtained by dividing a previously stored map vertically and horizontally. Detecting that the current location is outside the service area based on service area information indicating where the service area is, and detecting that the current location is outside the service area, By referring to the service area information, it is surrounded by the area including the current location. A determination step of determining, from among the adjacent areas, the area where the service area area ratio is larger than a predetermined value and the largest among the adjacent areas is the target area; and based on the service area information, An information output step of determining and outputting an existing direction is performed.

The present invention can also be understood from the viewpoint of a computer program. The computer has a function of acquiring at least one of road map data or a route search result to a destination from the outside by communication, and a road map. A navigation program for executing a function for guiding and guiding a route to a destination based on data, wherein the program is a service area in which the computer stores a position coordinate and the communication for each area obtained by dividing a map stored in advance vertically and horizontally A function for detecting that the current location is outside the service area based on the service area information indicating the area where the communication is possible by representing area ratio information, and detecting that the service area is outside the service area The service area information outside the service area. A determination function for determining, as a target region, a region where the service area area ratio is greater than a predetermined value and is the largest among the adjacent regions from among the adjacent regions surrounding and adjacent to the region including the current location. And an information output function for determining and outputting a direction in which the determined target area exists based on the service area information .

  In these aspects, even outside the communication area of a mobile phone or the like, by outputting the direction of the communication service area, the user can move faster in the communication area, and the navigation function can be used more reliably and smoothly.

In addition, there is an advantage that the nearest service area can be easily found with a minimum system load by a simple process of examining the adjacent areas from the current location area one by one.

  According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to provide a navigation device, a method, and a program for displaying the direction of a service area in which communication by telephone or the like is possible.

  Next, the best mode for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiment”) will be specifically described with reference to the drawings. In addition, although this embodiment is realizable by controlling the computer provided with the peripheral device by the program, the implementation | achievement aspect of the hardware and program in this case can be variously changed. In addition to the navigation apparatus and method, the present invention can be grasped as a program as described above and a computer-readable storage medium storing such a program. Therefore, in the following description, virtual circuit blocks that realize the functions of the present invention and the present embodiment are used.

[1. Constitution〕
[1-1. overall structure〕
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a configuration of a navigation apparatus (hereinafter referred to as “this apparatus”) in the present embodiment. This device is a vehicle-mounted navigation device that guides the route to the destination based on the road map data by acquiring at least one part of the road map data or at least one of the route search results to the destination through communication. The following elements shown in FIG. 1 are provided.

  That is, the absolute position / orientation detection unit 1 calculates the absolute position coordinates and direction on the ground surface with respect to the current position of the automobile (referred to as the own vehicle) on which the apparatus is mounted, that is, the own vehicle position. This is a part for receiving GPS radio waves transmitted from GPS satellites with an antenna or a receiver. The relative orientation detection unit 2 is a part for detecting the relative orientation of the host vehicle using a gyro or the like. Moreover, the vehicle speed detection part 3 is a part which calculates the speed of the own vehicle by processing the vehicle speed pulse obtained from a motor vehicle.

  The main CPU and its peripheral circuit 4 are parts that serve as a control circuit for controlling the entire apparatus. The memory group M is various memories necessary for the operation of the apparatus. For example, the ROM 5 for storing a program is accessed by the main CPU when the apparatus is activated. A main program is loaded into a dynamic RAM (DRAM) 6 that provides a work area and the like. The SRAM (static RAM) 7 is a storage means for storing information including settings and road map data, and is backed up by the battery even when the main power is turned off, and provides memory contents when the power is turned on. However, it can be replaced by other storage means such as a flash memory or a hard disk drive. A display VRAM (video RAM) 8 stores bitmap data of an image to be displayed on the display unit 10.

  The display unit 10 is a part for displaying various information such as a map and an operation menu on a liquid crystal display screen (not shown), and is preferably used in combination with speech synthesis. The input unit 11 is a part for a user to input information such as a command from a switch or the like, and includes a touch sensor function, a remote control unit, an infrared transmission / reception unit, and the like, but is configured integrally with the display unit 10 as a touch panel. It is desirable. The user interface unit 9 is a user interface that connects the display unit 10 and the input unit 11 to the main CPU and its peripheral circuit 4 using an I / O control circuit, a device driver, or the like.

  Also, the HDD control unit 12 is a part that reads various information recorded on a hard disk drive that is a large-capacity storage device. These information include road map data downloaded from the server 16 as shown in FIG. In addition to the route search result, service area information indicating where the communication service area is available is also included.

[1-2. Service area information)
Here, the service area information can be realized as a modified example of the conventional road map data or as independent data, and the specific format thereof is arbitrary, but as an example, the map is divided vertically and horizontally. It represents information of position coordinates and service area area ratio for each area.

  In other words, it is assumed that the telephone service area in the Hokkaido region which is open to the carrier is as shown by a broken circle in FIG. In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, the entire target area is divided into meshes of equal intervals for each of longitude and latitude. For example, x01, x02, x03... Xn for each width in the longitude direction, and y01, y02, y03. Each area specified by the intersection of longitude xn and latitude yn is represented as one record, and service area information as shown in FIG. 4 is prepared in the form of a table or list.

  When this example is viewed in tabular form, each record includes fields of [area name], location information [latitude, longitude], and [service area area ratio (%)], of which [latitude, longitude] is the area. The center coordinates of are shown. [Service Area Area Ratio (%)] indicates the telephone service providing area area ratio in the corresponding area based on the “Service Area as in FIG. 2” information by the carrier. For example, in FIG. The ratio of the area included in a broken-line circle for a certain region can be easily calculated by a known geometric calculation.

  The service area information as described above may be stored in advance in the apparatus, but the latest information is managed and stored in advance in an external facility such as the navigation server 16, and the communication control unit 46 in the service area. In addition, communication with such external equipment may be performed as necessary by the communication such as a telephone to obtain the latest information by downloading. Further, since the service area information differs for each carrier, for example, when purchasing an in-vehicle navigation device, the user selects a desired carrier and reads the corresponding service area information from a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or the server 16 The corresponding service area information prepared for each carrier is downloaded via the Internet, and stored in, for example, a hard disk area or a flash memory in the apparatus. The service area information may be read from various recording media such as a DVD-ROM and a CD-ROM in the apparatus.

  The FM multiplex reception and processing unit 13 is a part that receives FM broadcast waves and extracts desired data such as traffic information of the VICS service from the broadcast waves. The traffic information includes traffic jam information. The optical / beacon reception and processing unit 14 is a part that receives and processes information such as identification information of each beacon and traffic information of the VICS service from an optical beacon or a radio wave beacon installed on a roadside.

[1-3. Role of main CPU and its peripheral circuits]
Further, the main CPU and its peripheral circuit 4 are configured to realize the roles as the following parts shown in FIG. 1 by the action of the program as described above. That is, the current position detection unit 40 is means for sequentially calculating the own vehicle position, and specifically, is configured to calculate the own vehicle position by combining GPS navigation positioning and autonomous navigation positioning. .

  Here, in GPS navigation positioning, the current position is calculated using information obtained by the absolute position / orientation detection unit 1 based on radio waves from an artificial satellite. In the autonomous navigation positioning, the current position is calculated using information obtained from the relative bearing detection unit 2 and the vehicle speed detection unit 3 based on the geomagnetism and the speed of the host vehicle.

  The destination designation unit 41 is a means for receiving designation of a destination, that is, input by facility search using the road map data or cursor designation on the map. The route setting unit 42 is a means for searching and setting a route to a designated destination, for example, by entrusting to an external server. Specifically, the route to the destination passed from the destination designation unit 41 This is means for entrusting a search to a predetermined external server via communication such as a mobile phone line through the communication control unit 46 and the mobile phone terminal 24, and setting the resulting route.

  Further, the map display unit 43 three-dimensionally displays the own vehicle position on the surrounding map and at least a part of the route on the display unit 10 based on the calculated own vehicle position and the road map data. The guidance control unit 44 is a means for displaying in another mode, and is a means for performing guidance guidance based on a set route. The guidance guidance is controlled by the combined use. Further, the information output unit 45 is configured as a unit that operates as described later by the operation of the program as described above.

[2. Action)
[2-1. Outline of action)
In the present embodiment configured as described above, the information output unit 45 determines the direction in which the nearest service area exists outside the service area based on the service area information, and displays an arrow on the map screen. And the distance to the service area is calculated and output on the map screen.

  More specifically, the information output unit 45 refers to the service area information, and as shown in FIG. 6, the service area area ratio is determined from the adjacent areas surrounding the area including the current location. A predetermined value, for example, greater than zero and the largest area among the adjacent areas is determined as the target area, and if all the service area area ratios of the adjacent areas are equal to or less than the predetermined value, the adjacent areas are further adjacent. Then, the target region is determined by sequentially repeating the process from the determination for each adjacent outer region that is surrounded, and the distance between the position coordinate of the determined target region and the current position coordinate is calculated and output.

  In other words, the present apparatus configured as described above has the nearest service when the vehicle position obtained by GPS or the like is outside the service area (out of service area) as shown in FIG. The area is searched, the direction is indicated by an arrow on the display screen, and the distance to the service area is displayed. It is determined that the user is out of service area by measuring the electric field strength of the telephone communication wave, or that the telephone line connection has failed several times. The distance and direction of the service area may be displayed.

  Here, in the present embodiment, a processing procedure for calculating the direction of the nearest area and the shortest distance is shown in the flowchart of FIG. That is, when the calculation process is started (step 71), first, the position information of the current vehicle position, that is, the longitude / latitude is acquired and calculated based on the position data such as GPS and stored in a predetermined memory area (step 72).

[2-2. (Identification of the nearest area)
First, by comparing the current location information (latitude / longitude) with the service area information (FIG. 4), a record (referred to as a shortest point record) corresponding to an area including the current location (referred to as a reference area). ) (Step 73) and the information is stored as relating to the reference area (step 74).

  FIG. 6 shows the principle of searching for the nearest area around the reference area as described above. That is, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, first, the reference area 0 to which the current location point A belongs is centered, and the records of the eight neighboring areas (mesh) 1 to 8 surrounding the reference area 0 are sequentially referenced from the service area information. Then (step 75), it is searched whether there is a service area area ratio greater than 0 (step 76). If there is no service area in these 8-neighbor regions, that is, the 8-neighbor meshes (step 76), regions 9 to 24, which are 16 neighborhood regions surrounding these 8-neighbor meshes, are further searched (steps 77, 78). In this way, the neighborhood area to be searched is sequentially expanded until the service area is found (for example, steps 79 and 710), and when the service area is found, the maximum area in each neighborhood area targeted at that time is found. The position information of the ratio record is acquired (steps 76, 78, 710...) And extracted as the nearest area (step 711).

  As a result of such processing, for example, in the example of FIG. 6, the area ratio is maximum (98%) from among region 5 (x11y08) = 35%, region 6 (x10y08) = 98%, and region 7 (x10y09) = 28%. ) 6 and its record are extracted, and that area becomes the nearest area.

[2-3. (Calculation of distance and direction)
Next, based on the “latitude / longitude” data of the record of the area 6 that is the nearest area specified as described above and the “latitude / longitude” data of the current location acquired in step 72, the distance and direction to be displayed Is calculated (step 712). Specifically, as shown in the conceptual diagram of FIG. 7, the coordinates of the point A, which is the current vehicle position, are (Xref, Yref), and the service area boundary coordinates (point B) relating to the calculation of the distance and direction are ( Xb, Yb)

Distance calculation formula: L = √ ((Xref−Xb) ² + (Yref−Yb) ² ) * K
(K: Distance coefficient)
Direction calculation formula: θ = tan ⁻¹ ((Yref−Yb) / (Xref−Xb))

It can be calculated as follows. Here, the distance and direction from the point A to the service area boundary coordinates (point B), that is, (Xb, Yb) are taken as an example, but such boundary coordinate data is prepared in advance to the nearest area. Corresponding ones may be selected and used, or the distance and direction to the target point may be determined and output using the center coordinates of the nearest area as the target point.

  Also, from the above formula, calculation is made for all directions (360 degrees) with the current location as the base point, a specific target point 37 with the shortest distance is selected, and the distance and direction to that point are calculated. Also good.

[2-4. display〕
The distance and direction calculated as described above are displayed on the screen as illustrated in FIG. In this example, the vehicle position display mark 81 is displayed substantially at the center of the screen, and from there, the direction display 83 to the service area is displayed with an arrow based on the distance and direction information calculated above, and the service area is displayed. The shortest distance display 84 is displayed as a numerical value such as kilometers. These display contents are recalculated and updated in real time according to traveling, and are ended when the vehicle arrives at the target point.

[3. effect〕
In the present embodiment as described above, the user can move faster in the communication area by outputting the direction of the communication service area even outside the communication area of the mobile phone or the like, and the navigation function can be used more reliably and smoothly. Become. Further, in this embodiment, since the direction of the nearest service area is output, there is an advantage that the communication area can be reached earliest. In this embodiment, since the distance to the determined service area is also calculated and output, the approximate distance and required time until communication is possible can be predicted, and various action plans can be facilitated. In this embodiment, the latest service area information can be used by downloading within the service area, and there is no need to select or fix the mobile phone company (carrier) when purchasing the navigation device, and the carrier is changed after the fact. It becomes easy to cope with the case. Further, the present embodiment has an advantage that the nearest service area can be easily found with a minimum system load by a simple process of examining adjacent areas from the current location area one by one.
[4. Other embodiments]
In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, Other embodiments which are illustrated next are included. For example, communication means are not limited to mobile phone lines, but widely include those via PHS and roadside beacons.

The functional block diagram which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus in embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows an example of the service area of a carrier. The conceptual diagram which shows a mode that a map is divided | segmented into a mesh-shaped area | region in embodiment of this invention. The conceptual diagram which shows an example of the service area information in embodiment of this invention. The flowchart which shows the process sequence in embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the principle which specifies the nearest area (area | region) in embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the example which calculates the distance and direction of a target point in embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the example of a display of the distance and direction in embodiment of this invention. The block diagram which shows schematic structure of a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Absolute position and direction detection part 2 ... Relative direction detection part 3 ... Vehicle speed detection part 4 ... Main CPU and its peripheral circuit 5 ... ROM
6 ... DRAM
7 ... SRAM
8 ... VRAM
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 9 ... User interface part 10 ... Display part 11 ... Input part 12 ... HDD control part 13 ... FM multiplex reception and processing part 14 ... Light / beacon reception and processing part 40 ... Current position detection part 41 ... Destination designation part 42 ... Path Setting unit 43 ... Map display unit 44 ... Guidance control unit 45 ... Information output unit 46 ... Communication control unit M ... Memory group 51 ... In-vehicle navigation device 52 ... Telephone 13 ... Car equipped with in-vehicle navigation device 14 ... Radio tower 15 ... Telephone carrier 16 ... Navigation server 21 ... Service area 22 ... Point A (current location)
31 ... Service area 32 ... Point A (current location)
33 ... point B
34 ... Distance: L
35 ... Direction: θ
36 ... Shortest distance 37 ... Target point 81 ... Own vehicle position display 82 ... In-vehicle navigation display screen 83 ... Direction display to service area 84 ... Shortest distance display to service area

Claims (10)

In a navigation device that guides a route to a destination based on road map data by acquiring at least one of road map data or at least one of route search results to the destination from outside by communication,
Means for storing service area information indicating where the communication service area is represented by representing position coordinates and the communication service area area ratio information for each area obtained by dividing the map vertically and horizontally;
Outside the service area, by referring to the service area information, the service area area ratio is larger than a predetermined value from the adjacent areas surrounding the area including the current location, and is the maximum among the adjacent areas. A navigation device, comprising: an information output unit that determines a target area as a target area, and determines and outputs a direction in which the determined target area exists based on the service area information. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information output means is configured to calculate and output a distance between the position coordinate of the determined target area and a current position coordinate. If the service area area ratios of the adjacent areas are all equal to or less than the predetermined value, the information output means is configured to sequentially repeat the processing from the determination for each adjacent area that further surrounds each adjacent area. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the navigation device is configured to determine a region. Means for detecting that the current location is outside the service area;
  3. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information output unit starts processing when it is detected that the information output unit is out of the service area. In a navigation method in which at least one part of road map data or at least one of route search results to a destination is acquired from outside by communication using a computer, and guidance guidance of a route to the destination based on road map data is performed.
  The computer
  Based on the service area information that represents where the communication service area can be represented by representing the position coordinate and the communication service area area ratio information for each area obtained by dividing the map stored in advance vertically and horizontally,
  Detecting that the current location is outside the service area;
  When it is detected that it is outside the service area, by referring to the service area information outside the service area, the service area area ratio is determined from the adjacent areas surrounding the area including the current location. A determination step of determining a target area as a target area that is greater than a predetermined value and is the largest among the adjacent areas;
  An information output step of determining and outputting the direction in which the determined target area exists based on the service area information;
The navigation method characterized by performing. The information output step determines and outputs the direction in which the determined target area exists based on the service area information, and calculates the distance between the position coordinate of the determined target area and the current position coordinate. The navigation method according to claim 5, further comprising an output process. In the determining step, the computer determines that the service area area ratio is larger than a predetermined value and the largest area among the adjacent areas is the target area from the adjacent areas surrounding the area including the current location. After that, if all the service area area ratios of the adjacent areas are equal to or less than the predetermined value, the target area is determined by sequentially repeating the determination process for adjacent areas that further surround the adjacent areas. The navigation method according to claim 5, further comprising: Navigation that causes a computer to execute a function of acquiring at least one part of road map data or a route search result to a destination from outside by communication and a function of guiding and guiding a route to a destination based on road map data In the program
  The program is stored in the computer.
  Based on the service area information that represents where the communication service area can be represented by representing the position coordinate and the communication service area area ratio information for each area obtained by dividing the map stored in advance vertically and horizontally,
  A function for detecting that the present location is outside the service area;
  When it is detected that it is outside the service area, by referring to the service area information outside the service area, the service area area ratio is determined from the adjacent areas surrounding the area including the current location. A determination function for determining that the target area is the largest area among the adjacent areas that is greater than a predetermined value;
  An information output function for determining and outputting the direction in which the determined target area exists based on the service area information; and
The navigation program characterized by realizing. The information output function determines and outputs the direction in which the determined target area exists based on the service area information, and calculates the distance between the position coordinate of the determined target area and the current position coordinate. 9. The navigation program according to claim 8, wherein the navigation program is output. The determination function determines that the service area area ratio is larger than a predetermined value from the adjacent areas surrounding the area including the current location, and the maximum area among the adjacent areas is the target area. If the service area area ratio of each adjacent region is less than or equal to the predetermined value, the target region is determined by sequentially repeating the determination process for each adjacent region further surrounding each adjacent region. 10. A navigation program according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that:

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