JPH08128835A - Map display in navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To display the road map around the position of an own vehicle on a main screen even if a window is being displayed by showing a car mark indicating the current position of the vehicle, along with the road map, at the center of a rectangular region other than a region for showing the window. CONSTITUTION: When no window display is specified or it is judged that a vehicle does not approach a point which is ahead of a main intersection by a specific distance, a car mark M indicating the current position of the detected vehicle is displayed at a screen center O1 of a display 8. When the window display is specified and it is judged that the vehicle approaches a point which is ahead of the intersection by a specific distance, a rectangular region other than a region required for window display and center coordinates are recognized based on the size of the window to be displayed and a detailed map around the current position of the vehicle is displayed on a window Wd. When the vehicle approaches a point which is ahead of the main intersection by a specific distance, the diagram of the intersection is displayed on the window Wd.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a map display device in a navigation device capable of easily displaying a car mark representing the current position of a vehicle and a map around the car mark even when a window is displayed on the map screen.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a vehicle-mounted navigation device has been used to display a car mark showing the current position of the vehicle on a display device together with a road map around the vehicle in order to support traveling by a vehicle on an unfamiliar land. Has been done. The car mark is usually displayed in the center of the displayed map so that the driver can easily confirm the position of the vehicle.

By the way, when a wide area map is displayed in order to confirm the position of the vehicle, the shape cannot be accurately confirmed, especially in the vicinity of unguided roads and intersections with complicated shapes.
Therefore, as the navigation device, there has been proposed a device capable of displaying a detailed map around the current position of the vehicle and a schematic diagram of an intersection in a predetermined area of the map screen in a window. Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, the window Wd
A detailed map around the vehicle position is displayed on.

[0004]

However, in the navigation device having the window display function, the car mark is always displayed at the center of the display screen. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, the car mark displayed on the main screen is displayed. A part of the road map near the mark M will be hidden by the window Wd. Therefore, it was particularly difficult for the driver to check the road map around the vehicle position on the main screen.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned technical problem, and even when a window is displayed,
It is to provide a map display device in a navigation device that allows a main screen to easily confirm a road map around a vehicle position.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a map display device according to a first aspect of the present invention has a designating means for designating a window display and a window display when the window display is designated by the designating means. , Including a rectangular area detecting means for detecting a rectangular area other than the area in which the window should be displayed, and a display control means for displaying a car mark together with a road map at the center of the rectangular area detected by the rectangular area detecting means. Characterize.

In the window, for example, a detailed map around the current position of the vehicle or a schematic diagram of an intersection is displayed. The map display device according to claim 2 further comprises front wide setting means capable of setting a front wide function,
The display control means further includes a direction recognition means capable of recognizing a traveling direction of the vehicle, and the display control means, when the front wide function is set by the front wide setting means, the rectangular area detected by the rectangular area detection means. The car mark is displayed together with the road map at a position moved by a predetermined length in a direction opposite to the traveling direction of the vehicle recognized by the direction recognizing means from the center.

The front wide function is a function of displaying a wide display area in the forward direction of the vehicle.

[0009]

According to the above-mentioned structure, when the window display is designated, the car mark indicating the current position of the vehicle is displayed together with the road map in the center of the rectangular area other than the area where the window is to be displayed. Therefore, the road map around the car mark can be easily confirmed on the main screen as compared with the conventional technique in which a part of the road map around the car mark that is always displayed in the center of the display screen is hidden by a window.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the front wide function is set, the car mark is in a direction opposite to the traveling direction of the vehicle from the center of the detected rectangular area. Since it is displayed at a position moved by a predetermined length, the road map around the car mark can be easily confirmed on the main screen, and the road map in the forward direction of the vehicle can also be easily confirmed on the main screen at the same time.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device to which the map display device of the present invention is applied. This car navigation system has
A distance sensor 1 that detects the amount of movement of the vehicle and an azimuth sensor 2 that detects the amount of change in the azimuth of the vehicle are provided.

The above-mentioned distance sensor 1 detects the amount of movement of the vehicle by acquiring a vehicle speed signal from a wheel speed sensor or an engine control unit (ECU) which detects the amount of movement of the vehicle based on the number of rotations of the tire. Is applicable. A gyro such as a vibration gyro, an optical fiber gyro, or a gas rate gyro can be applied to the direction sensor 2.

The outputs of the distance sensor 1 and the azimuth sensor 2 are given to the position detecting device 3. In the position detecting device 3, when the outputs of the distance sensor 1 and the azimuth sensor 2 are given, the current position of the vehicle is calculated based on the given outputs. Specifically, the outputs of the distance sensor 1 and the azimuth sensor 2 are integrated over a predetermined time (for example, 1.2 seconds) to obtain the movement amount and the azimuth change amount of the vehicle, and the obtained movement amount and azimuth of the vehicle are obtained. The current position of the vehicle is calculated by accumulating the amount of change in a preset accurate initial position.

For detecting the current position in the position detecting device 3, a so-called map matching method (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
See JP-A 63-148115 and JP-A 64-53112. ) May be used in combination. That is, the current position is corrected to a position on the road in the vicinity thereof by utilizing the fact that the position of the vehicle is limited to the road in principle, and the current position is corrected to the road. Thereby, the distance sensor 1 and the direction sensor 2
It is possible to prevent the error of the current position detected based on each output such as from being accumulated and improve the accuracy of position detection.

A beacon receiver may be connected to the position detecting device 3. The beacon receiver is for receiving data such as position information and road information (intersection name, destination guidance, traffic jam information, accident information) radiated from a beacon antenna installed on the roadside or the like. The road information received by the beacon receiver is given to the display control device described later, and finally displayed on the display device described later.

Further, the position detecting device 3 has a GPS (Gl
obal Positioning System) A receiver may be connected. The GPS receiver receives radio waves transmitted from GPS satellites that are orbiting the earth. The position detection device 3 can accurately detect the absolute position of the vehicle or directly detect the current position of the vehicle based on the propagation delay time of the received radio waves.

The current position data of the vehicle detected by the position detection device 3 is given to the display control device 4. The display control device 4 functions as, for example, a rectangular area detecting means and a display control means constituted by a microcomputer including a CPU, a RAM and a ROM. The display control device 4 includes a CD-ROM, an IC card or A CD drive 6 in which a road map memory 5 including a mini disk (MD) is loaded, a joystick remote controller (hereinafter referred to as "joystick remote controller") 7,
A display device 8 including a liquid crystal display device (LCD), a plasma display device, a CRT, or the like, and having a display screen of, for example, vertical (Y axis) 220 × horizontal (X axis) 289 dots is connected.

In this embodiment, the azimuth sensor 2 is used.
The display control device 4 corresponds to the direction recognition means. The road map memory 5 stores a plurality of types of scale map data. The road map data of each scale is composed of mesh units obtained by dividing the map of Japan so as to correspond to each scale.

FIG. 5 shows the joystick remote controller 7 described above.
It is a figure which shows the external appearance structure. The joystick remote controller 7 executes the following functions in response to being operated by the driver, and is a joystick / set key 71, a rotary key 72, a map key 73, a scale key 74 and a menu key 75 which are designating means. Is equipped with.

The above joystick / set key 71
Can specify that a detailed map around the current position of the vehicle or a schematic diagram of an intersection is displayed as a window. The rotary key 72 can select a north-up function in which the north always faces the upper part of the display screen and a heading-up function in which the traveling direction of the vehicle always faces the upper part of the display screen.

The map key 73 can display a map screen including a car mark showing a current position of the vehicle and a road map around the car, which will be described later, on the display device 8. The scale key 74 is for changing (enlarging / reducing) the scale of the road map displayed on the display device 8.

The menu key 75 is for displaying a menu screen. The menu screen includes, for example, a front wide designation key (not shown) which is a front wide setting means. The front wide is a function of displaying a wide display area in the forward direction of the vehicle. The above-mentioned wide amount may be set arbitrarily by the driver, or may be fixed in advance.

Returning to FIG. 4, in the display control device 4,
When the current position data of the vehicle is given from the position detecting device 3, the road map data around the current position is read from the road map memory 5 through the CD drive 6. And
The read road map data and the current position data of the vehicle are given to the display device 8, and the display device 8 displays the current position of the vehicle in a superimposed manner as a car mark on the road map.

At this time, the car mark is basically displayed at the center of the display screen. However, when the window display or the front wide function is designated, it is displayed at a position other than the center of the display screen as described later. FIG. 1 is a flow chart for explaining the car mark display control processing, and FIGS.
It is a figure which shows the display screen during execution of the car mark display control process of this Example.

The following description will be made assuming that the north-up function is selected by the rotary key 73. Further, the display device 8 having a display screen of vertical (Y-axis) 220 × horizontal (X-axis) 298 dots is taken as an example. When the power switch (not shown) is turned on to activate the navigation device and the current position of the vehicle is detected by the position detection device 3, in response thereto, the joystick / set key 71 is sent.
In step S1, it is determined whether the window display is designated, or whether the vehicle has approached a predetermined distance before the main intersection (step S1).

As a result, if it is determined that the window display is not designated or the vehicle is not approaching a predetermined distance before the main intersection, the driver can easily confirm the position of the vehicle, for example, as shown in FIG. ), A car mark M representing the detected current position of the vehicle is displayed at the center O ₁ (149,110) of the display screen of the display device 8 (step S
7).

On the other hand, the window display is designated,
Alternatively, when it is determined that the vehicle is approaching a predetermined distance before the main intersection, a rectangular area other than the area required for window display and the center coordinates of the rectangular area are recognized based on the size of the window to be displayed (step S2). When the window display is designated, for example, as shown in FIG.
As shown in (b), a detailed map around the current position of the vehicle is displayed in the window Wd. Here, the area required for the window display is the points F (178,0), B (298,0), C
It is a rectangular box surrounded by (298,220) and E (178,220). Therefore, the rectangular area other than the area required for window display is points A (0,0), F (178,0), E (178,220), D.
It is recognized as a right-angled quadrilateral surrounded by (0,220). At this time, the center coordinate O ₂ can be calculated as (x, y) = (89,110).

On the other hand, when the vehicle approaches a predetermined distance before the main intersection, a schematic diagram of the intersection is displayed in the window Wd as shown in FIG. 2 (c), for example. Here, the area required for displaying the window is the point H (208,0).
, B (298,0), C (298,220), G (208,220). Therefore, the rectangular area other than the area required for window display is the points A (0,0), H (208,0), G
It is recognized as a right-angled quadrilateral surrounded by (208,220) and D (0,220), and the center coordinate O _{3 at} this time is recognized as (x, y) = (104,110).

When the rectangular area and its center coordinates are obtained, it is next determined whether or not the front wide function is designated (step S3). As a result, when it is determined that the front wide function is designated, the amount to be wide, that is, the amount to move the car mark from the center coordinates of the rectangular area is recognized (step S4), and the recognized movement amount is recognized. Only, the car mark is displayed at a position offset backward from the center coordinates of the rectangular area in the traveling direction of the vehicle (step S5).

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3 (the case where a detailed map around the current position of the vehicle is displayed in a window as in FIG. 2B), a car mark M is displayed.
Is the center coordinate O of the rectangular area A, F, E, D shown by the broken line.
It is displayed at a position offset to the rear of the traveling direction S of the vehicle by the movement amount ΔL from ₂ . As a result, the front of the vehicle in the traveling direction is displayed more widely, so that the map screen can be displayed easily for the driver.

On the other hand, as a result of the discrimination in step S3,
If it is determined that the front wide function is not set, a car mark is displayed at the center coordinates of the rectangular area obtained in step S2 (step S6). Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2 (b) or FIG. 2 (c), for example, the car mark M is a rectangular area A corresponding to the window size,
Center coordinates O of F, E, D or rectangular areas A, H, G, D
₂ , displayed on O ₃ .

As described above, according to the vehicle-mounted navigation device of this embodiment, when the window display is designated or when the vehicle approaches a predetermined distance before the main intersection, it is necessary to display the window on the display screen. Center regions O ₂ , of rectangular regions A, F, E, D or A, H, G, D other than the regions F, B, C, E or H, B, C, G,
Since the car mark M is displayed together with the road map on O ₃ , the road map around the car mark can be easily confirmed on the main screen, as compared with the conventional technique in which a part of the road map around the vehicle position is hidden by the window. it can.

If the window Wd is displayed in front of the traveling direction of the vehicle, the road map in front of the traveling direction of the vehicle becomes difficult to see. To cope with this, the traveling direction of the vehicle is detected. The window Wd may be displayed in a region that avoids the detected forward direction of the traveling direction of the vehicle, for example, in a region opposite to the traveling direction of the vehicle.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. For example, in the above embodiment, the case where the north-up function is selected has been described as an example, but the present invention can of course be applied even when the head-up function is selected. Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the window Wd is displayed relatively to the right side of the display screen has been described as an example. However, for example, the window Wd may be displayed relatively to the left side, lower side or upper side of the display screen. May be.

Further, in the above embodiment, the case where the joystick / set key 71, the rotary key 72, the map key 73, the scale key 74 and the menu key 75 are mechanical keys and the front wide designation keys are soft keys have been described. However, for example, arbitrary keys may be mechanical keys and other keys may be soft keys. Also, all may be mechanical keys or soft keys.

Other various design changes can be made within the scope of the claims.

[0037]

As described above, according to the map display device of the first aspect, the car mark indicating the current position of the vehicle is displayed together with the road map in the center of the rectangular area other than the area where the window is to be displayed. The road map around the car mark can be easily confirmed on the main screen, as compared with the conventional technique in which a part of the road map around the car mark displayed in the center of the display screen is hidden by a window. Therefore, the service to the driver can be improved.

According to the map display device of the second aspect, when the front wide function is set, the car mark is reversed from the center of the detected rectangular area with respect to the traveling direction of the vehicle. Since it is displayed at the position moved by a predetermined length in the direction, the road map around the car mark can be easily confirmed on the main screen, and the road map ahead of the vehicle traveling direction can be easily confirmed on the main screen at the same time. Therefore, the service to the driver can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart for explaining a car mark display control process in a vehicle-mounted navigation device to which a map display device of the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen when the car mark display control process is being executed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen when the car mark display control process is being executed.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the vehicle-mounted navigation device.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an external configuration of a joystick remote controller which constitutes a part of the vehicle-mounted navigation device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen when a conventional window display is set.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Distance Sensor 2 Direction Sensor 3 Position Detection Device 4 Display Control Device 7 Joystick Remote Control 71 Joystick / Set Key 8 Display Device

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A road map memory, which is mounted on a vehicle and stores road map data, detects a current position of the vehicle, and stores the current position around the detected current position of the vehicle in the road map memory. The map display device in the navigation device, in which the displayed road map is displayed on the display screen, and the current position of the vehicle is displayed as a car mark on the road map; If the window display is specified by means,
On the display screen, a rectangular area detecting means for detecting a rectangular area other than the area where the window is to be displayed, and a display control means for displaying the car mark together with a road map at the center of the rectangular area detected by the rectangular area detecting means. A map display device in a navigation device comprising: 2. A front wide setting means capable of setting a front wide function, and a direction recognition means capable of recognizing a traveling direction of a vehicle, wherein the display control means has the front wide function set by the front wide setting means. In the case where the car mark is on the road, the car mark is moved from the center of the rectangular area detected by the rectangular area detecting means to a position opposite to the traveling direction of the vehicle recognized by the direction recognizing means by a predetermined length. 2. The map is displayed together with a map.
A map display device in the navigation device described.