JPH08285629A - Navigation - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To achieve the convenience of setting a route by magnifying the map of a next assigned route guidance point and its periphery, inserting and displaying it in a part of a screen when a guidance route from a starting point to a destination is set on the map which is displayed on the screen. CONSTITUTION: A guidance route from a starting point to a destination on a map displayed on a display 16 is sequentially set as the whole route selected and assigned by an operator seqeuntially and alternatively presenting a selectable route (link) at every route point (node) at which the other route branches or crosses. At that time, the map of the tip of an alternatively presented route (link) and its vicinity is magnified and then inserted and displayed as a child screen in a part of the screen of the display 16 which makes a parent screen, thereby being able to accurately and surely set a guidance route while seeing the maps displayed in the parent and the child screens.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

This invention relates to setting a guide route from a starting point to a destination on a map displayed on a screen.
The present invention relates to a navigation device in which a route guidance point to be designated next and a map around the route guidance point are enlarged and inserted and displayed in a part of a screen to facilitate route setting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Navigation devices capable of knowing the present location with high accuracy by using radio waves from satellites have begun to rapidly spread for in-vehicle use and personal portable use. The navigation device 1 shown in FIG. 5 includes a CPU 2, a GPS receiver 3, a keyboard 4, a memory 5, and a display 6.
A peripheral device such as is connected, and a map near the current location read from the map information storage medium 7 such as a CD-ROM is displayed on the screen of the display 6 to display the current location or a guide route to a preset destination. Can be displayed at any time. By selecting the route guidance mode and calling the once set guidance route on the screen, the guidance route from the current location to the destination is displayed on the screen, and intersections where other routes intersect, etc. Proper route guidance with a voice guide is performed.

By the way, the map data stored in the map information storage medium 7 includes road network data in which route points called nodes (nodes) such as intersections, branch points, and inflection points are connected by linear routes called links. And
The guide route is set based on this road network data. Therefore, the guide route is basically a point on the road network, but it is also possible to set a route point at a point outside the road network according to the user's preference. When setting a guide route, generally, a method of sequentially designating a planned passing point as a route point on a route connecting a starting point and a destination is used, and an intersection, a branch point, or an expressway along the planned traveling route is used. By designating an entrance / exit lamp or the like as a route point, a complicated guide route can be set as desired by the user.

As a setting method, there is a method of pushing the set key while aligning the cursor with the planned passing point, that is, the route point on the map read on the screen of the display 6, but in the case of this example, the route setting is simplified. In consideration of the above, a linear route connecting one route point existing on the guide route and a route point that can be passed next is presented, and it is set from a plurality of linear routes that are sequentially highlighted when the button operation is performed. A person can select and specify one straight line route to set a plurality of route points to the destination. For the route points that have been selected and designated, in addition to the latitude and longitude data, data attributes such as whether the route guidance point is an intersection or a simple node, or a waypoint or road type (paid / free, national road / prefectural road) are stored in the memory 5. Stored in. In this way, finally, a series of route point data D0 from the route point data D0 relating to the departure point to the next route point data D1 and further to the next route point data D2 and finally reaching the destination Dn. ，
D1, D2. ． ． , Dn are stored in the memory 5.

[0005]

Most of the above-mentioned conventional navigation devices have a small screen size of about 4 to 6 inches because the display for displaying the map is for a vehicle, and therefore, the guide route. When selecting a straight line route that extends from the previously determined default route point to the next route point when setting, the setter selects one straight line route from a plurality of straight line routes that are sequentially highlighted. Even if it is specified, the tip of this straight line, that is, the map of the next route point or its surroundings may be difficult to read, especially in the area near the next route point where branch points to other routes or intersections are complicated. In this case, there is a problem that it is difficult to set an efficient route, for example, a straight route extending to a route point different from the intended route point may be selected and designated.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is a route in which another route branches or intersects a guide route from a starting point to a destination on a map displayed on a display. A guide route setting means for sequentially and selectively presenting a selectable route for each point and sequentially setting the route as a whole of the routes selected and designated by a setter, and a tip of the alternatively presented route and its It is characterized by comprising a parent-child display means for enlarging a map in the vicinity and inserting and displaying it as a child screen in a part of the screen of the display which is the parent screen.

Further, according to the present invention, the parent-child display means divides the parent screen into four quadrants by orthogonal coordinates having the center point as an origin, and the quadrant in which the tip of the path presented as an alternative exists. Inserting and displaying a child screen in a quadrant having a positional relationship symmetrical with respect to the origin, or parent-child display means partitioning the outline of a portion of the map of the parent screen that is enlarged and displayed on the child screen by surrounding the frame. Is the case where the parent-child display means has the tip of the route presented as an alternative is near the edge of the parent screen, and there is a possibility that an indeterminate region of map data exists in the child screen that magnifies and displays the vicinity of the tip. Another feature is to display the child screen with the position of the tip shifted from the center position of the child screen so that the undefined area is not included in the child screen.

[0008]

The present invention sequentially and selectively presents a guide route from a starting point to a destination on a map displayed on a display, which route can be selected for each route point where another route branches or intersects. When sequentially setting the route as a whole of the routes that have been selected and designated by the configurator, the map of the tip of the route that is presented as an alternative and the vicinity thereof is enlarged and displayed on a part of the screen of the display that is the main screen. By inserting and displaying as a child screen, the guide route can be set accurately and surely while looking at the map displayed as a parent and child.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a schematic block configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a navigation device of the present invention, FIG.
Is a plan view showing an embodiment of the keyboard shown in FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the parent-child display principle by the CPU shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the route setting operation by the CPU shown in FIG.

The navigation device 11 shown in FIG. 1, like the conventional navigation device 1, is connected to peripheral devices such as a GPS receiver 13, a keyboard 14 or a memory 15 and a display 16 centered on a CPU 12, and C
A map near the current location read from the map information storage medium 17 such as a D-ROM is displayed on the display 16 and the route is manually or automatically set along the planned road to the destination or the set guidance is provided. It is possible to perform route guidance with a voice guide along the route.

The map information stored in the map information storage medium 17 includes a road information table in addition to normal road map data, and a set of straight lines (links) connecting roads to nodes (nodes) at both ends thereof. Then, the coordinates of each node, the number of roads leading to the node, the angle of each road, the connecting node, etc. are digitized and stored. Specifically, for example, a map of 1 / 25,000 is decomposed into several units in a grid pattern, and each node in each unit has a maximum of 65536 consecutive numbers (0000 to FFF).
F) is attached. Also, regarding the absolute coordinates of the nodes,
32 bits are used for both the XY coordinates, and 1 bit has a resolution equivalent to 0.5 mm in the actual distance. Also,
For the number of roads that branch from the node, 0001 is a dead end,
It is arranged that 0002 represents a simple inflection point, 0003 represents a T-shaped or Y-shaped road, 0004 represents a normal intersection, and 0005 represents a 5-way intersection. The road angle is expressed in the range of 0 to 359 ° with respect to the true east. Of the 16 bit angle bits in total, the lower 12 bits represent the actual angle, and the upper 4 bits are the connecting nodes (targets for digitization) It becomes possible to use it as a pointer when the other node of the road leading to the node that does not exist in the same table.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, the keyboard 14 is constructed by arranging various button keys with a cross key 21 for moving the cursor up, down, left and right interposed therebetween. The cross key 21 is formed by assembling the left and right keys and the up and down keys in a cross shape. However, for convenience of explanation of the route setting, the left and right keys are referred to as the turn key 21a and the up and down keys are referred to as the expansion and contraction key 21b. Will be distinguished by. The menu key 22 is a push button key for calling a selection menu, and the enter key 23 is a push button key for inputting a decision based on the intention of the user. Scale key 24
Is a push-down operation type push button key for selecting the scale of the map data read from the map information storage medium 17, and the present position key 25 is a push for displaying the present position determined by the GPS receiver 13 on the screen. It is a button key. The azimuth key 26 is a push button key for selecting and designating whether to display the map so that the traveling direction always faces upward or to display the map so that the north of the map always points directly upward. Is a push button key for designating a mode for receiving route guidance. Mark key 28
The power button 29 is a push button key used when the user inputs a desired mark at a specific point on the map.
A push button key for turning on the power of the entire navigation device 11.

By the way, in the map display by the navigation device 11, basically, from the map data of 9 screens read from the map information storage medium 17 to the memory 15, the map data of the display area surrounded by a dotted line in FIG. Is a one-to-one transfer method to the display 16. However,
For convenience of setting when setting the guide route, it is necessary to insert and display a sub screen on a part of the main screen and to enlarge and display the vicinity of the tip of the selectable straight line route on this sub screen,
Therefore, the enlarged transfer method with a multiple density is used for the enlarged display on the child screen so that the enlarged display can be performed without changing the scale of the map data. That is, of the map data read out to the memory 15, the map data relating to the area narrowed down according to the reciprocal 1 / m of the enlargement ratio m from the area to be displayed on the child screen is multiplied by a multiple of m according to the enlargement ratio m. The data is read out at a density of × m and enlarged on the display 16. Specifically, for example, when enlarging the map of the child screen to be twice as large as that of the parent screen, 1 dot, which is the minimum constitutional unit, from the parent screen corresponding to half the area of the child screen shown in FIG. Is vertically and horizontally converted into a density of 2 × 2 dots, and the parent screen is inserted and displayed. Further, when the map of the child screen is enlarged to, for example, three times the size of the parent screen, one dot is vertically and horizontally divided by 3 × 3 dots from the parent screen corresponding to 1/3 of the area of the child screen shown in FIG. By performing the density conversion to, it is possible to perform enlarged display according to the enlargement ratio on the child screen.

Regarding the parent-child display, as shown in FIG. 1, the parent screen is divided into four quadrants by orthogonal coordinates with the center point as the origin, and the tip of the route presented alternatively exists. A sub-screen is inserted and displayed in a quadrant that is symmetrical with respect to the origin. As a result, the display of the route points indicating the passage schedule displayed on the main screen is not overwhelmed by the sub screens, and it is possible to display the information necessary for setting the guide route to the maximum on both the main screen and the sub screens. The convenience of setting the guide route can be greatly improved.

Further, as can be seen from FIG. 1, since the portion of the map of the parent screen which is enlarged and displayed on the child screen is surrounded by a frame and partitioned, the display contents of the parent screen and the child screen are displayed. It is possible to identify naturally as being related to the same area without paying particular attention, and by emphasizing both the parent screen and the child screen, it is possible to promote decision making in route setting.

Furthermore, if the tip of the straight line path is near the edge of the parent screen and there is a possibility that an undefined area of map data exists in the child screen that magnifies and displays the vicinity of the tip, the undetermined area within the child screen is undefined. The position of the alternatively presented tip is displaced from the center position of the sub-screen so that the region is not included and displayed. Therefore, the selectable guide route presented on the main screen can be properly displayed on the sub screen regardless of the position where the tip position occupies on the main screen, which causes unnecessary hesitation to the user. It is possible to prompt the user to set up a guide route.

The method of setting the guide route by the navigation device 11 will be described below with reference to FIG. First, when the user who is the setter performs key input in step (101), it is determined whether the type of key input is the enter key 23, the turn key 21a, or the expansion / contraction key 21b. 105) and (107). When the enter key 23 is pressed, a link (straight route) that is presented as a guide route candidate alternatively
Data Di relating to the nodes (path points) of the group is stored in the memory 15 in step (103), and in the following step (104), the tip node is set as a new starting point node and displayed in the center of the screen. On the other hand, turn key 2 again
If 1a is pressed, in step (106),
Select another link group derived from the start point node. That is, since the other link group is highlighted each time the turn key 21a is pushed rightward or leftward, the user operates the turn key 21a when the highlighted link group matches the desired route. Just stop. Also, expandable key 2
When 1b is pressed, with respect to the link group extending along the desired route extending from the start point node, the length of the link is extended or shortened each time the expandable key 21b is pushed toward the extension side or the reduction side. Therefore, the turn key 21a selects the direction of the desired route, and the expansion / contraction key 21b selects the distance in units of the number of nodes of the desired route.

When the processing up to step (108) is completed in this way, next in step (109), transfer processing is performed in accordance with the processing results of steps (104), (106) and (108). That is, a new display screen corresponding to the processing results of these steps is displayed on the display 16 by transferring one screen from the nine screen data expanded in the memory 15. In addition, step (11
In 0), the link group extending from the new start point node is drawn, and in the subsequent step (111), the node group located at the tip of the link group is drawn. Further, following the drawing of the link group and the drawing of the node group, the link tip and its vicinity are enlarged and transferred to the child screen in step (112).
In this case, the enlargement transfer of the child screen is performed by the enlargement display method described above, and the map data on the area narrowed down according to the reciprocal 1 / m of the enlargement ratio m from the area displayed on the child screen is displayed according to the enlargement ratio m. Read at multiple density m × m,
It is performed by enlarging and displaying the child screen position in the parent screen.
Therefore, the user who sees the parent-child displayed map can set the guide route accurately and surely. In particular, even if the display 16 has a small display area such as an on-vehicle display and is inferior in visibility to a large-screen home display or the like, the position of the route point to be designated next is not on the guide route. It can be set accurately without being mistaken for a route point, and the route can be set easily and accurately.

Thus, steps (101) to (11)
When the series of route setting of 2) is completed, finally the process other than the route setting up to this point is executed, the process returns to step (101), and the same process is repeatedly executed again.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention,
On the map displayed on the display, the guide route from the departure point to the destination is presented alternately and sequentially for each route point where other routes branch or intersect, and the designation by the setter is made. Since it is configured to set the received route as a whole as a whole, it is possible to set the guide route accurately and surely while viewing the parent-child displayed map. Even on a display with poor visibility compared to a home display on the screen, the position of the route point that should be specified next can be set accurately without mistaken for an unrelated route point that is not on the guide route. It has an excellent effect that it can be easily and accurately performed.

Further, the parent-child display means divides the parent screen into four quadrants by orthogonal coordinates with the center point as the origin, and the positional relationship symmetrical to the origin with respect to the quadrant in which the tip of the path presented alternatively exists. Since the sub-screen is inserted and displayed in the quadrant, the display of the route points that indicate the planned passage on the main screen is not erased by the sub-screen, and the guide route is set on both the main screen and the sub-screen. The maximum amount of information can be displayed on the display, and the convenience of setting the guide route can be greatly improved.

Further, since the parent-child display means is configured to display the enlarged portion of the map of the parent screen in a framed manner by surrounding it with a frame, the contents displayed on the parent screen and the child screen can be closely watched. Needless to say, they can be naturally identified as being related to the same area, and both the parent screen and the child screen are emphasized, so that the decision making in the route setting can be promoted.

Further, when the parent-child display means has the tip of the straight line path near the edge of the parent screen and there is a possibility that an undefined area of map data exists in the child screen which magnifies and displays the vicinity of the tip, Since the position of the tip presented as the alternative is shifted from the center position of the child screen so that the undefined area is not included in the child screen, the selectable guide path presented on the parent screen is displayed. , It is possible to properly display in the child screen regardless of the position of the tip end of the parent screen, and it is possible to prompt the user to set the guide route without causing unnecessary confusion. .

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the keyboard shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a parent-child display principle by the CPU shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a route setting operation by the CPU shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional navigation device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 navigation device 12 CPU (guidance route setting means, parent-child display means) 15 memory 16 display 17 map information storage medium 21a turning key 21b telescopic key 23 decision key

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A guide route from a starting point to a destination is displayed on a map displayed on a display, and a route which can be selected for each route point where another route branches or intersects is sequentially presented and set. One of the screens of the display, which is a main screen by enlarging the guide route setting means for sequentially setting the route as a whole of the route that has been selected and designated by the user and the map of the tip of the route presented in the alternative and the vicinity thereof. A navigation device, comprising: a parent-child display unit that inserts and displays as a child screen in a section. 2. The parent-child display means divides the parent screen into four quadrants by orthogonal coordinates whose origin is the center point of the parent screen, and the origin is symmetrical with respect to the quadrant in which the tip of the alternatively presented path exists. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein a child screen is inserted and displayed in a quadrant having a positional relationship. 3. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the parent-child display means performs a partition display by enclosing a contour of a portion of the map of the parent screen that is enlarged and displayed on the child screen in a frame. 4. The parent-child display means has a tip of the path presented as an alternative is near an edge of the parent screen, and an indefinite region of map data is present on the child screen which enlarges and displays the vicinity of the tip. 4. When there is a fear, the position of the tip is displaced from the center position of the child screen so that the undefined area is not included in the child screen, and the display is performed. Navigation device.