JP4935613B2 - Navigation device and program for navigation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device and a program for the navigation device.

  The conventional navigation device is configured such that when the destination does not face the main road in the route guidance, the route guidance is terminated before the destination is reached based on the current position in the vicinity of the destination. It has become.

  A technique for preventing the user from getting lost around the destination in such a case is disclosed in Patent Document 1. In such a case, the navigation device described in Patent Document 1 ends the route guidance, determines the display range so as to include the current position and the destination, and displays the narrow streets within the display range. It has become.

Further, the navigation device described in Patent Document 1 increases the display scale as the distance from the current position to the destination becomes shorter in the narrow street display processing.
JP 2001-74486 A

  However, if the technique such as Patent Document 1 is used, the display scale changes rapidly as the destination is approached, and the position of narrow streets on the display screen changes one after another. The sense of distance can be confusing.

  In view of the above points, an object of the present invention is to maintain a user's sense of direction and distance in narrow street display processing after the end of route guidance.

  A feature of the present invention for achieving the above object is that route guidance to the destination is performed, and when the current position of the aircraft approaches the destination, the route guidance is terminated and the narrow street display control process is started. It is about a navigation device. Here, the narrow street display control process is a process for causing the image display device to display a narrow street in a range including the current position of the own device and the destination.

  The navigation device displays a current position mark at a position corresponding to the current position in a display target range (hereinafter referred to as a display range) of the narrow street, and also displays the scale, direction, and position of the display of the narrow street. While the is fixed, the current position mark is moved according to the progress of the current position.

  In this way, the position of the narrow street is fixed on the display screen of the image display device, and the current position mark advances on the display screen in a state where the position of the destination is also fixed. Become. In this way, since the position of both the narrow street and the destination does not change in the display screen, the occupant will see a display that matches the natural movement sense that the aircraft moves on a fixed road, As a result, the user's sense of direction and distance can be maintained.

  However, the scale, direction, and position of the narrow street display may be unchanged from the beginning to the end of the narrow street display control process, or may be changed exceptionally. In other words, if the narrow street display control process is fixed in many cases, the effect of the present invention is exhibited to some extent.

  For example, when the current position mark goes out of the display range as a result of the progress of the current position mark, the navigation device expands the display range so as to include the current display range. It may be included in a new display range. As a result, the current position mark does not remain out of the display range of the image display device as a result of the progress of the current position mark.

  The navigation device may determine the display target range so that the navigation device can move from the current position to the destination through only the road displayed in the display range. In this way, the user can grasp what route should be followed to reach the destination by looking only at the display screen.

  Further, the navigation device may start moving the current position mark with the scale, orientation, and position of the narrow street display fixed at the start of the narrow street display control process. In this way, since the fixed narrow street display is realized from the beginning of the narrow street display control process, compared to the case where the fixed narrow street display is performed from the middle of the narrow street display control process, the user sense of direction, The possibility that the sense of distance is impaired is reduced.

  The features of the present invention can also be understood as a program for realizing the functions of the navigation device of the present invention. In addition, the code | symbol in the parenthesis in the said claim shows the correspondence of the term described in the claim, and the concrete thing etc. which illustrate the said term described in embodiment mentioned later.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 shows a hardware configuration of a vehicle navigation apparatus 1 according to this embodiment. The vehicle navigation device 1 includes a position detector 11, an image display device 12, an operation unit 13, a speaker 14, a map data acquisition unit 16, and a control circuit 17.

  The position detector 11 includes a well-known sensor (not shown) such as a geomagnetic sensor, a gyroscope, a vehicle speed sensor, and a GPS receiver. The current position and direction of the vehicle based on the characteristics of each of these sensors. , And information for specifying the speed is output to the control circuit 17.

  The image display device 12 displays a video based on the video signal output from the control circuit 17 to the user. Examples of the display image include a map centering on the current location.

  The operation unit 13 includes a plurality of mechanical switches provided in the vehicle navigation device 1 and an input device such as a touch panel provided on the display surface of the image display device 12. The user presses the mechanical switch and touches the touch panel. Is output to the control circuit 17.

  The map data acquisition unit 16 includes a nonvolatile storage medium such as a DVD, a CD, and an HDD, and a device that reads data (and writes data if possible) to the storage medium. The storage medium stores a program executed by the control circuit 17, map data for route guidance, and the like.

  The map data has road data and facility data. Road data includes link position information, type information (for example, information indicating highways, national roads, prefectural roads, city roads, etc.), width information, node position information, type information, and connection between nodes and links. Includes information about the relationship. The facility data has a plurality of records for each facility, and each record has data indicating name information, location information, facility type information, and the like of the target facility.

  A control circuit (corresponding to a computer) 17 is a microcomputer having a CPU, RAM, ROM, I / O and the like. The CPU executes a program for the operation of the vehicle navigation device 1 read from the ROM or the map data acquisition unit 16, reads information from the RAM, the ROM, and the map data acquisition unit 16 when executing the program. Information is written to the storage medium of the map data acquisition unit 16 (if possible), and signals are exchanged with the position detector 11, the image display device 12, the operation unit 13, and the speaker 14.

  Specific processing performed by executing a program by the control circuit 17 includes current position specifying processing, guidance route calculation processing, route guidance processing, narrow street display control processing, and the like.

  The current position specifying process is a process for specifying the current position and direction of the vehicle based on a signal from the position detector 11 using a known technique such as map matching. Hereinafter, the current location used in the process of the control circuit 17 is specified by this current position specifying process.

  The guidance route calculation process is a process of receiving an input of a destination by the user from the operation unit 13 and calculating an optimum guidance route from the current position to the destination.

  In the route guidance process, map data is read from the map data acquisition unit 16, and an image in which the calculated guide route, destination, waypoint, current position, etc. are overlaid on the map indicated by the map data is displayed on the image display device 12. This is a process of outputting a guidance voice signal for instructing a right turn, a left turn or the like to the speaker 14 when necessary, such as when the host vehicle arrives before the guidance intersection.

  Note that when the destination faces the narrow street, the control circuit 17 ends the route guidance process before the host vehicle reaches the road in front of the destination. Specifically, when the current position enters the vicinity of the destination, the user is notified using the image display device 12 or the speaker 14 and the route guidance is stopped.

  Here, the narrow street is a road having a smaller scale than the main road other than the main road. The control circuit 17 classifies each link in the map data as either a main road or a narrow street (in advance or during actual use). For example, the type of link is a prefectural road or less (that is, prefectural road or city road in the above example), and its width is a predetermined length (for example, a threshold length that makes it difficult for two vehicles to pass each other) If it is less, it may be classified as a narrow street, otherwise it may be classified as a main road.

  Further, for example, if information about whether it is a main road or a narrow street is described in advance in each link of the map data, the main road and the narrow street may be classified based on the information. .

  The control circuit 17 may determine whether or not the vehicle has entered the vicinity of the destination based on the distance between the current position and the destination, or when the closest position to the destination is reached on the main road. It may be determined that the vehicle has entered the vicinity of the destination.

  The narrow street display control process starts with the end of the route guidance process, and displays the road map and the current position mark and the destination mark on the road map on the image display device 12 to support the arrival of the vehicle at the destination. It is processing. The road map displayed here is more detailed than that displayed in the route guidance process so far. Specifically, the road map includes a display of narrow streets in addition to the main road.

  In this narrow street display control process, the control circuit 17 of the present embodiment does not move the scale, orientation, and position of the map in the display screen of the image display device 12 in most cases, but only the current position of the host vehicle. Display control to move on the map.

  For this narrow street display control process, the control circuit 17 executes the program 100 shown in FIG. 2 together with the end of the route guidance process. Here, “both” means “at the same time”. Therefore, the narrow street display control process may start immediately after the end of the route guidance process, the narrow street display control process may start simultaneously with the end of the route guide process, or slightly before the end of the route guidance process. The narrow street display control process may start.

  In the execution of the program 100, the control circuit 17 first determines the display range of the map in step 110. Specifically, the map display direction (for example, the direction in which north is aligned with the upper direction of the display screen, the direction in which west is aligned with the upper direction of the display screen), the map scale, and the map coordinates corresponding to the center of the display screen ( Hereinafter, the display range is determined by determining the screen center coordinates. In the present embodiment, the control circuit 17 has a plurality of discrete scales (for example, from the larger scale, 1/5000, 1 / 10,000, 1 / 50,000, 1 / 100,000, and 500,000). 1 etc.) can be selected and displayed.

  As the map display direction, the control circuit 17 continues the direction displayed on the image display device 12 in the route guidance process. For example, when the north-up display is adopted in the route guidance processing, the north is aligned with the upper direction of the display screen, and the heading-up display (that is, the display in which the traveling direction of the host vehicle is aligned with the upper direction of the display screen) If so, the direction corresponding to the traveling direction of the host vehicle at the time of the takeover is adjusted to the upper direction of the display screen.

  As the scale of the map, the control circuit 17 employs the largest scale among the scales that can include the current position of the host vehicle and the destination together on the display screen of the image display device 12. As the screen center coordinates, the control circuit 17 determines that the current position of the host vehicle and the destination are included in the display screen.

  Subsequently, in step 120, in accordance with the display range determined in step 110 (that is, the geographical range of the map to be included in the display screen), the main road and all narrow streets in the display range are read from the map data and imaged. It is displayed on the display device 12.

  FIG. 3 shows an example 51 of a display screen displayed on the image display device 12 by such control. In this example, a current position mark 30 is displayed at a position corresponding to the current position on the main road 31, a destination mark 32 is displayed at a position corresponding to the destination, and the current position mark 30 and the destination mark 32 are displayed. All narrow streets (corresponding to the thin solid line in the figure) between and are displayed.

  Subsequently, in step 130, it is determined whether or not there is a route that can be reached from the vehicle position to the destination in the screen displayed by the image display device 12, that is, only through the road displayed by the image display device 12, the current position. It is determined whether or not it is possible to move from to the destination. If the determination result is negative, step 140 is subsequently executed, and if affirmative, step 150 is subsequently executed.

  In the example of FIG. 3, the current position mark 30 to the destination mark 32 can be reached by passing through the main road 31, narrow streets 33, 34, and 35 in this order. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 3, the determination result of step 130 is affirmative.

  However, for example, when the display as shown in FIG. 4 is performed in step 120, the destination mark 32 cannot be reached from the position of the current position mark 30 unless it is outside the display range. In such a case, the determination result of step 130 is negative.

  In step 140 after the determination result in step 130 is negative, the display range of the map is expanded. Specifically, the map display direction and the screen center coordinates are not changed as they are, and the entire path from the current position mark 30 to the destination mark 32 is within the display screen by reducing only the map scale. Like that. Thereafter, in step 120, the current position mark 30, the destination mark 32, the main road, and the entire narrow street are displayed within the display range thus determined.

  For example, in the example of FIG. 4, the display screen 55 is displayed by expanding the display range from the display screen 54. As a result, the entire process from the current position mark 30 to the destination mark 32 (the process of moving in the order of the main road 31, narrow streets 36, 37, and 38) is displayed on the display screen, and the subsequent steps. At 130, the determination result is affirmative.

  After it is determined that the entire process from the current position mark to the destination mark is within the display screen, in step 150, the current position of the host vehicle is specified, and then in step 160, the display is performed according to the specified current position. The destination mark 32 is moved to the corresponding position in the screen.

  Subsequently, in step 170, it is determined whether or not the current position specified in the immediately preceding step 150 is within the display range of the map. If it is, step 180 is executed. If not, step 110 is performed again. Execute.

  In step 180, it is determined whether or not the current position specified in the immediately preceding step 150 has arrived at the destination. To determine whether or not the vehicle has arrived at the destination, for example, the host vehicle has entered the narrow street facing the destination, and has arrived at the location closest to the destination in the narrow street. May be determined. Further, for example, it may be determined that the host vehicle has arrived at the destination when the vehicle enters within a predetermined distance from the destination. However, the predetermined distance here is a distance (for example, 20 meters) shorter than a threshold distance used for determining whether or not the vehicle has entered the vicinity of the destination in the route guidance process. If it is determined that it has arrived, the execution of the program 100 is terminated. If it is determined that it has not arrived, step 150 is executed again.

  Therefore, while the host vehicle continues to be within the display range (see step 170) and does not arrive at the destination (see step 180), the control circuit 17 follows the progress of the current position of the host vehicle (see step 150). Then, the current position mark in the sequential display screen is advanced like the display screens 52 and 53 in FIG. 3 and the display screen 56 in FIG. 4 (see step 160). In the meantime, the display range of the map (that is, orientation, scale, screen center coordinates) does not change.

  In most cases, the current position will not leave this display range because the driver should be aiming for the destination. Therefore, in many cases, the display range of the narrow street map continues to be fixedly displayed from the end of the route guidance to the arrival at the destination.

  However, if the vehicle position is out of the display range before arriving at the destination, the current position, the destination, and the route from the current position to the destination are included again by executing step 110 again. A display range is determined (see steps 110, 130, and 140), a narrow street is displayed in the determined display range (see step 120), and then the display range is changed (unless the current position deviates from the display range again). ) The destination mark is moved in accordance with the progress of the host vehicle while being fixed (see steps 150 to 180).

  Thus, in the narrow street display control process, the vehicle navigation device 1 displays the current position mark at a position corresponding to the current position in the display range of the narrow street, and the scale and orientation of the display of the narrow street The current position mark is moved in accordance with the progress of the current position while the position is fixed.

  As a result, the current position mark advances on the display screen in a state where the position of the narrow street is fixed and the position of the destination is also fixed on the display screen of the image display device 12. become. In this way, since the position of both the narrow street and the destination does not change in the display screen, the occupant will see a display that matches the natural movement sense that the aircraft moves on a fixed road, As a result, the user's sense of direction and distance can be maintained.

  Note that the fixed display scale at this time depends on the distance between the current position and the destination at the end of the route guidance, so it may or may not be the largest of the prepared scales. . Therefore, in the present embodiment, in a narrow street display process, there is a case where a smaller scale is fixedly used even though there is a scale that can be displayed in more detail (that is, a larger scale).

  Further, in the exceptional case where the current position mark exits the display range as a result of the progress of the current position mark, the vehicle navigation device 1 expands the display range to include the current display range. Then, the current position mark is included in the new display range. As a result, the current position mark does not remain out of the display range of the image display device 12 as a result of the progress of the current position mark.

  In addition, the vehicle navigation device 1 determines the display target range so that it can move from the current position to the destination through only the road displayed in the display range. In this way, the user can grasp what route should be followed to reach the destination by looking only at the display screen.

  The vehicle navigation apparatus 1 starts to move the current position mark with the scale, orientation, and position of the narrow street display fixed at the start of the narrow street display control process. In this way, since the fixed narrow street display is realized from the beginning of the narrow street display control process, compared to the case where the fixed narrow street display is performed from the middle of the narrow street display control process, the user sense of direction, The possibility that the sense of distance is impaired is reduced.

(Other embodiments)
As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, the scope of the present invention is not limited only to the said embodiment, The various form which can implement | achieve the function of each invention specific matter of this invention is included. It is.

  For example, in step 170, the control circuit 17 does not display all the narrow streets, but thins out unnecessary ones in some form and displays only the remaining narrow streets on the image display device 12. Good.

  In the above embodiment, each function realized by the control circuit 17 executing the program is realized by using hardware having those functions (for example, an FPGA capable of programming the circuit configuration). You may come to do.

  Moreover, in the said embodiment, although a navigation apparatus is a vehicle-mounted type, a navigation apparatus may be mounted in a ship and an airplane, and may be a thing of the type which a person can carry. . For example, a mobile phone having a navigation device function also corresponds to the navigation device of the present invention.

It is a hardware block diagram of the vehicle navigation apparatus 1 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the program 100 which the navigation control part 17 performs. It is a figure which shows the movement of the destination mark 32 on the display screens 51-53. It is a figure which shows the change of the reduced scale of the display screens 51-53.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Vehicle navigation apparatus, 11 ... Position detector, 12 ... Image display apparatus,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 ... Operation part, 14 ... Speaker, 16 ... Map data acquisition part, 17 ... Control circuit,
30 ... Current position mark, 32 ... Destination mark, 51-56 ... Display screen, 31 ... Main road,
33-38 ... narrow street, 100 ... program.

Claims (6)

A navigation device that provides route guidance to a destination and ends the route guidance and starts narrow street display control processing when the current position of the aircraft approaches the destination,
In the narrow street display control process, it is determined whether or not there is at least one route that can be reached from the current position to the destination in the range determined to include the current position and the destination. If determined, the determined range is set as a display target range, a narrow street in the display target range is displayed on the image display device, and if determined not to exist, only the road displayed in the range is passed. The map is reduced in scale so as to be movable from the current position to the destination, the determined range is expanded, the expanded range is set as the display target range , and narrow streets in the display target range (110, 120, 130, 140, 170) range display control means for displaying on the image display device;
The current position mark is displayed at a position corresponding to the current position in the range to be displayed by the range display control means, and the current position mark is displayed while the scale, orientation, and position of the narrow street display are fixed. A navigation display control means for moving (150, 160) according to the progress of the current position.   The range display control means, when the current position mark goes out of the display target range as a result of the progress of the current position mark by the progress display control means, the range of the display target is changed to the current display target. The navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the current position mark is included in a new display target range by enlarging the range to include the range. The range display control means thins out a part of narrow streets within the range to be displayed in the narrow street display control process, and displays only the remaining narrow streets on the image display device. 3. The navigation device according to 1 or 2.   The progress display means starts the movement of the current position mark with the scale, orientation, and position of the display of the narrow street fixed at the start of the narrow street display control process. 4. The navigation device according to any one of 3. A program used for a navigation device that performs route guidance to a destination and ends the route guidance and starts narrow street display control processing when the current position of the aircraft approaches the destination,
In the narrow street display control process, it is determined whether or not there is at least one route that can be reached from the current position to the destination in the range determined to include the current position and the destination. If determined, the determined range is set as a display target range, a narrow street in the display target range is displayed on the image display device, and if determined not to exist, only the road displayed in the range is passed. The map is reduced in scale so as to be movable from the current position to the destination, the determined range is expanded, the expanded range is set as the display target range , and narrow streets in the display target range the display the current position mark at a position corresponding to the current position in the range by the display target range display control means, and the range display control means displays on the image display apparatus, before A program that causes a computer to function as a progress display control unit that changes the current position mark in accordance with the progress of the current position while fixing the scale, orientation, and position of the display of the narrow street. The range display control means thins out a part of narrow streets within the range to be displayed in the narrow street display control process, and displays only the remaining narrow streets on the image display device. 5. The program according to 5.

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