JPH0238813A - Navigation device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily correct the position of one's own car even in a strange place by providing a menu screen for displaying the name of a target to a display means and emphatically displaying the target at the correction time of the position of one's own car by the emphatic display function of an operational processing control part. CONSTITUTION:Usual map data is stored in a data memory medium 4 and the data of a predetermined target such as a railroad, a school, a bridge or a fire station as well as the name data of the target showing the kind of the target corresponding to the data of the target are also stored therein. The display picture of a display means 6 is constituted of a CRT and a menu screen is formed besides a usual map screen to display the name of the target and, if necessary, the name of the target is displayed on the menu picture by a navigation control part 3. That is, the name of the target is displayed on the menu screen and the target corresponding to the displayed name of the target is emphatically displayed on the map of the display screen, for example, by surrounding said target by a circle or changing the color thereof.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a vehicle navigation system that informs a driver of the vehicle's current position, moving trajectory, direction of travel, etc. on a screen or the like.

[Prior Art] In the case of an aircraft or a ship, since there are no objects around them, a means for knowing their position on a map is required. For this reason, navigation devices (navigation systems) for knowing one's own position have been developed for a long time.

On the other hand, until recently, navigation devices for automobiles were almost unthinkable, except in deserts. However, in the case of cars, when driving in unfamiliar territory or at night when road signs and surrounding scenery cannot be clearly seen, it can become difficult to know exactly where and in what direction you are driving.

Recently, in order to eliminate this inconvenience, various vehicle navigation devices have been developed and put into practical use. Most of the vehicle navigation devices currently in practical use are of the so-called self-navigation type (position detection is performed using only the vehicle's own devices such as a geomagnetic sensor and a vehicle speed sensor). In this autonomous navigation type navigation system, errors in each sensor often cause a discrepancy between the vehicle position displayed on the screen of a display device such as a CRT and the actual vehicle position. It is also possible to automatically correct the vehicle's position at an intersection when turning left, but
In many cases, it is necessary to correct the position of the vehicle based on input from the driver or the like. Conventionally, this vehicle position correction has been performed by moving the vehicle position vertically and horizontally using cursor switches (←, →, ↑, ↓) as shown in FIG.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the conventional example described above, there is a problem in that when it is necessary to correct the vehicle's position in a geographically unfamiliar place, it is difficult to find the current location on the map.

Further, since the correction is performed using a cursor switch, the number of switch operations is increased, which inevitably takes time.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention improves the disadvantages of such conventional examples, and (
Another object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle navigation device that can easily correct the position of the vehicle even in geographically unfamiliar territory.

[Means to solve the problem]

In the present invention, distance detecting means includes a vehicle speed sensor or the like that generates a signal according to the distance traveled by the vehicle, direction detecting means detects the traveling direction of the vehicle and outputs a signal corresponding to the direction, and both of these detecting means An arithmetic processing control section that calculates the vehicle's position on two-dimensional coordinates, which changes every moment according to detection signals from the an information storage medium storing information, a storage medium playback means for reading out necessary information from the information storage medium, and a map and a moving position displayed on the same screen by means of detected vehicle position data and map image information. and display means for performing display. As the information storage medium, an information storage medium is used in which target name data indicating the type of the target object is stored in advance together with predetermined target data, and the display means is provided with a menu screen for displaying the target name, and the calculation is performed. The processing control section is also equipped with a selection means for the menu screen. Then, the arithmetic processing control unit displays the target name on the menu screen as necessary, and also has a highlighting function that highlights the target corresponding to the target name displayed on the menu screen on the screen of the display means. The present invention aims to achieve the above-mentioned object by exploring a configuration that includes a vehicle display moving function for moving the vehicle position display to the position of a target object selected by the operator.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a distance detecting means 1 that generates a signal corresponding to the distance traveled by the vehicle, which is composed of a photoelectric or electromagnetic sensor that outputs a pulse signal in proportion to the number of tire rotations;
A direction detecting means 2 detects the absolute direction of a geomagnetic compass and outputs a signal corresponding to the moving direction of the moving object, and a unit traveling of the vehicle according to the detection signals from the distance detecting means 1 and the direction detecting means 2. The position on the two-dimensional coordinates for each distance is determined by calculation, and the data of the determined position on the two-dimensional coordinates, which changes every moment, is sequentially stored in the internal memory as finite continuous position information corresponding to the current position of the vehicle. A navigation control unit 3 serves as an arithmetic processing control unit that holds the data and performs centralized control of the entire device, and an information storage medium 4 that stores map information, etc., which has been digitalized pixel by pixel in raster mode in advance. and a storage medium reproducing means 5 for reading out necessary map information etc. from the storage medium 4.
A map surface image is displayed on the screen according to the read map information, and the current position of the vehicle, the current direction of travel, and the trajectory of travel up to that point are displayed based on the position data stored in the navigation control unit 3. The display means 6 updates the display every moment on the same screen, gives a command to selectively display map information to the navigation control unit 3, and shifts the display position of the map and movement trajectory displayed on the display means 6. Enlarges a portion of the map and movement trajectory. The display 8 is equipped with an operation means 7 that can appropriately change display format settings such as selection of display scale, search for a map and movement trajectory, and the like.

As the information storage medium 4, in this embodiment, a CD-ROM, which is a non-volatile memory, is used, which has characteristics such as an access time of 3 seconds or less and a large storage capacity. and,
This information storage medium 4 stores the same map information as usual, but in this embodiment, in particular, along with predetermined target data such as railways, schools, bridges, fire stations, etc., map information corresponding to the target data is stored. Target object name data indicating the type of target object is stored. Then, if necessary, the navigation control unit 3 causes the target object name to be displayed on a menu screen to be described later. In addition, the menu screen is displayed as a target object menu, and the target object corresponding to the target name displayed in this target menu is highlighted (for example, by changing the color of the circle).
It is now possible to do so.

The display screen of the display means 6 is composed of a CRT, and in addition to the normal map screen 6a, a menu screen 6b shown in FIG. 2 is formed on which the names of the aforementioned targets and the like are displayed.

On the operation panel of the operation means 7, there are ordinary operation switches (
(not shown), selection switches 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d, and 7e as selection means for the menu screen shown in FIG. 2 are provided corresponding to each menu on the menu screen 6b. Then, when the driver selects a target object name displayed in the menu on the menu screen 6b using one of the selection switches, the navigation control unit 3 selects one of the target objects of the selected type, as will be described later. The vehicle position display is moved to the position of the target object of the type that is closest to the vehicle's position on the map at that time.

Next, the basic operation of the above embodiment will be explained.

First, when the vehicle is traveling, when the driver selects a map in the area to be traveled by specifying a map number using the operating means 7, the navigation control unit 3 uses the storage medium reproducing means 5 in response to the map selection input. The map information in a predetermined memory block is read out from the information storage medium 4 via the information storage medium 4, and the read map information is sent to the display means 6 to display a map of the planned travel area on the screen. At this time, the navigation control unit 3 stores the map information read from the information storage medium 4 in an internal RAM (not shown).
By constantly reading map information from the RAM and providing it to the display means 6, a predetermined map is continuously displayed on the screen.

Next, the display means 6 is activated by the key input from the operation means 7.
After displaying the current position display mark (see Figure 2 N) indicating the current position and direction of travel on the screen, press the operating means 7.
By operating the switch at , the current position display mark is shifted to the starting point position on the displayed map, and the display mark is initialized.

After that, when the vehicle starts traveling, one pulse signal is sent from the distance detection means l to the navigation control unit 3 for each unit distance traveled, and the distance traveled is measured by counting the number of pulses there. The output of the direction detecting means 2 is also sent to the navigation control section 3, where the direction in which the vehicle is traveling at each moment is determined. The navigation control unit 3 calculates the current position (x, y) on the x-yl mark according to a preset map scale based on the detected vehicle travel distance and change in direction as described above. The calculation results are calculated moment by moment, and the calculation results are sequentially sent to the display means 6 and stored in the internal memory. Here, the stored contents are constantly displayed and sent to the display means 6 continuously. At the same time, a direction signal at the current position is sequentially sent from the navigation control section 3 to the display means 6. In this way, the display means 6
The display mark N1 indicating the current position of the vehicle and the movement trajectory display mark from the starting point to the current position are displayed in a simulated manner on the travel schedule map displayed on the screen, following the movement state of the vehicle. It is supposed to be done.

The basic operation that is substantially the same as the normal operation has been explained above, and next, the operation of position correction using a target object according to the present invention will be explained along the flowchart of FIG.

For convenience of explanation, the operation of correcting the vehicle position using a predetermined target will be explained using the display example shown in FIG.

In the state shown in FIG. 2 (1), the driver selects the selection switch 7d corresponding to target correction J from the menu on the menu screen 6b.
or if automatic correction (moving the vehicle position display to the nearest intersection when turning right or left if there is a slight discrepancy between the actual vehicle position and the vehicle position on the map) becomes difficult. (Step 5101), the navigation control unit 3 displays the name of the target on the menu screen 6b, that is, displays the target menu on the menu screen 6b, and highlights the target corresponding to the menu on the map screen (this If so, circle the target) (S102). As a result, the state shown in FIG. 2(1) changes to the state shown in FIG. 2(2).

Next, if the driver's vehicle is, for example, at point B in Figure 2 (2), the driver can easily recognize that the driver's vehicle is on or near the railroad tracks, so the When the driver operates (presses) the selection switch 7a corresponding to "Railway" in the menu (S104), the navigation control unit 3 sets the number "n" representing the target of position correction to 'IJ' (5105). The first candidate target among the corresponding points A and B, that is, the target closest to the vehicle display position (
In this example, point A) is selected and the vehicle position display is moved there (3106). Here, if the target object is a building such as a school, the vehicle position is moved to a road near the target object.

If there is no problem at point A, the user operates the selection switch 7e corresponding to "end" (310B) to end the vehicle position correction using the target object.

In this example, point B is the actual location of your vehicle, so it is the "next candidate"
The driver operates the selection switch 7d corresponding to (31)
07).

The navigation control unit 3 sets rn+lJ instead of the aforementioned "n" (S109).

Then, the navigation control unit 3 determines whether or not there is a next candidate (step 3110), and if there is no next candidate, moves the own vehicle position display to the original position (the position before position correction using the target object). ), if there is, move the own vehicle position display to that point (in this example, point B) (SiO2
).

Then, the driver selects the selection switch 7e corresponding to "End".
By operating (S103, 310B), the head wheel position correction using the target object is completed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

The present invention is configured and functions as follows.According to this, a target object is highlighted when correcting the own vehicle's position by the highlighting function of the arithmetic processing control unit, so correction is possible even in geographically unfamiliar land. This is an unprecedented and excellent method for vehicles that can be easily performed, and the number of times the selection means (switch) is operated during correction can be significantly reduced by using the own vehicle display movement function of the arithmetic processing control unit. Navigation equipment can be provided.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the own vehicle position correction operation using the target object 111 of the embodiment of FIG. 1, and FIG. Flowchart showing own vehicle position correction operation using the target of FIG. 1, 4th
The figure is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional example. 1... Distance detection means, 2... Direction detection means, 3... Navigation control unit as an arithmetic processing control unit, 4... Information storage medium, 5...
...Storage medium playback means, 6...Display means, 6
b...Menu screen, 7 a, 7 b,
7 c, 7 d, 7 e------Me-1
- a selection switch as a selection means for the x-screen;

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Distance detection means consisting of a vehicle speed sensor or the like that generates a signal according to the distance traveled by the vehicle, and direction detection means that detects the direction in which the vehicle is traveling and outputs a signal corresponding to the direction;
An arithmetic processing control unit that calculates the position on the two-dimensional coordinates of the vehicle that changes every moment according to the detection signals from both of the detection means, holds this calculated position data, and performs overall centralized control; A map is displayed on the same screen using an information storage medium storing map information, etc., a storage medium playback means for reading out the necessary information from the information storage medium, and the detected vehicle position data and map image information. In a vehicle navigation device comprising display means for displaying a movement position, the information storage medium is an information storage medium in which target object name data indicating the type of the target object is stored in advance along with predetermined target object data. A medium is used, and the display means is provided with a menu screen for displaying the name of the target, and the arithmetic processing control section is also provided with selection means for the menu screen, and the arithmetic processing control section selects the target object name as necessary. a highlighting function for displaying the target name on a menu screen and highlighting a target corresponding to the target name displayed on the menu screen on the screen of the display means; and a target selected by an operator. A vehicle navigation device characterized by having a vehicle display movement function that moves a vehicle position display to a position.