JPH06208698A - Map display device for traveling object - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten time until such time as a necessary map is displayed by acquiring a coordinate on the map from an information center, and displaying the necessary map on a display device. CONSTITUTION:A controller 2 operates an automobile telephone device 10 through an MODEM 8, and line connection with an information center 15 is performed. When the line connection is ended, the telephone number of a facility inputted by an operator is transmitted to the information center 15. Then, the information center 15 transmits a position coordinate corresponding to the received telephone number. The position coordinate is imparted from the automobile telephone device 10 through the MODEM 8 to the controller 2. The controller 2 reads the map corresponding to the imparted position coordinate from a road map memory 3 by a memory drive 4. Then, a picture is displayed on a display device 1. That is, the road map including the objective facility is displayed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is suitable for use in a vehicle-mounted navigation device and the like, and is a map display device for a mobile body for displaying a map of an arbitrary area on a display device provided in a mobile body such as a vehicle. It is about.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in order to support driving by a vehicle on an unfamiliar land, a navigation system which displays a road map and a current position of the vehicle on a display device has been used by being mounted on the vehicle. There is. The navigation system includes, in addition to the above display device, a road map memory including a CD-ROM, a position detection unit for detecting the current position of the vehicle, and a calculation processing unit for performing various calculations. There is.

In such a navigation system,
In some cases, a route guidance function for calculating an optimal route from the current position to the destination by inputting the destination and guiding the vehicle according to the optimal route may be provided. The destination is input by, for example, displaying a map near the destination on the display device. That is, a cursor for coordinate input is displayed on the display device together with the map. The operator operates a key input unit or the like to move the cursor to a destination on the map and performs a predetermined input operation. As a result, the coordinates on the map corresponding to the position of the cursor are input as the position coordinates of the destination.

However, such a destination can be input only when the rough position of the destination is known. In other words, if there is no idea which area the destination is in, the destination cannot be input. Therefore, in the end, the route guidance function may not be effectively used. In order to solve such a problem, there is a device having a function of automatically displaying a map near the destination by inputting the name of the destination or the like from the key input unit. But,
This is possible only when the correspondence between the name of the destination and the road map is registered in advance in a memory or the like. That is, there is no method for efficiently finding the corresponding map for a destination that is not registered.

One prior art solution to this problem is:
A facsimile machine is used. That is, the information center is accessed via the telephone line, and the telephone number of the destination facility or the like is input from the telephone terminal device. In response to this,
From the information center, a road map in the vicinity of the destination facility or the like is transmitted by facsimile. By receiving the transmitted road map by the facsimile device, a map near the destination can be acquired. Therefore, if the vehicle is equipped with a facsimile device having a mobile communication function, a map in the vicinity of the destination can be obtained, and the coordinates of the destination can be input to the navigation system based on the map. .

[0006] It is conceivable that this technology may be further developed so that road map information is transmitted from the information center, and this is directly incorporated into the navigation system using a modem or the like. That is, the road map sent from the information center is automatically displayed on the display device. Therefore, the user can easily input the position coordinates of the destination by moving the cursor to the destination on the road map displayed on the display device.

[0007]

However, in the above-mentioned technique, since the road map itself is transmitted via a telephone line, so to speak, the communication time with the information center becomes long. Moreover, if a color road map is to be acquired, the amount of information increases significantly, and the communication time becomes even longer. Therefore, since it takes a long time to display the road map near the destination on the display device, there is a problem that it takes a long time to input the coordinates of the destination.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a map display device for a mobile body which solves the above technical problems, shortens the communication time with an information center, and can promptly display a necessary map. It is to be.

[0009]

The map display device for a mobile object of the present invention for achieving the above object is used by being mounted on a mobile object, and a map memory storing a map and a map memory stored in the map memory. In a map display device for a mobile body, which has a reading means for reading the read map and a display means for displaying the map read by the reading means, information in which coordinates on the map are associated with predetermined identification information is accumulated. The communication means for communicating with the information center fixedly installed on the ground and the identification information is transmitted to the information center via the communication means, and the coordinates on the map corresponding to the identification information are described above. A means for acquiring from the information center via the communication means and a road map including the acquired coordinate position on the map are read out from the map memory by the reading means. Characterized in that it comprises a control means.

It is preferable that the map display device for a mobile body further includes input means capable of inputting a plurality of types of the identification information. Further, when the communication means communicates with the information center via a telephone line, the predetermined identification information may be a telephone number.

[0011]

According to the above construction, by transmitting the identification information to the information center via the communication means, the coordinates on the map associated with the identification information are acquired. A map including the acquired coordinate position is read from the map memory and displayed on the display device.

In this way, the required map can be displayed on the display device only by acquiring the coordinates on the map from the information center. Therefore, the amount of information to be acquired is significantly smaller than that when the map itself is acquired from the information center. As a result, the communication time with the information center is shortened, which in turn shortens the time until a necessary map is displayed.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation system to which a mobile map display device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied. This navigation system is used by being mounted on a vehicle and is arranged in the vicinity of a driver's seat or the like.
Is equipped with. The display device 1 displays the current position and the like together with the road map. Further, the display screen of the display device 1 is provided with a transparent touch panel (not shown) as input means.

The image to be displayed on the display device 1 is the control device 2
Created in. A memory drive 4 is connected to the control device 2 as a reading means for reading the stored information of the road map memory 3 formed of a CD-ROM or the like. The road map memory 3 stores a road map of a certain area. A position detection device 5 that calculates the current position of the vehicle is further connected to the control device 2. An azimuth sensor 6 for detecting the traveling azimuth of the vehicle and a distance sensor 7 for detecting the traveling distance of the vehicle are connected to the position detecting device 5. The position detection device 5 calculates the current position of the vehicle based on the outputs of these sensors 6 and 7. Instead of detecting the current position based on the outputs of the azimuth sensor 7 and the distance sensor 7, a GPS (Grobal Positio
ning System) Positioning technology using radio waves from satellites may be applied. The current position thus obtained is given to the control device 2. The control device 2 reads the road map of the area including the given current position from the road map memory 3 via the memory drive 4 and displays it on the display device 1 together with the current position.

The control device 2 is connected via a modem 8 to a car telephone device 10 as a communication means. This car telephone device 10 communicates with a base station (not shown) fixedly installed at a predetermined position of a road traffic network by radio waves, and communicates with a terminal device connected to a public telephone line. It is capable of communicating. Among these terminal devices, there is a terminal device that is fixedly installed on the ground and connected to an information center 15 that provides various information.

The information center 15 stores at least table information in which telephone numbers of various facilities and the like are associated with the coordinates of the telephone numbers on the road map. Of course, the telephone number of the facility and the road map of the area including the facility may be associated and stored. In addition to the function of displaying the road map and the current position together on the display device 1, the navigation system of the present embodiment has a route guidance function of guiding a vehicle according to a predetermined optimum route by inputting a destination. It is equipped. The optimum route is, for example, a route that can reach the destination in the shortest time, a route that minimizes the distance to the destination, or a route that minimizes the number of right turns. A user inputs and sets from the touch panel which path is to be the optimum path.

When inputting the destination, the user operates the touch panel provided on the display screen of the display device 1 to display the map near the destination on the display device 1. At this time, a cursor for supporting the input of the position coordinates is displayed on the display device 1. The operator inputs a position coordinate of the destination by operating the touch panel to move the cursor to the destination and performing a predetermined input operation. The control device 2 calculates the optimum route based on the position coordinates thus input.

After that, the route for guiding the vehicle in accordance with the calculated optimum route is indicated on the display device 1, for example, at each intersection. When the driver follows the instruction displayed on the display device, the vehicle is guided to the destination through the optimum route. When inputting a destination, if the existence position of the destination cannot be known at all, the destination cannot be input by the above procedure. This is because it is not possible to find a road map that includes the destination. In such a case, the information center 15 is accessed to obtain the coordinates of the destination, the coordinates of the facility in the vicinity of the destination, and the like.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation when the destination is set based on the access to the information center 15, and the display mode on the display device 1 is shown in a simplified manner. Information center 1 by operating the touch panel
When instructed to communicate with 5, the control device 2 causes the display device 1 to display the image shown in FIG. That is, the key input portion of the telephone terminal device is displayed as an image on the display device 1.
The operator inputs the telephone number of the destination facility by operating the touch panel. In response to the input of the telephone number, the display screen of the display device 1 changes to the image shown in FIG. 2 (b). That is, a message indicating that communication is being performed with the information center 15 is displayed.

At this time, the control device 2 operates the automobile telephone device 10 via the modem 8 to establish a line connection with the information center 15. When this line connection is completed,
Telephone number of facility etc. entered by the operator Information Center 1
5 to transmit. In response to this, the information center 15
The position coordinates associated with the received telephone number are transmitted. This position coordinate is from the car telephone device 10 to the modem 8
Is given to the control device 2 via.

The control device 2 causes the memory drive 4 to read the map corresponding to the given position coordinates from the road map memory 3. Then, the image shown in FIG. 2C is displayed on the display device 1. That is, a road map including the destination facility 30 is displayed. In addition, a facility name 31 and a telephone number 32 are displayed in the lower area of the display device 1.

From this state, the operator moves the cross cursor C up, down, left and right, superimposes the intersection CP on the position of the destination facility 30, and performs a predetermined input operation. Thereby, the input of the coordinates of the destination is achieved. For example, if the initial display position of the cross cursor C overlaps the intersection CP at the position of the facility 30, the input operation of the coordinates of the destination becomes easier. Of course, when the destination is not the facility 30 itself but a position near the facility 30, the intersection CP of the cross cursor C is moved to the display position of the destination near the facility 30.

As described above, according to this embodiment, when the telephone number of the destination or the facility near the destination is input from the touch panel, the position coordinates associated with this telephone number are acquired from the information center 15. It That is, not the road map itself is acquired from the information center, but only the position coordinates are acquired. Therefore, the amount of information to be transmitted is remarkably small, and the communication time with the information center 15 via the telephone line is remarkably short as compared with the case of acquiring the road map itself. Therefore, the total time required to input the destination is shortened. Moreover, if the color map is stored in the road map memory 3, the color map can be displayed on the display device 1 in a short time.

Further, as the road map memory 3, it is possible to select one in which a detailed map is recorded or to use one in which a wide area map is recorded. Therefore, if the road map memory 3 having different degrees of detail is exchanged and used according to the distance between the current position of the vehicle and the destination, the destination can be more favorably input. The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the road map including the destination is displayed. However, if other information such as tourist guide information is also recorded in the road map memory 3, these information are also combined. Alternatively, it may be configured to be able to be displayed independently.

In the above embodiment, the telephone number is used as the identification information, but any other information can be used as the identification information. That is, for example, the facility name itself may be used as the identification information, or a predetermined code number or the like may be used as the identification information. further,
In the above-described embodiment, only the position coordinates are acquired from the information center 15. However, the traffic congestion information of each road is also acquired from the information center 15, and the optimum route is calculated in consideration of this traffic congestion information. You may do it.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, an example in which the present invention is applied to a vehicle-mounted navigation system has been described, but the present invention is widely applied to a map display device mounted on an arbitrary moving body such as an aircraft or a ship. Applicable. In this case, the map display device need not be used in combination with the navigation system. In addition, various design changes can be made without changing the gist of the present invention.

[0027]

As described above, according to the map display device for a mobile object of the present invention, the necessary map can be displayed on the display device only by acquiring the coordinates on the map from the information center. Therefore, since the amount of information acquired from the information center is small, the communication time with the information center becomes short. As a result, the time required to display the required map can be significantly reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation system to which a map display device according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an operation when a map is displayed by communicating with an information center.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 display device 2 control device 3 road map memory 4 memory drive 8 modem 10 car telephone device 15 information center

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A map memory which is mounted on a mobile body and is used to store a map, a reading means for reading the map stored in the map memory, and a display means for displaying the map read by the reading means. In the mobile map display device, communication means for communicating with an information center fixedly installed on the ground, in which information associating coordinates on the map with predetermined identification information is stored, and the identification information. Means for transmitting to the information center via the communication means and acquiring the coordinates on the map corresponding to the identification information from the information center via the communication means, and the acquired coordinate position on the map. A map display device for a mobile body, comprising: a control unit that causes a road map including the above to be read from the map memory by the reading unit. 2. The map display device for a mobile body according to claim 1, further comprising an input means capable of inputting a plurality of types of the identification information. 3. The mobile unit according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication means communicates with the information center via a telephone line, and the predetermined identification information is a telephone number. Map display device.