JP4797858B2 - Car navigation system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle navigation device.

  As the vehicle travels, the current position is detected by GPS (Global Positioning System), etc., and the current position is displayed on a display device together with a road map, and an appropriate route from the starting point to the destination The vehicle-mounted navigation device that guides the user with a display device or a voice output device contributes to efficient and safe driving for the user.

  In recent years, the keyword “barrier-free” has become established in society. Barrier-free is to improve the social environment in order to improve the quality of life (QOL) of people with disabilities somewhere in the mind and body. Vehicles are indispensable for a comfortable and convenient life. Therefore, so-called “welfare vehicles” that take into account getting on and off of disabled people and driving are also manufactured by each manufacturer.

  Also, in the karaoke device that outputs the karaoke accompaniment music of the specified music and outputs the lyric character string in synchronization with the accompaniment music, the sign language expressed as a video in each of a number of words and example sentences in the character language A sign language video database edited in association with a language is provided, and the sign language video data corresponding to a certain word or phrase contained in a lyric character string displayed at a certain performance time of a certain song is stored in the sign language video database. A karaoke apparatus with a sign language learning function that is taken out from the display and displayed has been devised (see Patent Document 1). This karaoke apparatus is for a healthy person to learn sign language, but also has the advantage that a hearing impaired person can understand the lyrics.

  In addition, in order to provide information that is easy to understand for hearing-impaired persons, a guidance device has been devised that displays a combination of a picture, a photograph, a video image, and text, voice, and sign language explanation (see Patent Document 2). In this guidance device, guidance by sign language is performed using animation of sign language synthesized by computer graphics, and editing of sign language for guidance is performed by storing basic operation patterns in units of words in advance in the device. They are specified as appropriate, and detailed changes are made as necessary.

  Also provided is a display means for displaying on the screen the characters generated by the character generation means for converting the speech signal into character information, or sign language image generation for converting the meaning content recognized by the speech recognition means into an animation image of sign language. Devised video equipment that can be used to instantly display the content of utterances such as conversations and announcements in video media such as TV broadcasts on screen as animated images of characters or sign language, and understand the utterances by simply looking at the screen (See Patent Document 3).

  In addition, an automatic transaction apparatus (ATM) has been devised that enables hearing-impaired persons to display voice output substitute image data such as sign language videos on the display screen while obtaining information equivalent to voice guidance and voice information ( (See Patent Document 4).

JP 2004-30482 A Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-092938 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 07-191599 JP 05-216910 A

  The in-vehicle navigation device has a function of performing various guidance by voice. This is described in Article 71-5-5 of the Road Traffic Act as “the image display device attached to or brought into an automobile or the like. Because it is prescribed that the displayed image should not be watched, the user (especially the driver) should keep watching the screen so as not to interfere with driving or supplement the guidance on the screen to make it easier to understand. It is not intended for users with handicap on their body for the main purpose. In addition, there has not been devised a configuration in which a configuration that realizes guidance substantially equivalent to voice information using images and moving images as in Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 4 is applied to an in-vehicle navigation device.

  In the configurations of Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3, there is a problem that conversion is not appropriately performed because voice and character information are converted into sign language display. In addition, there is a problem in that the cost increases due to the need for a device for converting characters and voice into sign language. Further, there is a problem that it takes time for conversion and animation of sign language, and sign language display is not performed at an appropriate timing. Therefore, it is difficult to apply these configurations to the in-vehicle navigation device.

  The language for the hearing-impaired person in the above-mentioned prior art uses only sign language, and does not use other languages such as speech.

  Against the background of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle navigation device that can eliminate the handicap of a user with hearing impairment and provide greater comfort and convenience.

Means for Solving the Problems and Effects of the Invention

An in-vehicle navigation device for solving the above-described problem is a speech language for constructing and outputting a voice guidance sentence for voice guidance of a travel route to a destination based on an electronic road map and vehicle current position data. Spoken language information storage means for storing information, and spoken language information necessary for construction of a voice guidance sentence to be output are read from the spoken language information storage means, converted into a guidance voice language output, and word order of the voice guidance sentence in-vehicle navigation apparatus equipped with a guiding audio language output means for sequentially outputting in accordance with separately construct the contents of the voice guidance statement, as a visual guide statement with a sign language guide statement described as a set of visual language information is sign language Visual language information storage means for storing visual language information for output, and visual language information storage means for visual language information necessary for construction of a visual guide sentence to be output Et read, it is assumed that with a, a guiding visual language output means for sequentially outputting in accordance with the word order of the visual guidance statements into guiding visual language output.

  With the above configuration, a visual guidance sentence adapted to the content of voice guidance (voice guidance sentence) can be constructed from pre-stored visual language information even in the in-vehicle navigation device, so that voice or character information is converted into sign language display. Therefore, the problem that the conversion is not properly performed does not occur. In addition, there is no problem that the cost increases because a device for converting characters and voice into sign language is required. Furthermore, it takes time for conversion and animation of sign language, and there is no problem that sign language display is not performed at an appropriate timing, and various information can be guided in the same manner as characters and voices.

  The in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention includes an electronic road map display unit that is provided at least at a position that can be viewed from the driver's seat and that displays and outputs an electronic road map, and the visual language for guidance output includes a visual language for guidance. The output screen can be configured to include a visual language display unit for guidance that can be separated and recognized from the output screen of the electronic road map.

  With the above configuration, it is possible to display a visual guidance sentence without hindering display and visual recognition of the electronic road map.

  In the visual language display unit for guidance in the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention, the visual language output screen for guidance is invisible from the driver's seat and can be viewed from a predetermined seat other than the driver's seat. It can also comprise so that it may be provided in an in-vehicle position.

  With the above configuration, it is possible to display a visual guidance sentence without hindering the driver's driving, and a passenger who requires a visual guidance sentence other than the driver can visually recognize the visual guidance sentence.

  Moreover, the vehicle-mounted navigation device of the present invention can be configured such that the predetermined seat is the passenger seat.

  With the above configuration, the passenger in the passenger seat can visually recognize the visual guidance text without hindering the driver's driving.

  In addition, the visual language display unit for guidance in the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention is configured as a two-screen display that can display different images depending on the viewing direction and is also used as an electronic road map display unit. The first screen visible from the driver's seat on the screen display can be configured as an electronic road map output screen, and the second screen visible from the passenger seat can also be configured as a visual language output screen for guidance. .

  In recent years, a two-screen display capable of displaying different images depending on the viewing direction has been put into practical use. Even with the above configuration, the passenger in the passenger seat can visually recognize the visual language for guidance without hindering the driver's driving. In addition, since it is not necessary to provide a separate display unit, the interior space of the vehicle is not narrowed, and there is an advantage that the design in the vehicle such as the dash panel and the center console is not impaired.

  Moreover, the visual language display part for guidance in the vehicle-mounted navigation device of the present invention can be configured to be provided as a separate display part independent of the electronic road map display part.

  With the configuration described above, it is possible for an occupant other than the driver to visually recognize the visual guidance text without hindering the driver's driving.

  Further, the visual language display unit for guidance in the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention is configured as a head-up display that projects and displays the visual language output screen for guidance on the front passenger seat position on the windshield. You can also.

  With the above configuration, the passenger in the passenger seat can visually recognize the visual guidance text without hindering the driver's driving. In addition, since the head-up display does not include a protrusion with respect to the passenger compartment, the living space around the passenger seat is not narrowed, and there is an advantage that the design of the dash panel and the center console around the passenger seat is not impaired.

  Further, the visual guidance sentence in the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention is a sign language guidance sentence or a spoken language guidance sentence, and video information which is a construction unit of the sign language guidance sentence or the spoken language guidance sentence is used as visual language information. It can also be configured as follows.

  With the above configuration, not only sign language but also spoken language is used as a visual guidance sentence, so that it becomes easier to grasp the contents of the guidance and the convenience of the in-vehicle navigation device is improved for the hearing impaired. In addition, sign language expresses the meaning of each word depending on the shape of the hand and how to move it. Hand position, facial expression and movement are also important elements of sign language. Spoken speech is spoken in the same way as a normal hearing person, and the listener reads the story by looking at the movement of the other's mouth (reading).

  Further, the visual guidance sentence in the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention is a character guidance sentence, and it is also possible to use subtitle information obtained by dividing the character guidance sentence into a plurality of times in the display time series as visual language information. .

  The above configuration also makes it easier to grasp the contents of the guidance, and the convenience of the in-vehicle navigation device is improved for the hearing impaired. If both the visual guidance text and the text guidance text are displayed, the hearing impaired person can surely understand and understand the content of the guidance.

  In addition, the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention is configured to include visual guidance sentence output control means for switching the display output of the visual guidance sentence on the guidance visual language output screen between the permitted state and the prohibited state. You can also.

  With the above configuration, visual guidance text can be displayed and output only when the user needs it, and other information can be displayed when visual guidance text is not displayed. Can do.

  In the in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention, the visual language output screen for guidance is provided at an in-vehicle position where the screen can be viewed from the driver's seat, and the visual guidance sentence output control means determines whether the vehicle is traveling. In addition to providing the determination means, it is also possible to prohibit display output of visual guidance text on the visual language output screen for guidance while the vehicle is traveling, and allow it when the vehicle is stopped.

  The vehicle-mounted navigation device cannot be operated while the vehicle is traveling so as not to hinder driving. With the above configuration, it is possible to improve the convenience of the in-vehicle navigation device without departing from the operation system of the in-vehicle navigation device and making it easier for the driver with hearing impairment to understand the contents of the guidance. Become.

  Hereinafter, an in-vehicle navigation device of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an in-vehicle navigation device (hereinafter abbreviated as navigation device) 100. The navigation device 100 includes a position detector 1, a map data input device 6, an operation switch group 7, a remote control (hereinafter referred to as remote control) sensor 11, a voice synthesis circuit 24 for performing voice guidance, a speaker 15, a memory 9, and a display. 10, a transceiver 13, a hard disk device (HDD) 21, a LAN (Local Area Network) I / F (interface) 26, a control circuit 8 connected thereto, a remote control terminal 12, and the like.

  The position detector 1 includes a known geomagnetic sensor 2, a gyroscope 3 that detects the rotational angular velocity of the vehicle 101 (see FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 3), a distance sensor 4 that detects the travel distance of the vehicle 101, and a satellite. It has a GPS receiver 5 that detects the position of the vehicle 101 based on the radio wave. Since these sensors 2, 3, 4, and 5 have errors of different properties, they are configured to be used while being complemented by a plurality of sensors. Depending on the accuracy, some of the above-described sensors may be used, and further, a steering rotation sensor or a wheel sensor of each rolling wheel, such as a vehicle speed sensor 23, may be used.

  As the operation switch group 7, for example, a touch panel 22 integrated with the display device 10 or a mechanical switch is used. The touch panel 22 is pressed when an electric circuit is wired on the screen of the display 10 in the X-axis direction and the Y-axis direction through a gap called a spacer on a glass substrate and a transparent film, and the user touches the film. Since the voltage value changes due to short-circuiting of a part of the wiring, a so-called resistance film method for detecting this as a two-dimensional coordinate value (X, Y) is widely used. In addition, a known so-called capacitance method may be used. In addition to the mechanical switch, a pointing device such as a mouse or a cursor may be used. Moreover, you may arrange | position the mechanical switch of the operation switch group 7 in the escutcheon which covers the indicator 10 and its periphery and becomes a design frame.

  It is also possible to input various instructions using the microphone 31 and the voice recognition unit 30. In this method, a voice signal input from the microphone 31 is processed by a voice recognition technique such as a well-known hidden Markov model in the voice recognition unit 30, and converted into an operation command corresponding to the result. Various instructions can be input through the operation switch group 7, the remote control terminal 12, the touch panel 22, and the microphone 31.

  The transmitter / receiver 13 is connected to a road traffic from a VICS (Vehicle Information and Communication System) center 14 by an optical beacon or a radio beacon output from a transmitter (not shown) provided along the road, for example. It is a device for receiving information or receiving FM multiplex broadcasting. Moreover, it is good also as a structure which can be connected to external networks, such as the internet, using the transmitter / receiver 13. FIG.

  Further, by communicating with the ETC on-vehicle device 17, it is possible to capture the fee information received by the ETC on-vehicle device 17 from the roadside device (not shown) into the navigation device 100. Further, the ETC on-vehicle device 17 may be connected to an external network and communicate with the VICS center 14 or the like.

  The control circuit 8 is configured as a normal computer, and connects a well-known CPU 81, ROM 82, RAM 83, I / O 84 as an input / output circuit, A / D conversion unit 86, drawing unit 87, clock IC 88, and these components. A bus line 85 is provided. The CPU 81 controls the navigation program 21p and data stored in the HDD 21. The CPU 81 controls the reading / writing of data to / from the HDD 21. In addition, a program for performing a minimum necessary operation as the navigation device 100 may be stored in the ROM 82 in a case where the data read / write control from the CPU 81 to the HDD 21 becomes impossible. The control circuit 8 corresponds to the visual guide sentence output control means of the present invention.

  The A / D conversion unit 86 includes a well-known A / D (analog / digital) conversion circuit, and converts analog data input from the position detector 1 or the like to the control circuit 8 into digital data that can be calculated by the CPU 81, for example. It is.

  The drawing unit 87 generates display screen data to be displayed on the display unit 10 from map data 21m (described later) stored in the HDD 21 or the like, display data, and display color data. The drawing unit 87 corresponds to the guidance visual language output unit of the present invention.

  The clock IC 88 is also called a real-time clock IC, and sends or sets clock / calendar data in response to a request from the CPU 81. The CPU 81 acquires date / time information from the clock IC 88. Further, date and time information included in the GPS signal received by the GPS receiver 5 may be used. The date information may be generated based on a real-time counter included in the CPU 81. The acquired date / time information is used, for example, for travel history management.

  In addition to the navigation program 21p, the HDD 21 stores so-called map matching data for improving the accuracy of position detection, and map data 21m, which is a map database including road data representing road connections. The map data 21m stores predetermined map image information for display and road network information including link information and node information. The link information is predetermined section information constituting each road, and includes position coordinates, distance, required time, road width, number of lanes, speed limit, and the like. The node information is information that defines an intersection (branch road) and the like, and includes position coordinates, the number of right / left turn lanes, a connection destination road link, and the like. In addition, data indicating whether or not traffic is permitted is set in the link connection information. The map data 21m corresponds to the electronic road map of the present invention.

  In addition, in the HDD 21, auxiliary information for route guidance, entertainment information, and other data can be written independently by the user and stored as user data 21u. Data and various information necessary for the operation of the navigation device 100 are also stored as the database 21d. The database 21d corresponds to the spoken language information storage means and the visual language information storage means of the present invention.

  The navigation program 21p, map data 21m, user data 21u, and database 21d can be added and updated from the storage medium 20 via the map data input device 6. The storage medium 20 is generally a CD-ROM or DVD based on the amount of data, but may be another medium such as a memory card. Moreover, you may use the structure which downloads data via an external network.

  The memory 9 is composed of a rewritable device such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable & Programmable Read Only Memory) or a flash memory, and stores information and data necessary for the operation of the navigation apparatus 100. Has been. The memory 9 holds the stored contents even when the navigation device 100 is turned off. Further, instead of the memory 9, information and data necessary for the operation of the navigation device 100 may be stored in the HDD 21. Further, information and data necessary for the operation of the navigation device 100 may be stored separately in the memory 9 and the HDD 21.

  The display 10 is composed of a known color liquid crystal display, and includes a dot matrix LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and a driver circuit (not shown) for performing LCD display control. The driver circuit uses, for example, an active matrix driving method in which a transistor is attached to each pixel so that the target pixel can be reliably turned on and off, and a display command sent from the control circuit 8 (drawing unit 87) and Display is performed based on the display screen data. Further, an organic EL (ElectroLuminescence) display or a plasma display may be used as the display 10. As shown in FIG. 2, the display 10 is attached in the vicinity of the center panel of the vehicle 101 so that the driver can visually recognize it. The display device 10 corresponds to the electronic road map display unit of the present invention.

  Returning to FIG. 1, the speaker 15 is connected to a well-known speech synthesis circuit 24, and digital speech data (speech language information of the present invention) stored in the memory 9 or the HDD 21 according to a command of the navigation program 21 p is analogized in the speech synthesis circuit 24. The sound converted (speech language output for guidance of the present invention) is sent out. Note that speech synthesis methods include a recording / editing method in which speech waveforms are stored as they are or after being encoded and connected as necessary, and a text synthesis method in which corresponding speech is synthesized from character input information. The speech synthesis circuit 24 corresponds to the guidance speech language output means of the present invention.

  The vehicle speed sensor 23 includes a rotation detection unit such as a known rotary encoder. For example, the vehicle speed sensor 23 is installed in the vicinity of the wheel mounting unit to detect the rotation of the wheel and send it to the control circuit 8 as a pulse signal. In the control circuit 8, the number of rotations of the wheel is converted into the speed of the vehicle 101 to calculate an expected arrival time from the current position of the vehicle 101 to a predetermined place, or an average vehicle speed for each travel section of the vehicle 101. To do.

  The LAN I / F 26 is an interface circuit for exchanging data with other in-vehicle devices and sensors via the in-vehicle LAN 27. Further, data may be taken from the vehicle speed sensor 23 or connected to the ETC on-vehicle device 17 via the LAN I / F 26.

  With this configuration, the navigation device 100 allows the user to operate the operation switch group 7, the touch panel 22, the remote control terminal 12, or the voice from the microphone 31 when the navigation program 21 p is activated by the CPU 81 of the control circuit 8. When a route guidance process for displaying a destination route on the display 10 is selected from a menu (not shown) displayed on the display 10 by input, the following process is performed.

  That is, first, the user searches for a destination. The destination search method includes, for example, a method of specifying an arbitrary point on the map, a method of searching from the area where the destination is located, a method of searching from the telephone number of the destination, and a name of the destination from the Japanese syllabary table There are a method of searching by inputting the number of characters stored in the memory 9 as a facility frequently used by the user. When the destination is set, the current position of the vehicle 101 is obtained by the position detector 1, and a process for obtaining an optimum guide route to the destination using the current position as a departure point is performed. Then, the guidance route is displayed on the road map on the display 10 so as to guide the user to the appropriate route. As a method for automatically setting an optimum guide route, a method such as the Dijkstra method is known. In addition, at least one of the display 10 and the speaker 15 performs notification of a message according to an operation guidance or an operation state.

  The external display device 25 has the same configuration as the display device 10 and may include a touch panel. An example of attachment is shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B. In the example of FIG. 2A, it is attached to the passenger-seat dash panel so that it cannot be seen from the driver (driver's seat 37) and can be seen from the passenger in the passenger seat 36. Moreover, if it attaches to the position of 25a, the passenger | crew of the backseat 38 will become visible. As shown in FIG. 2B, in order to be visible from the rear seat 38, it may be attached so as to be housed in the ceiling portion 25 b of the vehicle 101. You may attach to all the positions of 25, 25a, and 25b. The external display 25 corresponds to the visual language display unit for guidance according to the present invention. Reference numeral 39 denotes a steering handle.

  The external display (25) can be constituted by a head up display (hereinafter abbreviated as HUD) in addition to the above-mentioned LCD display. An example is shown in FIG. The head-up display unit 52 is mounted in the passenger seat side dash panel 54 in the passenger compartment, and the position corresponds to 25 in FIG. 2A. The head-up display unit 52 accommodates a display 53, which emits display light. The display light emitted from the display device 53 reaches the hologram 56 enclosed in a predetermined position of the windshield 51. The display light is diffracted in the direction of the passenger seat occupant 58 by the hologram 56, and a virtual image corresponding to the display content (map data or the like) is displayed in front of the passenger seat occupant 58.

  In addition to the configuration in which the external display (25) is provided independently of the display 10, a two-screen display in which completely different images are displayed from the two different directions as the display 10 may be used.

  With reference to FIGS. 4, 5 </ b> A, and 5 </ b> B, a configuration example in the case of using a two-screen display as the display device 10 will be described by taking a known 3D display device as an example. FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the navigation device 100 using a two-screen display, and FIGS. 5A and 5B are schematic views of the display device 10 as viewed from above. The 3D display uses a lenticular technique that uses parallax, which is a shift when the same thing is viewed from the same place with one eye, and makes a planar printed matter appear to be three-dimensional or moving. First, as shown in FIG. 5A, video A that can be viewed from two different directions A and video B that can be viewed from B are divided into strips in the vertical direction of the screen, and combined alternately. An image recombined into one image is created on the LCD 10c. The video A and the video B are created by the drawing unit 87 of the control circuit 8 based on the DVD playback data from the map data input device 6 also serving as the HDD 21 or the DVD playback device.

  Then, the image is displayed through a vertically long lenticular lens sheet 10d having a bowl-like cross section pasted on the entire surface of the LCD. By adjusting the curvature of the lens of the lenticular lens sheet 10d, only the image A is viewed on the screen 10a that can be viewed from the A direction as shown in FIG. 5B, and only the image B is viewed on the screen 10b that can be viewed from the B direction. be able to.

  In addition to the above method, a method of performing two-screen display by controlling the illumination direction of the backlight corresponding to the viewing angles in the A direction and the B direction may be used. Video A and video B may be either still images or moving images. In addition, as for the video A and the video B, the same video may be displayed or different videos may be displayed.

  As shown in FIG. 4, for example, a screen 10 e that can be viewed only by an occupant in the driver's seat 37 (see FIG. 2A) in the A direction (video A in FIG. 5B), and the passenger seat 36 (FIG. 5B in video B in FIG. 5B). 2A), the screen can be viewed only by a passenger. Further, speakers 15a (A direction) and 15b (B direction) are provided corresponding to the respective screens.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of the contents of the speech language information and visual language information stored in the database 21d. Spoken language information is stored as digital data (such as Vo01) corresponding to text data in units of words or phrases. When constructing a voice guidance sentence “This is 300 meters to the right”, the speech language information is read out in the order of Vo01, Vo02, Vo03, Vo04, Vo05, and Vo06, and the voice synthesis circuit 24 reads analog data (guidance voice). Language output) and sent from the speaker 15.

  Visual language information is video information for constructing visual guidance text (sign language guidance text or spoken language guidance text), and includes video (animation video, video video, etc.) or multiple still images corresponding to text data. Is done. When constructing a visual guidance sentence that says “This is 300 meters to the right”, the visual language information is read out in the order of Vi001, Vi002, Vi003, Vi004, Vi005, and Vi006 and converted into visual language output for guidance in the drawing unit 87. Then, the converted data is displayed on the visual language display section for guidance (external display 25, HUD, B-direction screen of a two-screen display).

  Since sign language or spoken language may be expressed differently depending on the region as in the spoken language dialect, visual language information may be stored for each region. In the example of FIG. 6, visual language information of at least two areas, area A and area B, is stored. The selection of the area is performed by operating the operation switch group 7, the touch panel 22, the remote control terminal 12, or by inputting a voice from the microphone 31 from a menu (not shown) displayed on the display unit 10 as shown in FIG. When the button for the area to be selected is pressed and the [OK] button is pressed, the setting contents are stored in the database 21d or a predetermined area of the memory 9.

  Moreover, it is good also as a structure which determines the area | region where the vehicle is drive | working from the present position of the vehicle 101 detected by the position detector 1, and the map data 21m, and uses the visual language information corresponding to the area.

  The visual information guidance execution process will be described with reference to FIG. This process is included in the navigation program 21p and is repeatedly executed together with other processes of the navigation program 21p. First, it is set whether or not visual information guidance is performed (S1). A visual information guidance setting screen as shown in FIG. 9 is displayed from a menu (not shown) displayed on the display 10 by operating the operation switch group 7, the touch panel 22, the remote control terminal 12 or voice input from the microphone 31. , Press [Yes] or [No] button and [Determination] button to set. The setting contents are stored in the database 21d or a predetermined area of the memory 9.

  Since the setting contents are stored even when the power of the in-vehicle navigation device 100 is turned off, it is not necessary to perform the setting every time the in-vehicle navigation device 100 is used. That is, it is not always necessary to execute the process of step S1.

  Next, referring to a predetermined area of the database 21d or the memory 9, when the visual information guidance is set (S2: Yes), the external display 25 (B-direction screen of HUD and two-screen display) The display screen including (see FIG. 4) is also changed to a state in which visual information guidance can be implemented (S3). An example is shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 10, the display screen of the external display 25 is an electronic road map display area 251, a spoken language guidance sentence display area 252 for displaying a spoken language guidance sentence in the visual guidance sentence, and a character guidance in the visual guidance sentence. The text guide sentence display area 253 for displaying a sentence and a sign language guide sentence display area 254 for displaying a sign language guide sentence of the visual guide sentences are divided and displayed. It may be configured to display any one or more of the spoken language guidance sentence display area 252, the character guidance sentence display area 253, and the sign language guidance sentence display area 254. In addition, a word “currently performing visual guidance” indicating that visual information guidance is being executed is also displayed.

  Here, for example, when performing voice guidance “It is 300 meters to the right in the future” (S4: Yes), when it is not set to perform visual information guidance (S5: No), the voice as described above. Only guidance is implemented (S9).

  On the other hand, when it is set to perform visual information guidance (S5: Yes), visual information guidance corresponding to voice guidance is performed on the external display 25 (S6). For example, an oral speech animation image corresponding to voice guidance is displayed in the spoken language guidance text display area 252, characters or symbols corresponding to voice guidance are displayed in the text guidance text display area 253, and voices are displayed in the sign language guidance text display area 254. A sign language animation image corresponding to the guidance is displayed. In the example of FIG. 10, a “right arrow” is displayed in the character guidance sentence display area 253 instead of the character display “right”.

  Further, when it is determined from the vehicle speed of the vehicle 101 detected by the vehicle speed sensor 23 that the vehicle 101 is stopped (S7: Yes), the display 10 (or the A direction screen of the two-screen display (see FIG. 4)). Alternatively, visual information guidance may be implemented, and visual guidance text may be displayed as shown in FIG. It is determined that the vehicle 101 is stopped when the vehicle speed falls below, for example, 5 km / h.

  FIG. 11 shows another example of visual information guidance. In the example of FIG. 11, the display screen of the external display 25 is an electronic road map display area 256, a video information display area 257 for displaying a sign language guidance sentence and a spoken language guidance sentence in a visual guidance sentence, and a visual guidance sentence. The subtitle information display area 258 for displaying the character guidance text is divided and displayed in three areas. Only one of the video information display area 257 and the caption information display area 258 may be displayed. During the visual information guidance, the character guidance sentences are divided and displayed sequentially for each phrase, and an image of sign language or spoken language corresponding to the displayed phrase is displayed.

  If the [Hide] button in FIG. 11 is pressed during the visual information guidance (the operation switch group 7, operation of the remote control terminal 12 or voice input from the microphone 31 may be performed), the implementation of the visual information guidance is stopped. Alternatively, only the electronic road map display may be performed. In addition, when a display button (not shown) is pressed during electronic road map display, visual information guidance may be performed when visual information guidance can be performed.

  In the above, visual information guidance has been described by taking route guidance as an example, but visual information guidance may also be performed in scenes involving other voice guidance such as operation guidance and facility guidance.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, these are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and the knowledge of those skilled in the art can be used without departing from the spirit of the claims. Various modifications based on this are possible.

The block diagram which shows the structure of a vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus. The figure which shows the example of attachment of a display and an external display. The figure which shows another example of attachment of an external indicator. The figure which shows the mounting example of a head-up display. The block diagram which shows the structure of a two-screen display. The figure which shows the operating principle of a two-screen display. The figure which shows the operation | movement principle of the two-screen display following FIG. 5A. The figure which shows an example of the content of audio | voice language information and visual language information. The figure which shows an example of the screen display at the time of selecting the area | region of visual language information. The flow figure explaining visual information guidance execution processing. The figure which shows an example of the screen display at the time of setting implementation of visual information guidance. The figure which shows an example of the screen display at the time of visual information guidance implementation. The figure which shows another example of the screen display at the time of visual information guidance implementation.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Position detector 7 Operation switch group 8 Control circuit (visual guidance sentence output control means)
10 Display 12 Remote Control Terminal 15 Speaker 21 Hard Disk Device (HDD)
21d Database (speech language information storage means, visual language information storage means)
21m Map data (electronic road map)
22 touch panel 23 vehicle speed sensor 24 speech synthesis circuit (speech language output means for guidance)
25 External display (visual language display for guidance)
31 Microphone 87 Drawing part (visual language output means for guidance)
100 Car navigation system

Claims (10)

A voice language information storage means for storing voice language information for constructing and outputting a voice guidance sentence for voice guidance of a travel route to the destination based on the electronic road map and the current position data of the vehicle; A spoken language output means for reading out spoken language information necessary for constructing a spoken guidance sentence from the spoken language information storage means, converting it into a spoken language output for guidance, and sequentially outputting it in the word order of the voice guidance sentence; In a vehicle-mounted navigation device equipped with
Visual language information storage means for storing the visual language information in order to separately construct and output the content of the voice guidance sentence as a visual guidance sentence including a sign language guidance sentence described as a set of visual language information that is sign language;
Visual language information for guidance that reads out visual language information necessary for construction of a visual guidance sentence to be output from the visual language information storage means, converts it into a visual language output for guidance, and sequentially outputs it according to the word order of the visual guidance sentence Means,
Display means including an electronic road map display unit for displaying and outputting the electronic road map, and a guidance visual language display unit for displaying and outputting the guidance visual language output output by the guidance visual language output unit;
Equipped with a,
The visual language information is stored in the visual language information storage means in association with a predetermined area on the electronic road map,
The visual language output means for guidance reads visual language information associated with an area including the current position of the vehicle on the electronic road map from the visual language information storage means and converts it into the visual language output for guidance. An in-vehicle navigation device characterized by the above. The vehicle-mounted vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the visual language display unit for guidance is provided at an in-vehicle position that is invisible from a driver seat of the vehicle and is visible from a predetermined seat other than the driver seat. Navigation device. The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined seat is a passenger seat of the vehicle. Traveling state detecting means for detecting the traveling state of the vehicle;
Visual guidance sentence output control means for switching the display output of the visual language output for guidance on the visual language display unit for guidance between an allowed state and a prohibited state based on the traveling state of the vehicle. The in-vehicle navigation device according to Item 1 . The guidance visual language display unit is provided at a position in the vehicle that is visible from the driver's seat of the vehicle,
The travel state detection means includes travel determination means for determining whether the vehicle is traveling,
5. The visual guidance sentence output control means according to claim 4, wherein the visual guidance sentence output control unit prohibits display output of the visual guidance sentence to the visual language display unit for guidance while the vehicle is traveling, and permits the display while the vehicle is stopped . Car navigation system. The display means is configured as a two-screen display capable of displaying different images depending on the viewing direction, and a first screen visible from the vehicle driver's seat of the two-screen display is the electronic road map display unit. The in- vehicle navigation device according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein a second screen visible from the passenger seat of the vehicle is the visual language display unit for guidance . The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 3, wherein the visual language display unit for guidance is provided as a separate display unit independent of the electronic road map display unit . The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 7, wherein the guidance visual language display unit is configured as a head-up display that projects and displays the guidance visual language output on a front passenger seat position on a windshield of the vehicle. The in-vehicle system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the visual guidance sentence includes a spoken language guidance sentence, and video information which is a construction unit of the spoken language guidance sentence is used as the visual language information. Navigation device. The subtitle information according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the visual guide sentence includes a character guide sentence, and subtitle information obtained by dividing the character guide sentence into a plurality of times in display time series is used as the visual language information . Car navigation system.