JPH07190790A - Navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide the detail of a place near a set point and only map information for a remote place by automatically selecting and highlighting a map display with a map layer determined on the basis of a distance from a passage point or the like. CONSTITUTION:Distance calculation sections 4-1 to 4-3 calculate the coordinates of a current position detected at a process 1, and distances on the basis of departure place, destination and passage point coordinates stored in each storage section. A comparison judgement section 5 compares the length of each distance, and selects a shorter distance. Also, a layer determination section 6 refers to a layer table 8 where distances and road types are registered for every layer number, on the basis of the distance information, and determines medium and lower layers so obtained as applicable layers. On the other hand, a map drawing section 7 highlights, draws and displays the roads of upper layers from the layers determined at a process 6. For example, when a vehicle is travelling along the road of the layer 3, roads with layer numbers equal to or above 3 are displayed. Then, when the vehicle comes near a destination within 20km, 5.2km and 1km, the roads having the layer numbers 4 to 7 are sequentially displayed additionally. The map display is automatically selected and highlighted on the basis of the map layers determined on the basis of distances as aforementioned.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicle map display device, and more particularly to a navigation device for displaying a map when displaying a map as it approaches a set point.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A navigation system provides guidance to a destination for the first time so that it can be visited by car with peace of mind, and is roughly classified into a route guidance system and a location system.

In the route guidance system, a route is set from the present position or the starting point and the destination and guidance is provided along the route. In recent years, navigation accuracy, operability,
Technology development has been actively conducted to improve performance such as visibility and functions, and various types have been proposed. This navigation device has a display screen used when setting a route and a display screen that is opened automatically or in response to a driver's request when guiding a route. The display screen after the start of guidance is a section map that guides a wide area of several sections including the section currently traveling in at least the entire route consisting of a plurality of routed sections, and an intersection for guidance at the intersection. I have a figure. Then, we will provide information such as remaining distance, name, right and left turn etc. regarding these section maps and intersection diagrams, and also intersections that should turn so that the route can be run without fail, and also to be able to confirm the route during the run Teaching characteristic objects, providing not only display but also voice guidance, displaying the route on the map, guiding and guiding on the route in actual driving, and automatically scrolling the map along the route I am trying to confirm the route.

On the other hand, the location method displays a map around the current location on the screen when the destination is input and the navigation mode is displayed, and also displays the direction of the destination and the linear distance from the current location to the destination. Is generally used. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2-130412 and 5-
There is one proposed in Japanese Patent No. 88615. While looking at the screen showing such map information, the driver
Attempt to reach the destination by choosing the road and direction to drive.

Whichever method is used, the navigation device requires the input of the starting point or the present position and the destination, and therefore the target registered position such as the starting point or the destination is set at the sightseeing spot, the parking lot or the restaurant. In addition to genres, such as prefectures, cities, etc., code them, enter the code, enter the code number, display the menu, and select from the menu to input. A method is proposed in which a method and node data are connected, a road network is defined by connecting the node data, and a position is input by the coordinate place of east longitude and north latitude and a method of inputting a telephone number.

As an example of this type of device, a telephone number input system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-187898, and
The genre-specific or code number input method is disclosed in JP-A-1-17.
No. 3820, a destination setting method by a code number is disclosed in JP-A-1-173823, and a method in which a desired passage point can be input is disclosed in JP-A-2-3899.

[0007] When the starting point and the destination are determined by the various input methods as described above, the route guidance method performs a route search process from the road information data around the starting point and the destination and the road information between them, thereby obtaining a plurality of routes. The optimum route is set from among. However, the location method does not perform such route search or specific guidance along the route, but only displays the map and the current position and the straight-line distance to the destination, which simplifies the system. be able to.

Further, in the map display device for a moving body as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-130412, the type of the road on which the current position of the moving body is displayed is recognized and the recognized road The degree of detail of the map in the same area displayed on the screen is changed by controlling the reading of the display elements of the map according to the type. Further, in a vehicle-mounted map display device as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-206710, the destination is changed by changing the scale of the map and the level of the road to be displayed according to the distance from the current position of the vehicle to the destination. It provides drivers with detailed map information as they approach.

[0009]

However, the above-mentioned Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No.
In a map display device such as that disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. -130412, a plurality of passing points other than a destination are set, and for example, when the passing points are on a main highway such as a national road, the degree of detail of the displayed map is Since it is a rough road based on the main road, it is necessary to switch and select the map scale when obtaining information about the passage points. Furthermore, JP-A-59-2067
When the technology shown in the map display device of Japanese Patent No. 10 is applied to a system capable of inputting a plurality of points such as a passing point and a destination, the scale is reduced according to the distance from the current position of the vehicle to the next passing point. In addition, in order to determine the displayed road level, a wide area map and a rough road map are displayed immediately after leaving the passing point, so when the driver sees the displayed map and decides the future course, etc. However, there is a problem that the amount of information is small.

Therefore, the present invention solves the above problems and, even when a plurality of points such as a starting point, a passing point, and a destination are set with a simple structure, the distance relation between each set point and the current position is set. Change the map display level by
An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device that can provide a driver with detailed map information around a set point, and can provide only necessary map information to the driver in a place far from the set point.

[0011]

To this end, the present invention is directed to a navigation device for displaying the current position on a map screen, a point setting means for setting a point, a current position detecting means for detecting the current position, and Road data for map drawing to which general roads including a narrow street for each road information are set as lower layers in order of layers up to highways, and road information for map addition, and the current position detected by the current position detection means. A distance calculation means for calculating a position and a distance to a point set by the point setting means, a layer determination means for determining a layer based on a distance from the current position to the set point, and reading the road data. And a drawing means for drawing the road of the upper layer from the determined layer by emphasizing the road, and reducing the distance from the current position to the set point. Enhancement drawing to lower the layer according is characterized in that for drawing the road.

Further, when the road at the current position detected by the current position detecting means is a layer lower than the layer determined by the distance from the current position to the set point, the layer determining means determines the lower layer. In addition, the distance calculation means calculates distances from the current position detected by the current position detection means to a plurality of points set by the point setting means, respectively,
The layer deciding means is characterized by deciding the layer at the shortest distance, and the drawing means is adapted to change the scale of the map drawn according to the layer.

[0013]

The present invention has map data in a layer structure, and automatically emphasizes the map display by the map layer determined by the distance from the input starting point, destination and passing point. Even if multiple points are set, a dense map can be displayed around each set point and a rough map can be displayed depending on the distance between points, for example, no traffic or congestion. When the driver sees the map display and determines the route from the current position, etc., the driver has an excellent advantage that the necessary map information can be easily obtained.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of a location-based navigation device according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of road data and a layer number-search distance correspondence table. In FIG. 1, the current position detector 1
Is to detect the current position using various sensors as will be described later, and in the present proposal, at least the coordinates of the current position and the road type in which the current position exists are output. The departure place setting unit 2-1 sets the current position calculated by the current position setting unit 1 as a departure place, and stores the set current position in the departure place data storage unit 2-2 as data including coordinates. . The destination setting unit 3-1 is arbitrarily set by the user through an input unit (point setting unit) described later, and the set destination is data including coordinates in the destination data storage unit 3-2. Store. The passing point setting unit 3-3 is also set by the user, and stores data including the coordinates of the set points in the passing point data storage unit 3-4. The distance calculation units 4-1, 4-2, and 4-3 are the coordinates detected by the current position detection unit 1, the departure point data storage unit 2-2, the destination data storage unit 3-2, and the passing point data storage unit. The distance is calculated based on the respective coordinates stored in 3-4, and the comparison and determination unit 5 compares and determines the length of each distance and selects the shorter distance. The layer table 8 is a layer number-search distance correspondence table,
The distance and the road type are registered for each layer number, and the layer is determined from the distance and the road type. The layer determining unit 6 determines the layer table 8 from the distance information of the comparing and determining unit 5.
To obtain a layer, and when the layer is higher than the layer corresponding to the type information of the traveling road of the current position detection unit 1, the layer corresponding to the type information of the traveling road is set as the layer of the drawing road. To do. That is, the lower layer of the layer corresponding to the distance information of the comparison determination unit 5 and the layer corresponding to the type information of the traveling road is determined as the layer. The road data 9 stores the node information as the connection information, the road type, and the layer number as the road information. The map drawing unit 7 reads road information from the road data 9, connects nodes, and draws and displays roads. At that time, the roads in the upper layer from the layer determined by the layer determination unit 6 are displayed. Highlight. The map drawing unit 7 may change the scale of the map drawn according to the determined layer. By doing so, it is possible to select a scale according to the amount of road information from the viewpoint of ensuring visibility. Furthermore, the road data 9 is given unique data such as the name of an intersection, the presence of the intersection is confirmed by detecting the current location, and the name of the intersection is displayed on the screen within a range of several tens of meters before and after the current location. You may display the name of the road on which you are running, such as "Line 19."

FIG. 2A shows an example of the structure of road data having a layer structure used as map drawing data in the map drawing section 7. This road data has, as information of each road, the number of nodes forming the road, the road type, the layer number, and the actual coordinates of each node. The layer number is determined by the distance between the starting point and the current point and between the current point and the destination, and the correspondence table is the layer number-search distance correspondence table shown in FIG. 2B. In this layer number-search distance correspondence table, layer 0 has the longest distance of 100 km or more, layers 1 and 2, ... , Layer 0 is an expressway, Layer 1 is an urban expressway, Layer 2 is a toll road, Layer 3 is a national road, Layer 4 is a prefectural road, Layer 5 is a local main road, Layer 6 is a general road, Layer 7 Like a general road including a narrow street, the higher the layer is, the layer is allocated so that it becomes a road necessary for traveling farther, but this layer number is not determined only by the road type. The layer number of the road is determined in consideration of the type of road to which the road is connected and is stored in the information recording device 30. For example, if the road connecting the national highway to the highway interchange is a general road, display the general road connecting to this interchange to obtain road information to the interchange so that the driver can get on the highway while traveling on the national highway. It is necessary to have the same layer number as the national road even if this connecting road is a general road. On the contrary, for example, even if it is a toll road, if it is a dead end road or a road that only goes to a nearby destination, such as a toll road such as a skyline that goes around a resort, Use the same layer number as that for ordinary roads. In this way, the layer number is included in the map data in advance, and is determined based on the road connection relationship. As a method of determining the layer number of a road in this way, a route search is performed in advance with a combination of an arbitrary starting point and destination, and the layer number in the map data is determined based on the result of the search. You may stay.

Then, the layer number of the road to be displayed is determined according to the distance between the starting point and the destination and between the current position and the destination, and the road to be displayed in consideration of the layer number of the road being driven. Determine the layer number of. Therefore, if the distance between the current location and the destination is 100 km or more, the road of layer 0 is highlighted, but if the vehicle is currently traveling on layer 3, the road having the layer number of layer 3 or higher is displayed. Is highlighted. And 20k approaching the destination
When the distance is within m, the road with the layer number 4 is added, and when it is within 5 km, the road with the layer number 5 is 2k.
More detailed roads are needed as you get closer to the destination. For example, when the road is within m, the road with layer number 6 is added and when the road is within 1 km, the road with layer number 7 is added and highlighted. The roads to be displayed will be increased based on the judgment that

In the above embodiment, the display between the starting point and the destination has been described. However, in the case where a plurality of passing points or a plurality of destinations are set as shown in FIG. , A lower layer is determined from the starting point to the passing point A, and the passing point A to the passing point B is determined.
The upper layer is decided as it goes to. Then, the lower layer is decided again as it approaches the passing point B, and the upper layer is decided as the passing point B is moved away from the passing point B. Then, in the middle position between the passing points A and B, that is, in the area where the layers set at the passing points A and B overlap, the layer on the side having a shorter distance between the current position of the vehicle and the points A and B is adopted, If the position is close to the passing point B, display is performed according to the layer set at the passing point B. Further, in the overlapping portion of the layers defined by the passing points A and B, a lower layer at the point A or B may be adopted regardless of the distance between the current position and the points A and B.

By switching the layers according to the distance in this way, the road to be highlighted is determined, and the driver can easily select which road to drive to reach the destination. Here, the layer number of the road to be displayed on the screen is not only the distance between the current position and the destination or the distance between the current position and the destination, but the layer number of the road actually being driven is a parameter. This is because if you get on a main road and enter a side road that is not highlighted on the screen, you will need a detailed road whose layer number is lower than the main road to return to the main road. .

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a layer display area determined by the distance relationship between the departure place and the destination, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display which changes with traveling from the departure place to the destination. is there.

Looking at the travel route from the starting point to the destination, the road to the narrow street of layer 7 is emphasized at the starting point, but the layers go up higher as the distance from the starting point increases. As shown in FIG. 3, even if the distance from the layer 1 is 70 km or more to 100 km or more, when the distance to the destination is within 70 km, the layer 2 is lowered to the lower layer 2. FIG. 4 shows an example of the layer 7 road display (all road display) state near the departure point 100 km to the destination.
It is (a). FIG. 4B shows an example of a state in which the roads up to layer 3 are highlighted at a distance of 50 km to the destination, and the roads in layer 4 are highlighted because the road deviates to the roads in layer 4. FIG. 4C shows an example of such a state, and FIG. 4D shows an example of the state of displaying all roads up to layer 7 up to the destination.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a system configuration example of the navigation device, FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a processing procedure at the time of inputting a destination, and FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a processing procedure at the time of traveling. Next, a description will be given of the overall configuration of the navigation device adopting the location system and the route guidance system, and the flow of processing of the location system navigation device according to the present invention.

The navigation device shown in FIG. 5 includes an input / output unit 10 for inputting / outputting information on route guidance and a current position detecting unit 2 for detecting information on the current position of the vehicle.
0, information storage device 30 in which navigation data necessary for route calculation, display guidance data necessary for guidance, etc. are recorded, transmission / reception of navigation data and telephone communication with information sources such as information centers and electronic notebooks. The data communication unit 40 performs a route search process and a display guidance process required for route guidance, and includes a calculation unit 50 that controls the entire system.

The input / output unit 10 performs navigation processing according to the intention of the user so that a point such as a passing point or a destination can be input and the driver can display guidance information by voice and / or screen when needed. It has a function of instructing the arithmetic unit 50 and printing out the processed data and data of data communication. As a means for realizing the function, the input unit includes a touch switch 11 for inputting a passing point, a destination, etc. by a telephone number, coordinates, etc., and requesting route guidance, a voice recognition device 12, an IC.
A recording card reader 13 for reading data recorded on a card or a magnetic card is provided, and the output unit displays input data on a screen or automatically displays route guidance on a screen in response to a driver's request. Data processed by the display 14 and the calculation unit 50 and the information storage device 30
A printer 15 for printing out the data stored in, the communication data sent from the information center and the like, a speaker 16 for outputting the route guidance by voice, and the like.

The display 14 is composed of a color CRT or a color liquid crystal display, and has everything necessary for navigation such as a route setting screen based on map data or guidance data processed by the computing unit 5, a section map screen, an intersection map screen, etc. The screen is displayed in color display, and on this screen, buttons for setting route guidance, guidance during route guidance, and switching screens are displayed. In particular, passing intersection information such as the name of a passing intersection is displayed in a pop-up color on the section map screen at any time.

This display is provided in the instrument panel near the driver's seat, and the driver can confirm the current position of the vehicle by looking at the section map and obtain information on the route from now on. . Also,
The display 14 is provided with a touch panel 11 corresponding to the display of the function buttons, and is configured to execute the above-described operation based on a signal input by touching the button. The input signal generating means including the button switch and the touch panel constitutes an input unit.

The voice recognition device 12 constitutes an input signal generating means, and generates a signal to be processed by the arithmetic section 50 after the user recognizes the coordinate information input by voice through the microphone 12a. The current position detection unit 20 includes a GPS receiving device 21 that uses a satellite navigation system (GPS), a beacon receiving device 22, and a data transmitting / receiving device 23 that receives a GPS correction signal that uses, for example, a cellphone or FM multiplex signal, such as a geomagnetic field. An absolute azimuth sensor 24 including sensors and the like, a relative azimuth sensor 25 including, for example, a wheel sensor and a steering sensor, a distance sensor 26 that detects a traveling distance from the number of rotations of wheels, an acceleration sensor 27, and the like are provided.

The information storage device 30 stores map data, intersection data, node data, road data, photograph data, destination data, guide point data, detailed destination data, road name data, branch point data, which are necessary for route guidance. It is a database that stores address data, display guidance data, voice guidance data, a layer number-search distance correspondence table, and the like.

The data communication unit 40 stores a large amount of route guidance information and transmits / receives data to / from an external information center provided at the request of the user, or the user previously stores information storage media (digital data storage) such as an electronic notebook or IC card. Means) for storing destination information, and using this information to transmit / receive data for inputting point coordinates, and a telephone call for designating a point and acquiring surrounding information. After the destination is set, a telephone transmitting unit 42 for automatically making a telephone call for making a telephone contact with the destination is provided.

The arithmetic unit 50 is a CPU for executing arithmetic processing.
51, a program for performing processing such as route search, a display control required for route guidance, a program for performing voice output control required for voice guidance, and a first ROM 52-1 in which necessary data is stored, which is set R which temporarily stores the information of the layer in which the layer is determined corresponding to the location, the searched route guidance information, and the data being processed.
AM 53, second ROM 52-2 in which display information data necessary for route guidance and map display is stored, image memory 54 in which image data used for screen display on display is stored, image based on display control signal from CPU 51 An image processor 55 that extracts image data from the memory, performs image processing and outputs the image to a display, a voice, a phrase, a sentence, a sound, etc. read from the information storage device 30 based on a voice output control signal from the CPU. A voice processor 56 for synthesizing and converting into an analog signal and outputting to a speaker, a communication interface 57 for exchanging input / output data by communication, a sensor input interface 58 for taking in a sensor signal of the current position detection unit, internal diagnostic information. A clock 59 etc. for entering the date and time on Eteiru. Here, the route guidance is configured so that the driver can select either screen display or voice output.

When executing the location method, the CPU
In the processing at the time of inputting the destination at 51, first, as shown in FIG. 6, when the destination is input, the coordinates of the destination and the coordinates of the current location are stored (steps S11 to S13). Further, when the passing point is input, the passing point is input, the number of passing points is added, and the passing point coordinates are stored (step S14).
~ S16).

When traveling, the present position is calculated as shown in FIG. 7, the distance between the present position and the coordinates of the stored destination or passing point is calculated, and the shortest distance is selected (steps S21 to S22). ). The layer number is obtained from the layer number-search distance correspondence table based on this distance and compared with the layer number of the current road (steps S23 to S2).
4). If the current road layer number is higher,
Draw the map by emphasizing the upper layer road number from the current position road layer number to draw the map, and if the obtained layer number is larger, emphasize the upper layer road number from the layer number. Draw (steps S25 to S2
6).

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but various modifications can be made. For example, in the above embodiment, the roads higher than the determined layer are highlighted, but only the roads higher than the determined layer may be displayed and the lower layers may not be displayed. The hue and strength of may be changed in layers. In addition, the layer is determined by the distance from the starting point to the current point or the distance from the current point to the destination, whichever is shorter.However, depending on the distance from the current point to the destination and the road on which the current point is traveling, You may make it determine a layer. When I got lost, I recognized the road that I am currently driving and displayed or highlighted the road in the upper layer from the layer of that road, but in such a case,
If you can search and display the proper name of the intersection from the road data or separately from the intersection data by the place name index, you can check the current location by the intersection name on the map from the name of the signboard of the intersection when running, You can easily correct your current location.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining one embodiment of a location-based navigation device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration example of road data and a layer number-search distance correspondence table.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a layer display area determined by a distance relationship between a departure place and a destination.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a screen display that changes with traveling from a departure place to a destination.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a system configuration example of a navigation device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a processing procedure when inputting a destination.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a processing procedure during traveling.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a layer display area determined by a distance relationship between a starting point, a passing point, and a destination.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Current position detection section, 2-1 ... Departure location setting section, 2-2 ...
Departure place data storage unit, 3-1 ... Destination setting unit, 3-2 ...
Destination data storage unit, 3-3 ... Passing point setting unit, 3-4 ...
Passing point data storage unit, 4-1, 4-2, 4-3 ... Distance calculation unit, 5 ... Comparison determination unit, 6 ... Layer determination unit, 7 ... Map drawing unit, 8 ... Layer table, 9 ... Map data

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] January 25, 1994

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be amended] Claims

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

[Claims]

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A navigation device for displaying a current position on a screen of a map, which generally includes a point setting means for setting a point, a current position detecting means for detecting the current position, and a narrow street for each road information. Road data for map drawing added with information of layers set by sequentially increasing layers up to highways using roads as lower layers, the current position detected by the current position detecting means, and the point setting means A distance calculation means for calculating a distance to a point, a layer determination means for determining a layer based on the distance from the current position to the set point, and a layer above the determined layer by reading the road data. A layer that has a drawing means for emphasizing and drawing a road, and emphasizing and drawing as the distance from the current position to the set point becomes shorter A navigation device characterized by lowering and drawing a road. 2. When the road at the current position detected by the current position detecting unit is a layer lower than a layer determined by the distance from the current position to a set point, the layer determining unit sets the lower layer to the lower layer. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the navigation device is determined. 3. The distance calculating means calculates distances from the current position detected by the current position detecting means to a plurality of points set by the point setting means, respectively, and the layer determining means determines The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the layer is determined at a short distance. 4. The navigation device according to claim 3, wherein the distance calculation means also calculates the distance from the departure place to the current position. 5. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the map drawing means changes a scale of a map to be drawn according to a layer.