JP5018671B2 - Vehicle navigation device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a vehicular navigation apparatus that performs voice guidance at a guidance point set on a guidance route.

Conventional route guidance by voice is performed by voice guidance predetermined at a guidance point on the route, for example, 1 km, 500 m, 200 m, etc. before the branch road. Also, for example, in Patent Document 1, the control means performs route guidance by the voice guidance means in accordance with the traveling speed of the host vehicle detected by the vehicle speed sensor above the predetermined reference speed for the road on which the vehicle is traveling. It has been proposed to carry out at long distance intervals when the vehicle traveling speed is fast, and at short distance intervals when the traveling speed is slower than the reference speed.
JP 2001-241962 A

However, in recent years, a technique for notifying a driver of various kinds of information such as traffic information or surrounding information using a navigation system has been developed, and information to be captured during traveling is increasing. For this reason, when notifying the driver of the captured information, a situation is assumed in which the captured information must be notified in addition to the voice guidance at the guidance point. In such a case, a lot of information has to be spoken at the guidance point, and it has become difficult to appropriately notify the information at the guidance point.
The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle navigation device that can reliably notify information even when information to be notified at a guidance point increases. It is in.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when notifying the information provided from the information providing means at the next guidance point, the utterance time is longer than the utterance time related to the route guidance. Since the utterance start point at the guidance point is changed to the front, all information can be notified reliably.
Even when information is received during speech, the received information can be notified in real time. On the other hand, if the remaining utterance time is insufficient due to receiving information during utterance, utterance of low priority information is stopped so that utterance time is not insufficient, so important information is surely notified be able to.

According to the invention of claim 2, since the utterance start point is changed according to the speed of the vehicle, information can be notified at an appropriate timing regardless of the speed of the vehicle.
According to the invention of claim 3, it is possible to make the driver surely recognize high priority information.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram schematically showing the electrical configuration of the vehicle navigation apparatus. The vehicle navigation apparatus 1 includes a control circuit (corresponding to route search means, voice guidance means, utterance time calculation means, vehicle speed detection means) 2 having a function of controlling the navigation operation, and a position detector (position acquisition means). 3, map database (corresponding to map data storage means) 4, display device 5, operation switch group 6, audio output device 7, remote control sensor 8, external memory 9, transceiver (corresponding to information acquisition means) 10, etc. Is connected.

  The control circuit 2 is constituted by a microcomputer provided with a CPU, ROM, RAM, I / O interface and a bus line (not shown) for connecting them. The ROM stores a car navigation program and the like, and the RAM temporarily stores road map data acquired from the map database 4 and data received by the transceiver 10 in addition to processing data when the program is executed. The

  The position detector 3 includes, for example, a GPS receiver 11 that receives a signal from a GPS satellite, a gyro sensor 12 that detects a yaw rate, an acceleration sensor 13 that detects accelerations in three orthogonal directions, and the like. This is a part for calculating the current position information of the vehicle.

  The map database 4 is constructed using a large-capacity information recording medium such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, hard disk, or nonvolatile semiconductor memory, and is used for map drawing for map display. In addition to road data necessary for various processing such as data, map matching, route search, route guidance, intersection data consisting of detailed data of intersections, background data for background layers, place name data for displaying place names, etc. Various map data are stored, such as a facility name database in which facility names are arranged in the order of 50 sounds, a telephone number database indicating correspondence between telephone numbers and facilities, and the like.

  The map drawing data is composed of a plurality of element data. Each element data is on an actual road such as a road (link), an intersection, a branch point, and a dead point (nodes at intersections, branch points and dead points). Corresponds to each part. Further, the map data includes data such as road shape, road width, road name, building, various facilities, their telephone numbers, place names, and terrain, and the road map is reproduced on the screen of the display device 5. It is comprised including the data of.

  The display device 5 includes, for example, a color liquid crystal display for displaying a map screen and the like, and is installed in the vicinity of the driver's seat of the vehicle. On the screen of the display device 5, a road map whose scale can be changed in a plurality of stages in normal times is displayed, and a pointer indicating the current position and traveling direction of the vehicle is displayed so as to be superimposed on the display. It has become. In addition, when a route guidance function based on a route calculation result to a destination performed using a well-known Dijkstra method is executed, a guidance route to be traveled while being superimposed on a road map is displayed. Furthermore, various menu screens and input screens for searching and inputting destinations by the user (generally a vehicle driver), various message information, help screens, and the like are also displayed. Yes.

The operation switch group 6 includes mechanical switches arranged around the display device 5, touch panel switches formed on the display of the display device 5, and the like, and controls commands related to operations such as various data and setting items. 2 is provided.
The voice output device 7 includes a voice synthesis circuit, an amplifier, a speaker, and the like, and is configured to generate a voice output corresponding to voice information from the control circuit 2.
The remote control sensor 8 is configured to receive an operation signal from the remote control 14 and give it to the control circuit 2.

  The external memory 9 is composed of a rewritable non-volatile memory such as a flash memory. For example, the external memory 9 stores program software corresponding to an information recording medium of other standards, or specific data (running track history). Or any image data captured by a digital camera) or the like.

  The transceiver 10 includes a VICS (registered trademark) sensor unit, an FM multiplex broadcast tuner (both not shown), a wireless network service (for example, G-BOOK (registered trademark)), and the like. Specific areas or specific areas where there are events (congestion, congestion, speed regulation, lane regulation, accident occurrence point, broken vehicle stop point, etc.) to be notified to the vehicle driver from the VICS station, broadcasting infrastructure, information center, etc. Road traffic information including point information and voice guidance priority information, or peripheral information such as commercial facilities and tourist facilities located in the traveling direction is obtained. The transceiver 10 may be configured to include an RDS-TMC (Radio Data System-Traffic Massage Channel) tuner. The event data as described above may be received through a communication infrastructure such as a satellite communication system, a mobile phone line, a wireless LAN, or a probe car communication system.

Based on the command input through the operation switch group 6 or the remote control sensor 8, the control circuit 2 uses a well-known map display function, route calculation function, route guidance function, telephone number search function, postal code search function, map code (registration). Process related to a wide variety of support functions such as a search function using a unique code such as a trademark, a 50 sound search function, a genre search function, a nearest facility search function, a destination registration function, a point registration function, etc. It is configured.
In addition, when information is received from the transmitter / receiver 10 during execution of the route guidance function, the control circuit 2 displays it in a specific area or a specific point indicated by the information together with symbols or icons indicated by the information. To do.

  Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. When the driver operates the starter key of the vehicle (own vehicle) to turn on the accessory switch, power is supplied to the navigation device 1 from a vehicle battery (not shown). The control circuit 2 reads map data corresponding to the current position from the map database 4 and displays a road map based on the scale currently set on the display device 5. At the same time, the current position is detected based on the positioning by the position detector 3, and a pointer indicating the current position and traveling direction of the vehicle on the road map data is displayed on the display device 5.

  When the driver operates the operation switch group 6 or the remote controller 14 to select a route guidance mode and operates the operation switch group 6 or the remote controller 14 to input a destination or a stopover as necessary, the control circuit 2 Is obtained by connecting a plurality of element data in the road map data between the current position of the own vehicle detected by the position detector 3 and the inputted destination, from the current position of the own vehicle. Is automatically formed on the road map data. In this case, the control circuit 2 determines the type of the optimum route required by the input driver (for example, a travel route that connects the current position and the destination in the shortest distance, a travel route that can be reached in the shortest time, and an easy-to-understand travel route with few turns Or a travel route according to a main road, etc.).

Next, the formed travel route is superimposed on the road map displayed on the screen of the display device 5 to guide to the destination.
Here, when guiding to the destination, the control circuit 2 executes a changing process for changing the utterance start point in relation to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing change processing by the control circuit 2. The control circuit 2 detects the next voice guidance (S1) and calculates the utterance time (S2). The calculation of the utterance time is to calculate the time from the number of bytes of the data, but the voice data may have time information.

  Next, various information received by the transmitter / receiver 10 is confirmed (S3), and a guide point most suitable for notifying a specific area or a specific point indicated by the information is detected (S4). It is determined whether it is the utterance period of the guide point (S5). If it is not the utterance period of the next guidance point, the current travel speed is detected (S9), the utterance start point is calculated based on the travel speed (S10), and if the utterance start point is reached (S11: YES), utterances are started in descending order of priority (S12). In this case, since the information of the utterance target is either route guidance information or peripheral information, if the utterance target is the route guidance information, information for guiding the route, for example, “ Please say ". Further, when the utterance target is peripheral information, for example, “There is XX on the left side of XXm” is uttered.

The information received by the transceiver 10 includes real-time information that is required to be notified immediately.
On the other hand, for example, when traffic information or traffic regulation information is received as VICS information, and the guidance point of the information is the utterance period of the next guidance point (S5: Yes), the utterance content is detected (S6), It is determined whether the addition has been completed (S7). When information is received for the first time, it is not already added (S7: NO), so the speech time is added (S8), and the process proceeds to step S9.

With the above operation, for example,
(1) "Turn left 200m and turn left. ]
(2) “Please follow the path in the left lane. ]
(3) “There is *** nearby”
(4) “Turn left 1km ahead”
Voice guidance. In this case, as the information uttered at the guidance point increases, the utterance start point is changed to be closer to the front, so all information can be reliably notified at the utterance point, and the vehicle can be operated while checking the information. It can proceed smoothly.

  When it is required to notify in real time the information received during the utterance, the information is interrupted into the information being uttered and voice guidance is provided. At this time, if the utterance time of the remaining information of the utterance target (including the interrupted information) is insufficient, the priority of the remaining information of the utterance target is determined, and the priority is given until the remaining utterance time is satisfied Suspend speech from low information. As an example of such low priority information, peripheral information can be considered.

In other words, the above example
(1) "Turn left 200m and turn left. ]
(A) “There is a traffic jam of 1km ahead. ] ← Interrupt (priority: high)
(B) “Please note the distance between vehicles” ← Interruption (Priority: High)
(2) “Please follow the path in the left lane. ]
(3) “There is a *** nearby” ← Stop utterance (priority: low)
(4) “Turn left 1km ahead”
It becomes.

  Therefore, when it is required to notify the information received during utterance at the guidance point in real time with high priority, if not all information can be notified in the original utterance period, the utterance of information with low priority is Since it is canceled, it is possible to make the driver recognize the information with high priority.

  According to such an embodiment, when the guidance timing of the information received by the transceiver 10 is the utterance period at the next guidance point, the utterance time of the information and the utterance time at the next guidance point are added. Utterance time is calculated, and the utterance start point at the next guidance point is changed to the front based on the total utterance time, so the utterance start point is changed to the front according to the increase in the utterance time, All information can be notified reliably.

Further, since the utterance start point is changed according to the speed of the vehicle, information can be notified at an appropriate timing regardless of the speed of the vehicle.
In addition, since the information is spoken in order from the information with the highest priority, the driver can be surely recognized the information with the highest priority.

Furthermore, when it is required to notify in real time the information received during the utterance, the information is uttered by interrupting the current utterance, so the received information is reliably notified even during the utterance. can do.
In addition, if the remaining utterance time is insufficient due to uttering information that is required to be notified in real time, it is important to stop the utterance from low priority information so that the utterance time is not insufficient. Reliable information can be notified.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and can be modified or expanded as follows.
When information is received, not only to change the utterance start timing of only the next guidance point, but also to change the utterance start timing in advance for all the guidance points corresponding to the information guidance timing You may make it do. In this case, when the information corresponding to the guidance point whose utterance start timing is changed is further received, the utterance start point is changed further forward.
The priority may be determined by analyzing the contents of the information.

The functional block diagram which shows the electric constitution of the navigation apparatus for vehicles in one Embodiment of this invention. Flow chart showing change processing by control circuit

Explanation of symbols

  In the drawings, 1 is a vehicle navigation device, 2 is a control circuit (route search means, voice guidance means, speech time calculation means, vehicle speed detection means), 3 is a position detector (position acquisition means), and 4 is a map database ( (Map data storage means) 10 is a transceiver (information acquisition means).

Claims (3)

Map data storage means for storing map data;
Route search means for searching for a guide route to the destination based on the map data stored in the map data storage means;
Position acquisition means for acquiring the current position of the vehicle;
When the current position by the position acquisition means becomes a guidance point set on the guidance route, voice guidance means for starting the corresponding voice guidance;
Information acquisition means for acquiring information provided from the information providing means;
An utterance that calculates the total utterance time by adding the utterance time of the information and the utterance time at the next guidance point when the guidance timing of the information acquired by the information acquisition means is the utterance period at the next guidance point A time calculation means,
The voice guidance means executes a change process for changing the utterance start point at the next guidance point to the front based on the total utterance time by the utterance time calculation means , and the information by the information acquisition means is in real time during the utterance. When notification is requested, the information is interrupted into the current utterance, and when the information acquisition means requests real-time notification during the utterance, the remaining utterance time is calculated and the utterance is calculated. A vehicle navigation apparatus characterized in that when it is determined that the time is insufficient, the utterance is stopped from information with low priority so that the remaining utterance time is not short . Vehicle speed detecting means for determining the speed of the vehicle,
2. The vehicle navigation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the voice guidance unit performs the change process based on a current position by the position detection unit and a speed by the speed detection unit.   The vehicle navigation apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the voice guidance means speaks in order from information with a high priority.

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