JPH0765288A - Tour time display device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain the tour time display device which can display a tour time in an easy-to-see state for a user by displaying tour time information included in traffic information so that the tour time information correspond to the part between specified intersections. CONSTITUTION:A control unit 15 inputs the tour time information to an on- vehicle device 2 by user's access to a center device 1 and then specifies the names of intersections corresponding to a mesh number and a link number included in the inputted tour time information by referring to a table stored in a storage device 14. When the control unit 15 can specify all parts between intersections on a line that the user desires, tour time information corresponding to the parts between he intersections is edited so that the information can be displayed in list format. The tour time can be displayed clearly in large characters differently from conventional technology which superimposes tour information on a road map. Consequently, the display becomes easy to see for the user.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a traffic information providing system for displaying a travel time required for a vehicle to travel between intersections of a predetermined route to a user.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, traffic information has been provided by connecting a vehicle-mounted device such as a navigation device mounted on a vehicle and a central center device with a communication network to provide predetermined traffic information from the central center device to the vehicle-mounted device. Research and development of the provision system is progressing. Such traffic information providing systems include, for example, those using a car telephone network, those using a communication device (beacon transmitter) installed on the roadside, and those using FM multiplex communication. Is proposed.

More specifically, in a system using an automobile telephone line transmission network, predetermined traffic information is sent from a central center device to an in-vehicle device via the automobile telephone line network. The in-vehicle device includes an automobile telephone, a control device, a navigation device, and the like. When the traffic information is received by the car telephone, the traffic information is edited into a predetermined display format by the control device, and the edited traffic information is displayed on the display device together with the road map.

Further, in the system using the beacon transmitter, the traffic information is transmitted from the central center device to the beacon transmitter, and the beacon transmitter radiates a radio wave containing the traffic information in a relatively narrow range. As a vehicle-mounted device, a beacon receiver is provided instead of the car telephone in the system using the car telephone network. When the beacon receiver receives a radio wave including traffic information, the traffic information included in the radio wave is sent to the control device. After that, the same operation as that of the system configured using the automobile telephone network is performed.

The traffic information transmitted from the central center device or the beacon transmitter includes traffic congestion information, accident information,
Construction information and travel time information are included. Of these, the travel time information is time information necessary for the vehicle to travel between the intersections of the respective routes such as the national highway x and the highway y. In the display of the travel time in both systems, as shown in FIG. 6, a number indicating the travel time is overlaid and displayed on the road map. Each displayed number represents the travel time between each intersection of the route. That is, the user can confirm the travel time between the intersections of the specific routes by looking at the displayed numbers. Further, by adding these numbers, it is possible to obtain the travel time between arbitrary intersections. For example, by adding 5 minutes of travel time from the intersection a to the intersection b and 6 minutes of travel time from the intersection b to the intersection c, 11 minutes of the travel time from the intersection a to the intersection c can be obtained. .

[0006]

By the way, when displaying the travel time, the user usually causes the display device to display a road map of a relatively wide range to obtain the travel time to a predetermined point. In other words, a map with a small scale is displayed as a whole, and the letters and numbers are accordingly displayed in a small size. On the other hand, a vehicle-mounted display device usually has coarse pixels, so that characters and numbers cannot be clearly displayed. Therefore, in the display of travel time, the number indicating the travel time is displayed in a small and coarse manner on the display device having coarse pixels, which is very difficult for the user to see.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, since the travel time is displayed for each intersection, for example, when trying to obtain the travel time to the destination, each number must be added in the head. It was very inconvenient because it didn't happen. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned technical problems and to provide a travel time display device capable of displaying travel time in a form that is easy for the user to see.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a travel time display device according to claim 1 is a code representing traffic information including travel time information corresponding to each intersection on a predetermined route between the intersections. In a traffic information providing system including a central device that is transmitted together with the central device, and an in-vehicle device that receives the traffic information transmitted from the central device by a receiving unit and provides the user with the traffic information, the in-vehicle device is provided with a corresponding code When the traffic information is received by the receiving means and the storage means in which the intersection name is stored in advance, the storage means determines which intersection the travel time information included in the traffic information corresponds to. Identifying means for identifying based on the stored code and the received code;
A travel time display device including display means for displaying the received travel time information in correspondence with the specified intersections when the intersections corresponding to the travel time information are specified by the specifying means. It is characterized by including display control means for displaying the travel time information in a list form for each route on the display means.

A travel time display device according to a second aspect is the travel time display device according to the first aspect, further including a computing means for computing a travel time from a reference point, and the display control means. The travel time from the reference point calculated by the calculation means is displayed on the display device in a list form for each route. A travel time display device according to a third aspect is the travel time display device according to the second aspect, further comprising a selection unit that allows a user to select the reference point.

A travel time display device according to a fourth aspect is the travel time display device according to the first, second or third aspect, wherein the storage means drives a vehicle between intersections of a predetermined route. The display control means stores in advance the standard time data required for the route, and when the travel time information transmitted from the central device cannot be received, the display control means stores the standard time data stored in the storage means for each route. Is displayed in a list form on the display means.

[0011]

According to the structure described in claim 1, the travel time information is controlled by the display control means so that the travel time can be displayed on the display means in a list form for each route. Therefore,
It is possible to display the travel time clearly and in large letters without using a road map. That is, the travel time can be displayed in a form that is easy for the user to see.

According to the second aspect of the invention, for example, the travel time from the reference point to the predetermined point can be directly displayed. In this case, according to the third aspect of the invention, the reference point can be the current position of the vehicle, for example. Further, according to the configuration of claim 4, even when the travel time information cannot be received from the central device, the travel time can be displayed on the display means in a list form based on the standard time data stored in advance.
Therefore, for example, when a vehicle equipped with an in-vehicle device is traveling in an area where a received electric field cannot be obtained, such as a building street or a tunnel, or when the central device does not transmit travel time information, only the travel time information that is missing is displayed. Even if you can't get it,
The missing travel time information can be supplemented with standard time data.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram briefly showing the configuration of a traffic information providing system including a travel time display device. This traffic information providing system is composed of a central center device 1, an in-vehicle device 2, and an automobile telephone network 3 that wirelessly connects the central center device 1 and the in-vehicle device 2.

More specifically, the central center apparatus 1 includes a traffic control system 4 for collecting traffic information including travel time information from various vehicle detectors installed on the road.
The provider is provided with an input console 5 for inputting guidance information and the like such as a full state of the parking lot. The travel time information includes traffic congestion information, road regulation information, weather, etc. when the traffic control system 4 is collecting information, and changes every moment. This system has a function of transmitting this varying travel time information to the user. In addition, the travel time information includes information about routes included in the range covered by the central center device 1.

Further, the central center apparatus 1 edits the guide information input from the input desk 5 and the travel time information collected by the traffic control system 4 and the like, a traffic information providing apparatus 6
And a telephone 8 for sending travel time information and the like output from the traffic information providing device 6 via the automatic incoming modem 7 to the in-vehicle device 2 via the car telephone network 3.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a transmission packet of travel time information. Travel time information packet 2 transmitted in time series from the central center device 1 via the automobile telephone network 3.
0 has information type data JD indicating that it is travel time information at the head. Following this information type data JD, mesh numbers X and Y, which will be described later, are transmitted, and thereafter, link numbers A to F and their link numbers R1 to R6.
The time information T1 to T6 between the intersections corresponding to is transmitted continuously for each link number R1 to R6.

Here, the mesh numbers X and Y are numbers assigned to each mesh map obtained by vertically and horizontally dividing a Japanese road map, and the link numbers R1 to R6 are intersections of roads, etc. It is a number given to a link formed by connecting the nodes indicating the coordinate positions of. Referring again to FIG. 2, the vehicle-mounted device 2 is connected to the automobile telephone network 3, receives the travel time information transmitted from the central center device 1, and can access the central center device 1 arbitrarily. Device 9, a navigation device 10 for detecting the current position of the vehicle and displaying the current position and the like together with a road map, travel time information received by the car telephone 9 and output through the car telephone modem 11, etc. Device 1 for outputting information to the navigation device 10
2 and.

The navigation device 10 includes a position detecting device 13 for detecting the current position of the vehicle based on sensor outputs from a distance sensor and an azimuth sensor (not shown), and a storage device 14 in which a road map and a table described later are stored in advance. It has and. A CD-ROM or an IC card can be applied to the storage device 14, for example. The position detecting device 13 is configured to detect the current position by so-called dead reckoning based on the sensor outputs from the distance sensor and the azimuth sensor.
obal Positioning System) The present position may be detected by using a technique for measuring the propagation delay time of radio waves transmitted from a satellite and performing positioning. Further, the current position may be detected based on the position information transmitted from the beacon transmitter installed on the road side.

Further, the navigation device 10 is constructed such that when the position detecting device 13 detects the current position of the vehicle,
A control device 1 that reads out a road map around it from the storage device 14 and performs various controls based on travel time information that includes traffic jam information and the like given from the communication device 12
5, a display device 16 that is a display unit that displays the current position, travel time information, and the like on a road map, and operation keys 17 for the user to perform various operations. In this embodiment, the device including the storage device 14, the control device 15 and the display device 16 is a travel time display device. The control device 15 functions as a specifying unit, a display control unit, and a calculation unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a table stored in the storage device 14. The table stored in the storage device 14 associates the mesh numbers and the link numbers with the names of the intersections that have a one-to-one correspondence with the links with the link numbers. Therefore,
When the intersection name corresponding to the mesh number and the link number is specified, the link with the link number can be specified. That is, it is possible to identify the intersections corresponding to the travel time information transmitted from the central center device 1. The intersection is a start node of a link that has a one-to-one correspondence with the intersection. The link number corresponds to the code.

Although not shown in FIG. 4, the storage device 14 stores standard travel times corresponding to the respective intersections. This standard travel time is statistically generally the travel time required to drive a vehicle between the intersections. This standard travel time is stored for use when travel time information cannot be received from the central center device 1. That is, for example
When traveling in the tunnel, it is difficult to receive the radio wave transmitted from the central center device 1. Therefore, at this time, even if an attempt is made to obtain travel time information, the travel time information cannot be obtained. That is, in such a case, the standard travel time is stored so that the travel time information can be provided to the user.

The control operation of the controller 15 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 2 and 4 again. In the control device 15, after the user fetches the travel time information into the vehicle-mounted device 2 by accessing the central center device 1,
When the user performs various operations such as selecting a desired route and a reference intersection described later, the intersection name corresponding to the mesh number and the link number included in the taken travel time information is stored in the storage device 14. It is specified by referring to the stored table. That is, for example, the mesh number and the link number included in the travel time information transmitted from the central center device 1 are 53395, respectively.
If it is 0,002, the intersection name corresponding to each number is specified as "Kodomeura", and if the mesh number and the link number are 533950,001 respectively, the intersection name corresponding to each number is specified. Is specified as the "Mehara Kaido Entrance". This corresponds to specifying the intersections corresponding to the travel time information as described above (see the description of FIG. 4).

When all the intersections on the route desired by the user can be specified, the control device 15 edits the travel time information corresponding to the intersections so that the travel time information can be displayed in a list form. On the other hand, when there is an unidentified intersection, the travel time information corresponding to the identified intersection and the standard time information stored between the intersections and stored in the storage device 14 can be displayed in a list form. To edit.

After the travel time information is edited, a travel time display screen as shown in FIG. 1 is displayed on the display device 16.
The travel time display screen will be described more specifically. In the upper right part of the screen, a route name 30 indicating which route of which travel time information is related to is displayed. In addition, on the left side of the screen, there are intersections A,
The names of B, C and D are displayed in order. As in the scroll display 31 displayed at the bottom of the screen, other intersection names can be sequentially displayed by scrolling.

Furthermore, the travel time 32 between the intersections A, B, C, D displayed on the left side of the screen is displayed in the left column on the right side of the screen. That is, “04” represents the travel time from the intersection A to the intersection B, and “02” represents the travel time from the intersection B to the intersection C. Note that this number is displayed on a lateral extension line (indicated by a broken line in the drawing) between the displayed intersection names. This is because the travel time 32 represents the travel time between the intersections A, B, C and D.

Furthermore, in the right column on the right side of the same screen,
Travel time from standard intersection A to each intersection B, C, D 3
3 is displayed. However, the reference intersection can be freely selected by the user with the screen key displayed on the screen, and the intersection B may be set as the reference intersection, if desired by the user. The travel time 33 is obtained by adding the travel time between each intersection by the control device 15. Specifically, “06”, which represents the travel time from the intersection A to the intersection C, is obtained by adding the travel times between the intersections A and B and between the intersections B and C, and the travel from the intersection A to the intersection D is obtained. “14” representing time is obtained by adding travel times between the intersections A and B, between the intersections B and C, and between the intersections C and D.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for specifically explaining a user operation. Hereinafter, the user's operation will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 5. As described above, the operation described below is performed after the travel time information has been fetched from the central center device 1 to the vehicle-mounted device 2 in advance. When the user operates the "information" key of the operation keys 17 (Fig. 5 (a)), the traffic information display setting menu screen is displayed on the display device 16 (Fig. 5 (b)). Then
When the user selects “travel time display” (not shown) in the traffic information display setting menu screen with the cursor and then operates the “setting” key in the operation keys 17,
In order to allow the user to select which route the travel time information is to be obtained from among the travel time information regarding a plurality of routes that have already been captured by the in-vehicle device 2, as shown in FIG. 5 (c), The selection menu screen is displayed on the display device 16. Of each line displayed on this menu screen,
For example, "1st Keihin, Down" is selected with the cursor,
When the “setting” key is operated, in order to select the intersection from which the travel time information is to be displayed next, FIG.
As shown in (d), the reference intersection selection menu screen is displayed on the display device 16.

Of the intersections displayed on this menu screen, for example, "Higashishinbashi" is selected with the cursor,
After that, when the “setting” key is operated, after the travel time information is edited in the control device 15, as shown in FIG. 5 (e), the travel time between the adjacent intersections from Higashi Shinbashi, A travel time information screen including travel times from Higashi-Shimbashi to each intersection is displayed on the display device 16.

That is, "004" in the left column of the number represents travel time from Higashi-Shimbashi to Shimbashi station, "002" represents the travel time from Shimbashi station to Shibashi, and "006" in the right column of the number. Is the travel time from Higashi-Shimbashi to Shiba-shi, "01
"4" represents the travel time from Higashi-Shimbashi to Shibago. After that, when the “SET” key is operated, the screen returns to the arbitrary screen shown in FIG. 5 (a) (FIG. 5 (f)).

As described above, according to the travel time display device of this embodiment, the travel time information is displayed in the form of a list 16
Since it is displayed in, the travel time can be clearly displayed in large letters. Therefore, the travel time can be displayed in a form that is easy for the user to see. Further, since the travel time from the reference intersection to each intersection can be displayed in a list form, it is not necessary to mentally calculate the travel time to the destination, for example. Therefore, the burden on the user can be reduced.

Although the embodiments have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the configuration example of obtaining travel time information by using the automobile telephone network has been described. However, for example, a configuration using a beacon transmitter installed on the roadside may be used, and FM multiplex communication is used. It may be configured to.
Furthermore, the present invention can be applied not only to the configuration using the automobile telephone network, the beacon transmitter, and the FM multiplex communication, but also to other various configurations that can obtain travel time information.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, travel time information is obtained using a car telephone. However, for example, an ordinary telephone (either dial or push) may be mounted on the IC card mounted on the vehicle before traveling. It is also possible to connect the storage means such as etc. via a modem and obtain the travel time information via a telephone. With such a configuration, the telephone charge for obtaining travel time information can be reduced.

In addition, various design changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0034]

As described above, according to the travel time display device of the present invention, the travel time can be displayed in the form of a list for each route, so that the travel time is displayed on the road map in an overlapping manner. Differently, the travel time can be clearly displayed in large letters. Therefore, it becomes easy for the user to see.

Particularly, in the configuration according to claim 2 or 3,
Since the travel time from the reference point can also be displayed in the form of a list, the burden on the user can be significantly reduced, unlike the prior art in which the travel time information to the predetermined point cannot be obtained unless the user calculates. Further, in the configuration according to claim 4,
For example, even when the travel time information is missing during traveling in a building street, the missing travel time information can be supplemented. Therefore, the travel time information can be obtained in a completely close form.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a travel time display screen in a traffic information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram briefly showing a configuration of the traffic information providing system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a transmission packet of travel time information.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a table stored in a storage device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the vehicle-mounted device by the user.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a conventional travel time display.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Central Center Device 2 Vehicle-mounted Device 3 Car Telephone Network 13 Storage Device 14 Control Device 15 Display Device 20 Travel Time Information Packet 32, 33 Travel Time Display

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A central device for transmitting traffic information including travel time information corresponding to each intersection on a predetermined route together with a code representing the intersection, and a receiving means for receiving the traffic information transmitted from the central device. In a traffic information providing system including an in-vehicle device provided to a user, when the in-vehicle device is provided with a storage unit in which an intersection name corresponding to a code is stored in advance and the receiving unit receives the traffic information. And an identifying means for identifying which intersection the travel time information included in the traffic information corresponds to, based on the code stored in the storage means and the received code, and the identifying means. When the intersections corresponding to the travel time information are specified by the table, the received travel time information is displayed in association with the specified intersections. A travel time display device including display means, comprising display control means for displaying the travel time information on a list form for each route on the display means. 2. The travel time display device according to claim 1, further comprising calculation means for calculating travel time from a reference point, wherein the display control means is based on the reference point calculated by the calculation means. The travel time display device for displaying the travel time of each of the routes in a list form on the display means. 3. The travel time display device according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising selection means by which a user can select the reference point. 4. The travel time display device according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the storage means stores in advance standard time data required for a vehicle to travel between intersections of a predetermined route. When the travel time information transmitted from the central device cannot be received, the display control means causes the display means to display the standard time data stored in the storage means in a list form for each route. A travel time display device characterized in that