JPH0613974B2 - Vehicle running guidance device - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a vehicle travel guide device for guiding a vehicle or the like by road from a starting point to a destination.

[Background of the Invention]

Various vehicle traveling guide devices have been proposed in the past, but all of them were based on detailed maps.

For example, the vehicle travel guidance devices disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 58-70126 and 58-70128 display a map of a predetermined area on a display, and specify the current location on the map to indicate the location of the vehicle. When the vehicle is driven, the traveling distance and traveling direction of the automobile are detected by sensors such as a distance sensor and a direction sensor, and the traveling locus of the automobile is displayed on the map displayed based on the detection result. Also, if it happens that the current position of the car is out of the map, the map of the adjacent area will be displayed instead,
Similarly, the traveling locus of the automobile is displayed.

According to this conventional technology, by making the displayed map very detailed, it is possible to know the current position and the past travel route normally, but the amount of information to be processed is very huge. Become. In addition, since the displayed map is a part of an area that divides the area including the route from the starting point to the destination, the destination is often not included on the displayed map, You cannot know what the destination is from the displayed map. Therefore, the driver needs to have knowledge about the progress from the starting point to the destination. Further, in order to accurately display the current position and the traveling route on the displayed map, highly accurate direction sensor and distance sensor are required. Furthermore, there is generally a limit to the size of a display that can be installed in an automobile, and it is at most about several inches square. For this,
The more detailed the displayed map, the more difficult it is to see, and it takes time for the driver to determine the current position, which is problematic in terms of safety.

Further, the vehicle travel guidance device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-70127 is a device for displaying a map on a display and displaying the travel route of an automobile on this map, as in the prior art. However, information such as the coordinates of the intersections and the distances and directions between the intersections is also provided.By specifying each intersection in the route that you intend to drive before starting the vehicle, the Judge the specified intersection by measuring the past mileage, turn right in front of the intersection,
Display a signal such as left turn or straight ahead on the display,
It is designed to be announced by voice.

According to this conventional technique, the current position of the automobile and the traveling route can be easily known, and the user can smoothly reach the destination by following the signal at each intersection, which is very convenient.

However, comparing this prior art with the prior art, even if it is not necessary for the driver to remember a rough route from the starting point to the destination, the information to be processed still remains. The amount is enormous, and the accuracy of the sensor must be high because the entire distance from the starting point to the destination must be measured, and the current position can be determined from the displayed map. However, the amount of information to be processed is larger than that of the prior art because the information about the intersection is required in addition to the map information.

[Object of the Invention]

The object of the present invention is to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, to significantly reduce the amount of information to be processed, to reliably guide the vehicle to the destination, and to easily determine the current position of the vehicle. It is to provide a vehicle travel guide device that is made possible.

[Outline of Invention]

In order to achieve this object, the present invention, the road information on the map as an intersection unit, each intersection is represented by absolute coordinate information and information about the road branching from this intersection, while reducing the information, Missing road guidance by displaying a map mainly on intersections on the display to make the map clear, and also by providing road guidance by voice, and also by reliably reading information from a recording medium. The feature is that it is possible to avoid.

Example of Invention

 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle travel guide device according to the present invention, in which 1 is an information processing device, 2 is a recording / reproducing device, 3 is a buffer memory, 4 is a sensor, 5 is an input device,
Reference numeral 6 is a speaker, 7 is a display, and 8 is a light pen.

In the figure, the information processing apparatus 1 is constituted by, for example, a microcomputer, and performs input / output processing and necessary arithmetic processing. The recording / reproducing apparatus 2 uses, for example, a magnetic tape as a recording medium, and writes and reads map information and intersection address information. Note that a read-only device using an optical disk as a recording medium may be used. Buffer memory 3
Stores information read from the recording / reproducing apparatus 2 for processing by the information processing apparatus 1. The sensor 4 includes a direction sensor that detects the traveling direction of the vehicle and a distance sensor that accumulates the traveled distance. The input device 5 consists of a keyboard group,
It is operated when the user selects a map or rewrites the map. The speaker 6 informs the user of this when approaching an intersection or a target described later,
A voice signal generated by using a voice synthesis technique or the like is supplied. The display 7 displays a map based on the information processed by the information processing device 1. The light pen 8 is for inputting information indicating a desired traveling route from the map displayed on the display 7 at an intersection or a main target unit.

Next, the operation method of this embodiment will be described.

As will be described later, the recording medium used in the recording / reproducing apparatus 2 records map information for each region and a code corresponding to each area, and a user operates the input device 5 to display a map required. When you enter the corresponding code, the information processing device 1
Is activated to control the recording / reproducing apparatus 2, and necessary information is read out and stored in the buffer memory 3. Of this information, map information is read out, supplied to the information processing apparatus 1, processed, and then supplied to the display 7. Therefore, the required map is immediately displayed on the display 7 as the input device 5 is operated.

Each intersection is shown in the displayed map, and the user sequentially designates each intersection along the desired traveling route with the light pen 8. As a result, the intersection address information stored in the buffer memory 3 is selected.

When the necessary work for designating the intersection is completed and the vehicle is started by operating the start key in the keyboard of the input device 5, the information detected by the sensor 4 is supplied to the information processing device 1,
The traveling direction and traveling distance information of the vehicle is compared with the selected intersection address information. A voice is generated from the speaker 6 according to the result of the comparison, and voice guidance is provided. For example, if you are approaching an intersection, go straight,
If you are instructed to turn right or left and you are on a straight road,
For example, confirmation instructions for banks, police stations, bridges, gas stations, etc. are given. At the same time, the map displayed on the display 7 shows the current position and the traveling locus of the vehicle.

In this way, since it is possible to guide the route only by voice instructions, the driver only needs to look at the map displayed on the display as necessary to confirm the current position and driving route. You don't need to look at the map, you can drive safely and you can reach your destination easily and surely.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a specific example of the display form of the map on the display 7 of FIG. 1, and the parts corresponding to those of FIG.

In FIG. 2, a map is displayed on the display 7 on the scale desired by the user, mainly by intersections and main targets, and roads are represented by lines connecting the intersections. The positions that can be specified by each intersection shown by ~ and the light pen 8 shown by (provided when the distance between intersections is long) are indicated by black circles (indicated by hatching in the drawing),
The grades of roads such as highways and national roads are distinguished by the line width and line color. Alternatively, the railway may be displayed as a black and white mottled line. In the figure, the expressway a is shown with the thickest line, the national road b is shown with the next thickest line, and other general roads are shown with thin lines, and c is a railway.

The user brings the light pen 8 into contact with the black circle to select information on the desired travel route such as intersection information. For example, when going from a point marked with X to a point marked with X, each position may be designated in the order of →→→→→. When the vehicle travels with this designation, the speaker 6 (FIG. 1) guides the driver to turn right at the intersection, turn left at the intersection, turn right at the intersection, and turn left at the intersection, and reach the destination. If you need more information about intersections, →→→→→→→
By designating in this order, the railroad crossing or ghat or the straight ahead guidance at the intersection is further provided. Regarding the starting point and the destination, desired information is input by touching the light pen 8 and operating the input device 5, and is displayed on the map by, for example, an X mark.

In this way, the map displayed on the display 7 is mainly composed of intersections, and the roads are indicated by straight lines connecting these intersections, so that the required amount of information can be significantly reduced compared to the conventional technique. It should be noted that the characters representing the place name may be displayed on the map, but in order to prevent an increase in the amount of information, only the minimum necessary characters such as the names of major intersections and interchange names are displayed.

Next, the structure of map information will be described.

FIG. 3 (a) is a schematic diagram of a specific example of a road map for explaining the structure of map information, which is shown by hatching.
Black circles are intersections, and straight lines connecting the intersections are roads.

In FIG. 3 (a), the intersections are given their x- and y-coordinates, and the intersections are based on the crossroads. Information on each intersection is coordinate information, intersection name information, road No. information,
It consists of next intersection information. The next intersection is the next intersection connected by a road to this intersection, assuming that the intersection is the target now.
Is. The next intersection information is the next intersection coordinate information, the angle information when the current intersection (here, the intersection) and the next intersection are connected by a straight line, the actual distance information to the next intersection, and the target object existing up to the next intersection It consists of information that represents the distance to.

The road number information represents the priority order of the road to the next intersection, and the order is set, for example, from the north direction to the counterclockwise direction, and the order is “0”, “1”, “2”, “ 3 ”. In this case, the road N including an error of about -10 ° from the true north
o There is no problem in deciding “0”. The angle information indicates the angle between the roads with the counterclockwise direction as the positive direction.

Here, information on the intersection will be described as an example.

This intersection is a crossroads, each road is an intersection,
,,,. The upper direction on the drawing is the north direction,
When the priority of each road is determined, the road in the direction of the intersection is “0”, and the roads in the direction of the intersection are “1”, “2” and “3” respectively.

Now, the intersections ,,,, are respectively (x ₁ , y ₁ ), (x
₂ , y ₂ ), (x ₃ , y ₃ ), (x ₄ , y ₄ ), (x ₅ , y ₅ ), and road No “0”,
Angle between "1" (Hereinafter, "No" is omitted), angle between roads "1" and "2", angle between roads "2" and "3", between roads "3" and "0" The angles of θ _A , θ _B , θ _C , and θ _{D, respectively.}
And the actual distances of roads “0”, “1”, “2”, “3” respectively
Let L _A , L _B , L _C , L _D.

Therefore, regarding the intersection, the intersection coordinate information is (x ₁ ,
y ₁ ), intersection name information is shown in FIG. For example, the name such as "Kamikawai" and the road number are "0", "1",
“2”, “3”, next intersection information is road “0”, next intersection coordinate information is (x ₂ , y ₂ ), angle information is θ _A , actual distance information is L _A , and further target is Each is represented by information representing the object and the distance to the object. Other roads “0” to “3”
Is the same as above, and the information of all the other intersections is composed of the same information group. In addition,
Intersection name information This is coded voice information.

As shown above, the information of the intersection consisting of each information group is shown in FIG.
Shown in (b).

FIG. 4 (a) is an illustration of a specific example of road information in the next intersection information shown in FIG. 3 (b). Here, Fig. 3
Taking the road "0" at the intersection in (a) as an example, when traveling from the intersection toward the intersection, it is assumed that there are a park 9 on the left side, a fire station 10 on the right side, and a bridge 11 in order.

The road information is formed by sequentially arranging information on these targets and guidance information on intersections, and information on the targets is the distance from the intersection to the target and the direction of the target with respect to the road "0" (right, left). And the name of the target. The information indicating the name of the target object and the direction (right, left) of the target object with respect to the road "0" is coded audio information, and the vehicle is near each target object, that is, the position,
,, the speaker 6 is activated by this voice information.
From (Fig. 1), a voice is issued to inform that effect. The fact that the vehicle is approaching the target object is detected by sequentially comparing the detection information from the sensor 4 (FIG. 1) and the distance information described above. ”

The guidance information at the intersection is also coded voice information, and is used to guide the user by speaking a predetermined distance before the next intersection. This distance is set, for example, about 300 m before the next intersection.

Figure 4 (b) shows the position from the intersection in Figure 4 (a),
,, Distance to next intersection ₁ , ₂ , ₃ , ₅
It shows one specific example of the road information when each is 1km, 2.1km, 3.5km, 5km. In this case, the distance ₄ from the intersection where the guidance information of the intersection is generated is 4.1km.
Becomes

In FIG. 4 (b), first, "1" representing the grade of the road "0" is displayed.
There is a sign of "0", then the park 9 (information 1 for FIG. 4 (a), information 2 representing the fire station 10, information 3 representing the bridge 11 and intersection guidance information in this order, and finally, the end. Is provided (consisting of a code "5.0" indicating the distance between intersections and an end code), information 1 is a code "1.0" indicating the distance ₁ from the intersection at the position, and a road "0". The direction of the park 9 with respect to "left" and the code of the name "park" are the same, and the same applies to the information 2 and 3 and the guidance information for the intersection. Is 0 and the code indicating the direction of the guidance information at the intersection is "0".

For the intersection information of the guidance information of the intersection, turn right at the next intersection,
It is for instructing vocalization such as turning left or going straight.

The information about the above intersections is selected only for the intersections specified by the light pen 8. That is, in FIG. 2, when the intersections, ... Are designated by the light pen 8, only the information on the designated intersections is used for the selected road guide. This information is selected by comparing the position coordinates (x, y) of the designated black circle on the display 7 with the light pen 8 and the intersection coordinate information shown in FIG.

Further, not all the information on the intersection selected by the designation is used. For example, in FIG. 3 (a), when an intersection is designated, the information for it is selected, but when the next intersection is designated, the next intersection information of the information on the intersection (FIG. 3 (b) is , The road number “0” is further selected and used.At this time, in the intersection guidance information of the road information shown in FIG. In the figure (a)), the distance information to the position is inserted together with the designation of the intersection,
"Intersection information" has not been inserted yet, and the next intersection (not shown) must be specified before turning right at the intersection.
It is decided to turn left or go straight, and the intersection information is inserted as a voice code based on this decision. Needless to say, the intersection information of the next intersection in the information of the intersections in FIG. 2 is determined by designating the destination.

In this way, in FIG. 2, when the intersections ,,, are designated along the route described above, the respective information is designated, and guidance is provided at the intersection about 300 m before each intersection. At the same time, the target object between the intersections is guided. In this case, if the above-mentioned intersection is designated, the target object between the place and the intersection is not guided, but by further designating the place and the intersection, detailed guidance between the place and the intersection becomes possible. .

Information about a target on a straight road, such as the place in FIG. 2, includes coordinate information of the place, a voice code indicating the name of the target at the place (for example, a railroad crossing), and FIG. It consists of the next intersection information as shown in).

Therefore, in FIG. 3 (a), when the vehicle is traveling between intersections, the information on the intersection is used to guide the road, but this vehicle reaches the intersection and the sensor 4 (FIG. 1) is used. If the output information and the code (“5.0” in the figure) indicating the distance in the end information shown in FIG. 4 (b) match, then the intersection information is used and the intersection name of this intersection is voiced. The road guidance to the next intersection will be given.

In this case, since the road guidance between the intersections is performed by detecting the distance from the intersection that is the starting point,
The sensor 4 (FIG. 1) does not need to measure the total distance from the starting point to the destination as in the prior art described above, but it is sufficient to measure the distance between each intersection, and therefore it is extremely expensive. Accuracy is not required.

Next, the required amount of information will be described.

For example, when each information is expressed in byte units (1 byte = 1 symbol = 8 bits), as shown as a symbol in FIG. 3 (b), 1 byte each at the intersection coordinates x and y, the utterance code of the intersection name Uses 8 bytes. In addition, each road No
One byte is used for each, and for each next intersection, 1 byte at the next intersection coordinates x and y, 1 byte each for the angle and distance information, and 1 byte for the road information, as can be seen from the symbol in FIG. 4 (b). If 16 bytes are used, a total of 94 bytes = 752 bits are required for one intersection information. Looking at one road map of 1 / 100,000 that is generally used now, the required number of intersections is about 2000, so the required information amount is 94 × 2000 = 188000 bytes. Furthermore, since one road map book consists of about 50 road maps, 9.4M is required to display all road maps in one road map book.
Byte storage capacity is required.

Therefore, the recording / reproducing apparatus 2 in FIG.
It must have a storage capacity of 4 Mbytes. However, floppy disks have a limit of about 1 Mbyte and audio cassette tapes have a limit of about 0.1 Mbytes. If these are used, it is necessary to further reduce the amount of information, and road guidance becomes very coarse. Will end up. Further, the compact disc for digital audio has a huge storage capacity of 635 Mbytes and can display detailed map information, but since it is read-only, the map cannot be rewritten and the system lacks expandability.

On the other hand, a digital audio tape recorder (hereinafter referred to as D
(Abbreviated as AT) can be after-lighted and is 9.4M
It has a huge storage capacity of at least bytes and is suitable as the recording / reproducing apparatus 2 of FIG.

Next, one specific example of the method of recording the above road map information by DAT will be described with reference to FIGS.

The DAT includes a fixed head type PCM recorder using a multi-track head and a rotary head type PCM recorder using a head provided on a rotating cylinder. Either one may be used, but here, the fixed head type PCM is used. It is a recorder.

FIG. 5 is a basic configuration diagram showing an example of a fixed head type PCM recorder. 12 is an input terminal, 13 is a recording signal processing circuit, 14 is a recording amplifier, 15 is a recording head, 16 is a reproducing head, and 17 is a reproducing. An amplifier, 18 is a reproduction signal processing device, 19 is an output terminal, 20 is a magnetic tape, 21 is a tape running device, and 22 is a tape running control device.

In the figure, the digital recording signal supplied from the input terminal 12 is subjected to processing such as addition of a synchronizing signal and addition of an error detection / correction code in a recording signal processing circuit 13, and then a recording head 15 through a recording amplifier 14. And is recorded on the magnetic tape 20. At the time of reproduction, the digital reproduction signal read by the reproduction head 16 is amplified by the reproduction amplifier 17, and then subjected to processing such as error correction in the reproduction signal processing circuit 18 and supplied to the output terminal 19.

The recording head 15 and the reproducing head 16 are multi-track heads and, as shown in FIG. 6, record a digital signal in a distributed manner on a plurality of tracks 23, for example, 40 tracks. Here, recording of information is performed one track at a time or all tracks at the same time, and reproduction of information is performed on any one of 40 tracks, 4 of which. Further, on each track 23, information is recorded in units of frames 24.

FIG. 7 (a) is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the frame 23,
Is a synchronization signal, 26 is a frame address signal, and 27 is FIG.
The map information is based on the intersection shown in (b).

In this one frame, the area for road guidance is divided into a plurality of blocks, and the map information of the one block is recorded. The address signal 26 indicates information representing this block.

An error detection and correction code is added to the map information 27, and error correction of the map information is performed for each frame.

Figure 7 (b) shows the overall structure of the map information to be recorded.
Is the part that records only the main information on the road map, 29
Is a portion in which detailed information is recorded as shown in FIG. 3 (b), each of which is composed of a plurality of frames. In order to provide road guidance, first, the travel route is determined based on the information recorded in the portion 28, and the portion 29
Read detailed information from.

Next, a method of recording map information will be described.

FIG. 8 is a map showing all areas where road guidance is provided.
First, this map is divided in the north-south direction according to the number of tracks formed on the magnetic tape. Taking the track pattern of FIG. 6 as an example, the number of tracks is 40, so the map is divided into 40 in the north-south direction. Furthermore, this map is divided into several parts in the east-west direction, for example, 20 parts. The map information of each block obtained by such division is track 23 of magnetic tape 20.
In this case, one block of map information is recorded in (FIG. 6).

In this case, the recording position of the frame for each block on the magnetic tape is made to correspond to the position of the block on the map shown in FIG. 8, as shown in FIG. That is, the frame for each block in the first row on the northmost side of the map in FIG. 8 is recorded on track 1 on the magnetic tape 20, and the frames for the blocks in the second row, the third row, ... , Are recorded on tracks 2, 3, ..., And the frame of the block in the 40th row on the most south side is recorded on track 40.

The frame of each block in the westmost column a on the map of FIG. 8 is recorded on each track 1 to 40 on the beginning (left side of the drawing) of the magnetic tape 20 of FIG. 9, and the easternmost column is recorded. The frame of each block of t is recorded on each of the tracks 1 to 40 at the end of the magnetic tape 20.

By recording the map information in this way, the position on the map and the recording position of the map information on the magnetic tape correspond to each other, and the map information can be easily searched.

When reading map information from the magnetic tape 20, when the vehicle is moving in the north-south direction, the track to be reproduced is switched, and when moving in the east-west direction, the magnetic tape 20 is read.
Is sent in the forward or reverse direction, the map information of the next block to be displayed can be read. For example, in FIG. 8, when moving from the point A to the point B in the direction of the arrow, first, the frame "40-C" of the track 40 of the magnetic tape 24 is read, and the road information thereof is stored in the buffer memory 3 (first (Fig.) To guide the road. Next, switch the playback track to track 39,
The frame "39-c" is read out and road guidance is performed in the same manner. As the vehicle progresses further, the frames “38-c”, “38-d”, ..., “2-g” are read out in order to guide the road. Therefore, by recording each road information as shown in FIG. 9, blocks to be read on the travel route are sequentially adjacent to each other, and the travel route is required only by switching the reproduction track or feeding one frame of magnetic tape. The map information can be read and the search time can be greatly reduced. Furthermore, by recording the information so that it can be reproduced from both the forward direction and the reverse direction, or by taking measures such as reversing the bit string of the information reproduced from the reverse direction, it is possible to preliminarily read out the frame. No need to rewind the magnetic tape,
Necessary map information can be sequentially read out quickly.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since the road information is represented by an intersection or a main target object unit, the amount of information can be significantly reduced and the displayed map can be made very easy to see. Also, since the road guidance is given by voice, the user can almost certainly reach the destination without needing to look at the map on the display, ensuring the safety of driving, and Since the mileage of the vehicle can be measured from an intersection or a main target object, it does not require exceptionally high accuracy as a sensor. Furthermore, the map information is recorded with an error detection and correction code added during playback, Error correction is possible, the husband's husband's map information is read and processed without error, and the vehicle is reliably guided to the destination without error in road guidance or missing in the displayed map. It can be obtained excellent effects such as can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a vehicle traveling guide device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing one specific example of a display mode of a map displayed on the display of FIG. 1, and FIG. Figure (a)
Is a standard diagram showing an example of a road map for explaining the structure of the map information, FIG. 3 (b) is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of the structure of the map information for the road map of FIG. 3 (a), FIG. 4 (a) is a standard diagram showing one specific example of a road map for explaining the structure of the road information of the next intersection information in FIG. 3 (b), FIG.
4B is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of the configuration of road information for the road map of FIG. 4A, FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a specific example of the recording / reproducing apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIG. Is a track pattern diagram on the magnetic tape in FIG. 5, and FIG. 7 (a) is a standard diagram showing the structure of one block of map information frame on the road map,
FIG. 7 (b) is a schematic diagram showing the structure of the entire map information to be recorded, FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing blocks divided into road maps, and FIG. 9 is a frame for each block in FIG. FIG. 7 is a pattern diagram showing a specific example of the relationship of recording positions on the magnetic tape of FIG. 1 ... Information processing device, 2 ... Recording / reproducing device, 3 ... Memory, 4
... Sensor, 5 ... Input device, 6 ... Speaker, 7 ... Display, 8 ... Light pen.

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Shigeru Yamazaki 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture Home Appliances Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroaki Takahashi 292 Yoshida-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa (56) Reference JP-A-58-111969 (JP, A) JP-A-58-223017 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A recording medium on which map information is recorded, a reproducing device for reproducing the map information from the recording medium, a detecting device for detecting a current position of a vehicle, and map information reproduced by the reproducing device. In the vehicle travel guidance device including a display device that displays the relationship between the current position of the vehicle and the vehicle, the map information is recorded in a plurality of tracks on the recording medium in block units including information of a predetermined area on the map. And, the relative positional relationship on the map of the area included in the block and the relative recording position on the recording medium of the block are recorded so as to match, the reproducing device, Corresponding to a change in the current position of the vehicle detected by the detection device, one of a plurality of tracks on the recording medium is selected, and the map information is reproduced from the selected track. Vehicle travel guidance apparatus according to symptoms.