JPH09113301A - Navigation device for vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a navigation device on a vehicle to appropriately make route guiding display even while driving the vehicle. SOLUTION: A virtual image 2 indicating a preceding vehicle is displayed in front of the front glass 1 of a vehicle by using a head-up display device 10. When the distance to a left- or right-hand turn taking point reaches a first distance (for example, 200m) in a route to a destination, a winker is made to flash in the image 2 to indicate the preceding vehicle and, when the distance to the point reaches a second distance (for example, 50m), the image 2 is turned in the direction in which the vehicle must take a left- or right-hand turn.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicular navigation device that displays route guidance for a set route.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a vehicle navigation device, when a destination is set, a route from a departure place to a destination is calculated, and the destination route is displayed on a map screen of a display device to guide the route. There are things I tried to do.

[0003]

However, in order to confirm the destination route while driving, the driver must look at the display device, and therefore it is necessary to move the line of sight from the front to the display device and also to adjust the focus. Since it takes time, it is difficult to confirm the destination route, so that there is a problem that proper route guidance cannot be performed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to appropriately display route guidance even during driving.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, in the invention described in claim 1, a virtual image showing a leading vehicle is displayed in front of the windshield of the vehicle, and when the direction of route guidance changes. The feature is that the traveling direction of the leading vehicle displayed as a virtual image is changed. Therefore, by displaying a virtual image of the leading vehicle in front of the windshield, route guidance can be performed without significantly changing the line of sight of the driver, and the traveling direction of the leading vehicle displayed as a virtual image can be changed. As a result, the driver can easily recognize the change in the direction of the route guidance.

Further, in the invention according to claim 2,
The feature is that the blinker of the leading vehicle, which is displayed as a virtual image, blinks when the direction of route guidance is to turn left or right. Therefore, it is possible to make the driver clearly recognize the next right turn or left turn.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 shows a conceptual configuration of a vehicle navigation device showing an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, in the present embodiment, the virtual image 2 showing the leading vehicle is displayed in front of the windshield 1 by using the head-up display device 10.

The head-up display device 10 is provided on the windshield 1 and a display 11 including a liquid crystal display device 11a for displaying a graphic of a leading vehicle and a mirror 11b for reflecting light from the liquid crystal display device 11a. Mirror 1
The virtual image 2 is formed on the windshield 1 by the light reflected by 1b.
And a combiner 12 to be displayed in front of.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the virtual image 2 can be displayed so that the leading vehicle B exists in front of the own vehicle A. Although not shown in FIG. 1, the display 1
1 is provided with a virtual image position adjusting mechanism (indicated by reference numeral 11c in FIG. 3) that moves the liquid crystal display device 11a in the left-right direction in the drawing to change the display position of the virtual image 2 in the front-rear direction in front of the vehicle. There is. By this position adjustment, the display position of the virtual image 2 showing the leading vehicle can be arbitrarily set within the range of 0.5 m to several m.

The control unit 20 controls the graphic display of the liquid crystal display device 11a and the position control of the virtual image position adjusting mechanism 11c.
Is controlled by FIG. 3 shows a block configuration of the vehicle navigation device. The operation device 21 outputs various operation signals necessary for navigation according to an operation of a vehicle occupant. Then, using the operating device 21, it is possible to set a destination or the like when performing route guidance.

The control device 20 is configured to include computer means such as a microcomputer, and in the case of performing route guidance, the destination set by the operation device 21 is set to the destination of the current vehicle position. A route to is set, and route guidance is performed according to this route. That is, the control device 20 causes the liquid crystal display device 11a to display the figure of the leading vehicle, displays the virtual image 2 showing the leading vehicle in front of the windshield 1, and guides the route.

Further, when setting the destination route, the control device 20 reads the map data of the range including the departure place and the destination from the map data storage device 22, and the route from the departure place to the destination is Dijkstra. Calculated using the method
Set the route. Further, the control device 20 calculates the present position required for route guidance by performing signal amplification and positioning processing based on the received signal from the GPS antenna 23.

Further, in the virtual image display of the leading vehicle, a steering angle sensor 24 is provided to rotate the display of the leading vehicle in the left-right turning direction when the direction of route guidance changes.
The steering angle sensor 24 outputs a signal according to the steering angle of the steering. The operation of the above configuration will be described. When the destination is set in the operation device 21 and the route guidance is started, the control device 20 sets the route to the destination with the current position as the departure place. The control device 20 uses the GPS
The current location is constantly calculated based on the received signal from Anna Anna 23.

When this route is set, the control device 20
Executes the route guidance process shown in FIG. First, on that route, the distance to the next right or left turn is 2
It is determined whether or not it is within 00 m (step 10
1). When this judgment is NO, a straight route guidance display,
That is, the virtual image 2 showing the leading vehicle is displayed straight ahead (step 108). A display example in this case is shown in FIG.

After that, when the distance to the next right turn or left turn point is within 200 m, first, the blinker in the virtual image display is blinked (step 102). As shown in FIG. 5A, the virtual image 2 of the leading vehicle shows the outer shape of the rear portion of the leading vehicle, and further has blinker display portions 2a and 2b. Therefore, when turning right, the blinker display portion 2a blinks, and when turning left, the blinker display portion 2b blinks. In this case, to clarify the blinking of the winker,
It is preferable to display the winker display portions 2b, 2a in a color different from the outer shape display of the leading vehicle, for example, yellow.

Then, until the distance to the next right turn or left turn point is within 50 m, the turn signal indicator 2a or 2b is displayed.
Continue to display straight ahead with blinking (step 102 → 1)
03 → 108). As a result, the occupant can be notified of the next right turn or left turn. After that, when the distance to the next right turn or left turn point is within 50 m, the virtual image 2 is rotated and displayed in the direction of turning left or right.

First, a signal from the steering angle sensor 24 is input to detect the steering angle (step 104). Next, the virtual image 2 is continuously rotated and displayed in the left-right turning direction according to the detected steering angle (step 105). in this case,
Since the virtual image 2 shows the leading vehicle, the virtual image 2 is rotated and displayed before the vehicle actually operates the steering wheel, and the virtual image 2 is further rotated and displayed according to the actual steering operation that follows the virtual image 2.

Display examples in this case are shown in FIGS. 5 (b) and 5 (c). (B) shows the case of right turn, (c) shows the case of left turn. With such a display, the virtual image 2 can be rotated and displayed prior to the actual steering operation. It should be noted that, although the drawing shows the state in which the leading vehicle is turned to the side, the state is such that it is returned to the straight traveling state in accordance with the subsequent steering operation. In order to perform such rotation display of the virtual image, the ROM 20a in the control device 20 stores display data corresponding to each pattern of rotation display.

When the steering angle returns to the predetermined angle and the virtual image display returns to the straight traveling state, the rotation display is ended (step 106) and the blinking of the blinker is ended (step 10). After this, the same processing as described above is repeated for the right turn or left turn point on the destination route.

According to the above-described embodiment, when the distance to the turning point reaches the first distance (200 m), the winker 2a or 2b in the virtual image 2 showing the leading vehicle is made to blink. Next, it is possible to inform the occupant of a right turn or a left turn, and when the distance to the right / left turn point reaches the second distance (50 m), the virtual image 2 is rotated and displayed in the direction of right / left turn. From this, the occupant can operate the steering as if turning right or left according to the leading vehicle.

The occupant can further operate the operation device 21 to change the display position of the virtual image 2 in the front-back direction of the vehicle. That is, according to the operation of the operating device 21 by the occupant, the control device 20 adjusts and drives the virtual image position adjusting mechanism 11c to change the display position of the virtual image 2 in the front-rear direction of the vehicle. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, the distance between the leading vehicle B and the vehicle A by the virtual image 2 can be used as the inter-vehicle distance, and the distance between the front vehicle and the front obstacle during parking can be measured. Can be

In the above embodiment, the route guidance is performed by the virtual image 2. However, in addition to this, the route guidance may be performed by voice.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a view showing that a virtual image 2 is displayed so that a leading vehicle B is present in front of an own vehicle A.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a block configuration of a vehicle navigation device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a route guidance calculation process by the control device 20.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of a virtual image 2.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Windshield, 2 ... Virtual image showing leading vehicle, 10 ... Head-up display device, 11a ... Liquid crystal display device, 1
1c ... Virtual image position adjusting mechanism, 20 ... Control device, 21 ... Operating device, 22 ... Map data storage device, 23 ... GPS antenna, 24 ... Steering angle sensor.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Sadasuke Kimura 1-1-1, Showa-cho, Kariya city, Aichi prefecture Nihon Denso Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a vehicle navigation device configured to display route guidance for a set route, a virtual image showing a leading vehicle is displayed in front of a windshield of the vehicle to display the route guidance. A vehicular navigation device, characterized in that when a direction of the route guidance changes, a traveling direction of a leading vehicle displayed as a virtual image is changed. 2. The vehicular navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the blinker of the leading vehicle, which is displayed as a virtual image, is blinked when the direction of the route guidance is to turn right or left.