JP5618300B2 - Navigation device with facility icon display adjustment function - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a navigation apparatus that guides a vehicle or the like to a destination and provides various types of guidance information, and in particular, when a facility existing around a specific point such as a current position is searched on a map screen, the facility as a search result When a facility is displayed together with an icon on a map screen, when facilities are densely packed and icons overlap, a navigation device with a facility icon display adjustment function can be displayed in a distributed manner without changing the positional relationship of each facility About.

  Currently, navigation devices are widely used in vehicles. In this navigation device, a map / information storage medium such as a DVD-ROM, a hard disk, a memory card, etc., which stores map data for drawing a map and facility information data for searching for a facility, etc., and this map / information storage A playback device that reads data from a medium, a monitor that displays a map, etc., and a vehicle position detection device that detects the current position of the vehicle and the direction of travel using a GPS receiver, etc., and map data including the current position of the vehicle A map image is read from the map / information storage medium, and a map image around the vehicle position is drawn on a screen such as a monitor on the basis of the map data, and a vehicle position mark is superimposed and displayed, and the map image is displayed according to the movement of the vehicle. Scroll display or fix the map image on the screen and move the vehicle position mark to see where the vehicle is currently traveling It has been seen to.

  The map data stored in the map / information storage medium as described above is divided into longitude and latitude widths of appropriate sizes according to various scale levels, and roads are expressed in longitude and latitude. Stored as a coordinate set of nodes. When displaying such a map, for the road layer, a background layer for displaying roads, buildings, facilities, parks, rivers, etc. on the map screen, administrative division names such as city names, road names, Many layers of data, such as an information data layer for displaying characters and map symbols, such as intersection names, facility names, and facility icons, are superimposed and displayed.

  Such a navigation device has many functions convenient for the user, one of which is a facility search function. According to this facility search function, for example, there is a peripheral search function for searching for a current location, a destination, and a facility around a specified point by specifying a genre such as a convenience store.

  There are various methods for displaying the search results at that time. For example, as shown in FIG. 13A, when the search results are displayed as a list and a specific facility in the displayed list is indicated by a cursor or the like, It is widely performed that an icon of a designated facility is displayed on a small window map screen provided adjacent to the list so that the location of the facility exists.

  That is, in the example shown in FIG. 13A, as a result of searching for convenience stores existing around the current location, a list of five search results is displayed on one screen as the nearest convenience store. In the illustrated example, specific icons “A”, “B”, and “C” are displayed for each convenience store series, the branch names of each convenience store are displayed, and the direction from the current position is displayed. Further, an example is shown in which the distance from a designated position such as the current location is displayed, and a list is displayed in order from the designated location such as the current location.

  A small window, also called a “side map” adjacent to this list, can display a map screen. In the example shown in the figure, a map screen mainly showing the current position in the vehicle traveling direction is displayed, and the search result is displayed. For example, when “Convenience store A Tamachi station east exit store” is designated in the list to be displayed, an icon “A” as a well-known convenience store icon is displayed at the location where the convenience store exists.

  With such a display, it is possible to know the entire searched facility, and it is possible to specify a favorite facility in the facility and easily confirm the location of the facility. However, in such a display, only the facility designated by the user of the list displaying the search result is displayed on the map screen of the small window.

  Therefore, when the user tries to confirm the location of each facility on the list, the facility to be displayed must be specified and displayed one by one on the map screen. For example, when setting a destination, one of these facilities is displayed. When trying to instruct, it is very troublesome to perform the operation as described above, and there is a problem that it takes time. As a countermeasure, for example, it is conceivable to display the icons of all the facilities displayed in a list on the map screen.

  In this case, for example, as shown in FIG. 13 (b), when a large number of facilities are present at a specific position as seen from the position of the own vehicle, the icons are respectively displayed at positions on the map where the facilities exist. When they are displayed, they overlap each other and the top icon display can be seen, but there is a problem that it is difficult to know what the icon displayed below is.

  Therefore, the icons of the facilities are not displayed on the map where the facilities exist as described above, but are displayed at portions away from the positions where the facilities exist as shown in FIG. 13C, for example. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method of indicating that the facility exists not at the position where the icon is displayed but at the mark point indicated by an instruction line or balloon display from the icon.

  Also, when facility icons are displayed on the map screen, when they overlap each other, representative icons including a plurality of symbols corresponding to these icons are displayed on a separate small screen, and when the icons overlap, they are displayed vertically shifted. The technique is disclosed in Patent Document 2.

JP 2009-264796 A JP 2007-206608 A

  With the technique as described above, it is possible to display a large number of facilities obtained as a result of the conventional facility search so that the icons of the facilities do not overlap with each other. At that time, for example, as described in Patent Document 1 The position of the icon by the simple balloon display is close to the facility location and is displayed at a place with a display space.

  For this reason, the display position of each icon has no distance relationship between each facility and the specified position such as the current position or the destination position. For example, in the example of FIG. In the example shown in the figure, the distance from the current position is “1”, “2”, and “3” in the order of “3”, “1”, and “2”. End up.

  This is because the location of the facility can be identified by the mark display by slowly looking at the map screen, but in the case of a vehicle navigation device, the driver searches for a nearby convenience store while driving. In many cases, the peripheral facility search function is used, and the map screen cannot be closely watched. In particular, the display of the small window as described above has a problem that the positional relationship cannot be grasped at a glance. is there. The same applies to the technique described in Patent Document 2.

  Accordingly, the present invention has a problem that when displaying facility icons of facility search results on a map, when many facilities are displayed on the map, the icons are densely arranged and overlap each other, making it difficult to see. The main purpose is to solve the problem that the actual positional relationship of the facility differs between the designated position such as the current position and the display position of the icon.

  The navigation apparatus with a facility icon display adjustment function according to the present invention includes a facility search unit that searches for a facility around a specified point and a facility icon obtained as a result of searching by the facility search unit in order to solve the above-described problem. Is displayed on the map screen in association with the location of the facility, and when the icon is displayed on the map screen by the icon display means, icon superimposed display detection means for detecting that the icons are displayed in an overlapping manner When the icon display means displays three or more icons on the map screen, the polygon forming means between the icon center points for forming a polygon by a line connecting the center points of the icons, and the icon center point multiple Icon movement center point position setting means for setting an arbitrary point in the polygon formed by the square forming means as an icon movement center point; Icon moving direction setting means for setting the direction of the line connecting the icon moving center point set by the moving center point position setting means and each icon center point as the moving direction of each icon, the icon moving center point and each icon A distance calculating means for calculating the distance between the center points; an enlargement coefficient setting means for setting an enlargement coefficient for moving the icon position; and an enlargement coefficient set by the enlargement coefficient setting means to the distance calculated by the distance calculation means Icon movement amount setting means for setting the movement amount of each icon by multiplication, and the icon movement center by the icon movement amount set by the icon movement amount setting means in the icon movement direction set by the icon movement direction setting means An icon display position changing unit that moves in a direction away from the point, and the icon display position changing unit includes: In Con superimposed detecting means to the superposition of the icon is no longer detected, and changes the display position of the icon by increasing the magnification factor in order in the expansion coefficient setting means.

  In another navigation apparatus with facility icon display adjustment function according to the present invention, in the navigation apparatus with facility icon display adjustment function, the position of the icon movement center point set by the icon movement center point position setting means is It is the position of the center of gravity of the polygon formed by the polygon forming means between icon center points.

  Further, another navigation apparatus with facility icon display adjustment function according to the present invention is the navigation apparatus with facility icon display adjustment function, wherein the position of the icon movement center point set by the icon movement center point position setting means is the icon. When the point designated for the facility search exists in the polygon formed by the polygon forming means between the center points, it is the position of the designated point.

  Further, another navigation apparatus with facility icon display adjustment function according to the present invention is the navigation apparatus with facility icon display adjustment function, wherein the position of the icon movement center point set by the icon movement center point position setting means is the icon. In the polygon formed by the polygon forming means between the center points, the position is set in a direction to reduce the movement of the icon.

  In another navigation apparatus with facility icon display adjustment function according to the present invention, the navigation apparatus with facility icon display adjustment function detects that an icon to be displayed on the map screen protrudes outside the map display screen. When the icon detection is detected by the protrusion detection means outside the icon display screen, the icon movement center point position setting means moves the icon movement center point to the protruding icon side. It is characterized in that it is set at the position.

  In another navigation apparatus with facility icon display adjustment function according to the present invention, the navigation apparatus with facility icon display adjustment function detects that an icon to be displayed on the map screen protrudes outside the map display screen. It is characterized by comprising: an overhang detection means; and an icon reduction display means for reducing the icon display when it is detected by the overhang detection means that the icon is outside the map display screen.

  In another navigation apparatus with facility icon display adjustment function according to the present invention, when the icon display means displays two icons on a map screen in the navigation apparatus with facility icon display adjustment function, the icon movement center The point position setting means sets an icon movement center point on a line connecting the center points of the icons, and the icon display position changing means sets the icon movement center point and each icon center point in a direction connecting the center points of the icons. The icon display position is changed to a position where the icon superimposition detection means does not detect the superimposition of the icon by the distance obtained by multiplying the distance between the enlargement coefficients set by the expansion coefficient setting means.

  Since the present invention is configured as described above, when displaying facility icons of facility search results on a map, when displaying a large number of facilities on a map, the problem is that the icons are densely packed and overlap each other, making it difficult to see When trying to solve the problem by displaying an icon in a part away from the location, display the location of the icon and the specified location, such as the current location, in an easy-to-read manner so that the actual positional relationship of the facility does not differ. Can do.

It is a functional block diagram of the Example of this invention. It is an operation | movement flowchart of the Example. It is an operation | movement flowchart which performs the process of step S9 of FIG. It is an operation | movement flowchart which performs the process of step S29 of FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the process which displays three facility icons in this invention. It is explanatory drawing of the process performed following the process of FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the process performed following the process of FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the process performed following the process of FIG. It is a figure explaining the state where an icon display changes with the setting position of the icon movement center point set in the triangle formed with an icon center point. It is explanatory drawing of the process which displays four facility icons in this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of icon reduction display when an icon protrudes out of a map screen frame. It is explanatory drawing of the process which displays two facility icons in this invention. (A) shows a conventional peripheral facility search display example, (b) shows a state in which three icons of the facility search results are superimposed, and (c) shows a superimposed display of the icons in a balloon manner with respect to the facility position. It is a figure which shows the example when doing.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of a navigation apparatus with a facility icon display adjustment function according to the present invention, and shows a functional block diagram in which the present invention can be implemented in various modes. In addition, in the same figure, the function part which performs each function can be said to be a means which performs each function.

  In the navigation apparatus shown in FIG. 1, a map is displayed on the screen of the monitor by using various function units not shown in the same manner as the navigation apparatus that has been widely used conventionally, and the current position is superimposed and displayed. Scroll the map with the movement of the current position obtained by reception, etc., or move and display the current position on the map, calculate the guide route to the set destination and store this, especially the right-left turn intersection The vehicle can be safely and surely guided to the destination by the above guidance.

  In the example shown in FIG. 1, in such a navigation device, a functional block diagram for performing the facility icon display adjustment function in the present invention is shown, and a ROM in which software included in a normal navigation device is recorded Each function unit is connected to a system control unit that includes a CPU that performs calculation and a RAM that is used during the calculation, so that a predetermined function can be performed.

  The map / information database 1 among them can be connected to, for example, a DVD, hard disk, memory card, or database of the map information data service center by communication. Various data and information such as data and facility information can be captured by each functional unit.

  In the facility search unit 2, various searches desired by the user when using the navigation device are performed using the data in the map / information database 1, but in the illustrated example, in the search area specifying unit 3, For example, a search area such as a current position, a destination, or a specified specific area is specified. In addition, the search genre specifying unit 4 specifies the genre of facilities such as convenience stores and restaurants.

  In the search facility designating unit 5, in addition to the specific designated facility, for example, the convenience store is designated for a facility that is more detailed than the genre, such as a specific series of convenience stores. In the designated point surrounding facility search unit 6, the facility around the specific point is searched in various facility searches performed by the facility search unit 2.

  The facility-related data capturing unit 7 captures, in particular, facility-related data from the map / information database 1, and the facility position data capturing unit 8 therein searches, for example, with the facility search unit 3. With respect to the obtained facility, the data of the position where each facility exists for use in the facility icon display processing unit 10 to be described later is taken in. Further, the icon display data capturing unit 9 captures various data for icon display used in the facility icon display processing unit 10 described later.

  In the facility icon display processing unit 10, various processes for displaying an icon of the facility are performed on the facility obtained as a result of searching by the facility search unit 2. Among them, the facility icon initial display unit 11 displays facility icons that have been conventionally used. For example, icons are displayed on points where each facility exists.

  In the present invention, the plurality of icons in the initial display are displayed while maintaining the distance relationship between the icons and the specified position such as the current position. Therefore, in the initial display, the icons are displayed. The condition is that the distance relationship between the location where each facility exists and the current position are the same.

  In the icon superimposition display detection unit 12 in the facility icon display processing unit 10, when a plurality of facilities are searched as a result of searching by the facility search unit 2, and an icon is displayed corresponding to the position where the facility exists, It is detected that the icons are overlapped, that is, the superimposed display of the icons. In the detection, it is not necessary to detect the superimposed display by actually displaying the icon on the monitor, and it is possible to detect the superimposed display using the data in the icon display process.

  In the protrusion detection part 13 outside the icon screen, when the icon displayed by the facility icon initial display part 11 is moved and displayed by a predetermined operation in the icon display position changing part 15 as described later, the icon is displayed on the map screen. It is detected that the icon is out of the frame and at first glance it is not possible to know what the icon is.

  The detection result is output to the icon reduction display unit 14 so that the icon is reduced and displayed. Further, the detection result of the outside-of-icon-screen protrusion detection unit 13 is used for the operation of setting the position of the icon display position changing unit 15 to be described later, particularly at the screen protrusion display cancellation position 24 in the icon movement center point position setting unit 19.

  In the icon display position changing unit 15, when the icon superimposed display detecting unit 12 detects that any icon is superimposed and displayed in the icon display displayed on the facility icon initial display unit 11 as described above. The display position of each icon is changed to change the display position without changing the distance relationship between the facility position of each icon and the current position.

  Among them, the icon center point detection unit 16 detects the position of the icon center point that indicates the display position of the icon when the icon is moved. In the icon center point connection linear western part 17, for a plurality of icons, a connection line that connects the icon center points detected by the icon center point detection unit 16 is formed. This connection line can also be formed in the icon display process without having to display the connection line on the screen.

  One of the data of the icon center point connecting line forming unit 17 is output to the icon center point polygon forming unit 18, and when there are three or more facilities searched by the facility searching unit 2, the icon center point The inter-connection line forming unit 17 connects the center points of all icons to form a polygon.

  The data of the icon center point connecting line forming unit 17 is also output to an icon movement center point position setting unit 19 described later, and in particular, two facilities searched for in the two icon center point position setting unit 20 are searched. It is also used for setting the icon movement center point using data of a line connecting the center points of the two icons.

  The icon movement center point position setting unit 19 sets the position of the movement center point of the displayed icon in order to move the icons of the displayed facilities in association with each other. Among the two icon center point position setting unit 29, when there are two facilities searched by the facility searching unit 2 as described above, an arbitrary line on the line connecting the center points of the two icons is selected. Set the position. In this case, two center points can be set as the icon movement center point.

  In the icon center point forming polygon position setting unit 21, when there are three or more facilities searched by the facility searching unit 2, the polygons formed by connecting the center points of all the icons are arbitrarily selected. Is set as the icon movement center point. At the center of gravity position 22, the position of the center of gravity of the polygon formed as described above is calculated, and that position is set as the icon movement center point.

  In the own vehicle position 23, when the own vehicle position exists in the polygon formed as described above, the own vehicle position is set as the icon movement center point. Furthermore, in the example shown in the figure, the screen projection display canceling position 24 is provided, and as described above, when at least a part of any of the moved icons protrudes from the map screen display frame, the method shown in FIG. The icon movement adjustment process is performed by using to prevent the icon from going out of the screen frame as much as possible. Note that when the icon goes out of the screen frame even by this processing, the icon reduction display unit 14 reduces the protruding icon so that the icon can be prevented from going out of the screen as much as possible. preferable.

  In the icon movement direction setting unit 25, when the icon movement center point is set by the icon movement center point position setting unit 19 as described above, the icon movement is performed by a straight line connecting the icon movement center point and each icon center point. Set the direction. Therefore, when the icons are moved, the icons move in directions away from each other along the straight line.

  The icon movement amount setting unit 26 sets the movement amount when the icons move in relation to each other in the icon movement direction set as described above, and the icon center point in the icon movement point The icon movement center point distance calculation unit 27 calculates the distance between the center point of the icon currently displayed and the icon movement center point set as described above.

  At that time, by multiplying the distance between all the icon center points and the icon movement center point by the enlargement coefficient (k) set by the icon position movement enlargement coefficient setting unit 28, all the icons are associated and moved. To be able to. When setting the enlargement factor, when the icon superposition display detection unit 12 detects that the icon superimposition portion still exists in the movement of the icon by the enlargement factor set previously, An instruction to further increase the enlargement coefficient by a predetermined amount (α) is given.

  Even when the icon position is moved by the instruction, if the icon still exists, the enlargement factor is further increased. This process continues as a rule until icon superposition is canceled, but if any part of the icon is displayed outside the screen frame and cannot be resolved even by the screen overhang display canceling means, the expansion movement is stopped. It is preferable to do.

  In this invention which consists of the above functional blocks, it can implement by operating sequentially according to the operation | movement flow shown in FIGS. That is, in the example of the facility icon display position adjustment process shown in FIG. 2, the facility search is started first (step S1). There are various types of facility searches at this time. In particular, when searching around a specific point as shown in FIG. 13 above, if the list screen and the map screen are displayed, the map screen can be made small. In the case where it is unavoidable, the icon display tends to overlap, so that the necessity for searching around the specific point becomes high.

  Next, as a result of the search, it is determined whether or not the facility exists (step S2). If the facility does not exist, this process ends (step S11). When the search result facility exists, the process proceeds to step S3, and the facility position data of the search result is acquired. In addition, data for displaying the icon corresponding to the facility of the search result is acquired (step S4), and the center position of the icon is detected (step S5). If the data of the center position is included in the icon display data, it can be used. Thereby, processing for displaying the icon at a position corresponding to the facility on the map screen is performed (step S6). Here, it is not necessary to actually display an icon on the map screen, and it is only necessary to perform processing for displaying the icon.

  Next, it is determined whether or not there is one facility as a search result (step S7). When there is one facility as a search result, the icon of the facility does not overlap with other icons when displayed on the map screen, so the process proceeds to step S10, and the icon of the searched facility is displayed on the map screen. To do. At the time of the display, the position where the facility exists on the map screen can be displayed at the center of the icon by the processing as described above.

  If it is determined in step S7 that there is not one facility as a search result, it is determined whether or not the facility icons are overlapped when the icon is displayed (step S8). Here, when it is determined that all the icons are not overlapped and displayed, the process proceeds to step S10, and the facility icons are displayed on the map screen. In determining whether the facility icons overlap here, if the icons overlap, for example, about one quarter, it can be set to display as it is. When it is determined in step S8 that the facility icons are displayed in an overlapping manner, the process proceeds to step S9 to perform icon movement display processing at the time of facility icon superimposed display as shown in FIG.

  In the icon movement display process at the time of facility icon superimposed display shown in FIG. 3, it is first determined whether or not there are three or more search facilities (step S21). If it is determined that there are not three or more facilities as a search result, it is determined in step S7 in FIG. 2 that there is not one facility as a search result, and therefore it is determined that there are two facilities as a search result. In step S31, an arbitrary position on the line connecting the center icons of both facilities is set as the movement center point.

  This state is shown in FIG. 12. When two icons overlap as shown in FIG. 12A, the centers (1) and (2) of both icons as shown in an enlarged view in FIG. For example, an arbitrary point such as a midpoint of the line connecting the two is set as the movement center point. Thereafter, in the example of FIG. 3, the direction connecting the center icons of both facilities is set as the movement direction, and the distance between the movement center points is calculated (step S32). This state is shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S21 that there are three or more retrieval facilities, the process proceeds to step S22, and a polygon connecting the center points of all facility icons is created. In this processing, the state where there are three facilities as the search result is shown in FIG. 5, and as shown in FIG. ), A triangle as shown in FIG. 5C is formed by lines connecting the center points (1), (2), and (3) of the icons.

  Thereafter, in the formed polygon, for example, an arbitrary position such as the center of gravity is set as the movement center point (step S23). This state is shown in FIG. 5 (d), and shows an example in which an arbitrary point in the triangle is set as the barycentric position. In the setting of the icon movement center point here, in the icon center point forming polygon position setting unit 21 in the icon movement center point position setting unit 19 in FIG. When the own vehicle position exists in the polygon, an arbitrary point such as the own vehicle position 23 can be set as the movement center point.

  At this time, by making an arbitrary position in the polygon closer to the specific icon side, various settings such as making the movement amount of the specific icon smaller than those of other icons are possible. As a result, the position of the screen protrusion display cancellation position 24 is also set as shown in FIG. Next, the direction from the movement center point of each facility icon center point is set as the movement direction, and the distance between the two points is calculated (step S24). This state is shown in FIG.

  Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S25 when the process of step S32 is performed, and an enlargement coefficient (k) is set. As the expansion coefficient at this time, various values can be set, for example, by setting (k = 1.1) and increasing by 10%. Next, the movement position is calculated by multiplying the distance between each facility icon center point and the movement center point by an enlargement factor (step S26). Next, each facility icon is moved to the calculated movement position in each icon movement direction (step S27). Thus, in the example shown in FIG. 6, from the state shown in FIG. 6A, the triangle is shown in FIG. 6B, for example, from the position shown in FIG. The positions of the center points of the icons are separated from each other. At this time, the ratio of the distance between the designated point such as the vehicle position on the map screen and the center point of each icon does not change greatly.

  Next, in the example shown in FIG. 3, it is determined whether or not there is a facility icon that protrudes from the map screen (step S28). That is, when the position of each facility icon is expanded by the above processing, for example, when the icon movement center point is the center of gravity, when some facilities are originally close to the screen frame, The facility icon protrudes outside the frame. Therefore, when it is determined in step S28 that there is a facility icon that protrudes from the map screen, the process proceeds to step S29, and a display process for the facility icon that protrudes from the map screen as shown in FIG. 4 is performed.

  In the display process for the facility icon that protrudes from the map screen shown in FIG. 4, it is first determined whether or not there are a plurality of icons that protrude (step S41). If it is determined that the number is not plural, the process proceeds to step S49, and the protruding icon is selected as an icon for subsequent processing. If it is determined in step S41 that there are a plurality of protruding icons, the most protruding icon is selected as an icon for subsequent display processing in step S42.

  Thereafter, the process proceeds to step S43 after the process in step S49, and it is determined whether or not the movement center point is the center point of the selected icon. If it is determined that the icon movement center point is not set so as to coincide with the center point of the selected icon, the process proceeds to step S44, where a predetermined amount of movement center point is set to move to the selected icon side and moved. The movement position of each icon is calculated based on the movement center point, and each icon is moved (step S45).

  This state is shown in FIG. 9, in which the three facility icons are initially displayed so as to overlap each other as shown in FIG. 9A, and the facility icon “3” is close to the screen display frame. When the icon movement center point is closer to the center point (3) side of the icon “3” than the center of gravity position as described above, the icon movement center point and the icon “3” are displayed as shown in FIG. Since the distance from the center point (3) is short and the center point of the other facility icons is longer than the icon movement center point, the amount of movement of the center point (3) of the icon “3” is small when multiplied by the enlargement factor. Become. In particular, when the icon movement center point approaches the center point (3) of the icon “3” as much as possible, the icon “3” hardly moves. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4D, the icon “3” does not protrude outside the frame, and the overlapping of other icons can be eliminated.

  Based on the principle of such processing, in the example of FIG. 4, it is then determined again whether there is a facility icon that protrudes from the map screen (step S46). If it exists, the process proceeds to step S47, and the movement center point is selected. It is determined whether or not the center point of the icon has been reached, and if it is determined that the moving center point has not yet been the center point of the selected icon, the process returns to step S44 and further moves to the selected icon by a predetermined amount of moving center point. Repeat the above operation.

  In the process, when it is determined in step S46 that there is a facility icon that protrudes from the map screen and it is determined in step S47 that the movement center point is the center point of the selected icon, in the illustrated example, The displayed icon is reduced by a predetermined amount and displayed (step S48).

  Thus, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, the icons are not overlapped by the above-described processing from the state where the icons are initially displayed as shown in FIG. However, when the icons “2” and “3” protrude from the screen frame and it becomes difficult to understand what the protruding icon is, as shown in FIG. By reducing the icons as described above, the icons can be displayed more clearly than at least the display of FIG.

  If it is determined in step S46 that there is no facility icon protruding from the map screen by the process as described above, the process proceeds to step S50 together with the process performed in step S48, and the process proceeds to step S30 in FIG.

  In step S30 of FIG. 3, when it is determined in step S28 that there are no facility icons that protrude from the map screen, it is determined whether or not there are facility icons that overlap each other, and if there are still facility icons that overlap each other. When it is determined, the process proceeds to step S33, and the enlargement coefficient is increased by a predetermined amount (α). The value of α at this time can be arbitrarily set. For example, the value is set to 0.1, and the enlargement coefficient that was initially k = 1.1 is set to k = 1.2.

  Thereafter, the process returns to step S26 again, the movement position is calculated by multiplying the distance between each facility icon center point and the movement center point by an enlargement coefficient, and this process is repeated until there is no facility icon overlapping each other. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6B, the distance between the center points of the icons increases, and the overlapping of the icons can be eliminated. This state is shown in FIGS. 7 (a) and (b). Even in the course of this process, the protrusion display prevention process in step S29 is performed in association with the icon superimposed display elimination process as necessary.

  When it is determined in step S30 that there are no overlapping facility icons, the process proceeds to step S34, and the final facility icon is displayed in step S10 of FIG. By the above display process, in principle, the searched facility icons can be displayed so that the overlapping icon displays do not overlap while maintaining the distance relationship from the vehicle position, and the icon display protrudes from the screen at that time. Therefore, it is possible to prevent as much as possible from losing any icon.

Although FIGS. 5 to 8 show examples when three facility icons are displayed, the present invention can be implemented by performing the same processing even when there are more facility icons. For example, in the case of four, as shown in FIG. 10, each icon is displayed from the state where four icons are displayed as shown in FIG. A square connecting the center points is formed, an arbitrary point such as the center of gravity is set as the icon movement center point, and a line connecting the icon movement center point and each icon center point is set in the movement direction.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 10 (c), by gradually adding the enlargement ratio, the distance between the center point of each icon and the icon movement center point increases at the same ratio, and the overlapping of the icons is eliminated. Icon display as shown in FIG.

  In the above-described embodiment, the present invention is used in a vehicle navigation device. However, the present invention can be applied to, for example, a portable navigation device or a portable device having a navigation function.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Map and information database 2 Facility search part 3 Search area designation part 4 Search genre designation part 5 Search facility designation part 6 Designation facility around a specified point 7 Facility related data capture part 8 Facility position data capture part 9 Icon display data capture Insertion part 10 Facility icon display processing part 11 Facility icon initial display part 12 Icon superposition display detection part 13 Icon screen protrusion detection part 14 Icon reduction display part 15 Icon display position change part 16 Icon center point detection part 17 Connection between icon center points Line forming unit 18 Icon center point polygon forming unit 19 Icon moving center point position setting unit 202 2 Icon center point position setting unit 21 Icon center point forming polygon position setting unit 22 Center of gravity position 23 Own vehicle position 24 Screen protrusion Display cancellation position 25 Icon movement direction setting section 26 Icon movement amount setting section 27 Icon Between center point icon moving the center point distance calculating unit 28 icon position moving expansion factor setting unit 29 the magnification factor changing instruction unit

Claims (6)

Facility search means for searching for facilities around the specified point;
Icon display means for displaying the icon of the facility obtained as a result of searching by the facility search means on the map screen in association with the position of the facility;
When displaying an icon on the map screen by the icon display means, icon superimposed display detection means for detecting that the icons are displayed in an overlapping manner;
When displaying three or more icons on the map screen by the icon display means, polygon forming means between icon center points for forming a polygon by a line connecting the center points of each icon;
Icon movement center point position setting means for setting an arbitrary point in the polygon formed by the polygon forming means between the icon center points as an icon movement center point;
Icon movement direction setting means for setting the direction of the line connecting the icon movement center point set by the icon movement center point position setting means and each icon center point as the movement direction of each icon;
Distance calculating means for calculating a distance between the icon movement center point and each icon center point;
An enlargement factor setting means for setting an enlargement factor for moving the icon position;
Icon movement amount setting means for setting the movement amount of each icon by multiplying the distance calculated by the distance calculation means by the expansion coefficient set by the expansion coefficient setting means;
Icon display position changing means for moving in the direction away from the icon movement center point by the icon movement amount set by the icon movement amount setting means in the icon movement direction set by the icon movement direction setting means,
The position of the icon movement center point set by the icon movement center point position setting means is a position set in a direction in which the movement of the icon is reduced in the polygon formed by the polygon forming means between the icon center points,
In the icon display position changing means, the icon display position is changed by sequentially increasing the enlargement coefficient by the enlargement coefficient setting means until no icon superposition is detected by the icon superposition display detecting means. Navigation device with icon display adjustment function. Facility search means for searching for facilities around the specified point;
  Icon display means for displaying the icon of the facility obtained as a result of searching by the facility search means on the map screen in association with the position of the facility;
  When displaying an icon on the map screen by the icon display means, icon superimposed display detection means for detecting that the icons are displayed in an overlapping manner;
  When displaying three or more icons on the map screen by the icon display means, polygon forming means between icon center points for forming a polygon by a line connecting the center points of each icon;
  Icon movement center point position setting means for setting an arbitrary point in the polygon formed by the polygon forming means between the icon center points as an icon movement center point;
  Icon movement direction setting means for setting the direction of the line connecting the icon movement center point set by the icon movement center point position setting means and each icon center point as the movement direction of each icon;
  Distance calculating means for calculating a distance between the icon movement center point and each icon center point;
  An enlargement factor setting means for setting an enlargement factor for moving the icon position;
  Icon movement amount setting means for setting the movement amount of each icon by multiplying the distance calculated by the distance calculation means by the expansion coefficient set by the expansion coefficient setting means;
  Icon display position changing means for moving in the direction moving away from the icon movement center point by the icon movement amount set by the icon movement amount setting means in the icon movement direction set by the icon movement direction setting means;
  An out-of-screen protrusion detecting means for detecting that an icon to be displayed on the map screen protrudes outside the map display screen;
  When it is detected that the icon protrudes outside the map display screen by the out-of-icon screen detection means, the icon movement center point position setting means sets the position of the icon movement center point to a position moved to the protruding icon side,
In the icon display position changing means, the icon display position is changed by sequentially increasing the enlargement coefficient by the enlargement coefficient setting means until no icon superposition is detected by the icon superposition display detecting means. Navigation device with icon display adjustment function. The position of the icon moving the center point to set the icon moving the center point position setting means, according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the the position of the icon of a polygon formed by the polygonal form means between the center points centroids Navigation device with facility icon display adjustment function. The position of the icon movement center point set by the icon movement center point position setting means is determined when the point designated for the facility search exists in the polygon formed by the polygon forming means between the icon center points. The navigation device with facility icon display adjustment function according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the navigation device is a location of a designated point. 3. The facility icon display adjustment function according to claim 2, further comprising: an icon reduction display means for reducing the icon display when it is detected by the protrusion detection means outside the icon screen that the icon protrudes outside the map display screen. Navigation device with. When displaying two icons on the map screen by the icon display means, the icon movement center point position setting means sets an icon movement center point on a line connecting the center points of the icons,
In the icon display position changing means, the icon superposition is performed by multiplying the distance between the icon movement center point and each icon center point by the enlargement coefficient set by the enlargement coefficient setting means in the direction connecting the center points of the icons. 3. The navigation apparatus with a facility icon display adjustment function according to claim 1, wherein the icon display position is changed to a position where the detection means does not detect the superimposed icon.

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