JPH0596868U - Vehicle navigation system - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] To determine the intersection of departure or destination based on the will of the driver, and to easily determine the intersection. [Structure] When the ENT key is turned ON, the administrative district name is written (step 103). When the CROS key is turned on, the first road is written. Next, a road that passes through the administrative area and intersects with the first road is extracted from the map data storage medium (step 109) and displayed on the display means (step 110). Next, turn on the ENT key
When operated, write the second road (step 11
2). Then, the intersection of the first road and the second road is calculated (step 113).

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to a navigation device that calculates an optimum route from a departure intersection to a destination intersection and guides a vehicle according to the optimum route.

[0002]

[Prior Art]

 Generally, in this type of navigation device, it is necessary to input a departure intersection and a destination intersection in advance before calculating an optimum route. One such method is described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 62-51000. In the method described in this publication, a temporary departure place is input and an intersection close to it is set as the departure intersection. The target intersection point is determined in the same way.

[0003]

[Problems to be solved by the device]

 According to the method of determining an intersection as described above, the intersection is determined regardless of the intention of the driver of the vehicle, and the driver cannot know the determined intersection. Therefore, there is a problem that the driver feels anxious. In particular, if the destination intersection is not guided by the surrounding geography, there is a risk of getting lost after reaching the destination intersection.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problem, and it is possible to determine a departure intersection or an intended intersection to be an intersection intended by a driver, and to easily determine the intersection. It is an object to provide a vehicle navigation device.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention calculates an optimum route from a departure intersection to a destination intersection and guides the vehicle according to this optimum route. A map data storage means 1 for storing the names of administrative areas and roads, an administrative area input means 2 for inputting an administrative area, and a first road passing through the administrative area input by this administrative area input means 2 are input. A road that passes through the first road input means 3 and the administrative area input by the administrative area input means 2 and that intersects with the first road input by the first road input means 3 is the map data storage. In the intersection road extracting means 4 extracted from the means 1, the display means 5 displaying the name of the road extracted by the intersection road extracting means 4, and the display means 5. Second road input means 6 for inputting one of the displayed roads as a second road, the first road and the second road input by the first road input means 3. And an intersection calculation means 7 for calculating an intersection with the second road input by the input means 6.

[0006]

[Action]

 When the administrative division is input by the administrative division inputting means 2 and the first road is input by the first road inputting means 3, the intersection road extracting means 4 passes through the input administrative area and the first road. The intersection road intersecting with is extracted from the map data storage means 1. Then, the extracted road name of the intersection road is output to the display means 5 and displayed. When one of the intersection roads displayed on the display means 5 is input by the second input means 6, the intersection calculation means 7 calculates the intersection between the first road and the second road. The calculated intersection is used as a departure intersection or a destination intersection when calculating the optimum route.

[0007]

【Example】

 An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of a navigation device according to the present invention. This navigation device includes a microcomputer (hereinafter abbreviated as microcomputer) 11, a map data storage medium (map data storage means) 12, a vehicle speed. A sensor 13, an orientation sensor 14, a display means 15 and an input device 16 are provided.

The map data storage medium 12 is composed of an external memory such as a ROM, and stores at least map information such as a road network, a municipality name as an administrative area, and a road name. City names and road names are written in Roman letters. Municipalities are classified into groups according to their initials. Therefore, the municipalities are classified into 26 groups. Moreover, within the same group, municipalities are arranged in alphabetical order. The same applies to road names, but there are groups with abbreviated numbers such as "1 AVE" in road names, and as a result, road names are classified into 27 groups.

The vehicle speed sensor 13 detects the momentary speed of the vehicle and outputs it to the microcomputer 11. The azimuth sensor 14 detects the momentary traveling direction of the vehicle and outputs it to the microcomputer 11.

The display means 15 is composed of a CRT display or the like, and displays output information from the microcomputer 11, which will be described later, on its screen 15a. The input device 16 is composed of a keyboard and / or a touch key provided on the screen 15a of the display means 15, and the information necessary for route guidance can be input to the microcomputer 11 by appropriately operating the keys.

The microcomputer 11 calculates an optimum route from a departure place to a destination based on map information such as a road network stored in the map data storage medium 12. In this case, an intersection is usually selected as the starting point and the destination, but in this embodiment, the address (address) on the road can also be input as the starting point and the destination. .. Further, the microcomputer 11 calculates the current position of the vehicle based on the output signals of the vehicle speed sensor 13 and the direction sensor 14. Then, a map in a predetermined range including the current position of the vehicle is extracted from the map data storage medium 12, and the current position of the vehicle and the optimum route are superimposed on this map to create a display map. By outputting this display map to the display means 15 to display it, route guidance is performed. Note that the driver may drive the vehicle based on his or her will without calculating the optimum route. In such a case, only the position of the vehicle is displayed on the map.

When calculating the optimum route, it is necessary to first input the starting point and the destination. The input of the starting point and the destination is executed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. The program based on this flowchart is executed when the departure point input mode or the destination point input mode is selected by the key operation of the input device 16. In the following description, it is assumed that the destination input mode has been selected.

After starting the program, first, in step 100, the name of the municipality that is the administrative area is extracted from the map data storage medium 12, and the extracted name is displayed on the screen 15a of the display means 15 (step 101). Next, in step 102, it is determined whether or not the ENT key 26 (see FIG. 4A) described later has been operated. If the ENT key 26 has not been operated, steps 100 and 101 are repeated. A desired municipality name can be determined during this repeated execution. This decision is made as follows.

That is, when the destination input mode is selected, the display content of the screen 15a becomes the municipality display shown in FIG. 4 (A). On the municipality display screen, the forward scroll key 21, the backward scroll key 22, the CROS key 23, the CNCL key 24, the UP key 25, the ENT key 26, and the DOWN key 27 touch keys are displayed, and the CITY button is displayed. A column 28 and a municipality name display column 29 are displayed.

The CNCL key 24 is for returning the currently displayed screen to the screen before the CNCL key 24 is operated, and if the CNCL key 24 is operated while the municipality is displayed, the destination input The screen before selecting the mode is displayed. This point is the same in the first road display and the second road display described later.

In the city / town / village name display field 29, a group of city / town / village names whose initials are “A” is initially read from the map data storage medium 12 and displayed. Each time the forward scroll key 21 is turned ON once, the display in the municipality name display column 29 is switched to the display of a group of municipalities with initials “B”, “C”, ... Each time the key 22 is turned ON once, the display switches to a group of municipalities whose initials are "Z", "Y", .... Therefore, in the case of a group in which the initial name of the city, town, or village in which the destination exists is "C", it can be displayed by turning on the forward scroll key 21 twice. Of course, the same group continues to be displayed unless the scroll keys 21 and 22 are operated.

After the group having the desired initial letters is displayed, the cursor 30 is moved up or down by the UP key 25 or the DOWN key 27, and the cursor 30 is made to match the desired municipality name. The name of the municipality with which the cursor 30 coincides is displayed in the CIT Y column 28.

When the ENT key 26 is turned on after the cursor 30 is aligned with the desired municipality name, the determination in step 102 becomes “YES”, and the process proceeds to step 103. In step 103, the name of the municipality with which the cursor 30 is aligned when the ENT key 26 is turned on is the predetermined internal of the microcomputer 11 as the municipality with the destination (hereinafter referred to as the destination municipality). Written to memory. As is clear from the above description, the ENT key 26 here functions as the administrative area input means within the scope of the utility model registration request.

Next, in step 104, the road passing through the destination municipality is extracted from the map data storage medium 12. The name of the extracted intersection road is displayed on the screen 15a of the display means 15 (step 105). Then, it is determined whether or not the CROS key 23 has been turned on (step 106). If the CROS key 23 has not been turned on, it is determined in step 107 whether the ENT key 26 has been turned on. If the ENT key 26 has not been turned on, steps 104 and 105 are repeated. During this repeated execution, the desired road (first road) can be determined from the displayed roads. The decision of this road is made as follows.

That is, when the road extraction in step 104 is completed, the display content on the screen 15a is switched from the municipality display shown in FIG. 4 (A) to the first road display shown in FIG. 4 (B). In the first road display, a STREET column 31 and a road name display column 32 are displayed instead of the CITY column 28 and the municipality name display column 29. Others are the same as the contents of the municipality display shown in FIG.

In the road name display field 32, the name of one of the roads extracted in step 104 is displayed. Initially, the names of roads whose initials are numbers are displayed. Of course, a desired road name can be selected by changing the group displayed by the forward scroll key 21 and the backward scroll key 22 and moving the cursor 30 by the UP key 25 and the DOWN key 27.

When the desired road name is selected, either the CROS key 23 or the ENT key 26 is turned on.

When the CROS key 23 is turned on, the determination in step 106 becomes “YES”, and the process proceeds to step 108. In step 108, the road on which the cursor 30 is aligned when the CROSS key 23 is turned on is written in the predetermined internal memory of the microcomputer 11 as the first road. As is apparent from this point, the CROS key 23 corresponds to the first road input means described in the utility model registration claim.

Next, the process proceeds to step 109. In step 109, the road that passes through the destination municipality and intersects with the first road is extracted from the map data storage medium 12. When the extraction is completed, the process proceeds to step 110. In step 110, the display content of the screen 15a is switched to the second road display shown in FIG. 4 (C), and the intersection road extracted in step 109 is displayed in the road name display field 32.

Next, in step 111, it is judged whether or not the ENT key 26 has been turned ON. If the ENT key 26 has not been turned on, steps 109 and 110 are repeated. During this repetition, by operating the scroll keys 21, 22 UP key 25 and DOWN key 27 in the same manner as above, the desired intersection road is selected as the second road.

After selecting the desired road name, the ENT key 26 is turned on. Then, the determination in step 111 becomes "YES", and the process proceeds to step 112. In step 112, the selected road is written as a second road in a predetermined internal memory of the microcomputer 11. As is apparent from this, here, the ENT key 26 corresponds to the second road input means in the scope of utility model registration claim.

Next, in step 113, the intersection is calculated from the first road and the second road. The calculated intersection is written in the predetermined internal memory of the microcomputer 11 as a target intersection (step 114).

When the determination at step 106 is “NO” and the determination at step 107 is “YES”, that is, during the repeated execution of steps 104 and 105, the ENT key 26 is operated without the CROS key 23 being turned ON. If so, the process proceeds to step 115, and the road name selected when the ENT key 26 is operated is written in a predetermined internal memory of the my-con 11. Then, in step 116, the address of the selected point on the road and the point to be the destination is input by the input device 16. After the input, the process proceeds to step 114, and the address is written in the predetermined internal memory of the microcomputer 11 as the destination.

When inputting the departure intersection or the address of the departure place, the departure place input mode is selected. In that case, by executing the above program, the departure intersection or the departure address is written in place of the destination intersection or the address of the destination. Of course, the microcomputer 11 calculates an optimum route from the departure intersection (address of the departure place) determined as described above to the destination intersection (address of the destination).

As described above, in the vehicle navigation device according to the present invention, after the name of the municipality that is the administrative region and the first road are input, the road that passes through the input municipality and intersects with the first road. Is displayed and the second road is entered from the displayed roads, and the intersection of the first road and the second road is set as the departure intersection or the destination intersection. You can know the intersection and the target intersection. Therefore, the driver's anxiety can be eliminated.

Further, when determining a departure intersection or a destination intersection, it is necessary to input two road names, but normally, the driver does not remember one road name correctly but the other road name. Is often not exactly remembered. In this respect, since the name of the road that should be the second road is displayed in this device, two roads can be easily input, and the departure intersection and the destination intersection can be easily determined. be able to. In particular, in this embodiment, the administrative area and the names of the roads to be the first road and the second road are displayed, respectively, so that the departure intersection and the destination intersection can be determined more easily. it can.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the cities, towns and villages are displayed together without being separated, but the cities, towns and villages may be separately classified and displayed. Also, although the address can be entered in case the addresses (addresses) of the starting point and the destination are accurately known, it is not always necessary to do so.

[0033]

[Effect of the device]

 As described above, according to the vehicle navigation device of the present invention, the road that passes through the input administrative area and intersects with the input first road is displayed, and Since the second road is selected and the starting intersection or the destination intersection is determined from the first road and the second road, the driver can know the starting intersection or the destination intersection in advance. Therefore, the driver's anxiety can be eliminated. In addition, one of the two roads for determining the departure intersection or the destination intersection does not need to be accurately stored, so that the departure intersection or the destination intersection can be easily determined. And other effects can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram corresponding to a utility model registration request.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a flowchart for determining a departure intersection or a destination intersection.

FIG. 4 shows the display contents on the screen of the display means, FIG. 4 (A) shows the name of the municipality, and FIG. 4 (B) shows the first.
4C shows the display of the road name, and FIG. 4C shows the display of the second road name.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Map Data Storage Means 2 Administrative Area Input Means 3 First Road Input Means 4 Intersection Road Extraction Means 5 Display Means 6 Second Road Input Means 7 Intersection Computing Means 11 Microcomputers 12 Map Data Storage Means (Map Data Means) 15 display means 23 CROS key (first road input means) 26 ENT key (administrative area input means, second road input means)

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. A vehicle navigation device for calculating an optimum route from a departure intersection to a destination intersection and guiding a vehicle according to the optimum route, a map storing at least road networks, administrative regions such as municipalities, and road names. By the data storage means, the administrative area input means for inputting the administrative area, the first road input means for inputting the first road passing through the administrative area input by the administrative area input means, and the administrative area input means. An intersection road extracting means for extracting from the map data storage means a road that passes through the entered administrative area and intersects the first road entered by the first road input means, and the intersection road extracting means. The display means for displaying the name of the displayed road and one of the roads displayed by the display means are input as the second road. Second road input means, and intersection calculation means for calculating an intersection between the first road input by the first road input means and the second road input by the second road input means. A vehicle navigation device comprising: