JPH0715387B2 - In-vehicle navigation device having traveling locus data storage and reproduction function using route information - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a method of storing travel locus data in an in-vehicle navigation device.

BACKGROUND ART In recent years, as automobiles have become more electronic, engines,
Brake, suspension, etc. have come to be controlled by a computer, and further, an in-vehicle navigation device used for guiding a vehicle to a predetermined destination has been put into practical use. This in-vehicle navigation device stores digitized map data in a memory, recognizes the current location of the vehicle, reads out map data of a certain area including the current location from the memory, and displays a map around the vehicle position. It is configured to be displayed on the display and to automatically display the vehicle position on the map.

When the vehicle travels using this vehicle-mounted navigation device, if the traveling locus is stored by some method, it is very convenient because it helps when traveling the same route next time. As a method to do this, it is generally conceivable to store the traveling locus as longitude / latitude data or (X, Y) coordinate data equivalent to this as it travels a fixed distance. When traveling a distance, the content of data becomes enormous, and it becomes impossible to store data of all traveling loci. Further, a method of reducing the amount of data by thinning out the traveling locus data can be considered, but in this case, accurate traveling locus data cannot be held.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide an in-vehicle navigation device that can accurately store a traveling locus with a small amount of data.

An in-vehicle navigation device having a traveling locus data collection function using route information according to the first aspect of the present invention has a detection unit that detects the current position of the vehicle, and the traveling locus of the vehicle based on the current position detected by the detection unit. A vehicle-mounted navigation device that stores data, wherein a road is divided into predetermined routes that do not overlap each other in advance, and a path number that identifies each of these predetermined routes, and at least a road branch point in the predetermined route is provided for each of the predetermined routes. Branch data having a node number to be identified, the path number corresponding to a branch road at the road branch point, and the node number accompanying the path number and designating the road branch point on a predetermined route designated by the path number A map data storage means for storing a feature point number for instructing Then, accumulating the acquisition means for acquiring the path number and the characteristic point number corresponding to the current location or the vicinity thereof, and the characteristic point number acquired by the acquisition means when the path number acquired by the acquisition means changes. And a traveling locus data storage unit that stores the traveling locus data.

An in-vehicle navigation device having a traveling locus data reproducing function using route information according to the second invention of the present application includes a detection unit that detects a current position of a vehicle and a road that is previously divided into predetermined routes that do not overlap each other. Respectively, a node number for identifying at least a road branch point on the predetermined route for each of the predetermined routes, the path number corresponding to a branch road at the road branch point, and the path number associated with the path number. A map data storage unit that stores a feature point number that indicates branch data having the node number that indicates the road branch point on the predetermined route indicated by the path number, and the current location based on the stored contents of the map data storage unit. Alternatively, an acquisition unit that acquires the path number and the characteristic point number corresponding to the vicinity thereof and an acquisition unit that acquires the acquisition unit from the acquisition unit. And a traveling locus data storage unit that cumulatively stores the feature point number acquired by the acquisition unit when the pass number changes. The stored contents of the traveling locus data storage unit are read out. 1 read by the reading means based on the reading means and the stored contents of the map data storage means
And the node numbers associated with the path numbers that match each other in both of the branch data indicated by the other feature point numbers stored immediately after or immediately before the one feature point number. Reproducing means for reproducing the traveling locus based on the selected path number and each node number,
It is characterized by having.

Example Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device to which the method for storing travel locus data according to the present invention is applied. In the figure, 1 is a direction sensor for detecting the direction of the vehicle based on, for example, geomagnetism (earth magnetic field), 2 is a distance sensor for kicking the traveling distance of the vehicle, 3
Is a GPS (Global Positioning System) device for detecting the current position of the vehicle from latitude and longitude information, and the detection output of these sensors (devices) is the system controller 4
Is supplied to.

The system controller 4 receives the detection outputs of the sensors (devices) 1 to 3 as an input and performs an interface 5 for processing such as A / D (analog / digital) conversion, and various image data processing and is sent sequentially from the interface 5. The CPU (central processing circuit) 6 that calculates the traveling distance and traveling direction of the vehicle based on the processing data of the respective sensors (devices) 1 to 3 and various processing programs of this CPU 6 and other necessary information are stored in advance. A written ROM (read only memory) 7 and a RAM (random read / write) for writing and reading information necessary for executing a program
Access memory) 8.

As an external storage device, a read-only non-volatile first storage medium 9 and a writable and readable non-volatile second storage medium 9.
And a storage medium 10 thereof. The first storage medium 9 is a large-capacity CD (compact disc) -ROM, an IC card, or the like, and the storage medium 9 stores digitized (numerical) map data. On the other hand, the second storage medium 10 is a digital audio tape (DAT).
The storage medium 10 stores traveling locus data obtained when the vehicle is traveling. When the vehicle is traveling, the CPU 6 obtains the current position of the vehicle based on the output data of the azimuth sensor 1, the distance sensor 2 and the GPS device 3, and the map data of a certain range including the current position is stored in the first storage medium 9 It is controlled so that the data is read out from the RAM 8 and temporarily stored in the RAM 8 and is supplied to the display device 11, and the traveling locus data is obtained from the map data while traveling and is stored in the second storage medium 10.

The display device 11 includes a display 12 such as a CRT and a V (Video).
-Graphic memory 13 including RAM, graphic controller 14 that draws map data sent from system controller 4 as image data in graphic memory 13 and outputs this image data, and output from graphic controller 14 The display controller 15 controls to display a map on the display 12 based on the image data. The input device 16 is composed of a keyboard and the like, and issues various commands to the system controller 4 by key input by the user.

The map data is stored in the first storage medium 9 as described above, and its data format will be described below. First, as shown in FIG. 2, the whole of Japan is divided into areas of a certain size (for example, maps of 1 / 25,000 and 1 / 50,000 issued by the Geographical Survey Institute). Map number is assigned to the area. Each map is managed by this map number.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific data structure of road information in the map of map number i, for example. As shown in FIG. 3 (A), the road information is basically composed of a group of line segments (hereinafter referred to as a path). A unique path number is attached to each path for each map to distinguish it from other paths.
As shown in FIG. 3B, the path is road type information (for example, “0” is a highway, “1” is a national road, “2” is a prefectural road,
"3" is also a general road, etc., and the highway, national road, prefectural road, general road, etc. are identified by this road type information. Further, the path includes some coordinate points (hereinafter referred to as nodes) indicated by black dots in FIG. These nodes are arranged in order in the path from the start point to the end point so that they can be drawn with one stroke, and numbers (hereinafter referred to as in-path node index numbers) are assigned in this order. Each node has unified (X, Y) coordinates for each map, and is given the distance (R) information to the next node. Further, a pointer to feature point information data that gives what kind of feature the node has (for example, an intersection or a map boundary point) is also incorporated.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a data structure of specific feature point information on the map with the map number i. The feature points indicated by white circles in FIG. 4 (A) have unique feature point numbers for each map as shown in FIG. 4 (B), and are distinguished from other feature points. The characteristic point type information is information indicating whether the node is an intersection, a boundary point of a map, or the like. As shown in FIG. 4C, for example, 16 bits are classified into 16 types, and which bit Is classified by whether it is "1". In the feature point classification, the state in which all bits are "0" indicates that the node is a point required only on the road notation provided to express the degree of bend of the road. The branch number C is C ≧ 1 for all the nodes, and the branch information indicating the branch state is also written. At the intersection and the map boundary point, the path numbers of some roads related to the point, the index number of the point in the path, and the map number are stored. At the points other than intersections and map boundaries, the number of branches C = 1 and the map number to which the point belongs,
The pass number and index number are registered.

Next, the procedure of the method for storing the traveling locus data according to the present invention, which is executed by the CPU 6 while the vehicle is traveling, will be described.
A description will be given according to the flowchart in the figure.

While the vehicle is running, the CPU 6 has a heading sensor 1 and a distance sensor 2
And the current position of the vehicle is obtained based on each output data of the GPS device 3 (step S1), the map number of the map of a certain range including the current position is obtained from the obtained current position data (step S2), and then the map Number map data first
Read from the storage medium 9 and loaded into RAM8 (step
S3). The map data taken into the RAM 8 is also supplied to the display device 11 and displayed on the display 12 together with the position of the vehicle.

Then, the path number of the road on which the vehicle is currently traveling is obtained from the previously obtained current location data (step S4), and the in-path node index number near the current location is obtained (step S5).
Further, the characteristic point number is obtained (step S6). After that,
It is determined whether the map number obtained based on the current vehicle position is the same as the map number obtained based on the previous vehicle position (step S7). If the map number is the same, then the current vehicle position is continued. It is determined whether or not the pass number obtained based on the same as the pass number obtained based on the previous vehicle position (step S8),
If the same here as well, the current map number, path number, and node index number in the path are held (step S
9). If it is determined in step S7 or step S8 that they are different, the previous map number m and feature point number f are stored in the second storage medium 10 in the format shown in FIG. 6 (step S10), and then step S9. Move to. By repeating the above operation until it is determined in step S11 that the accessory switch (not shown) of the vehicle is turned off, the traveling locus data of the traveling this time is stored in the second storage medium.
It can be stored in 10. This travel locus data is stored in the second storage medium 10 together with this identification information given the route identification information from the input device 16 by the user for each traveling route.

In the above embodiment, the traveling locus data is stored during the ON period of the accessory switch. However, a traveling locus data storage mode is provided so that the traveling locus data is stored only when the mode is designated by the input setting 16. Is also possible.

In this way, the position where the vehicle is currently traveling is managed by the map number and the (X, Y) coordinates on the map, and the path number and the node index number within the path are constantly monitored by a method such as so-called map matching. However, when the map number or the pass number changes, the running locus data can be obtained by storing the map number together with the feature number pointed to by Ponita from the node index number in the path that represents the feature point of the immediately preceding point. By the 7th
As shown in the figure, the amount of data to be stored is smaller than the method of storing the map number and the (X, Y) coordinates, and moreover, the traveling locus can be accurately stored.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment in which the traveling locus data is stored by the storage method according to the present invention and the method of storing every time the vehicle travels a certain distance. In this figure, when the road indicated by the broken line path i, the one-dot chain line bus j, and the two-dot chain line path k is traveled by the route shown by the solid line, the method of storing every constant distance is shown in the figure. Although the data at the positions indicated by black dots are stored in order, according to the storage method of the present invention, it is sufficient to store the data of the nodes indicated by white circles in the figure, so it is easy to store a small amount of data. Can understand.

Next, a procedure for displaying the traveling locus executed by the CPU 6 when a command for displaying the traveling locus is issued by the input device 16 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

When the display command of the traveling locus is input and the route identification information is input in the input device 16 and then the vehicle is started toward the destination, the CPU 6 firstly outputs the direction sensor 1, the distance sensor 2 and the GPS device 3. The current position of the vehicle is obtained based on the output data (step S21), and subsequently the map data of a certain range of area including the current position is read from the first storage medium 9 and loaded into the RAM 8 (step S22). This map data is also supplied to the display device 11 and displayed on the display 12 together with the vehicle position.

Then, the traveling locus data of the traveling route designated by the input device 16 is read from the second storage medium 10 (step S2
3). The traveling locus data is stored in the format shown in FIG. 6, and it is judged whether the read map number m ₁ is the end code (step S24). If the end code is the end code, this flow is ended. If it is not the end code, it is judged whether or not the read map number m ₁ is in the map data loaded in the RAM 8 (step S25), and if not, the process returns to step S23. Map number m, if available
_The target feature point data D ₁ is searched from ₁ and the feature point number f ₁ (step S26).

Next, the next traveling locus data is read from the second storage medium 10 (step S27), it is judged whether the read map number m ₂ is an end code (step S28), and if it is an encoding, this flow is executed. finish. If it is not the end code, it is judged whether the read map number m ₂ is in the map data loaded in the RAM 8 (step S29),
If not, the process returns to step S27. If there is, the target feature point data D ₂ is searched from the map number m ₂ and the feature point number f ₂ (step S30). And map number m ₁ and map number m
₂ and it is determined whether or not the same (step S31), m ₁ = in the case of m _2, select the path number matching by comparing the branch data in the feature point data D ₁ and D ₂ (step S32 ), M ₁ ≠ m ₂ , the feature point data D ₁ and the branch data in D ₂ are compared to obtain the path number for which the map number and the path number match (step S 33). Then, the node index numbers n ₁ and n ₂ in the path are obtained (step S34), and a series of line segments from the start node index number n ₁ to the end node index number n ₂ in the path are displayed in a specific color. (Step
Then, the map number m ₂ , the feature point number f ₂ and the feature point data D ₂ are set to m ₁ , f ₁ and D ₁ (step S3).
6).

By repeating the above operation, the traveling locus of the route designated by the input device 16 is displayed in a specific color on the display 12 together with the map around the current position of the vehicle.

As described above, according to the first invention of the present application,
Corresponds to a path number that divides a road into predetermined routes that do not overlap each other, identifies each of these predetermined routes, a node number that identifies at least a road branch point in the predetermined route for each predetermined route, and a branch road at the road branch point A path number and a characteristic point number indicating branch data having a node number indicating a road branch point on a predetermined route indicated by the path number, which is associated with the path number, are stored.
Based on this stored content, the pass number and the characteristic point number corresponding to the current position of the vehicle or its vicinity are acquired, and when the acquired path number changes, the characteristic point number acquired by the acquisition means is cumulatively stored, so that the fixed distance is maintained. It is possible to accurately store the traveling locus with a smaller amount of data than the method of storing the position data for each traveling.

According to the second invention of the present application, in addition to storing the path number and the characteristic point number as described above, based on the stored contents, one characteristic point number and immediately after or immediately before the one characteristic point number. The path numbers that match each other in both branch data indicated by the other feature point numbers stored in and the respective node numbers associated with this path number are selected, and the travel locus is based on the selected path number and each node number. Is reproduced, it is possible to reproduce an excellent traveling locus that matches the data stored according to the first aspect of the present invention. Therefore, it is possible to reproduce a large number of running loci regardless of extremely small locus data.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the first invention of the present application, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which a national map is divided into regions having a certain size, and FIG. 3 is a road. Figure for explaining the data structure of information, 4th
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the data structure of feature point information, fifth
FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a procedure of a storage process of traveling locus data according to the present invention executed by a CPU, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a recording format of traveling locus data according to the first invention of the present application, and FIG. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a recording format in the case of storing position data in FIG. 8, and FIG. 8 is a locus to be stored in the case of actually storing traveling locus data by the storing method in the first invention of the present application and the method of storing every fixed distance traveling. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a procedure for displaying a traveling locus executed by the CPU in the vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the second aspect of the present invention. Explanation of symbols of main parts 1 ... Direction sensor, 2 ... Distance sensor 4 ... System controller 9,10 ... Storage medium, 11 ... Display device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A detection means for detecting the current position of a vehicle,
An in-vehicle navigation device that stores traveling locus data of a vehicle based on the current position detected by the detection means, wherein a road is divided into predetermined routes that do not overlap each other in advance, and a path number that identifies each of these predetermined routes. A node number for identifying at least a road branch point in the predetermined route for each of the predetermined routes, the path number corresponding to a branch road at the road branch point, and a predetermined route indicated by the path number associated with the path number A map data storage unit that stores a feature point number that indicates branch data that has the node number that indicates the road branch point, and that corresponds to the current location or its vicinity based on the storage content of the map data storage unit. Acquisition means for acquiring a path number and the characteristic point number, and the path number acquired by the acquisition means Vehicle navigation system having a travel locus data storage means for accumulating storing the feature point number obtained from the obtaining means when changing the traveling locus data storage function using the routing information, comprising a. 2. A detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle, a path number which preliminarily divides a road into predetermined routes which do not overlap each other, and which identifies each of these predetermined routes, and at least a road branch point in the predetermined route. A node number that identifies each predetermined route, the path number that corresponds to a branch road at the road branch point, and the node number that indicates the road branch point on the predetermined route that is associated with this path number and that the path number indicates Map data storing means for storing a feature point number indicating branch data having, and acquisition for obtaining the path number and the feature point number corresponding to the current location or its vicinity based on the stored contents of the map data storing means. Means and the characteristic point number acquired by the acquisition means when the path number acquired by the acquisition means changes. And the traveling locus data storage means for,
An in-vehicle navigation device including: a reading unit that reads out the stored contents of the travel locus data storing unit; and a feature point number read out by the reading unit based on the stored contents of the map data storing unit and A path number that matches each other in both of the branch data indicated by another feature point number stored immediately after or immediately before the one feature point number and each node number associated with this path number are selected and selected. An in-vehicle navigation device having a traveling locus data reproducing function using route information, comprising: a reproducing unit that reproduces a traveling locus based on a path number and each node number.