JPH0370075A - Telephone directory with zoom search map - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To exactly and easily reach a desired point by executing the connecting operation of an electric telephone directory with an electric map, and successively enlargement-displaying the map of an area including the address of a desired subscriber searched from the electronic telephone directory on the display screen of an electronic map. CONSTITUTION: An electronic map 1 and an electronic telephone directory 1 are attached to a dash board so as to be attached or detached, and opened or closed. In searching the address of a specific telephone subscriber in a relatively remote city and visit the subscriber by a car, the address and telephone number of the desired subscriber are searched by the electronic telephone directory 11, and displayed on an electronic display screen 2. Then, after confirming the information of the subscriber, the appropriate scaled-down map is displayed on the electronic display screen 2. For example, the area man whose scale reduction rate is small is successively switch-displayed by repeating the operation of matching a cursor to the outline of the address of the subscriber on a nation wide map. Thus, the address of the other party can be exactly searched and easily reached while confirming the name of streets on the map.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Field of Industrial Application) The present invention provides an electronic map that electronically displays a map of a desired area while zooming in, and an electronic map that searches for and electronically displays the telephone number of a desired subscriber. The present invention relates to a telephone directory with a zoom search map that is combined with a telephone directory, and is constructed to be particularly convenient when searching for the location of a desired subscriber by car.

(Prior Art) Conventional electronic maps usually convert a so-called drive map into data and store it in a mask ROM SF! P-ROMXCDR
Many of them are stored in a read-only memory such as an OM, and then accessed by a desired region name or city name and displayed on an electronic display screen. Usually, names, telephone numbers, and addresses or residences of subscribers in a desired area are abbreviated and stored in a battery-backed random access memory or read-only memory, as in a normal telephone directory, or Such data is stored for each subscriber, and if necessary, the subscriber's name or name can be accessed to display the desired telephone number and address or residence on the electronic display screen.

<Problems to be Solved by the Invention> Therefore, the conventional electronic map and electronic telephone directory are simply a normal drive map and telephone directory stored in a small electronic device, and the usage of each is not completely the same as before. Although each of them was convenient in its own way, none of them offered the convenience of use that came with computerization. In particular, with conventional electronic maps, in order to display a map of a section adjacent to the currently displayed map, you have to read the corresponding page and specify the page again, just like turning the pages of a drive map. Moreover, since the map is displayed only in the normal position with north facing up, it is difficult to see the correspondence with the direction on the map when, for example, the direction of travel of the car is changed. There were some inconveniences such as difficulty in finding correspondence between the two on the same map.

Therefore, for example, when visiting a particular telephone subscriber's location by car, even if one carries a conventional electronic map and an electronic telephone directory, one simply carries a conventional drive map or city street map and telephone directory. It can only be used in the same way as the electronic map and telephone directory, and the benefits of electronic devices, such as being able to quickly and accurately search for the location of a desired subscriber, cannot be obtained. The challenge in the past has been to be able to take advantage of the benefits of computerized seed equipment.

(Means for Solving the Problems) An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and, for example, to combine an electronic map and an electronic telephone directory and attach it to a dash board, so that a specific telephone in a relatively remote city can be contacted. When searching for and visiting a subscriber's location by car, the route to reach the desired location can be reliably and easily determined, and the location can be reached accurately. To provide a telephone directory with a zoom search map which is extremely convenient to use compared to the conventional one.

That is, the electronic map according to the present invention is an electronic map that electronically displays a map of a predetermined area on a display screen based on map data stored in a memory device, in which map data of the same area that differs in order of scale is stored in the memory device. and a direction sensor is provided, and in response to key operations, sequentially different map data of different scales including each desired point are sequentially read out from the memory device, and the map including the desired point is zoomed in or zoomed out. In response to a display process of displaying on the display surface and a key operation, map data with the smallest scale among map data including both the current location and a desired location at the same time is selectively read out from the memory device and displayed on the display surface. The process of displaying the map data and the display address of map data of a desired scale are relatively shifted by key operation, and the position of the desired point on the map displayed on the display surface is shifted. a display process in which the memory address and the display address of the map data of the desired scale are rotated relative to each other by key operation, and the orientation of the map including the desired point is displayed on the display surface in the normal position; A display process in which the map is rotated relative to the direction indicated by the orientation sensor, and the direction of the characters in the map is fixed in the normal position and displayed on the display surface, and the characters are displayed on the display surface at a desired scale. A display step of displaying location data corresponding to the desired scale of the desired point indicated with a cursor by key operation on the map on the display surface. That is.

Further, the electronic telephone directory according to the present invention reads the names and telephone numbers of multiple subscribers stored in a memory device from the memory device, electronically displays them on a display screen, and searches display data on the display screen. In an electronic telephone directory in which the telephone number of the desired subscriber is indicated on the display screen, the display is made in a desired language selected from multiple languages by key operation, and related data of the desired subscriber is displayed. and other necessary data related to the related data can be displayed on the display screen.

Furthermore, the telephone directory with zoom search map of the present invention is constructed by connecting an electronic map and an electronic telephone directory of the above-mentioned types to each other in a detachable and openable manner, and where the desired subscriber searched by the electronic telephone directory is located. A point to be searched for on a map displayed while zooming in on the display screen of the electronic map and indicated by a cursor, and location data of the point can be displayed on the display screen of the electronic telephone directory. It is characterized by the fact that

(Function) Therefore, according to the present invention, an electronic map and an electronic telephone directory are attached to a dash board in a removable and openable combination, and the location of a specific telephone subscriber in a relatively remote city is searched by car. When visiting, first search for the desired subscriber's address or residence and telephone number in the electronic telephone directory, display it on the electronic display screen, check each, and then, if possible, call the other party. After discussing the convenience of the other party and the approximate expected arrival date and time, first place the cursor on the electronic display screen of the electronic map at an appropriate scale that displays the current location and the location of the other party at the same time, such as a national map, and place the cursor on the approximate location of the other party. By repeating the matching operation, you can sequentially switch and display regional maps with smaller scales. For example, when you reach the state where the street map of the city where the destination is located is displayed, you can operate the keys on the electronic map to approach the destination's location. The displayed street map is rotated in accordance with the steering wheel operation of the car so that the direction of the street to be displayed matches the direction of travel of the car, that is, the top of the dash board, and the map is always displayed in the normal position regardless of the rotation. This was completely unconventional in the past: it is possible to accurately search for and easily reach the location of the destination while checking the street name, etc., and furthermore, it is possible to perform such a zoom search on the map using the characters in the language that the operator is accustomed to. It provides practical convenience that was previously unavailable, and
Even when such electronic maps and electronic telephone directories are used individually, practical conveniences that are significantly different from those of the prior art are obtained.

(Example) The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

Examples of the configuration and layout of the panel surfaces of the electronic map and electronic telephone directory constituting the telephone directory with zoom search map of the present invention are shown in FIGS. 1(a) and (1), respectively.

The electronic map shown in the figure is, for example, a map of all of Japan, a map of each region,
Each page is sequentially subdivided into prefectures, cities, towns, wards, towns, and districts at an appropriate scale and stored in read-only memory, and can be specified by operating the various operation mode specification keys provided on the panel. The built-in microcomputer responds to the selected operating mode, processes the map data retrieved from the memory according to the program for each operating mode, and displays the processed map data electro-optically on the display screen.

In addition, the illustrated electronic telephone directory has the names and addresses and residences of subscribers in the area corresponding to the map stored in the electronic map described above converted into data and stored in read-only memory, and is provided on the panel surface. Accessed by operating various character keys and operation mode designation keys, the desired subscriber's phone number, address, and residence are electronically displayed on the display screen along with the corresponding page and XY coordinates on the electronic map of the area that includes the location. It is configured to be displayed optically.

The telephone directory with zoom search map of the present invention connects the electronic map and the electronic telephone directory so that they can be opened and closed detachably and operate in conjunction with each other. As the technology progresses, it will be possible to reach the destination location easily and reliably by relying on the map displayed while zooming in on the electronic map display screen, and even if it is separated individually, each will be able to exert new functions that were not available before. This is what I did.

Now, on the panel surface of the electronic map 1 shown in FIG. It is preferable to configure the map so that it can be clearly displayed, and the map being displayed is displayed with a dashed line at the bottom of the map. It can be displayed in the place name display frame 6 shown by , and the direction indicated by the direction sensor 3 attached to the panel surface is displayed, for example, by an arrow in the upper right corner. The data display in the place name display frame 6 and the place name display on the map can be performed by repeatedly operating the language selection key in the place name display key 5 to select the desired language from among the various languages using the various characters displayed sequentially. In addition to making selections, you can turn it on and off by operating the on/off key, and the direction arrow display in the upper right corner can be turned on and off by operating the direction display key IO, so it does not interfere with viewing the displayed map. do it like this.

In addition, the displayed map has pages attached to each corresponding area name in the order of memory storage, but the displayed map page can be increased or decreased or shifted to an adjacent page by operating the shift keys 4 in the up, down, left, and right directions. ,
The pages can be changed sequentially by pressing down on the central part to return to the original page, or by operating the zoom key 7 to zoom in or zoom out in which the scale factor is sequentially decreased or increased, respectively.

Furthermore, the cursor C can be moved to any desired position on the display surface 2 by operating the shift keys with arrows in the up, down, left, and right directions in the cursor shift key 8. By operating the center key of the cursor shift key 8 with the cursor C placed on a desired area, point, etc., it is possible to switch and display a map of the next scale magnifying the vicinity of the desired area or point. .

An aspect of the zoom search in the electronic map of the present invention, in which by repeating the operation of the cursor shift key 8 as described above, the map in the vicinity of the desired point is sequentially enlarged and displayed as the desired point approaches. Examples are sequentially shown in FIGS. 2(a) to 2(f).

The illustrated zoom search mode shows the sequential changes in the map display from any point in Japan until reaching the Patent Office by car. A cursor C, which shows a map of the entire country at the maximum scale and is indicated by, for example, a blinking cross, is initially located at the center of the display surface 2.

Now, in the electronic map of the present invention, as described later,
If you operate the map search key of the electronic telephone directory (described later) when searching a connected electronic telephone directory or zooming in on a desired point entered by key operation, such as the location of the Japan Patent Office, or In map 1, first press the center of the map page shift key 4 to display the initial page of the national map, operate the cursor shift key 8 to move the cursor to the current position, and then return to the map page. After pressing the center part of the shift key in common to register the current position data on the displayed national map, operate the cursor shift key 8 again to move the cursor C as shown in Figure 2 (b). If you press the center key of the cursor shift key 8 while moving to the desired point, a map with the smallest scale among the maps that includes the current location and the desired point at the same time, for example, a map where both the current location and the desired point are included in the Kanto area, will be displayed. , the "Nationwide" display in the place name display frame 6 on the display screen 2 changes to "Kanto" display, and then, as shown in Figure 2 (C), a map of the Kanto region at the following scale is displayed. is displayed on the display screen 2. Next, if you operate the map search key or cursor shift key 8 again, the place name display will change to "Tokyo", and then,
As shown in FIG. 2(d), a map of Tokyo at the following scale is displayed. By repeating the operation of the map search key or cursor shift key 8 in the same manner, a map of the area including the desired point whose scale factor has been successively reduced and a simplified place name of the desired point corresponding to each scale factor, for example, are displayed. The area will be displayed in sequence, such as the "Kasumigaseki" area shown in Figure 2 (e) and the area near the "Patent Office" shown in Figure 2 (f), and eventually the route necessary to reach the desired point will be displayed. It is displayed in detail and allows you to easily reach the desired location.

On the other hand, when the left and right rotation keys 9 on the panel surface of the electronic map l shown in FIG. 1(a) are operated,
The orientation of the map being displayed can be rotated from the conventional normal position to any direction to the left or right for this type of map, with the north direction indicated by the direction sensor 3 facing upwards on the display surface 2. Character display such as place names can be left in the normal position without being rotated.

For example, if the rotary key 9 is operated while the map near the "Japan Patent Office" shown in FIG. 2(f) is displayed, the direction arrow indicated by the direction sensor 3 will be moved to If the map in the missionary position facing upward is rotated 90 degrees to the left, the map displayed on the display screen 2 will be the same as in the missionary position shown in Figure 4(a), as shown in Figure 4(a). The map is displayed in a direction rotated 90 degrees to the left, that is, with the azimuth arrow pointing to the left of display screen 2, but despite the rotation of the map itself, the characters on the map are displayed in their normal position. Furthermore, when the missionary position map shown in FIG. 4(a) is rotated 90 degrees to the right, the map displayed on the display screen 2 will be rotated as shown in FIG. 4(C). The map is displayed in a direction rotated 90 degrees to the right from the normal position in Figure 4 (a), that is, with the direction arrow pointing to the right on display screen 2, but the characters on the map are still displayed in the normal position. , Further, when the map is rotated further 906 times from the 9" rotation state shown in FIG. 4(b) and (C), the map displayed on the display surface 2 becomes the Although the map is displayed in a direction rotated by 180 degrees from the normal position in FIG. 4(a), that is, with the direction arrow pointing downwards on the display surface 2, the characters in the map are still displayed in the normal position.

Therefore, if a car with such an electronic map attached to the dash board approaches the "Patent Office" indicated by the cross-shaped cursor C, for example, along the road in the lower right corner of the missionary position map shown in FIG. If you turn 90 degrees left at the first intersection in the diagram and enter the road along the "Japan Patent Office," use the rotation key 9 to rotate the displayed map 90 degrees to the right and display it. When the direction of the map is corrected, as shown in FIG. 4(C), the road that is traveling from the above-mentioned intersection to the "Patent Office" will be directed upwards on the display screen 2, that is, above the Datush board. As a result, if the direction of the displayed map is corrected by operating the rotary key 9 each time the direction of travel of the car is changed, the road on which the car is traveling will always be on the display surface 2. This will make it easier to follow the road to the desired location.

Furthermore, as is clear from the above, the rotary key 9
If this action is linked to the steady and significant turning of the car, it is possible to control the direction of the displayed map to be automatically corrected in response to the steady and significant direction change of the car. It becomes possible.

Next, in the panel surface of the electronic telephone directory 11 shown in FIG. Depending on the operation of the switching key 15, a plurality of telephone numbers are retrieved from the built-in memory device and displayed, or the name of the telephone subscriber is scrolled and displayed, for example, by placing the flashing cross-shaped cursor C thereon, or as described later. The name, address, and telephone number of the desired subscriber accessed and retrieved by operating the configured keyboard 12 are displayed on the corresponding page of the map in the electronic map l and the XY in the map.
It is displayed on the display surface 13 along with the coordinates. In addition, cursor C
can be moved vertically and horizontally within the display surface 13 by operating the cursor shift key 16, and can be turned on and off by operating the display switching key 15. Further, it is preferable that the display screen 13 can also display required data as a result of a zoom search for the location of a desired subscriber in conjunction with an electronic map by operating the display switching key 15, as will be described later. It is.

On the other hand, the keyboard 12 is arranged with a large number of character keys, such as kana character keys, which are customary for this type of electronic telephone directory, and ordinary control keys. In addition, it is preferable to configure the system so that it can also be used for alphabets used in various languages, Chinese characters, Hangul characters, Russian characters, etc., and the language to be used can be selected by operating the language selection key 14. Let's do it.

Now, the electronic map 1 shown in Fig. 1(a) and the electronic map 1 shown in Fig. 1(b)
) with the electronic telephone directory 11 shown in FIG.

21B, 22A, and 22B are connected to each other so that they can be detached and opened/closed, and the connectors 20^ and 20B are also detachably connected to each other, so that the telephone directory has a zoom search map that operates in conjunction with each other. As described above with reference to FIG. 1(b), the name, location, and telephone number of the desired subscriber are displayed on the display surface 13 of the electronic telephone directory 11 along with the corresponding map page and XY coordinates in the electronic map 1. At this stage, when the map search key 17 on the panel surface of the electronic telephone directory 11 is operated, for example, in the above example where the desired subscriber is "Japan Patent Office", "Japan Patent Office" is displayed.
A map of the area including the location is displayed on the display surface 2 according to the corresponding page on the display surface 13, and a cursor C is displayed on the display surface 2 at a position corresponding to the xY coordinates on the display surface 13.

In this case, as shown in FIGS. 3(b) to 3(f), a plurality of corresponding pages corresponding to a plurality of maps having sequentially different scale rates are displayed on the display screen 13, so the zoom Depending on the current location from which the search is to be started, the corresponding page of the map with an appropriate scale is selected by operating the keyboard 12. As a result, when any of the maps shown in FIGS. 3(b) to 3(f) is displayed on the display surface 2 of the electronic map 1, from then on, the map shown in FIGS. In this way, the zoom search key operations are repeated until the road map shown in FIG. 3(f) is displayed.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the zoom search process in the telephone directory with zoom search map of the present invention constructed and operated as described above. In the illustrated flowchart, first, in step S1, the name of the desired subscriber is manually entered by operating the keyboard 12 of the electronic telephone directory 11, and as a result, the location and telephone number of the desired subscriber are displayed on the display screen 13. is searched in step S2, and then in step S
In step 3, the subscriber calls the desired subscriber using the retrieved telephone number, confirms the location of the subscriber, informs the subscriber of the expected date and time of arrival, and confirms the subscriber's availability. At this time, if the location of the other party is different from the search result, related data such as the location is corrected in step S4, and only after this preparatory stage does the actual zoom search process begin.

That is, in step S5, when the map search key 17 on the panel surface of the electronic telephone directory 11 is operated, the display surface 1
A cursor C positioned corresponding to the map of the page containing the desired subscriber location displayed in 3 and the XY coordinates displayed on the display surface 13 is displayed on the display surface 2 of the electronic map 1 in step S6. . In addition, electronic telephone directory 1
As described above, a corresponding page having an appropriate scale ratio is selected from a plurality of corresponding pages displayed on the display surface 13 of 1. Further, depending on the operation of the keyboard 12 of the electronic telephone directory 11, even if the map of the corresponding page is displayed on the display surface 2, if the cursor C remains at the reference position in the center, in step S7, the cursor shift key is pressed. 8 moves the cursor C to the destination location on the displayed map. Next, in step S8, it is determined whether or not the scale of the displayed map is the minimum, and if the scale of the displayed map is not the minimum, the zoom in key 7 is operated in step S9, and the point indicated by the cursor C is The zoom search process of steps S6 to S8 is repeated for the next scaled map of the area including . As a result, if it is determined in step S8 that the scale ratio of the displayed map is the minimum and that an enlarged road map is finally displayed, the process moves to step S12 and the corresponding road leading to the destination location is checked. , the direction of the corresponding road is displayed at the top of the map,
That is, it is determined in step Sll whether or not the direction of travel of the vehicle substantially coincides with the direction of travel of the vehicle. If the two do not match and the direction of travel of the vehicle is not appropriate, step S12 is performed.
At this point, the direction of travel of the car is corrected, and the direction of the displayed map is appropriately rotated by operating the rotation key 9, and then it is again determined whether the two match or do not match. Correcting the mismatch between the direction of the displayed map and the direction of the road being traveled is achieved by repeating steps Sll and S12,
If the direction of the road toward the destination location matches the direction of travel of the vehicle on the displayed map, if the vehicle continues to travel in step S13, it will surely arrive at the destination location.

(Effects of the Invention) As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, the following special effects can be significantly achieved.

(1) Make the electronic phonebook and electronic map work together,
A map of the area including the location of the desired subscriber searched from the electronic telephone directory can be displayed on the electronic map display screen simply by operating the map search key on the electronic telephone directory panel, without the hassle of searching the map page of the electronic map. can be displayed immediately.

(2) By sequentially changing the scale of the map displayed as described above each time the zoom key is operated, the map of the area including the desired subscriber's location is sequentially enlarged and displayed, and finally the area near the location is displayed. Detailed road maps can be displayed.

(3) With a simple key operation, it is possible to automatically select and display a map of the optimum scale that includes the current location and destination at the same time, and quickly perform a zoom search starting from that map.

(4) Alternatively, the display direction of the finally displayed road map can be arbitrarily rotated by operating the rotation key, so that the display direction of the road leading to the desired point always matches the direction of the road on which the road is being traveled. Therefore, if you proceed along the road indicated by the electronic map, you can surely and easily reach your desired location.

(5) It would be great if the rotation of the displayed map was linked to the steady and significant steering wheel operation of a car equipped with the device of the present invention, and furthermore, the route to be traveled was clearly indicated by varying the brightness and color. By proceeding along the road on the map whose display direction is automatically corrected, the user can arrive at the desired point naturally.

(6) Map data and related display characters are stored separately in a memory device, and even when the map display direction is rotated as described above,
Display characters are displayed in a normal, easy-to-read direction.

(7) On the other hand, the character keys on the keyboard in the electronic telephone directory can be used in various languages, and the required data can be displayed by arbitrarily selecting various languages. It becomes possible to widely disseminate books all over the world.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIGS. 1(a) and (b) are diagrams showing examples of the configuration and layout of the electronic map and electronic telephone directory panels according to the present invention, respectively; FIGS. 2(a) to (f) are diagrams showing the zoom search map according to the present invention; Diagrams sequentially showing examples of zoom search modes of a display map in a telephone directory with a zoom search map, and FIGS. Figure 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the display map zoom search process in the telephone directory with zoom search map of the present invention. 1...Electronic map 2, 13...Display surface 3...
・Direction sensor 4...Map page shift key 5・
・・Place name display (language selection) (On/off> key 6...
・Place name display frame 7...Zoom (in) (out> key 8.16・
・Cursor shift key

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an electronic map that electronically displays a map of a predetermined area on a display screen based on map data stored in a memory device, map data of the same area that differs in order of scale is stored in the memory device. In response to key operations, sequentially different map data of different scales including each desired point are sequentially read out from the memory device, and the map including the desired point is zoomed in or zoomed out while A display process of displaying on the display screen, and selectively reading the smallest scale map data from the memory device out of the map data including both the current location and the desired location at the same time according to a key operation, and displaying the map data on the display surface. a display step of relatively shifting map data of a desired scale by key operation, shifting the position of the desired point on the map displayed on the display surface, and displaying it on the display surface as desired; The memory address and the display address of map data with a scale of A display process in which the characters on the map are rotated relative to each other, and the characters on the map are displayed in the normal position on the display surface, and the map is displayed on the display surface at a desired scale and indicated with a cursor by key operation. An electronic map comprising at least one of the following: a display step of displaying location data corresponding to the desired scale of the desired point on the display surface; 2. The names and telephone numbers of multiple subscribers stored in the memory device are read out from the memory device, electronically displayed on the display screen, and the display data on the display screen is searched to find the telephone number of the desired subscriber. In the electronic telephone directory indicated on the display screen, the display is made in a desired language selected from multiple languages by key operation, and information related to the required subscriber and other information related to the related data is displayed. 1. An electronic telephone directory characterized in that the required data of the electronic telephone directory can be displayed on the display surface. 3. An electronic map according to claim 1 and an electronic telephone directory according to claim 2 are connected to each other in a removable and openable manner, and the required subscriptions searched by the electronic telephone directory are provided. The point where the person is located can be searched for on a map displayed while zooming in on the display screen of the electronic map and indicated with a cursor, and the location data of the point can be displayed on the display screen of the electronic telephone directory. A telephone directory with a zoom search map.