JPH09101162A - Vehicle travel route guidance device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To guide a vehicle by providing information regarding a minimum required time for each departure time zone allowing the earliest arrival at a destination, and displaying an optimum travel route in a selected departure time zone. SOLUTION: This guidance device has a map information memory means 4 storing map information regarding each node (intersection or branch point) information, and a travel time memory means 3 storing the required time for a travel between each node in every time zone. For every departure time zone, a route retrieval means 5 calculates a route requiring the shortest time from the current position of a vehicle detected by a vehicle position detection means 1, to an established destination, based on the information stored in the memory means 3 and 4. The shortest required time so calculated is shown on a display means 6 in order of smaller values for every departure time zone. In this case, constitution is made so that when a driver selects a presumably optimum departure time zone from data shown, an optimum travel route in the time zone can be shown on the display means 6 and the driver can be guided along the travel route.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention uses a database in which the time required for each section on a map (referred to as "internode") is recorded for each time zone, so that the destination can be reached in the shortest time. The present invention relates to a vehicle travel route guidance device that displays a time zone, its required time, and its travel route.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a vehicle traveling route guide device has been developed which displays a route to a destination by setting a destination or guides the destination by voice or the like. For guidance to the destination in these conventional devices, by setting the departure point and the destination point, mainly using the inter-node distance of the map information stored in the digital database, the shortest distance is calculated and the route is selected. Was there. Furthermore, recently, due to the development of expressways and the expansion of road width, a method of calculating the minimum time in consideration of the speed limit and selecting a route is also used.

However, in consideration of actual traffic conditions such as traffic congestion, the arrival time at the destination may change significantly depending on the shortest distance or the shortest time calculated from the distance and the speed limit. There was a case where it was not the proper route. That is, the important information for the driver is how quickly the vehicle arrives at the destination. It was not possible to select the or driving route.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a situation. First, the shortest required time information for each departure time zone is provided so that the driver can reach the destination earliest. The purpose is to provide. Secondly, the purpose is to guide the vehicle by displaying the optimum travel route in the selected departure time zone. Thirdly, the object is to guide the vehicle while storing the required time for each section measured by the traveling of the vehicle for each time zone and making it more effective traveling required time data.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, map information storage means for recording map information in which each node is recorded, and traveling time required for each time zone between each node are recorded. Based on the information stored in these storage means, the shortest required time route from the current position of the vehicle detected by the vehicle position detection means to the destination set by the input means. Calculate by departure time zone by the route search means. The calculated minimum required time is displayed for each departure time zone, information is provided so that the optimum departure time zone can be selected, and the optimum departure time zone can be selected by selecting the departure time zone from the information. The route can be displayed on the display means. Further, the new travel required time data between the nodes recorded by the travel of the vehicle is additionally stored in the travel time storage means to be a more reliable information source.

[0006]

1 shows a basic block diagram of the present invention, and FIG. 2 shows a basic flow chart of the present invention. According to the vehicle travel route guiding apparatus configured as described above, when the destination is set by the input means 2 (F-1), the current position information from the vehicle position detecting unit 1 causes the starting point to the destination point to be changed. Multiple routes can be selected as a set between nodes. The data of the travel time storage device 3 in the present invention is the travel time required for each time zone between the nodes. Therefore, the time zone T _I is designated for the calculation with the data divided in this time zone, and the route searching means 5 searches for a route such that the arrival time to the destination in the time zone T _I is the shortest. . Also, the time is calculated (F-3).

The time zone T _I is automatically counted (F-
2) When the route having the shortest required time is searched for all the time zones and the calculation of the shortest required time is completed, the routes are sorted in order of the time zone having the shortest required time and displayed on the display device 6 (F-4). . The operator can select the display for each classified time zone that is the shortest required time (F-5), and when selected, the route to the destination, which is the shortest required time in that time zone, is stored as map information. It is displayed on the display means 6 so as to be superimposed on the map information stored in the means 4 (F-6).

The operator re-examines the displayed route information and departure time, and selects the finally displayed route information (F-7) to guide the vehicle traveling route according to this route. It is started (F-8). If no selection is made, the system returns to the screen in which the shortest required time for each time zone is displayed in order of required time, except when the system is terminated, and a new selection can be made. The guidance can be performed by the display means or the voice means. Generally, when the display means is used, the vehicle position is displayed on the map based on the information from the vehicle position detection means 1, and the voice is generally sounded near the intersection. It is done by means.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 shows a configuration diagram of the vehicle travel route guiding device 8 according to the present invention. The vehicle travel route guide device 8 includes a vehicle position detection unit 11 that detects the current position of the vehicle.
And a map data CD-ROM 41 storing map information for providing map information to the guide device 8, and this CD-
CD-ROM which converts the data stored in the ROM 41 into a digital signal and sends the digital signal to the processor 51 described later
A traveling history recording memory 31 that records and stores the required traveling time for each time zone of each section on the map with the reader 42.
, An electronic clock and calendar 32 for judging the date and time and using it as data by time zone, a keyboard 21 for setting a destination and selecting an optimum time zone, and the shortest distance from these data to the destination. A processor 51 that calculates the required time and calculates the route thereof, a drawing processor 61 that superimposes these calculation results and map data into image data, and an image memory 62 that stores the image data.
A display panel 64, a display control unit 63 for displaying a necessary image on the display panel 64, and a speaker 71 for guiding by voice.

Next, the operation of the vehicle travel route guide device 8 will be described with reference to FIG. The operator of the apparatus mounts the commercially available map CD 41 on the CD-ROM reader 42. This CD 41 records a map made into a digital database for navigation, and also stores road shape data used for route guidance and the like. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, node numbers are written at intersections and branch points of roads. The CD-ROM reader 42 reads the data recorded on the CD 41 according to a command from the processor 51, and transmits the data to the processor 51. The transmitted data is converted into an image signal by the drawing processor 61, stored in the image memory 62 (RAM), and displayed on the display panel 64.

At this time, the position of the vehicle is also displayed on the map based on the signal from the vehicle position detector 11. The vehicle position detection unit 11 is composed of an azimuth sensor and a distance sensor mounted on the vehicle. The vehicle position detection unit 11 obtains the traveling locus of the vehicle by both of them and compares the position of the vehicle on the map with the road shape obtained from the map CD. Is required. Also, GPS
Obtain absolute vehicle position (latitude, longitude) information through communication,
It is also possible to detect the vehicle position with higher accuracy in combination with this information.

Next, the operator inputs the destination. Many input methods are known, and a switch pattern may be displayed on the display panel 64 instead of the keyboard 21 as in the embodiment. In particular, since the switch pattern is created graphically, there is an advantage that the switch can be made overlaid on the map information and the switch operation for selecting the destination becomes easy.

When the destination is set, a plurality of routes from the starting point to the destination can be selected as a set of nodes (intersections or branch points) with the current position of the vehicle as a departure point. The route to be selected is searched based on the required traveling time data stored in the traveling history recording memory 31. The travel history recording memory 31 stores data in which the travel required time between the nodes shown in FIG. 4 is recorded by day of the week and time of day. FIG. 5 shows an example of a data format of required travel time between nodes. If these data are not sold in the market, it is configured by RAM so that the data acquired based on the driving experience of the own vehicle can be recorded, and is automatically recorded when each node is reached while the own vehicle is running. Is configured to. for that reason,
The vehicle travel route guide device 8 is provided with an electronic clock & calendar 32 for keeping the system time.

As a method of calculating the shortest required time route, the Dijkstra method (Dijkstra's algorithm)
m) can be adopted. This method is a method in which each node point is searched from the starting point and the shortest required time route to each node point is sequentially calculated based on the data of the traveling history recording memory 31. This algorithm is stored in the ROM existing in the processor 51 and is automatically executed. Further, since the data stored in the traveling history recording memory 31 is classified by time zone, the search for the shortest required route is sequentially performed by time zone. At this time, it is often necessary to change the time zone of the travel required time data to be used between the departure point and the destination. In this case, the nodes are searched sequentially by the method using the required travel time data in the new time zone.

The shortest required time is calculated for all the time zones, and when the route is searched, the result is temporarily stored in the image memory 62 and the necessary information is displayed on the display panel 64. FIG. 6 shows the display pattern. The display is sequentially arranged from the time zone that is the shortest required time to the time zone that requires a longer required time so that the selection of the shortest required time zone can be easily determined.

This information allows the operator to know the most appropriate time of day to leave. If the passenger has to leave immediately now, the time zone including the present time may be selected from the display panel 64. The selection method is the same as when selecting the destination. This information is input to the processor 51, the display control unit 63 is controlled, and necessary image information is extracted from the image memory 62,
The optimum route in the selected time zone is displayed on the display panel 64 together with the map information.

Here, the intention of selection is confirmed again. If the selection is wrong or if the user wants to change the selection, selecting a switch that is not selected returns to the screen displaying the shortest required time by time zone, and a new selection can be made again. When selecting the route displayed on the display panel, selecting the confirmation switch starts vehicle guidance.

A general method for guiding the vehicle is to display the shortest required time route on the map data of the map CD 41 and mark the position of the own vehicle on the map. The mark moves on the map according to the information signal from the vehicle position detection unit 11. When it is determined that the vehicle is approaching the intersection based on the traveling distance or the like, the road shape of the intersection is changed and the guidance display for the right turn and the left turn is displayed. Further, it is possible to directly give an instruction by voice through the speaker 71.

When the vehicle is guided by such a guiding device, the required time data between the nodes is measured from the node position information from the vehicle position detecting section 11 and the time information from the electronic clock 32, and new information is obtained. It is stored in the traveling history recording memory 31. This record is accumulated to provide a more accurate source of data

In the above embodiment, the shortest required time route search was calculated using the data of the time zone scheduled to pass between the nodes according to the time zone, but unexpected circumstances such as road construction and accident In many cases, it does not arrive as scheduled. Therefore, while actually guiding the vehicle, the elapsed time between the nodes is measured, and the required time data between the nodes that have not yet passed are changed to new time zone data considering the measured time. By calculating the shortest required time and correcting the route, more accurate route guidance can be achieved.

[0021]

As described above, according to the vehicle traveling route guiding apparatus of the present invention, the driver knows in advance the departure time zone in which the time required to reach the destination is shortest before receiving the vehicle traveling guidance. It is possible to know the route. Also, even if the departure time is fixed,
It is possible to select the route that can reach the destination earliest in the departure time zone, and receive the driving guidance according to the route. Further, according to the present invention, traveling time data can be automatically accumulated during traveling of the vehicle, and more accurate information for the next traveling can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle travel route guiding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an overall configuration diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of a node.

FIG. 5 is an inter-node data format stored in a travel history recording memory.

FIG. 6 is an example of a display showing the shortest required time for each time zone.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Vehicle Position Detection Means 2 Input Means 3 Travel Time Storage Means 4 Map Information Storage Means 5 Route Search Means 6 Display Means 8 Vehicle Travel Route Guidance Devices

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A vehicle position detecting means for calculating a current position of a vehicle, an input means for setting a destination point of the vehicle, and a map information storing means for storing map information, the current position and the current position. Display means for superimposing and displaying corresponding map information, travel time storage means for storing travel time required for each time zone of each section on the map, and for each section stored in the travel time storage means A route search means for calculating the shortest required time from the current position to the destination and the route when departing for each time zone using the required travel time for each time zone, each calculated on the display means A vehicle travel route guidance device, which displays the shortest required time for each departure time. 2. The route of the selected departure time zone among the routes of the shortest required time for each departure time zone calculated by the route search means is displayed on the display means. The vehicle travel route guidance device described in. 3. The running time storage means has a storage means for additionally storing the required time measured by the own vehicle running in association with each time zone of each section. Alternatively, the vehicle travel route guidance device according to claim 2.