JPH07318361A - Navigation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a navigation apparatus in which an input operation can be performed easily by a method wherein a storage medium which stores destination information can be loaded (so as to be detachable). CONSTITUTION:In a navigation apparatus 2, route-instruction information which is to be given to the operator or a moving body is displayed on a display 22 on the basis of map information stored in advance and of present-position information. The navigation apparatus is provided with a storage-medium drive part 34 in which a storage medium 32, for target information, stroing the target information on a plurality of destinations can be loaded and with a display control part 24 by which the plurality of pieces of destination information taken into by the drive part 34 are displayed on the display 22. The storage medium 32 for the destination information is taken away from the drive part 34, and information is input to the storage medium 32 by another device outside a vehicle. Thereby, an input operation can be performed efficiently.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to improvement of a navigation device for a mobile body such as an automobile.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, a navigation device is used as a system for providing information such as search for an optimum route and prediction of required time to a destination based on vehicle position information and road information such as traffic jam information. It has been developed, for example, JP 61-20199 A and JP 2-171900 A.
It is disclosed in the publication.

This type of navigation device is, for example, an R
In order to reach the predetermined destination, the current position of the vehicle is obtained by the azimuth sensor including the geomagnetic sensor and the gyro and the mileage sensor, which has the map information previously input to the OM or the like. Further, referring to the current position information and the map information, the operator can display the next operation to be performed on the display or give an instruction by voice from the speaker.

[0004]

By the way, a user involved in the delivery business of goods or the like of a department store, the transportation business, etc. continuously delivers several tens of destinations with one delivery vehicle to deliver the products. In this case, the user has to input dozens of destination information items to be turned to the navigator device using an input unit fixed in the vehicle.

However, it is very difficult to input such a large number of data in a small vehicle.
There was a problem that it was not efficient. In particular, a person who is good at driving skills of a vehicle and a person who is good at an input operation to the navigator device do not necessarily match, and it is a particularly difficult operation when the user is unfamiliar with the input operation.

The present invention focuses on the above problems,
The present invention was devised to effectively solve this problem, and its purpose is to provide a navigator device capable of easily performing an input operation by allowing a recording medium for storing destination information to be loaded (detachable). It is in.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention proposes a route to be taken for an operator of a mobile body based on map information and current position information stored in advance. In a navigation device that displays instruction information on a display, a storage medium drive unit into which a destination information storage medium storing destination information for a plurality of destinations can be loaded, and a plurality of destinations fetched from the drive unit A display control unit for displaying information on the display is configured.

[0008]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, a plurality of destination information is stored in advance in the destination information storage medium by a device other than the storage medium drive unit of the navigation device.

Then, the destination information stored is loaded by loading and driving the storage medium drive unit. The captured destination information is displayed on the display together with the map information under the control of the display controller.

Then, the user refers to the plurality of destination information displayed together with the map information to obtain the optimum operation route. In this way, the destination information storage medium can be attached to and detached from the storage medium drive unit, so that the destination information can be input by the moving body, for example, a portion other than the vehicle.

Further, the apparatus is provided with a shortest route calculating section for connecting the destinations on the basis of the fetched destination information and the current position information of the moving body to obtain the shortest route which is the shortest distance. The shortest path calculated by the calculation unit can be displayed on the display. Also, by providing an operation unit for inputting a destination telephone number and a telephone for fetching destination information such as an address to the destination by referring to the telephone number from an external telephone company, this can be displayed on the display, Even if you do not know the address of the destination, you can easily display the destination on the map if you know the telephone number.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a navigation device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a navigation device according to the present invention, FIG.
[Fig. 2] is a perspective view showing a moving body equipped with the navigation device shown in Fig. 1.

As shown in the figure, the navigation device 2 has an antenna 4 for receiving a beacon serving as a signal of a radio beacon and transmitting and receiving radio waves for communication. The antenna 4 is provided via a radio device 6. It is connected to the central processing unit 8. Map information such as a road traffic network is previously input to the CD-ROM drive 10. The CD-ROM drive 10 is connected to the central processing unit 8 so that the map information can be transferred to the central processing unit as necessary. 8 is transmitted.

The azimuth angle sensor 12 is composed of, for example, a geomagnetic sensor or a gyro, and is adapted to obtain the traveling direction of the vehicle 14 as a moving body. Further, the traveling distance sensor 16 is adapted to detect the traveling distance. Then, the azimuth sensor 12 and the traveling distance sensor 16
Is connected to the position calculation circuit 18 so that the current position of the vehicle 14 can be obtained by cumulatively adding the XY components of the traveling distance from the starting point based on integral navigation every constant distance traveling. Is configured. Then, the position calculation circuit 18
Is connected to the central processing unit 8 and sends the obtained current position information to the central processing unit 8.

As means for obtaining the above position information, for example, GPS (Global Pod), which is one of the radio navigation methods, is used.
A positioning system 20 may be used. The GPS 20 has recently received a great deal of attention because it is a system capable of highly accurate position measurement using a plurality of artificial satellites.

The central processing unit 8 uses the map information, the position information, the road traffic information, etc., which are input thereto,
The optimum route to the destination is searched, the time required to reach the destination is predicted, the operation of the operator of the vehicle 14 is requested, and the obtained information is output to notify the operator. Further, in this embodiment, two or more operations that should be successively performed in the future are required, and the route instruction information corresponding to these operations is temporally consecutively described as, for example, "turn right and turn left immediately". Is configured to output.

A display control unit 24 for driving the display 22 is connected to the central processing unit 8.
The result obtained by the processing unit 8 is displayed on the display so that it can be visually recognized. A voice control circuit 26 and a voice synthesizing circuit 28 are connected to the central processing unit 8 so that the two route instruction information obtained by the processing unit 8 can be continuously flowed from the speaker 30 in time. Is configured. An operation unit 31 including a numeric keypad group, a Kana input key group, and the like is connected to the central processing unit 8 in order to control the operation of the entire apparatus.

Further, the central processing unit 8 is provided with a storage medium drive unit 34 into which a storage medium for destination information, for example, a floppy disk 32 can be loaded, and information can be recorded on and read from the disk 32. I am supposed to get involved. The floppy disk 32 can be attached and detached as described above, and by a recording device (not shown),
As a result, destination information corresponding to a plurality of destinations to which products or the like should be conveyed is input in advance.

Then, the destination information taken in by the drive unit 34 is processed by the central processing unit 8 and then displayed under the control of the display control unit 24 together with the map information on a mark. Has become.

Further, the central processing unit 8 connects the destinations based on the plurality of destination information fetched from the drive unit 34 and the current position information of the moving body, and provides the shortest route which is the shortest distance. The shortest distance calculation unit 36 for obtaining the above is connected, and the shortest route obtained here can be displayed on the display together with the map information and the destination information as needed.

Further, the central processing unit 8 is connected with a destination address storage medium 38 for storing information of a desired address (location). The storage medium 38 is composed of, for example, a rewritable ROM, and the stored contents can be rewritten as necessary. The storage medium 38 is adapted to store a telephone number and a name in association with the desired address, and the operation unit 31
By inputting a telephone number or name from, address information corresponding to this can be retrieved.

Further, the central processing unit 8 includes a telephone 40
Is connected, and by operating the operation unit 31, for example, NT
By accessing the telephone company 42 such as T and entering the telephone number or name of the destination, if the owner of the telephone discloses the location, its location (address)
Can be retrieved and imported. And
The imported destination location can be stored in the destination address storage medium 38 together with its telephone number and name.

The central processing unit 8, the position calculation circuit 18, the display control unit 24, the voice control circuit 26, the voice matching circuit 28, the shortest path calculation unit 36, the destination address storage medium 38, etc. are converted into a microcomputer. Control unit 44.

Next, the operation of this embodiment configured as described above will be described. First, the general operation will be described. As the vehicle 14 travels, a signal such as traffic information is received from the antenna 4, and this signal is input to the central processing unit 8 via the wireless device 6. Further, from the CD-ROM drive 10, the map information a previously input thereto is input to the central processing unit 8. Further, the azimuth sensor 12
From the traveling distance sensor 16 and traveling distance information c from the traveling distance sensor 16 to the position calculation circuit 18, respectively.
Here, the position where the vehicle 14 is currently traveling is obtained, and this position information d is also input to the central processing unit 8.

In the central processing unit 8, based on the traffic information, the map information a, the position information d, etc. input thereto, the search for the optimum route to the destination, the prediction of the time required to reach the destination, and the purpose Each operation is continuously searched for by the operator in order to reach the ground.

The obtained results are displayed on the display 22 via the display control section 24 to visually inform the operator of the route, for example, while the above results are obtained by the voice control circuit 26 and the voice synthesis circuit. Speaker 3 through 28
When it is 0, it is output as a voice and the operator is audibly notified.

By the way, when the destination is input and displayed on the display, conventionally, the destination is searched by referring to the address on the map displayed on the display, and this point is set as the XY coordinate. It was very complicated and time consuming to enter.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, the driver can easily display the address or telephone number of the destination by operating the operation unit 31. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation at this time.

First, when the operation unit 31 is set to the operation mode and the telephone number or name of the destination is input from the ten keys or the kana input key of the operation unit 31 (S1), the central processing unit 8
Refers to the destination address storage medium 38 and searches for data having the same content based on the input telephone number or name. When the data having the same content is found, the address data i corresponding to the data is read out and taken into the central processing unit 8 (S2).

Then, the central processing unit 8 instructs the display control unit 24 about the position on the map based on the fetched address data (S3). The display control unit 24 that has received this instruction
Displays a map on the display 22 and displays a mark at a portion corresponding to the designated position, that is, a destination (S4). As a result, the driver can easily recognize the destination on the map, and the input operation of the destination information can be simplified.

In the above embodiment, the case where the address of the destination and the telephone number or the name are associated with each other and registered in the destination address storage medium 38 in advance has been described. Sometimes only the phone number or name is known. In this case, the address data is retrieved from the telephone company by performing the operation procedure shown in FIG.

First, the driver sets the operation unit 31 in the telephone search mode to access the telephone company 42 via the telephone 40 and automatically calls the host service of the telephone company (S1).
Then, the driver inputs the telephone number or name of the destination from the operation unit 31, and if the corresponding address can be disclosed, the address is searched and obtained (S).
2).

Telephone company 42 if this address is required
The address data is transmitted from the side to the telephone 40 of the vehicle 14 (S3). Then, the received address data f is sent to the central processing unit 8, and the address data is written and stored in the destination address storage medium 38 in association with the telephone number and the name (S4).

After that, in order to read out the written address data, the operation based on the above-mentioned flow chart shown in FIG. 3 may be performed. Thus, even if the driver's destination address is not known, if he / she knows the telephone number or name, the address data can be obtained through the telephone company and displayed on the map of the display 22 as a mark. You can

In particular, in this case, the address data can be obtained only by inputting the telephone number or the name, so that the input operation can be very simple and quick as compared with the conventional device.

Next, with reference to the flow shown in FIG. 5, a case will be described in which the vehicle 14 is used to travel around a number of destinations in order to deliver products, for example.

First, prior to running the vehicle 14,
A storage medium, for example, the floppy disk 32 is removed from the storage medium drive unit 34, and a large number of destination address data, that is, destination information, which are known in advance by using a separate recording device (not shown) on the disk 32 are collected. Is input and stored (S1).

Then, the disk 32 in which the large number of address data are stored is set up in the storage medium drive unit 34, and the address data (destination information) h is read and taken in (S2). The fetched address data is sent to the shortest route calculation unit 36 together with the current position information of the vehicle 14, and this calculation unit 36 connects the current position and each destination with a road to obtain the shortest route which is the shortest distance. (S
3). In this case, it goes without saying that the map information is also taken into consideration in order to obtain the distance on the road.

The shortest route obtained here is sent to the central processing unit 8 and the display control unit 24 is instructed to display the shortest route. In response to this, the display control unit 24 displays all the address marks on the map displayed on the display 22 and also displays the shortest route previously obtained in an overlapping manner (S4). Therefore, the driver may travel around the destination along the shortest route displayed here. It should be noted that the address mark of the passing destination is automatically or manually erased. If the shortest route calculation unit 36 is not provided, a large number of address marks are simultaneously displayed on the display map on the display, and the driver determines the shortest route by looking at them.

If the vehicle is located in a place other than expected due to a change in the route, etc. during delivery, the vehicle 1
Since the current position of 4 is always known, if the shortest route calculation process is executed again, the shortest route connecting the current position with the remaining destinations for which delivery has not been completed can be obtained again. .

As described above, according to this embodiment, the place where the destination information (address data) is input can be separated from the vehicle, so that the destination information can be easily input outside the vehicle as a whole. it can.

Further, since the destination information can be entered generally outside the vehicle, a person skilled in the operation of the navigator can enter the information outside the vehicle, and the driver should concentrate on driving the vehicle. You can

Furthermore, when the shortest route calculation unit 36 is provided, the shortest route for sequentially traveling to a plurality of destinations can be automatically calculated and displayed, so that the driver can easily recognize the shortest route. Therefore, it is possible to eliminate the complexity of determining the shortest route by oneself.

In the above embodiment, the floppy disk 32 loaded in the storage medium drive unit 34 and the destination address storage medium 38 are provided as separate bodies, but they are the same medium, for example, mounted / dismounted. The possible floppy disk 32 may also have the function of a destination address storage medium.

The floppy disk 32 has
Although the destination information is generally input outside the vehicle, it goes without saying that the operation unit 31 may be operated to perform the input operation inside the vehicle. Therefore, it is preferable that the storage medium drive unit 34 is configured to have a recording function as well as a reproducing function.

[0046]

As described above, according to the navigation device of the present invention, the following excellent operational effects can be exhibited. Since the destination information storage medium that stores a plurality of destinations can be separated from the moving body, the information input operation to this storage medium can be performed outside the vehicle, and therefore the input operation can be performed efficiently and quickly. Can be done Therefore, the driver can concentrate on the driving of the moving body by performing the input operation by a person skilled in navigation operation skill. In addition, when the shortest route calculator is provided, the shortest route for traveling around multiple destinations in order can be automatically calculated and displayed, so that the driver can easily recognize the shortest route and The complexity of determining the shortest route can be eliminated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a navigation device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a moving body equipped with the navigation device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a flow of a search mode for searching a destination.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of a telephone search mode in which a destination is searched for via a telephone.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a mode flow when a plurality of pieces of destination information are input outside the vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Navigation device, 8 ... Central processing unit, 10 ... CD
-ROM drive, 12 ... azimuth sensor, 14 ... vehicle (moving body), 16 ... mileage sensor, 18 ... position calculation circuit, 22 ... display, 24 ... display controller, 30 ... speaker, 32 ... floppy disk (purpose) Storage medium for geographic information), 34 ... Storage medium drive section, 36 ... Shortest path calculation section, 38 ... Destination address storage medium, 40 ... Telephone, 42 ...
Telephone company, 44 ... control unit.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location G09B 29/10

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A navigation device for displaying, on a display, route guidance information to be taken by an operator of a moving body on the basis of pre-stored map information and current position information, for a plurality of destinations. A storage medium drive unit into which a storage medium for destination information storing destination information can be loaded, and a display control unit for displaying a plurality of destination information fetched from the drive unit on the display. Navigation device. 2. A shortest route that finds the shortest route connecting the destinations based on a plurality of destination information fetched from the storage medium drive unit and the current position information of the moving body. And a display control unit,
The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the shortest route calculated by the shortest route calculation unit is displayed on the display. 3. A navigation device that displays on a display, route guidance information to be taken by an operator of a mobile body based on pre-stored map information and current position information, which corresponds to a destination. An operation unit for inputting a telephone number, a telephone that communicates with an external telephone company in response to an input from the operation unit to take in destination information for the inputted telephone number, and a telephone taken in by the telephone. A navigation device, comprising: a display control unit for displaying destination information on the display.