JP5430212B2 - Navigation device and point search method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation device and a point search method, and is particularly suitable for use in a navigation device having a function of searching for a destination point using a facility name, address, telephone number, etc. as a search keyword.

  In general, in-vehicle navigation devices detect the current position of a vehicle using a self-contained navigation sensor, a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver, or the like, read out map data in the vicinity of the vehicle, and display it on a screen. Then, the vehicle position mark indicating the vehicle position is superimposed and displayed at a predetermined location on the screen, so that it can be seen at a glance where the vehicle is currently traveling.

  Most navigation devices have a route guidance function. This route guidance function automatically searches for the route with the lowest cost from the current location to the destination using map data, and uses the searched route as a guidance route to change the color of other roads on the map screen. draw. Further, when the vehicle approaches a guidance intersection on the guidance route within a certain distance, an enlarged view of the intersection is displayed and the intersection is guided to guide the driver to the destination.

  In this type of navigation apparatus, various methods are prepared as a user interface for searching for a destination. Among them, the name, address, telephone number, etc. of facilities that become POI (Point of Interest) are input by operating the operation unit such as a remote control or touch panel, and these are used as search keywords to search for specific points. Things are known.

  However, it is difficult to cover all the information such as names, addresses, and telephone numbers for facilities that exist in reality in the map data due to restrictions on the capacity of the recording medium that stores the map data. Therefore, even if it is included as a facility in the map data, not all information such as its name, address, and telephone number is always available. In addition, the facilities in the same location may actually change, but the map data is not updated in real time. In this case, even if the address of the facility is stored in the map data, the name and telephone number of the facility are not stored. As a result, when a name, address, telephone number, or the like that is not included as facility information in the map data is input as a search keyword, there is a problem that the destination cannot be searched.

  There is a technology in which when a traveling vehicle approaches a facility that stores a URL as related information, the URL is used to connect to the Internet to acquire the latest information about the facility that has been approached. . There is also a technique in which a character string existing around the current position or the like is extracted from map information, and information is acquired from the Internet based on the extracted character string (see, for example, Patent Document 1). However, these technologies acquire information on facilities around the host vehicle from the Internet and cannot be used for searching for a destination.

JP 2004-318483 A

  The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and even when a name, address, telephone number, or the like not included as information in map data is input as a search keyword, the input is performed. The purpose is to make it possible to search for a point corresponding to the searched keyword.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, in the present invention, a point that matches a search keyword input by an operation of a user operation unit is searched in map data, and a point that matches the search keyword is not extracted from the map data. If it is found, it connects to a predetermined search site on the Internet and performs a search using the search keyword. Then, a second search keyword different from the search keyword is extracted from the information acquired by the search on the search site, and a point that matches the extracted second search keyword is searched in the map data. ing.

  According to the present invention configured as described above, when a search keyword of a search item that is not included as information in the map data is input, a point that matches the search keyword is not found in the search in the map data. Even in such a case, the second search keyword, which is another search item in the search in the map data, is acquired by searching the search site on the Internet, and the search in the map data is performed according to the acquired second search keyword. Done again.

  For example, when a search in map data fails because a name that is not included as information in the map data is entered as a search keyword, a search for a search site using that name as a search keyword results in an address of a point corresponding to the name or A telephone number is acquired, and a search in map data is performed again according to the acquired address and telephone number. Thereby, even when a name, address, telephone number, or the like that is not included as information in the map data is input as a search keyword, a point corresponding to the input search keyword can be acquired by searching.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the structural example of the navigation apparatus by this embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the HTML information obtained as a result of searching using the name of a facility as a keyword in the search site on the internet. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the point search method performed with the navigation apparatus of this embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the navigation device according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the navigation device 10 of the present embodiment is connected to a mobile phone 20 and configured to be able to access the search engine server 30 using the Internet connection function of the mobile phone 20.

  The navigation device 10 includes a keyword input unit 11, a spot search unit 12, a search success determination unit 13, an information search unit 14, a keyword extraction unit 15, and a map data storage unit 16 as its functional configuration. The map data storage unit 16 stores map data for performing vehicle travel guidance. This map data also includes POI data that can specify the facility, such as the name, address, and telephone number of the facility.

  The keyword input unit 11 inputs facility names, addresses, telephone numbers, and the like as search keywords. Specifically, the keyword input unit 11 inputs a search keyword set by a user operating an operation unit (not shown) such as a remote control or a touch panel. The point search unit 12 searches the map data stored in the map data storage unit 16 for points that match the search keyword input by the keyword input unit 11. This point search function is a so-called name search, address search, telephone number search, and the like, and is a search function normally provided in a known navigation device.

  The search success determination unit 13 determines whether or not the search by the point search unit 12 is successful and a point that matches the search keyword is extracted from the map data. For example, when the name of a facility is input as a search keyword by the keyword input unit 11 and a search for a point that matches the name is performed by the point search unit 12, the search success determination unit 13 determines that the point that matches the name is It is determined whether it is extracted from POI data. Here, even if a point that matches the name is stored in the map data storage unit 16, only the address or telephone number of the facility representing the point is stored, and the name of the facility is not stored. The name search by the point search unit 12 fails.

  When the search by the point search unit 12 is successful and a point that matches the search keyword is extracted from the map data, the process proceeds to the next process using the information of the extracted point. For example, when a search is performed by the point search unit 12 in order to set the destination of the guidance route, the process proceeds to a process for setting the extracted point as the destination (the functional configuration for that is illustrated). Absent). On the other hand, when the search by the point search unit 12 fails, the search success determination unit 13 notifies the information search unit 14 to that effect.

  When the information search unit 14 receives notification from the search success determination unit 13 that the search by the point search unit 12 has failed, the information search unit 14 uses the Internet connection function of the mobile phone 20 to connect to a search site on the Internet, The search is performed using the search keyword input by the keyword input unit 11 (search keyword that failed to be searched by the point search unit 12). Here, the URL required for accessing the search site managed by the search engine server 30 is stored in advance in the internal memory or the like by the information search unit 14. This URL may be registered in the information search unit 14 in advance by a user operating an operation unit (not shown).

  The keyword extraction unit 15 is a search item that can be a search keyword by the point search unit 12 other than the search keyword input by the keyword input unit 11 from the HTML information acquired by the search on the search site by the information search unit 14. Extract information. Then, the extracted information is supplied to the point search unit 12 as a second search keyword.

  For example, as a result of searching the map data using the name of the facility input by the keyword input unit 11 as a search keyword, if the search fails, a search is performed on a search site on the Internet using the name of the facility as a keyword, HTML information matching the name is acquired. The keyword extraction unit 15 extracts, from the HTML information, information that can be a search keyword by the point search unit 12 other than the name of the facility, for example, an address or a telephone number of the facility.

  In this case, it may be determined in advance which information to extract from the facility address or telephone number. For example, when name search for map data fails, a search is performed on a search site on the Internet, and an address is extracted from HTML information acquired as a result. In many cases, the HTML information representing the facility includes the word “address”, and a specific address is described when the HTML tag that follows the word is ignored. Accordingly, the keyword extraction unit 15 first searches for the word “address” in the HTML information, and extracts a character string that is followed by the HTML tag after the word as the address of the facility to be used as the second search keyword. .

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of HTML information obtained as a result of a search performed using a facility name as a keyword at a search site on the Internet. As described above, the keyword extraction unit 15 first searches for the word “address” in the HTML information shown in FIG. 2, and follows the word “</ em>. Naka-gun, Kanagawa <em> Otsuchi </ em> machi <em> Oiso </ em> 1186. The tag is removed from the character string "", and the specific address "Oiso 1186, Otsuchi-cho, Naka-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture" is extracted.

  Here, the start position of the address included in the HTML information can be specified by searching for the word “address” as described above. On the other hand, the end position of the address included in the HTML information is specified by, for example, searching for a place where a character string comes after a number. Usually, since the last address is a number representing an address, it is possible to specify the last number as the end position of the address. In the example of FIG. 2, since the character string “telephone number” follows the number “1186”, it can be specified that up to the number “1186” is an address.

  In addition, the address is not necessarily included in the HTML information acquired from the search site. Therefore, when the information search unit 14 performs a search on the search site, a search for acquiring the second search keyword (facility address) with respect to the search keyword (facility name) input by the keyword input unit 11. A word representing an item (a word “address”) may be added, and a search at a search site may be performed using the search keyword and the word of the search item. In this way, HTML information that always includes the word “address” can be obtained by searching.

  For example, it is assumed that a search keyword “teru-chan” is input as a facility name by a user operation to perform a search in map data and the search fails. In this case, the information search unit 14 adds the word “address” to the search keyword “teru-chan” and searches the search site using the word string “address teru-chan” as a search keyword. And the keyword extraction part 15 extracts the address of a facility from the HTML information obtained as a result of the search.

  Rather than deciding the information to be extracted from the HTML information as the address of the facility, prioritizing the information to be extracted, attempting extraction in order from the highest priority, the extracted information is the second You may make it employ | adopt as a search keyword. For example, the keyword extraction unit 15 defines the priority order so that the address of the facility and the telephone number are extracted in this order as information extracted from the HTML information when the name search for the map data fails. . In this case, the keyword extraction unit 15 adopts the second search keyword if the address can be extracted from the HTML information. If the address cannot be extracted, the keyword extraction unit 15 further attempts to extract the telephone number. Adopted as the second search keyword.

  By the way, when a search is performed by giving a keyword to a search engine on a search site on the Internet, a plurality of pieces of HTML information matching the search keyword are often found. In that case, the keyword extraction unit 15 extracts information that becomes the second search keyword by the search by the point search unit 12 from the HTML information described at the beginning of the list presented as the search result. If the HTML information described at the beginning of the search result list does not include information that can be the second search keyword, the keyword extracting unit 15 extracts the second information from the HTML information described at the second position in the list. Search keywords for.

  When the second search keyword can be extracted, the keyword extraction unit 15 supplies it to the point search unit 12. When the second search keyword is supplied from the keyword extraction unit 15, the point search unit 12 searches the map data for a point that matches the second search keyword. For example, after failing in a name search for map data, if HTML information is acquired from a search site on the Internet and a facility address is extracted from the HTML information, the point search unit 12 Search using the address as a search keyword.

  Next, the operation of the navigation device 10 configured as described above according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the point search method performed by the navigation device 10 of the present embodiment. The flowchart shown in FIG. 3 starts when, for example, a menu for setting the destination of the guidance route is selected.

  In FIG. 3, the keyword input unit 11 inputs a search keyword (for example, the name of a facility) through an operation of an operation unit (not shown) by a user (step S1). The point search unit 12 searches for a point that matches the search keyword input by the keyword input unit 11 with respect to POI data included in the map data stored in the map data storage unit 16 (step S2).

  When the search by the point search unit 12 is performed, the search success determination unit 13 determines whether or not a point that matches the search keyword input by the keyword input unit 11 is extracted from the map data (step S3). Here, when it is determined that a point that matches the search keyword has been extracted from the map data, after performing the process of setting the extracted point as the destination of the guide route (step S8), the point search shown in FIG. End the process.

  On the other hand, when the search success determination unit 13 determines that a point that matches the search keyword has not been extracted from the map data, the information search unit 14 searches for a predetermined search site managed by the search engine server 30 on the Internet. The HTML information is searched using the search keyword that was connected and failed to search the map data (step S4).

  The keyword extraction unit 15 then selects information (for example, the address of the facility) that can be a search keyword for map data other than the search keyword from the HTML information acquired by the search on the search site by the information search unit 14. Extracted as a second search keyword (step S5). When the second search keyword is extracted from the search result on the search site, the point search unit 12 searches the map data for a point that matches the second keyword (step S6). Then, the search success determination unit 13 determines whether or not a point that matches the second search keyword has been extracted from the map data (step S7).

  Here, when the search success determination unit 13 determines that a point that matches the second search keyword has been extracted from the map data, after performing the process of setting the extracted point as the destination of the guidance route ( Step S8), the point search process shown in FIG. On the other hand, if it is determined that a point that matches the second search keyword has not been extracted from the map data, an error message indicating that the point search is not possible is displayed (step S9), and the point search process shown in FIG. 3 is terminated. To do.

  As described above in detail, in this embodiment, when a point that matches the search keyword input by the operation of the user's operation unit is not extracted from the map data, a connection is made to a predetermined search site on the Internet. The search is performed using the search keyword. Then, the second search keyword is extracted from the HTML information acquired by the search on the search site, and the point that matches the extracted second search keyword is searched again in the map data.

  According to this embodiment configured as described above, since a search keyword of a search item that is not included as information in the map data is input, even if a point matching the search keyword is not found in the search in the map data, A second search keyword that is another search item in the search in the map data is acquired by searching the search site on the Internet, and the search in the map data is performed again according to the acquired second search keyword. Thereby, even when a name, address, telephone number, or the like not included as information in the map data is input as a search keyword, a point corresponding to the search keyword can be searched on the map data.

  In this case, the user does not need to perform a troublesome operation such as inputting the second search keyword and performing a search again. Even if the user remembers only the name of the facility and not the address or telephone number, the address or telephone number can be acquired from the Internet and searched again.

  In the above embodiment, the name of the facility is input by a user operation to perform a search in the map data, and when the search fails, the search is performed on a search site on the Internet to acquire the address or telephone number of the facility. However, this is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the information acquired as the second search keyword from the search result on the Internet may be latitude / longitude.

  In addition, the search keyword that is first input by a user operation may be information that can specify one facility such as a name, address, or telephone number, or specify one facility such as a facility genre or a postal code. Information that cannot be used. For example, a search keyword “Hiroshima-style” is input as a facility genre by a user operation to perform a search in map data. If this search fails, a search is performed on the search site using the search keyword “Hiroshima-style”. . Then, the name, address, or telephone number of the facility is extracted from the HTML information obtained as a result of the search.

  In this case, since the search keyword indicates a wide concept of facility genre, there is a possibility that a lot of HTML information that does not include a name, an address, a telephone number and the like that can be used for a search in map data may be searched. Therefore, it is preferable to add a word (for example, a word “address”) representing a search item that can be used for searching map data, and use a word string “address Hiroshima style” as a search keyword in the search site.

  In the above embodiment, an example in which the end position of the address included in the HTML information is specified by searching for a place where the character string comes after the number has been described, but if the address is not described in the HTML information, With this method, the end position of the address cannot be specified. For example, if the HTML information shown in FIG. 2 is described as "... </ em>. Naka-gun, Kanagawa <em> Daegu </ em> Town <em> Daegu. Opening hours ..." , “Daegu” cannot be recognized as an address. Therefore, the address search by the point search unit 12 is sequentially performed while extracting the words “Nakori-gun, Kanagawa”, “Oiso”, “Town”, “Oiso”, “Business hours” one by one in order and adding them to the search keyword. It is also possible to specify the word immediately before it becomes impossible to narrow down the corresponding facility as the end position of the address.

  In this example, an address search is first performed using “Kanagawa Prefecture Naka-gun” as a keyword. In this case, many corresponding facilities are searched. Next, an address search is performed using “Otsuka-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture” as a keyword. In this case, the corresponding facility is searched, but the number of hits is narrowed compared to the first. In the same way, if the address search is performed in the same manner, the corresponding facility will be searched until the address search is performed using the keyword “Otsuchi-cho, Naka-gun, Kanagawa-ken” as the keyword. When an address search is performed using "" as a keyword, there is no corresponding facility. Therefore, it is possible to specify that “Oiso, Oiso-machi, Naka-gun, Kanagawa” is the address. In this case, the point search unit 12 may list a plurality of facilities corresponding to “Otsuchi-cho Otsuchi-cho, Naka-gun, Kanagawa”, or a representative point (such as a government office) of “Otsuchi-cho Otsuchi-cho, Naka-gun, Kanagawa”. It may be extracted.

  In addition, each of the above-described embodiments is merely an example of implementation in carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed in a limited manner. In other words, the present invention can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit or main features thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Navigation apparatus 11 Keyword input part 12 Point search part 13 Search success determination part 14 Information search part 15 Keyword extraction part 16 Map data storage part

Claims (3)

A keyword input part for inputting a search keyword;
A point search unit that searches the map data for a point that matches the search keyword input by the keyword input unit;
A search success determination unit for determining whether or not a point matching the search keyword has been extracted from the map data by the successful search by the point search unit;
An information search unit that connects to a predetermined search site on the Internet and performs a search using the search keyword when it is determined by the search success determination unit that a point that matches the search keyword has not been extracted from the map data When,
In addition to the search keyword input by the keyword input unit, information that can be a search keyword by the point search unit is extracted from the information acquired by the search by the information search unit, and the extracted information is used as the point search. A keyword extraction unit that supplies the second search keyword to the unit,
The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein, when the second search keyword is supplied from the keyword extraction unit, the point search unit searches the map data for a point that matches the second search keyword.   The information search unit adds a word representing a search item for acquiring the second search keyword to the search keyword input by the keyword input unit, and determines the search keyword and the word of the search item. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the search is performed on the search site. A first step in which a keyword input unit of the navigation device inputs a search keyword through an operation of the operation unit by a user;
A second step in which the point search unit of the navigation device searches the map data for a point that matches the search keyword input in the first step;
A third step in which the search success determination unit of the navigation device determines whether or not a point that matches the search keyword has been extracted from the map data;
When the information search unit of the navigation device determines that a point matching the search keyword has not been extracted from the map data , the information search unit connects to a predetermined search site on the Internet and performs a search using the search keyword. A fourth step;
Information that the keyword extraction unit of the navigation device can use as a search keyword for the map data other than the search keyword input in the first step from the information acquired by the search in the fourth step. A fifth step of extracting as a second search keyword;
A point search method, wherein the point search unit includes a sixth step of searching the map data for a point that matches the second keyword.