JPH0735559A - Route guidance device for vehicle and route guidance indication method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To increase the visibility of road information and ensure the proper understanding thereof by showing only road information on a searched route and another road information on a partial surrounding section connected thereto. CONSTITUTION:Data of a destination is entered at a step 4, and a current position is computed at a step 2. Then, a route up to the destination is computed on the basis of the current position and searched at a step 51 for storage at a step 3. After searching the route, an automobile route display control section 52 operates to superpose road information around an automobile, a current automobile position and a travel direction on the route stored at the step 3. When the automobile is travelling along the route, the section 56 performs route travel time display control 56. In other words, a current position 62, a searched route (road 63) where the automobile is travelling, and a surrounding section 61 connected to the road 63 are displayed on a screen. Thereafter, a traffic signal 64 on the route is displayed, and a road connected to a crossing where the automobile should turn and one of road information superposed on the screen are deleted. Then, the names of the road 63 and the road connected thereto are displayed. As a result, only the searched route and partial road information on the road connected thereto are displayed on the screen.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention searches for a route from a departure point of a vehicle to a preset destination point, displays the searched route on a display unit, and displays the route displayed on the display unit. The present invention relates to a route guidance technology for a vehicle, which guides the vehicle to a destination based on the above.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Various devices for reducing the burden on the driver of an automobile have been studied and have been mounted on a vehicle. A vehicle that searches for a route from the current position (or starting point) of the vehicle to the destination point in this type of device, displays the searched route on the display unit, and guides the driver to the destination point. There is a route guidance device (navigation system).

In the current mainstream vehicle route guidance devices, the screen of an in-vehicle CRT as a display unit is as small as several inches.
Therefore, when the road information from the departure point to the destination point, that is, the detailed road information including the searched route and the narrow streets around it, is displayed on the screen of the vehicle-mounted CRT, the amount of information is large, It is not easy for the driver to immediately grasp the road information of the route to the destination. In particular, when the vehicle is traveling, the driver needs to grasp the road information from the screen of the in-vehicle CRT for a short time during the driving operation. Therefore, the driver should grasp the road information immediately. Becomes even more difficult. A vehicle route guidance device capable of solving such a problem is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-13415. The technology disclosed in this publication is a specific road in which information on the searched route itself from the starting point of the own vehicle to a preset destination point and information on a characteristic object near an intersection existing on this route are specified. This is a technology that only displays information and does not display information other than this specific road information. According to the disclosed technology, only specific road information is displayed on the screen of the vehicle-mounted CRT, so that the driver can easily grasp the road information of the route to the destination point immediately.

[0004]

However, in the technique disclosed in the above publication, when the host vehicle is traveling, "the number of main roads and narrow streets crossing this route is exceeded in the searched route. No attention is given to the display of important road information for finding an intersection that should be turned, such as "Do you turn after the intersection?" And "How many traffic lights should you turn before you turn?"

Further, in the technique disclosed in the above publication, no consideration is given to displaying road information for knowing a back road such as "I want to drive a back road while referring to a searched route". .

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and in a vehicle route guidance device, the road information of the searched route itself and the road information of the searched route are provided. An object of the present invention is to display important road information that makes it easy to understand and to improve visibility of road information without displaying unnecessary road information, and to be able to accurately understand road information.

Further, according to the present invention, in the vehicle route guidance device, it is determined whether the searched route is traveling, not traveling, or no route is set. The purpose is to select and display the most suitable road information for the displayed state.

[0008]

In order to achieve such an object, the present invention searches for a route from a departure point of a vehicle to a preset destination point, and displays the searched route on a display unit. In the vehicle route guidance device that guides the host vehicle to the destination point based on the route displayed on the display unit, the road information of the searched route itself and the periphery of the part connected to the route. Displaying road information on the display unit and not displaying road information of a portion that is not connected to the route, and display control means during route traveling and determining whether the own vehicle is traveling on the searched route. A display method selecting means for selecting the route traveling time display control means when the host vehicle is traveling on the route and displaying road information based on the selected route traveling time display control means. Characterized by .

Further, in the vehicle route guiding apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to the route traveling display control means, road information of the searched route itself, road information around a portion connected to the route, and A route non-traveling display control means for displaying road information of a part not connected to the route on the display part, and a road non-setting display control for displaying road information around the departure point of the own vehicle on the display part. The display method selecting means selects the route non-running display control means when it is determined that the host vehicle is not traveling on the searched route, and the display method selecting means The road information is displayed on the basis of the display control means at the time of traveling, the display control means at the time of route non-setting is selected when the own vehicle has not set the destination point, and the road information is displayed at the time of display control means on the route non-setting. indicate And wherein the door.

Further, in the present invention, in the route guiding apparatus for a vehicle, road information of the searched route itself of each of the route running display control means and the route non-running display control means or a portion connected to the route. The surrounding road information is the information of the narrow streets of the road, the presence information of signals that are symbols when driving,
It is characterized in that at least one of the road name information is included.

Further, a route from the departure point of the host vehicle to a preset destination point is searched, the searched route is displayed on the display unit, and the host vehicle is searched based on the route displayed on the display unit. In the route guidance display method of the vehicle route guidance device for guiding the vehicle to the destination point, whether the vehicle is traveling on the searched route, is not traveling, or the vehicle has set the destination point. Based on the determination result of the step of determining whether or not there is no (1),
Select one of the display methods from (2) and (3),
And a step of displaying road information.

(1) When it is determined that the vehicle is traveling on the route, the road information of the searched route itself and the road information around the portion connected to the route are displayed on the display unit, The road information of the part not connected to the route is not displayed.

(2) When it is determined that the vehicle is not traveling on the route, road information of the searched route itself, road information around a portion connected to the route, and a portion not connected to the route The road information of is displayed on the display unit.

(3) When it is determined that the destination is not set, the road information around the current position of the vehicle is displayed on the display unit.

[0015]

According to the present invention, by the above-mentioned means, important road information connected to the searched route, specifically, the number of narrow streets to the intersection in the route to be turned or the positional relationship with respect to the narrow street route, Since the road information such as the number of signals, the positional relationship of the signals with respect to the route, or the road name is displayed, the road information of the searched route itself can be accurately grasped. Moreover, among the road information, unnecessary road information that is not linked to the searched route is not displayed, so that the visibility of the road information is improved,
The driver can immediately grasp the road information. In addition, especially for road names as important road information that makes it easy to understand road information, the road names of roads connected to the searched route are preferentially displayed, and unnecessary road names are not displayed. It is possible to prevent the text information from overlapping due to the rotation of the road information due to the upward direction display (Heading-up), and to further improve the visibility of the road information.

Further, according to the present invention, by the above means, it is determined whether the searched route is traveling, not traveling, or no route is set, and the determined state is determined. You can select and display the optimum road information.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 (block circuit diagram) shows the structure of a vehicle route guiding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle route guidance device includes a map information storage unit 1, a current position measurement unit 2, a route storage unit 3, an input unit 4, a calculation unit 5 and a display unit 6. The map information storage unit 1 stores road information such as roads such as highways and narrow streets, place names (road names, intersection names, etc.), river names, road information (map information) such as signals as symbols in the route,
The stored road information is read out as needed.
The current position measurement unit 2 is a satellite navigation system (hereinafter referred to as GP
GPS receiver 21 using S), a direction sensor 22 that detects the traveling direction of the host vehicle based on the geomagnetism, a steering sensor 23 that detects the changed course from the steering angle of the steering wheel, and a distance sensor that detects the traveling distance based on the rotational speed of the wheels. Based on each of 24, the current position of the host vehicle is measured.

To guide the route from the departure point of the own vehicle to the destination point (search for the route), the input unit 4 is operated to input the destination point by the place name or the like, or from the screen of the display unit 6. This is performed by directly instructing and calculating the route from the current position calculated by the current position measuring unit 2 to the destination point by the route calculation unit 51 of the calculation unit 5. The calculated route is stored in the route storage unit 3.

In this embodiment, the starting point of the route search is the current position measured by the current position measuring section 2. However, basically, the point which is separately input from the input section 4 is used as the starting point. You can also search.

After inputting a destination and searching and determining a route, route guidance is actually performed. The own vehicle route display control unit 52 included in the calculation unit 5 reads road information (map information) around the own vehicle from the map information storage unit 1,
The current position and traveling direction of the own vehicle and the route stored in the route storage unit 3 are superimposed and displayed on the display unit 6.

The display unit 6 is provided in the instrument panel near the driver's seat. The driver can check the position of the own vehicle from the road information displayed on the display unit 6 by looking at the display unit 6 and obtain information on future routes.

The vehicle route display control unit 52 of the calculation unit 5 includes a display method selection unit 53 and a route unset display control unit 5.
4, a display control unit 55 when the route is not traveling and a display control unit 56 when the route is traveling.

The route non-setting display control section 54 displays on the display section 6 road information near the departure point or the current position of the vehicle. An example of this display is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, since the destination point is not set and the route to the destination point is not searched, the road information around the periphery of the vehicle is displayed. The road 61 is indicated by a thin solid line, the position 62 of the own vehicle is indicated by a circle, and the traveling direction of the own vehicle is indicated by a wedge arrow in the circle. The screen displayed is
In the traveling direction upward (Heading-up) display, the current position (or departure point) of the host vehicle is displayed on the lower side of the screen, and the traveling direction of the host vehicle is displayed on the upper side of the screen. Since the current position is displayed below the center of the screen and the display range in the traveling direction is set wide, a lot of road information can be obtained when the vehicle travels in the future. As the road names displayed on the screen, the road name at the current position and the road names in the vicinity thereof are preferentially displayed. Although the road names are different depending on the country, all roads are named especially in the United States. Therefore, by not displaying the names of all roads, it is possible to prevent the screen from becoming complicated. Further, it is possible to prevent the text information from overlapping when the traveling direction of the own vehicle changes and the displayed screen rotates.

The non-traveling route display control unit 55 displays on the display unit 6 the road information of the searched route, the road information around the portion connected to the route, and the road information of the portion not connected to the route. To do. An example of this display is shown in FIG. In FIG. 3, the destination is set and the route to the destination is being searched. The road information of the searched route is the information of the road 63 indicated by a thick solid line from the departure point to the destination point, the information of the road name of the road 63, and the presence of the signal 64 as a symbol in the road 63. At least include each of the information.
The road information around the part connected to the route is information on a part of a road (whisker-shaped road) of a main road or a narrow street connected to the searched route (road 63), and the name of this part of the road. Information of each of the roads, and at least each of the information of signals of connection points of the roads. The road information of the portion that is not connected to the route includes at least information of the searched route (road 63) and the road 61 other than the road connected to this route. Aside from the vicinity of the current position of the host vehicle, the visibility of the road information of the portion not connected to the route is poor, and thus the road name and the signal are not displayed in principle as much as possible.

The route traveling display control unit 56 displays the road information of the searched route itself and the road information around the portion connected to the route on the display unit 6, and the road of the portion not connected to the route. Do not display information. An example of this display is shown in FIG. In Figure 4, the destination is set,
The route to the destination is searched, and the own vehicle is traveling on the searched route. The display of the road information of the searched route itself and the display of the road information around the portion connected to the route are the same as above.
Further, the road information of the portion not connected to the route means here a road other than the searched route (road 63) and a road connected to this route in order to further improve the visibility while the vehicle is traveling. It includes at least 61 information, road name information and signal presence information. Road information of the part not connected to this route is not displayed.

The display method selection unit 53 determines whether or not the own vehicle has set a destination and whether or not the own vehicle is traveling on the searched route, and based on the result of this judgment, the route is selected. Non-setting display control unit 54, non-traveling route display control unit 5
5. Any one of the route traveling display control units 56 is selected, and any one of the screen displays shown in FIGS. 2 to 4 is displayed.

Next, the operation of the display method selection unit 53 will be described using the operation flow of FIG.

First, the operation flow is started (71),
In the display method selection unit 53, it is judged whether or not the destination is set and the route is searched and set (72). If the route has not been searched, the route unset display control unit 54
Is selected and the route unset display control is performed (74). FIG. 6 shows an operation flow of the route unset display control.

The operation flow shown in FIG. 6 is started (7
40). First, the current position is displayed on the screen (741), and the road on which the vehicle is traveling and its vicinity are displayed (74).
2). Next, according to the scale, the road 61 with a certain width or more
(See FIG. 2) is displayed (743). When displaying the road 61, roads important for the road network, for example, highways, national roads, main trunk roads, and the like may be displayed. Next, a signal mark that is a symbol of the road on which the vehicle is traveling is displayed (744), and the name of the road on which the vehicle is traveling is displayed (74).
5). Next, the name of the road being displayed that is connected (connected or linked) to the road that is running is displayed near the road that is running (746). The screen shown in FIG. 2 is displayed by a series of these operation flows. The screen provides detailed road information for the entire area where the vehicle is currently traveling, allowing the driver to freely select the road he or she wants to drive. In addition,
Due to the type of road, the important road name may be displayed as the important road name 65 as shown in FIG. 9 even if the road is not connected to the road on which the vehicle is traveling.

In the operation flow shown in FIG. 5, it is judged whether or not a route is set for search (72), and if the route is searched for, it is determined whether or not the searched route is running. Judge (73). This determination is performed by the display method selection unit 53, and when the route is not traveling, the route non-traveling display control unit 55 is selected and the route non-traveling display control is performed (75). FIG. 7 shows an operation flow of the display control when the route is not traveling.

The operation flow shown in FIG. 7 is started (7
50). First, the current position is displayed on the screen (751), and the road on which the vehicle is traveling and its vicinity are displayed (751).
2). Next, the road 63 (see FIG. 3) of the searched route is displayed (753). Then, the road 61 having a certain road width or more is displayed according to the scale (754). This road 61
When displaying, the roads important to the road network may be displayed, as described above. Next, a signal mark that is a symbol of the road on which the vehicle is traveling is displayed (755), and a signal mark on the searched route is displayed (757). Next, the name of the road on which the vehicle is running is displayed (758), and the name of the road on the searched route is displayed (759). Next, the name of the road being displayed, which is connected to the road being driven, is displayed near the road being driven (760). The screen shown in FIG. 3 is displayed by a series of these operation flows. The screen provides detailed road information about the searched route and general road information about the area where the vehicle is currently traveling, and while referring to the route, the driver can freely drive the back road that he / she wants to drive, and search later. You can go back to the route you took.

In the operation flow shown in FIG. 5, when the vehicle is traveling on the route, the route traveling display control unit 56 is selected and the route traveling display control is performed (76). FIG. 8 shows an operation flow of the display control during route travel.

The operation flow shown in FIG. 8 is started (7
80). First, the current position is displayed on the screen (781), and the searched route (road 63) on which the vehicle is traveling is displayed on the screen (782). Next, the road 63 of the searched route
A peripheral portion of the road connected (linked), for example, about 1 cm in length (whisker) on the screen from the route is displayed as shown in FIG. 4 (783). Next, a signal mark which is a symbol on the route is displayed (784). Next, turn off the display of the road information of the road (bearded road) connected to the route of the turning point (intersection) on the route (for example,
The same color as the background color of the screen is displayed), and one display of the road information displayed in duplicate is deleted (785). Next, the road name on the route is displayed (786), and the road name is displayed on the road (bearded road) connected to the route (787). The screen shown in FIG. 4 is displayed by a series of these operation flows. The road information of the searched route and the partial road information of the roads connected to this route are provided in detail on the screen. Therefore, the visibility of the road information of the searched route can be improved even in the traveling state, and the road information can be accurately grasped. Instead of displaying the road name, an intersection name may be displayed.

Then, in the operation flow shown in FIG. 5, after displaying road information suitable for running, it is judged whether the engine of the own vehicle is operating or stopped (77), and the engine is operating. The screen display is updated when there is a certain time, and the screen display is stopped when the engine is stopped (78).

The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, but various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, according to the present invention, an arrow indicating the traveling direction may be displayed at the intersection in the searched route during the screen display.

Further, according to the present invention, when the screen is displayed, the searched route is colored differently from the unsearched route,
The visibility of the searched route may be further enhanced.

Further, in the present invention, when the screen is displayed, voice information such as "turn at the next intersection" may be output together.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Important road information linked to the searched route, specifically, the number of narrow streets up to the intersection that is about to turn in the route, the positional relationship to the route of the narrow street, the number of signals and the positional relationship of signals to the route, the road Since the road information of one of the names is displayed, the road information of the searched route itself can be accurately grasped. Moreover, among the road information, unnecessary road information that is not linked to the searched route is not displayed, so that the visibility of the road information is improved and the driver can immediately grasp the road information.

Further, according to the present invention, since the road names of the roads connected to the searched route are preferentially displayed and unnecessary road names are not displayed, the visibility of the road information can be improved.

Further, according to the present invention, it is determined whether the vehicle is traveling on the searched route, not traveling, or no route is set, and the determined state is set. You can select and display the optimum road information.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle route guidance device that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen when a route is not set.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen when not traveling.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen during traveling.

FIG. 5 is an operation flow diagram of a display method selection unit.

FIG. 6 is an operation flow chart of a route unset table time indication control unit.

FIG. 7 is an operation flow diagram of a display control unit when the route is not traveling.

FIG. 8 is an operation flowchart of a display control unit during route travel.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another example of a display screen when a route is not set.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 map information storage unit 2 current position measurement unit 3 route storage unit 4 input unit 5 calculation unit 6 display unit 51 route calculation unit 52 vehicle route display control unit 53 display method selection unit 54 route non-display display control unit 55 route non Running display control unit 56 Route running display control unit 61, 63 Road 62 Current position 64 Signal

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A route from a departure point of the own vehicle to a preset destination point is searched, the searched route is displayed on a display unit, and the own vehicle is displayed based on the route displayed on the display unit. In a vehicle route guidance device for guiding the vehicle to a destination point, the road information of the searched route itself and the road information around the portion connected to the route are displayed on the display unit, and the road of the portion not connected to the route is displayed. When the vehicle is traveling on the route, it is determined whether or not the host vehicle is traveling on the route searched for, which does not display information, and when the vehicle is traveling on the route. A route guidance device for a vehicle, comprising: a display method selecting unit that selects a display control unit and displays road information based on the selected route traveling display control unit. 2. The vehicle route guidance device according to claim 1, wherein, in addition to the route travel time display control means, road information of the searched route and road information around a portion connected to the route. , And a road non-running display control unit that displays road information of a portion that is not connected to the route on the display unit, and displays road information around the current position of the own vehicle on the display unit when the route is not set. Display control means, the display method selection means, when it is determined that the host vehicle is not traveling on the searched route, selects the display control means when the route is not running, and the selected Road information is displayed based on the route non-traveling display control means, and when the destination point of the own vehicle is not set, the route non-setting display control means is selected, and based on the route non-setting display control means. Road information A vehicle route guidance device characterized by displaying. 3. The vehicle route guidance apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the road information of each route searched by the route traveling display control means and the route non-traveling display control means, or The road information around the part connected to the route includes at least one of information of a narrow street of the road, existence information of a signal serving as a symbol at the time of traveling, and information of a road name. Vehicle route guidance device. 4. A route from a departure point of the own vehicle to a preset destination point is searched, the searched route is displayed on a display unit, and the own vehicle is displayed based on the route displayed on the display unit. In a route guidance display method of a route guidance device for a vehicle for guiding a vehicle to a destination point, the vehicle is traveling on a searched route, not traveling, or when the destination point is not set. And a step of displaying road information by selecting one of the following display methods (1), (2), and (3) based on the determination result. A route guidance display method for a vehicle route guidance device. (1) When it is determined that the vehicle is traveling, the road information of the searched route itself and the road information around the portion connected to the route are displayed on the display unit, and the portion not connected to the route is displayed. Do not display the road information of. (2) When it is determined that the vehicle is not traveling, the road information of the searched route itself, the road information around a portion connected to the route, and the road information of a portion not connected to the route are displayed. To be displayed on the department. (3) When it is determined that the destination is not set, the road information around the current position of the vehicle is displayed on the display unit.