JPH0666589A - Navigation apparatus for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a navigation apparatus for a vehicle which can correctly conduct route guide at an intersection by a driver even if a position detection error occurs. CONSTITUTION:A route guide unit 26 superposes present own vehicle position.advancing direction and a route stored in a route memory 24, and displays them on a display unit 28. The unit 28 is provided in an instrument panel near a cab seat. The driver confirms a position of the own vehicle by observing the display, and obtains information regarding following route. When a residual distance to an intersection is short and the fact that the intersection is not yet passed is decided, i.e., the vehicle is disposed immediately before the intersection, an intersection diagram present position display controller 26a forms a present position mark at a central position of the intersection, and remains fixed until the intersection is actually passed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicular navigation system, and more particularly to an improvement of a current position display when turning right or left at an intersection.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various devices for reducing a driver's burden have been studied and are now mounted on a vehicle. Among them, there is a navigation device for guiding a route to a destination.

Such a navigation device has a function of searching for a route from the current position to the destination by inputting the destination, and displays the route obtained by the search to inform the driver. You can It also has a function of detecting the current position of the vehicle, and when traveling, displays both the route obtained by searching and the detected current position to guide the route. Then, the current position detected along with the pre-stored map information is superimposed and displayed on the screen, and when the vehicle is approaching an intersection or the like, the direction in which to proceed with the intersection is displayed on the screen. The information is displayed by arrows or the like to inform the driver. As such a navigation device, for example, the systems disclosed in JP-A-1-17819 and JP-A-1-173815 are known.

[0004]

Here, as a method of detecting the present location, a method of detecting based on the distance data from the distance sensor and the direction data from the direction sensor, and further detecting the radio wave from the artificial satellite is used. There are methods of detecting the position, a hybrid method of mixing these, and the like, but any of them requires a correction of the current position because a detection error occurs. Therefore, in the related art, when turning right or left at an intersection, the steering angle sensor or the like determines the right or left turn, and the position is corrected there.

However, since the position correction is not performed immediately before the vehicle actually turns right or left at the intersection, the actual current position does not match the position displayed on the screen due to a position detection error, and the current position on the screen is not matched. The position mark may be displayed ahead of the actual position.

FIG. 4 shows the actual current position of the vehicle and the current position on the screen (that is, the detected current position) in the conventional navigation system. Figure 4 (A)
If the vehicle is approaching the intersection where you should turn left,
4B shows the case just before the intersection to turn left, and FIG. 4C shows the case to reach the intersection to turn left.
Due to a position detection error, the intersection has already been reached on the display in spite of the fact that the actual vehicle position is immediately before the intersection in FIG. 4 (B), and the intersection is actually reached in FIG. 4 (C). Even though I did, the display would pass the intersection where I should turn left. Therefore, the driver is shown in FIG.
There was a problem that when I looked at the screen display, I erroneously recognized that I had reached the original intersection (even though there was actually the original intersection ahead of me), and left-turned at the intersection before me.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems of the prior art. An object of the present invention is to provide a vehicle navigation device capable of guiding a driver to a correct route at an intersection even if a position detection error occurs. To provide.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a vehicular navigation device according to the present invention comprises a display means for superimposing and displaying a detected current position and a searched route obtained by searching. In the case where the vehicle has not passed through the intersection, an intersection passage determination means for comparing the detected current position with the intersection where the vehicle should turn right or left in the searched route to determine whether the vehicle has passed through the intersection. If the current position is within a predetermined distance from the intersection, the current position mark displayed on the display means is displayed at the intersection regardless of the change in the current position, and when the vehicle passes through the intersection. Has a control means for displaying the current position mark on the display means according to the current position.

[0009]

Therefore, in the present invention, the current position mark is fixed and displayed at the intersection position when it reaches just before the intersection, and is displayed according to the current position detected again when the intersection is passed. As a result, the driver is guided along the searched route without erroneously recognizing the intersection at which the vehicle should turn right or left.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A preferred embodiment of a vehicle navigation device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this apparatus. A map information storage unit 10 for storing information such as roads, place names (intersection names), building names, river names, etc. is provided, and the stored map information can be read out as necessary. There is. Further, a GPS receiver 14 using a satellite navigation system (GPS) for measuring the current position of the own vehicle, a direction sensor 16 for detecting the traveling direction of the own vehicle based on the geomagnetism, and a traveling distance based on the number of rotations of wheels. A distance sensor 18 for detecting the current position is provided, and the current position measuring unit 12 determines the current position of the host vehicle based on the detection results of these sensors. Further, information from the steering sensor 17 is also input and used for map matching or the like for correcting the current position to the intersection position on the map at the time of turning right or left at the intersection.

In order to guide the route to the destination, the destination is indicated on the screen of the display unit described later by the input unit 19 or is input by the place name or the like, and the current position calculated by the current position measuring unit 12 is calculated. The calculation unit 2 calculates the route from the position to the destination.
It is calculated by the route calculation unit 22 included in 0, and the calculated route is stored in the route storage unit 24. An appropriate route search method is adopted for this route calculation.

After inputting the destination and determining the route, the actual route guidance is performed. The route guidance control unit 26 included in the above-mentioned calculation unit 20 reads the map information around the own vehicle from the guidance information storage unit 10a in the map information storage unit 10, and stores it in the current own vehicle position, traveling direction and route storage unit 24. It is displayed on the display unit 28 together with the stored route.

On the other hand, the display unit 28 is provided in the instrument panel near the driver's seat, and the driver can confirm the position of the own vehicle by looking at this display and obtain information on the future route. As a display example, the selected route is displayed with a thick line, other lines are displayed with thin lines,
The position of the host vehicle can be indicated by a circle, and the traveling direction can be indicated by a wedge-shaped arrow.

When the position of the vehicle approaches the intersection where the route should be changed, the name of the intersection and the distance to the intersection are displayed on the display unit 28. Further, along with this display, the route guidance control unit 26 instructs the voice control unit 30 to generate a voice corresponding to the route guidance at the intersection. Voice control unit 30
Reads the information stored as digital data in the voice storage unit 32, converts the information into an analog signal, and drives the speaker 34. Then, a route instruction is given to the driver from the speaker 34, such as "about 300 m ahead *** intersection is to the left." This voice instruction is given every predetermined distance until the vehicle passes the intersection. For example, if you are driving on a road with two or more lanes,
The first guidance will be given before m, the second time before 300 m, and the final guidance before 100 m. Then, these guidance voices are stored in the voice storage unit 32 as digital data for each phrase. Therefore, when outputting the guidance voice, a plurality of the guidance voices are read out, the phrases are combined, and the guidance voice is output from the speaker 34 as a guidance signal. The route guidance control unit 26 detects the output timing of the guidance voice, and the voice control unit 3
0 performs processing for voice output.

Here, in this embodiment, in order to prevent erroneous guidance due to a deviation between the current position and the detected position (that is, the current position mark displayed on the display unit 28) at the time of the intersection, the current position mark near the intersection is prevented. An intersection map present location display control unit 26a for controlling the display of is displayed, and the display processing near the intersection is performed by interrupt processing.

FIG. 2 shows an intersection map present location display control unit 26a.
The processing flowchart of is shown. First, it is determined whether or not the remaining distance to a certain intersection on the searched route remains (S101). In this determination, the distance between the guidance intersection and the detected current position is equal to or less than a predetermined distance (for example, 200
m or less) or not. Then, when the remaining distance to the intersection does not remain, it is further determined whether or not the vehicle has passed the guidance intersection. This determination is made based on the signal from the steering sensor 17 (S10).
2). Then, when it is determined that there is no remaining distance to the intersection and the vehicle has not passed through the intersection yet, that is, when the vehicle is located immediately before the intersection, the current position mark is drawn and fixed at the intersection center position. To do. At this time, even if the detected current position has changed, the current position mark is not moved from the intersection center position unless it is determined that the current position has passed through the intersection.

On the other hand, when the remaining distance to the intersection remains or when it is determined that the vehicle has passed the guidance intersection, the process returns to the normal routine, and the current position is obtained by data acquisition (S104). The current position mark is displayed at the designated position (S105).

FIG. 3 shows the actual current position of the vehicle before and after passing the intersection and the current position on the screen (that is, the detected current position) by the above-mentioned processing. FIG. 3 (A) shows that when the vehicle is approaching an intersection where a left turn is required,
FIG. 3B shows a case just before an intersection to turn left, and FIG. 3C shows a case where an intersection to turn left is reached.

Unlike the conventional example shown in FIG. 4, in this embodiment, when the intersection is reached just before the intersection, as shown in FIGS. 3 (B) and 3 (C) until the intersection is actually turned right or left, The current position mark is fixed and displayed at the intersection center position regardless of the change in position. Therefore, the driver sees this display and determines that the vehicle has reached the intersection where the vehicle should turn left or right,
You will be able to turn right and left correctly at the intersection along the search route.

As described above, in this embodiment, the current position mark is fixedly displayed at the intersection just before the intersection, and the current position is moved again according to the detected current position after passing through the intersection. Even if there is an error, the driver can be guided correctly.

[0022]

As described above, according to the vehicle navigation device of the present invention, even if there is an error between the actual current position and the displayed current position, the driver is erroneous at the intersection where the vehicle should turn left or right. It is possible to guide by showing the intersection where the vehicle should turn right and left correctly.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a processing flowchart of an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display before and after passing an intersection according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display before and after passing a conventional intersection.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 map information storage unit 12 current position measuring unit 19 input unit 20 computing unit 26 route guidance control unit 28 display unit

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued Front Page (72) Inventor Hiroyoshi Masuda 10 Takane, Fujii-cho, Anjo City, Aichi Prefecture Aisin AW Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toru Ito 1 Toyota-cho, Toyota-shi, Aichi Toyota Motor Vehicle Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Koji Kishi 1 Toyota Town, Toyota City, Aichi Toyota Motor Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A navigation device for a vehicle that searches for a route to a destination and guides the route at an intersection or the like, the present position detecting means for detecting the current position of the vehicle, and the detected current position and search. Display means for superimposing and displaying the obtained search route, and an intersection for judging whether or not the vehicle has passed through the intersection by comparing the detected current position and the intersection at which the vehicle should turn left or right in the search route When the vehicle has not passed through the intersection and the current position is within a predetermined distance from the intersection, the current position mark displayed on the display means is changed according to the change of the current position. And a control means for displaying the current position mark on the display means according to the current position when the vehicle passes through the intersection. Apparatus.