JP5654334B2 - Multi-language selection device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a multilingual selection device that selects a language used for display and audio output from a plurality of languages.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a navigation device is known that automatically or manually selects a native language or other languages from a plurality of used languages, and performs display and audio output using the selected languages (for example, (See Patent Document 1). In this navigation device, usability for the user is improved by combining the display in two languages by combining the native language and other selected languages, or by performing the display and audio output in different languages.

JP-A-11-219105 (page 4-7, FIG. 1-9)

  By the way, when a language is manually selected in the navigation device disclosed in Patent Document 1 described above, if a large number of languages can be selected as in Europe, the selection screen is switched depending on the language to be selected. Since the number of times increases and the length of scrolling the language list becomes long, the operation of language selection becomes complicated and the operability is poor. For example, on the language selection screen in a navigation device for Europe, the selection screen may be switched about eight times until the language to be selected appears. When there is a home near the border and the vehicle is driven across the border every day, the language selection operation each time becomes quite complicated if the switching operation is performed every time the language is switched.

  The present invention was created in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a multilingual selection device capable of improving the operability by simplifying the operation when manually selecting a language. There is.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, a multilingual selection device according to the present invention is a multilingual selection device that selects a language to be used from a plurality of languages, and includes a language selection screen that covers a plurality of pages including a plurality of languages. Selection screen creation means to be created, selection screen display means for displaying a language selection screen for each page, operation means for accepting a user operation, and selection screen display means in accordance with a user instruction using the operation means The selection screen switching means for switching each page of the language selection screen to be displayed in a predetermined display order and the language selection screen displayed by the selection screen display means in accordance with a user instruction using the operation means. Language selection means for selecting the language used, and selection frequency counting means for counting the selection frequency for each language used by the language selection means. Therefore, the aggregated frequency of use is high use language, so as to be included in the early language selection screen of the display order, are creating a language selection screen.

  Since the display order of language selection screens that contain frequently used languages after repeated selection of the language used can be accelerated, the switching operation of the language selection screen when selecting this language manually is omitted. It is possible to improve the operability by simplifying the operation at the time of language selection.

In addition, each page of the language selection screen described above includes a predetermined number of languages to be selected, and the selection screen creation means only uses the most frequently used language that has been counted by the selection frequency counting means. By moving up the display position , the language selection screen is created so that the language used most frequently is included in the language selection screen with the earliest display order . Thereby, the operation at the time of language selection can be further simplified and the operability can be improved.

  In addition, a main language setting unit for setting a language to be mainly used, a main language storage unit for storing a language set by the main language setting unit, and a main language setting in accordance with a user instruction using the operation unit It is desirable to further include main language switching means for switching to the language set by the means. In particular, the selection of the language used by the language selection unit described above is preferably performed for a language other than the language set by the main language setting unit. This makes it possible to improve the operability by simplifying the operation when selecting a second language that is frequently used in addition to the selection of the main language such as the native language.

  Further, it is desirable to further include application processing means for performing at least one of predetermined display and audio output using the language used selected by the language selection means described above. In particular, it further comprises a map database in which map data including display data and audio data corresponding to a plurality of languages is stored, and the application processing means uses one language using the map data stored in the map data. It is desirable to perform navigation processing including map display and guidance voice output. As a result, it is possible to perform language switching when performing application processing with display and audio output, specifically, navigation processing based on a map database, with a small number of operations.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the navigation apparatus of one Embodiment. It is a figure which shows roughly the content of the use language data in map DB, and the frequency totaled by the selection frequency totalization part in a navigation controller. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the language selection screen produced corresponding to the initial state A shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the language selection screen produced corresponding to the initial state A shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the language selection screen produced corresponding to the state B after the update shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the specific example of the language selection screen produced corresponding to the state B after the update shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, a navigation device according to an embodiment to which a multilingual selection device of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a navigation device according to an embodiment. This navigation device is mounted on a vehicle, for example, and displays a map around the vehicle position as the vehicle moves, and outputs a guidance voice regarding the traveling direction of the vehicle, intersections around the vehicle position, and the like.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the navigation apparatus of this embodiment includes a navigation controller 1, a map DB (database) 2, a GPS receiver 3, an autonomous navigation sensor 4, an operation unit 5, an audio processing unit 6, a speaker 7, and display processing. The unit 8 and the display device 9 are included.

  The navigation controller 1 performs various processes for realizing a predetermined navigation operation. The detailed configuration of the navigation controller 1 will be described later.

  The map DB 2 stores map data 200 necessary for road shape specification, route search, route guidance, intersection guidance, and the like. For example, the map DB 2 is composed of a hard disk device, but it is composed of a storage medium such as a DVD or CD or a semiconductor memory, or the same kind of data is stored in an external facility connected via a wireless line. The map data necessary for the navigation operation may be obtained each time.

  The map data 200 includes display data 202 for each language, which is display data necessary for displaying a place name, a road name, a facility name, and the like corresponding to each of a plurality of languages, and a place name and a road corresponding to each of the plurality of languages. Voice data 204 for each language, which is voice data necessary for voice guidance including names, facility names, and the like. The language-specific display data 202 and the language-specific audio data 204 may be stored separately from the map data 200 or stored in a storage device other than the map DB 2. The map DB 2 stores use language data 206 indicating selectable use languages.

  The GPS receiver 3 receives radio waves transmitted from a plurality of GPS satellites, performs a three-dimensional positioning process or a two-dimensional positioning process, calculates the absolute position and direction of the vehicle, and outputs these together with the positioning time. . The autonomous navigation sensor 4 includes an angle sensor such as a vibration gyro that detects a vehicle rotation angle as a relative direction, and a distance sensor that outputs one pulse for each predetermined travel distance, and determines the relative position and direction of the vehicle. To detect. In this embodiment, the position of the vehicle (vehicle position) is detected using the GPS receiver 3 and the autonomous navigation sensor 4, but the vehicle is detected using either one (for example, only the GPS receiver 3). The vehicle position may be detected by detecting the position or using another method or in combination.

  The operation unit 5 is for accepting user operations and includes various operation buttons and operation knobs. In addition, the operation unit 5 includes a touch panel attached to the screen of the display device 9, and an operation instruction can be performed when a user directly points a part on the screen with a finger or the like. Yes.

  The audio processing unit 6 converts the audio data output from the navigation controller 1 into an audio signal and outputs the audio signal from the speaker 7. The speaker 7 may be a speaker used in another audio system or the like in addition to the case dedicated for the navigation device.

  The display processing unit 8 converts the display data output from the navigation controller 1 into a video signal necessary for display by the display device 9, and displays a screen having contents corresponding to the display data on the display device 9. For example, a liquid crystal display device is used as the display device 9.

  Next, a detailed configuration of the navigation controller 1 will be described. The navigation controller 1 includes a vehicle position calculation unit 10, a map drawing unit 12, a VRAM (video RAM) 14, a read control unit 16, an image composition unit 18, a main language setting unit 20, a main language storage unit 22, and a main language switching unit 24. , A selection screen creation unit 30, a selection screen switching unit 32, a selection screen drawing unit 34, a language selection unit 36, a selection frequency totaling unit 38, and an audio data creation unit 40. The navigation controller 1 can be realized mainly by executing an operation program stored in a ROM or RAM by a CPU. However, for a configuration that requires high-speed processing, a DSP or other dedicated hardware is appropriately used. You may make it replace with. In practice, the navigation controller 1 includes a configuration for performing a route search process for searching for a travel route to a destination and guiding to the destination, a route guidance process, and the like. The operation for selecting the language to be used will be described below, and the illustration of these components is omitted.

  The vehicle position calculation unit 10 calculates the own vehicle position based on the detection data of the GPS receiver 3 and the autonomous navigation sensor 4 and performs map matching processing for correcting the calculated own vehicle position.

  The map drawing unit 12 creates map drawing data necessary for map display for a predetermined range around the vehicle position. The created map drawing data is stored in the VRAM 14. The read control unit 16 sets the vehicle position to the screen center position (or a predetermined position set in the screen), reads map drawing data for one screen from the VRAM 14, and outputs it to the image composition unit 18.

  The main language setting unit 20 sets a language that is mainly used (for example, a language that is mainly used is referred to as a “native language”, and a language that is most frequently used other than the mother language is referred to as a “second language”). As a specific method for setting the native language, for example, in a state where a native language selection screen having basically the same contents as a “language selection screen” to be described later is displayed on the display device 9, one language included therein is selected. When selecting using the operation unit 5 and setting the selected language as the “native language”, or by inputting a predetermined code corresponding to each language by operating the operation unit 5, the input code A case where the language corresponding to is set as the “native language” can be considered. In addition to the case where the user operates the operation unit 5 to set the native language, when selling the navigation device of the present embodiment, the car dealer, the service factory, etc., as a part of the initial setting information A national language may be set.

  The main language storage unit 22 stores data for specifying the native language set by the main language setting unit 20. For example, a non-volatile semiconductor memory is used as the main language storage unit 22, and the set native language specific data is held until the setting content is changed.

  When a main language switching operation using the operation unit 5 (a specific example will be described later) is performed, the main language switching unit 24 selects another language that has been used for display and voice output as a native language. Switch to.

  The selection screen creation unit 30 creates a language selection screen over a plurality of pages, each page including a plurality of languages. The language selection screen is created based on the usage frequency of each language tabulated by the selection frequency tabulation unit 38. Specifically, the language with the highest usage frequency is extracted from the languages other than the native language based on the counting results by the usage frequency counting unit 38, and the language with the highest usage frequency is the top of the language selection screen. A language selection screen is created so as to be at the top position (for example, the top) of the page.

  The selection screen switching unit 32 switches each page of the language selection screen displayed by the selection screen drawing unit 34 and displayed on the display device 9 in a predetermined display order in accordance with a user instruction using the operation unit 5. The selection screen drawing unit 34 creates language selection screen drawing data necessary for displaying the language selection screen for one page switched by the selection screen switching unit 32. This language selection screen drawing data is sent to the image composition unit 18, and when a language other than the native language is selected, it is superimposed on the map drawing data and the image composition unit 18 performs image composition. The combined drawing data is output as display data to the display processing unit 8, and the drawing content is displayed on the screen of the display device 9.

  The language selection unit 36 selects one language included in the language selection screen drawn by the selection screen drawing unit 34 and displayed on the display device 9 in accordance with a user instruction using the operation unit 5. For example, the user directly points to the desired language included in the language selection screen displayed on the display device 9 with his / her finger, and the pointed position is detected by the touch panel of the operation unit 5. The displayed language is set as a language to be used thereafter.

  The selection frequency totaling unit 38 totals the frequencies of the languages selected as the language used by the language selection unit 36. For example, the number of times of selection is held for each language, and the value of the number of times of selection of the selected language is incremented by 1 each time the language selection unit 36 selects the language to be used. Therefore, the language with the highest selection frequency value is the language with the highest usage frequency. The language set as the native language is excluded from the usage frequency tabulation.

  The voice data creation unit 40 creates voice data necessary for outputting guidance voice related to the vehicle position. For example, voice data necessary for guidance of intersections located ahead of the vehicle position, voice data necessary for notification of lane information and traffic regulations on the road around the vehicle position, destination setting for route search processing For example, voice data necessary for operation guidance when the instruction is issued is generated. These audio data are output to the audio processing unit 6, and the corresponding audio is output from the speaker 7.

  In the present embodiment, the creation of display data (map drawing data) by the map drawing unit 12 and the creation of voice data by the voice data creation unit 40 are the native language set by the main language setting unit 20 or the language selection unit. This is done in any of the languages selected by 36. For example, after the native language is set by the main language setting unit 20, display data and voice data are created in the native language. Thereafter, when a language other than the native language is set as the language to be used by the language selection unit 36, display data and audio data are subsequently generated in this language. In this state, when a main language switching operation (switching operation to the native language) is performed by the main language switching unit 24, display data and voice data are created again in the native language. In this way, the native language and other languages used are switched as necessary, and display and audio output are performed.

  The selection screen creation unit 30 described above serves as a selection screen creation unit, the selection screen drawing unit 34, the constant display processing unit 8, the display device 9 serves as a selection screen display unit, the operation unit 5 serves as an operation unit, and a selection screen switching unit. 32 corresponds to a selection screen switching unit, a language selection unit 36 corresponds to a language selection unit, and a selection frequency totaling unit 38 corresponds to a selection frequency totaling unit. The main language setting unit 20 is the main language setting unit, the main language storage unit 22 is the main language storage unit, the main language switching unit 24 is the main language switching unit, the vehicle position calculation unit 10, the map drawing unit 12, and voice data creation. Each unit 40 corresponds to an application processing unit.

  The navigation device of the present embodiment has such a configuration. Next, a specific example of the language switching operation will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the contents of the language-of-use data 206 in the map DB 2 and the frequencies totaled by the selection frequency totaling unit 38.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the use language data 206 includes names indicating a plurality of selectable languages 01 to 32 (in the case of Europe, English, French, Italian, etc. correspond to these languages). Alternatively, identification numbers used for specifying each language are stored in a predetermined order. In addition, the language of use data 206 is associated with the selection frequency (number of selections) of each language that is aggregated and held by the selection frequency aggregation unit 38. A shows the frequency in the initial state, and B shows the frequency after the navigation apparatus of this embodiment has been updated for a certain period. In the initial state A, the frequency of selection of each language is set to “0”. After the update, for example, the number of selections of the language 25 is changed to “7”, the number of selections of the language 27 is changed to “1”, and the number of selections of the language 28 is changed to “3”. It is assumed that the selection count maintains “0”. In this example, “language 06” is set as the main language (native language) by the main language setting unit 20, and the language 06 is excluded from the frequency update target.

  3 and 4 are diagrams showing specific examples of language selection screens created corresponding to the initial state A shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the language selection screen of 8 pages is created by dividing the language 01 located at the highest level to the language 32 located at the lowest level for every four languages.

  For example, consider a case where the language used is switched from the native language used until then to another language when the vehicle crosses the border while traveling. In this case, the user operates the operation unit 5 to instruct display of the language selection screen. For example, an icon or the like for instructing language switching is displayed on the screen, and the user points this icon with a finger or the like to create a language selection screen by the selection screen creation unit 30 or a selection screen switching unit 32. The language selection screen switching operation is started.

  Specifically, the language selection screen (1/8) (FIG. 3A) for the first page is displayed first. The language selection screen (1/8) on the first page includes language 01 to language 04. When the switching icon 50 in this screen is pointed by the user's finger or the like, the language selection screen (2/8) for the second page is displayed. The language selection screen (2/8) on the second page includes languages 05 to 08. When the switching icon 50 in this screen is pointed by the user's finger or the like, the language selection screen (3/8) of the third page is displayed, and when the switching icon 51 is pointed by the user's finger or the like, Returning to the first page, the language selection screen (1/8) is displayed. In this way, the language selection screen is switched using the switching icons 50 and 51 as appropriate, and the language selection screen including the language to be used is displayed in the state where the language to be used is displayed. The language selection unit 36 sets the pointed language as the language used thereafter. When the language used is switched in this way, a notification to that effect is sent to the map drawing unit 12 and the voice data creating unit 40, and the language used for creating the map drawing data and the voice data is switched. Each time the language used is switched, the selection frequency totaling unit 38 increases the value of the selection frequency (number of selections) of the language by one.

  As a result of changing the language used several times in this way, the frequency shown in FIG. 2B is obtained. In this state, when the user operates the operation unit 5 to instruct display of the language selection screen, creation of the language selection screen by the selection screen creation unit 30 and switching operation of the language selection screen by the selection screen switching unit 32 are started. The

  5 and 6 are diagrams showing specific examples of language selection screens created corresponding to the updated state B shown in FIG. First, the language selection screen (1/8) for the first page (FIG. 5A is displayed. The language selection screen (1/8) for the first page has the second highest selection frequency at that time. “Language 25” as the language is arranged at the top, and other than that, three languages (from language 01 to language 03) are included in a predetermined order as in the case of the initial state A. That is, the selection frequency is the highest. Only the higher language has been repositioned to the top of the first page, and the display position has been lowered by one for the other languages (the language placed at the bottom of each page is the top of the next page) The language selection screen for 8 pages is created, and the language selection screen is switched by the switching icons 50 and 51 as in the display examples shown in FIGS.

  In the example illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6, the display example corresponding to the updated state B illustrated in FIG. 2 has been described. However, the selection frequency is similarly changed every time the language used is changed before reaching the state B. The language position is moved up and down according to. In the above description, the case where the language is switched to a language other than the native language has been described. However, the switching to the native language is displayed on the displayed screen (for example, the map screen when the map is displayed). The user only has to indicate the home icon (not the icon but a similar instruction by pressing a key provided on the operation unit 5) with a finger or the like. When the home icon is pointed, the language used is set to the native language (language 06) by the main language switching unit 24, and a notification to that effect is sent to the map drawing unit 12 and the voice data creation unit 40, and the map drawing data The language used for creating the voice data is switched to the native language.

  As described above, in the navigation device of this embodiment, the display order of the language selection screen including the frequently used language after the selection of the language to be used can be accelerated, so this language is manually selected. The switching operation of the language selection screen at the time can be omitted, and the operability can be improved by simplifying the operation at the time of language selection. In particular, by including the language used most frequently except for the native language in the language selection screen with the earliest display order, the operation at the time of language selection can be further simplified and the operability can be improved. In addition, by switching the native language without using the language selection screen described above, it is possible to improve the operability when returning to the native language after switching the language.

  In addition, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, A various deformation | transformation implementation is possible within the range of the summary of this invention. For example, in the embodiment described above, the display position of only the language (language 25) with the highest selection frequency is moved up, but the display position may be moved up in the order of the language with the higher selection frequency. For example, in the example shown by B in FIG. 2, the language 25, the language 28, and the language 27 are selected more frequently than the other languages, and therefore the language 25 from the top in the language selection screen on the first page. The language 28 and the language 27 may be arranged in this order, and after that, other languages may be arranged in a predetermined order.

  In the embodiment described above, the language used for both display and audio output is switched at the same time. However, the present invention can also be applied to the case where either one of the languages used is switched.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the present invention is applied to the navigation apparatus has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to language switching in the case of performing display and audio output in application processing other than navigation processing. For example, the present invention can be applied to the case where the operation guidance display and the operation guidance voice output are switched in the audio apparatus.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to speed up the display order of the language selection screen including languages that are frequently used after the selection of the language to be used. The language selection screen switching operation can be omitted, and the operability can be improved by simplifying the operation for language selection.

1 Navigation controller 2 Map DB (database)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 GPS receiver 4 Autonomous navigation sensor 5 Operation part 6 Audio processing part 7 Speaker 8 Display processing part 9 Display apparatus 10 Vehicle position calculation part 12 Map drawing part 14 VRAM (video RAM)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 16 Reading control part 18 Image composition part 20 Main language setting part 22 Main language memory | storage part 24 Main language switching part 30 Selection screen creation part 32 Selection screen switching part 34 Selection screen drawing part 36 Language selection part 38 Selection frequency totaling part 40 Voice data Creation unit 200 Map data 202 Display data for each language 204 Voice data for each language

Claims (5)

A multilingual selection device for selecting a use language from a plurality of languages,
A selection screen creation means for creating a language selection screen over a plurality of pages including the plurality of languages;
Selection screen display means for displaying the language selection screen for each page;
An operation means for receiving a user's operation;
A selection screen switching means for switching each page of the language selection screen displayed by the selection screen display means in a predetermined display order in accordance with a user instruction using the operation means;
A language selection unit that selects one language included in the language selection screen displayed by the selection screen display unit in accordance with a user instruction using the operation unit;
A selection frequency counting means for counting the selection frequency for each language used by the language selection means;
Each page of the language selection screen includes a predetermined number of languages to be selected,
The selection screen creating means moves up the display position of only the most frequently used language that has been aggregated by the selection frequency aggregating means, so that the most frequently used language is the language selection with the earliest display order. A multilingual selection device that creates the language selection screen to be included in a screen. In claim 1,
A main language setting means for setting a language to be used mainly;
Main language storage means for storing the language set by the main language setting means;
Main language switching means for switching to the language set by the main language setting means in accordance with a user instruction using the operation means;
A multilingual selection device further comprising: In claim 2,
The multilingual selection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the language selection unit selects the language to be used for a language other than the language set by the main language setting unit. In any one of Claims 1-3,
A multilingual selection device further comprising application processing means for performing at least one of predetermined display and audio output using the language used selected by the language selection means. In claim 4,
A map database storing map data including display data and audio data corresponding to a plurality of languages;
The application processing means performs a navigation process including a map display using a single language and a guidance voice output, using the map data stored in the map data.

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