JPH06229773A - Map display unit - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an inexpensive map display unit in which current position and the like can be displayed on a highly precise map while reducing power consumption. CONSTITUTION:The map display unit comprises a liquid crystal display screen 12 for displaying positional information along with map information, a reflective map sheet 16 having a reflective surface printed with map information and located on the inside of the liquid crystal display screen 12, position measuring means for detecting a current position from radio wave information and producing positional information, and means for displaying the current position on the liquid crystal screen 12 using the shutter mechanism thereof based on the positional information received from the position measuring means.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is capable of displaying map information printed on a map display device, particularly a map sheet, on a liquid crystal screen, and displaying the current position on the map by a liquid crystal shutter mechanism. The present invention relates to a portable map display device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional map display devices used in navigation systems include, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-982.
It is known that the desired map information is searched and read from the map information storage medium according to the information such as the place name input from the operation panel, which is disclosed in 87, and the information is displayed on the screen.

[0003]

However, in the conventional map display device, the access time is short because the CD-ROM or the IC card is used as the map information storage medium for displaying the map information. Although there are merits, since the storage capacity is always restricted, the vividness of the displayed content and the number of colors that can be used are limited.
There is a problem that the storage medium is expensive and the map display device itself is also expensive.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and it is possible to display the current position on a high-definition map using an arbitrary number of colors, and at the same time, an inexpensive map display. An object is to provide a device.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, in a map display device, a liquid crystal display screen for displaying position information together with map information, and a map on a reflection surface of paper or an opaque support disposed inside the liquid crystal display screen. A reflective map sheet on which information is printed, an illuminating means for illuminating the map sheet from the surface, a position measuring means for detecting the current position and generating position information, and a position information based on the position information from the position measuring means. The above-mentioned problems are achieved by providing the liquid crystal display screen with display control means for displaying the current position using the shutter mechanism.

The second invention is also a map display device,
Liquid crystal display screen that displays position information together with map information, transparent map sheet with map information printed on transparent support placed inside liquid crystal display screen, and placed inside transparent map sheet, removable A reflective plate or a semi-transmissive reflector, an illumination means for irradiating the semi-transmissive reflector from the back surface, and a position measuring means for detecting the current position and generating position information,
Based on the position information from the position measuring means, the liquid crystal display screen, by the display control means for displaying the current position by using the shutter mechanism, by the configuration having the same, the above-mentioned problem is achieved. is there.

A third invention is also a map display device,
A liquid crystal display screen for displaying position information together with map information, a map sheet arranged on the inside of the liquid crystal display screen and having map information printed on paper or an opaque support, and an illumination means for irradiating the map sheet from the surface. A position measuring means for detecting the current position and generating position information, and a display control means for displaying the current position on the liquid crystal display screen by using the shutter mechanism based on the position information from the position measuring means. With the configuration provided, the above-mentioned problems are similarly achieved.

[0008]

In the first invention, inside the liquid crystal display screen,
Since the reflection type map sheet having the map information printed on the reflection surface is arranged, since the reflection type map sheet is manufactured by printing, high quality map information can be obtained without being restricted by the storage capacity. Moreover, since it is a reflective type, it is possible to display high-definition map information on a liquid crystal display screen without using a backlight with high power consumption.

In addition, a global positioning system (Global Pos)
itioning system (GPS), the current position is displayed on the liquid crystal display screen by using the shutter mechanism based on the position information from the position measuring means, so that other information is also displayed if necessary. As a result, it becomes possible to display the position information and the like overlaid on the map information and to use it as a navigation system.

In the second invention, a transparent map sheet on which map information is printed is arranged inside the liquid crystal display screen,
A removable reflector or a semi-transmissive reflector is arranged inside the transparent map sheet, and when the reflector is used, the map is displayed under low power consumption as in the case of the first invention. The device can be used, and when a semi-transmissive reflection plate is used, it can be used as a transmission / reflection amount type depending on the presence or absence of backside illumination.

In the third invention, an opaque map sheet on which map information is printed is arranged inside the liquid crystal display screen,
Moreover, since the illumination is made from the front side of the map sheet,
Even if a material having low reflectance such as paper is used for the support of the map sheet, the map can be clearly seen through the liquid crystal display device, so that it is possible to broaden the selection range of the map sheet support material.

Further, in any of the above inventions, the target position or the route thereof is stored in a storage medium, and the deviation information from the current position measured by the position measuring means is displayed, whereby a portable route guidance navigation system. Can be used as.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the appearance of a map display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view thereof.

The map display device 10 of this embodiment is provided with a liquid crystal display screen 12 on the upper surface in the figure, and a replaceable map sheet 16 which will be described in detail later is inserted from a map sheet insertion opening 14 formed on the side surface thereof. It is inserted so that the liquid crystal display screen 12 is arranged close to the inside. Incidentally, in order to display the map information on the liquid crystal display screen as shown in FIG. 1, it is necessary to insert a map sheet, which is omitted in FIG. 1 for convenience.

Further, when the map sheet 16 is inserted to a predetermined position as shown in FIG. 2, a bar code reader 18 for reading a bar code printed on the front end portion or the side surface portion of the map sheet 16 is provided. It is installed inside.
This bar code contains the reference point of the map, its latitude and longitude,
The map scale and the map number are recorded as information specific to the map.

Further, an IC card for storing map-related information is inserted from the IC card insertion slot 20, and the related information reading / writing unit (not shown) enables writing / reading of information to / from the IC card. ing. As the map-related information, there are historic spots, hospitals, gas station names and their telephone numbers, etc. peculiar to the current position.

Further, the map display device 10 is provided with an operation button 22 for performing an operation such as setting of a use mode, and a power supply and a cord connected to the GPS antenna are connected thereto.

Further, the map display device 10 has a GPS
A control board 24 that performs signal processing for displaying the current position and the like on the display screen 12 using the position information and the like input from the antenna is incorporated.

The map display device 10 will be described in more detail. The liquid crystal display screen 12 has a liquid crystal layer formed on the upper surface thereof and a shutter mechanism. The liquid crystal display screen 12 has a function of selectively displaying position information such as a current position and a target position corresponding to the map sheet 16,
For the map information display area, for example, a monochrome liquid crystal panel having a high response and a high contrast and a resolution of about 640 × 300 dots can be used.

The map sheet 16 is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a map area defined by a point A of coordinates (0,0) and a point B of coordinates (640,300) on the surface of a support such as a polyester film. 26, and the bar codes 28 and 28 'are printed on the end or the side of the back surface, and the notch 30 for positioning is formed on the side.

As shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 4, the cross section of the map sheet 16 has a roughened surface on the polyester sheet 16A, a support 16C on which an aluminum vapor deposition layer 16B is formed, and a map information. Ink layer 16 printed with
D is laminated, and a protective layer (overprint) 16E for protecting the ink layer 16D is laminated. Therefore, light incident from above in FIG. 4 is diffusely reflected by the aluminum layer 16B. Therefore, when the map sheet 16 is arranged inside the liquid crystal display screen 12 as shown in FIG. The map information printed by the reflected light can be displayed on the display screen 12. As described above, since the map display does not require illumination such as a backlight, power consumption can be significantly reduced.

If desired, a plurality of the map sheets 16 can be prepared. In this case, as shown in FIG. 5, they can be bound by a binder or stored in a stocker for easy carrying. You can do it.

Further, the bar code reader 18 has a function of reading the map number and the position information of the reference points A and B shown in FIG. 3 from the bar codes 28 and 28 'printed on the map sheet 16. There is.

The control board 24 is provided with each functional section shown in the block diagram of FIG. A case where the position information received from the GPS is used will be described below.

When position information or the like is input as a satellite signal from the GPS antenna, the signal is amplified by the amplifier 32, the GPS signal processing unit (position measuring means) 34 calculates it, and the current position data is calculated. Input to the processing unit 36.

The bar code reader 18 reads the map origin (reference point) and scale data from the bar code 28 of the inserted map sheet 16 and the decoder 3
The electric signal is converted into an electric signal in 8, and the navigation processing unit 36
It is designed to be input into.

In the navigation processing unit 36, when the scheduled course data is transmitted / received to / from the scheduled course storage unit 40 composed of the above-mentioned IC card, and the point on the map is designated by the pointing device 42. The data is to be input.
Although not shown, when the information is read from a storage medium such as an IC card in which related information such as characters corresponding to a plurality of types of map sheets 16 is stored, or when the route guidance mode is set, the planned course storage is performed. It also has a related information reading / writing unit for writing the target position and the route to the unit 40.

The navigation processing unit 36 uses the GPS
When the position information such as the current position, the planned course, and the designated position is output to the display control unit 44 based on the information input from the signal processing unit 34, the planned course storage unit 40, the pointing device 42, etc., the display control unit 44 Reference numeral 44 is adapted to display the position information on the liquid crystal display screen 12 so as to be superimposed on the map information displayed by the reflected light.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flow charts of FIGS. The map display device 10 of the present embodiment has three modes of a map display mode, a position display mode, and a route guidance mode, and the route guidance mode further has a setting mode and an execution mode.

When the start switch is turned on (step 1
01), a screen prompting the user to select a mode appears on the display screen 12 having the liquid crystal shutter mechanism (step 102).

Here, when the map display mode is selected by the operation button 22 (step 103), the shutter section remains open in all areas (step 105). Therefore, due to the light reflected from the surface of the map sheet 16,
The map information printed on the surface is displayed on the display screen 12 above.
Is displayed in. It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, no lighting is required, so that the lighting of step 104 is not performed.

When the position display mode is selected in step 103, first, the IC inserted from the IC card insertion slot 20 by the related information reading / writing unit (not shown).
The relevant information in the card is read (step 10)
7). Next, the GPS signal processing unit 3 which is a position measuring means
4, the current position is measured (step 108),
The number of the corresponding map sheet 16 is searched, and the insertion message and the map number are displayed on the display screen 12 (step 109).

When the designated map sheet 16 is inserted, the position information (latitude and longitude) of two reference points (points A and B in FIG. 3) and the map of the map are read from the bar code 28 of the map sheet 16. Information such as the scale is read by the barcode reader 18 (step 110).

Again, the GPS signal processing unit 34 measures the current position (step 111), and the display control unit 44 carries out an operation to make the current position on the designated map sheet 16 correspond to the coordinates on the screen of the display screen 12. (Step 112), the shutter portion at the position of the display screen 12 obtained by calculation is opened and closed, and the cursor C is displayed as shown in FIG.
Is generated and is blinked to display the current position (step 113). At the same time, character information (map-related information) related to the position, for example, nearby tourist spots, gas stations, and other facilities is read from the IC card and displayed on the display unit other than the map region of the display screen 12. To do.

When the display of the current position is continued (step 115), the map sheet 16 of the designated number is displayed.
Is within the display range (step 116), and if it is within the range, the GPS signal processing unit 34 performs position measurement again, and the operations of steps 111 to 114 are repeated. If the map sheet 16 with the designated number is out of the range, the process returns to step 108 to prompt the insertion of the map sheet 16 in the corresponding display range, and steps 108 to 1
The same operation as 14 is performed.

Even if the map sheet 16 is out of the display range, if the map sheet 16 having the designated number is not replaced, the mode is switched to the route guidance mode or the traveling direction display. Therefore, even if the map sheet 16 cannot be replaced immediately while driving, it can be dealt with.

When the route guidance mode is selected in step 103, a display prompting the user to select either the setting mode or the execution mode is displayed as shown in FIG. 8 (step 117).

When the setting mode is selected in step 118, the IC card is read (step 11
9) Then, the cursor C appears on the display screen 12 and the blinking is repeated (step 120).

A predetermined map sheet 16 is inserted, and operation buttons 22 are added to the map information displayed on the display screen 12.
Using the or pointing device 42, the cursor C is moved to set information such as the target position and the route (step 121). Note that a mouse, a trackball, a touch panel, or the like can be used instead of the operation button 22 and the pointing device 42.

The information set in the above step 121 is written in the planned course storage section 40 (IC card) by the related information reading / writing section in association with the map number (step 122).

When the execution mode is selected in step 118, the same operations (steps 107 to 110) as those in the position display mode shown in FIG. 7 are executed, but steps 125 to 128 are executed between steps 114 and 115. Behavior is added. That is, the target position is read from the planned course storage unit 40 (IC card) (step 125), the target position is displayed (step 126), the deviation between the target position and the current position is calculated (step 127), and the deviation information is obtained. Is displayed at a predetermined position on the display screen 12 (step 1
28).

According to this embodiment described in detail above, map information printed on a reflective sheet is used as the map information, and the map information is displayed on the display screen by utilizing the reflection function and the liquid crystal shutter mechanism. Since it is displayed, it is possible to obtain high-definition map information with a simple device without using a large-capacity information storage medium, and a lighting device is not required, resulting in significant power consumption. It is possible to reduce.

Moreover, since the current position can be measured by using the position measurement technology by GPS and the position information such as the current position can be displayed by being superimposed on the map information displayed on the display screen, The current position in can be easily grasped.

Furthermore, by storing the target position or its route and storing it in the storage medium (IC card) for the map-related information, it is possible to display the deviation information from the current position measured by GPS. It becomes possible to use it as route guidance of.

FIG. 9 is a sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2, showing the outline of the map display device of the second embodiment according to the present invention.

In the map display device of this embodiment, a transmissive map sheet 46 is used in place of the reflective map sheet 16 used in the first embodiment, and a reflective plate 48A or a semi-transmissive plate which is removable inside is used. It is substantially the same as the first embodiment except that the shaped reflector 48B and the backlight 50 as an illuminating means are further provided inside thereof.

The transparent map sheet 46 is the support 16 of the reflection map sheet 16 shown in the enlarged view of FIG.
Use a transparent film such as polyester instead of C,
It is equivalent to the map information printed on the surface. In addition,
The transparent map sheet is disclosed in JP-A-58-1178.

Further, the reflector 48 is a reflection type map sheet 16
The support 16C is substantially the same as the support 16C, and light is diffusely reflected on the surface thereof. Also, a semi-transparent reflector 48B
Has both a function of irregularly reflecting light on its front surface and a function of transmitting light from the rear surface direction. Specifically, the support 16C shown in FIG.
There may be mentioned a structure in which is thinned or partially removed by etching or the like.

Further, the backlight 50 is used for illuminating the back surface of the semi-transmissive reflection plate 48B when it is used, and can be constituted by a cold cathode tube and a light guide plate.
Further, as the backlight 50, a bright one with low power consumption such as electroluminescence can be preferably used.

According to this embodiment, when the reflector 48A is used, the map display device can be used as in the case of the first embodiment. When the semi-transmissive reflection plate 48B is used, when the backlight is not turned on, it can be used in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and the backlight 50 is used to perform the step 104 in FIG. By turning on the illumination in, the map display device can be easily used even in a dark place.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2, showing the outline of the map display device of the third embodiment according to the present invention.

In the map display device of this embodiment, instead of the reflection type map sheet 16 used in the first embodiment, an opaque map sheet 52 in which map information is printed on paper or an opaque support is used.
And using a map sheet illumination light source 54 for illuminating the map sheet 52 from the surface as an illumination means between the opaque map sheet 52 and the liquid crystal display screen 12. Are substantially the same.

The opaque map sheet 52 is shown in FIG.
The support 1 of the reflection type map sheet 16 shown enlarged in FIG.
It is equivalent to the one in which map information is printed on the surface of an opaque film such as paper or plastic instead of 6C.

According to the present embodiment, the opaque map sheet 52 on which the map information is printed is arranged inside the liquid crystal display screen 12 and is illuminated from the front side of the map sheet 52. Since it is possible to make the map clearly visible through the liquid crystal display device even if a material such as paper that does not have high reflectance is used for the support, it is possible to broaden the range of choices for the map sheet support material. become.

The present invention has been specifically described above, but the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, the reflection type map sheet 16 may be one in which map information is printed on both sides, using reflection sheets having reflection functions on both sides as a support.

Instead of the bar code, the optical storage section may be directly formed on the map sheet. Further, the IC card does not necessarily have to be used, and an alternative, for example, an optical card or an internal storage device may be used.

The notch 30 is used for positioning the map sheet.
It is not limited to what is performed using.

[0060]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to display the current position and the like on a high-definition map using an arbitrary number of colors, which is inexpensive and consumes little power. Can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view showing a map display device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of the map display device of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the outline of a map sheet.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged partial sectional view showing an outline of a map sheet.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a stored state of a map sheet.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing functional units of the map display device according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is another flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a schematic sectional view showing a map display device of a second embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic sectional view showing a map display device of a third embodiment according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 ... Map display device 12 ... Liquid crystal display screen 16 ... Reflective map sheet 18 ... Bar code reader 24 ... Control board 26 ... Map area 28 ... Bar code 34 ... GPS signal processing unit 36 ... Navigation processing unit 44 ... Display control unit 46 … Transparent map sheet 52… Opaque map sheet

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A liquid crystal display screen for displaying position information together with map information, a reflection type map sheet arranged on the inside of the liquid crystal display screen and having map information printed on a reflection surface of paper or an opaque support, and a map sheet. Illuminating means for irradiating from the surface, position measuring means for detecting the current position and generating position information, and based on the position information from the position measuring means, on the liquid crystal display screen, using the shutter mechanism, the current position And a display control means for displaying. 2. A liquid crystal display screen for displaying position information together with map information, a transparent map sheet having map information printed on a transparent support, which is arranged inside the liquid crystal display screen, and inside the transparent map sheet. A removable reflector or a semi-transmissive reflector to be placed, an illuminating means for illuminating the semi-transmissive reflector from the back surface, a position measuring means for detecting the current position and generating position information, and a position measurement A map display device comprising: a liquid crystal display screen, based on position information from the means, and display control means for displaying a current position by using a shutter mechanism thereof. 3. A liquid crystal display screen for displaying position information together with map information, a map sheet having map information printed on paper or an opaque support disposed inside the liquid crystal display screen, and irradiating the map sheet from the surface. Lighting means, position measuring means for detecting the current position and generating position information, and a display for displaying the current position on the liquid crystal display screen using the shutter mechanism based on the position information from the position measuring means. A map display device comprising: a control unit.