JPH09304108A - Navigator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a user to check guiding information on a route beforehand, in a navigator having a route guidance function. SOLUTION: A display screen of a monitor is provided with a forward key (d) and a backward key (e). When the forward key (d) is once operated, guiding information on the first crossing ahead which necessitates guidance on a route is given. When the backward key (e) is once operated, guiding information on the first crossing behind necessitating the guidance on the route, on which the information is already given, is given. According to this constitution, the guiding information being given at the time of running is given forcedly irrespective of the user's own position.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation device for guiding a driver to a destination while displaying and displaying a route.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, as a route guidance function in a car navigation system, an enlarged view of the intersection is displayed on the screen when the vehicle approaches a crossing to be turned, that is, a crossing to be guided while traveling on a route set toward a destination. While displaying, the direction in which to turn, that is, whether to turn right or left, and at the intersection of two forks, whether to turn left or right is indicated by the display and voice. That is, it is general to guide the driver to the destination by sequentially informing the guidance information necessary for traveling along the route.

[0003]

However, in such a conventional route guidance function, the guidance of the intersection and the direction in which the vehicle should turn is based on the position of the own vehicle, and the user is the vehicle at the intersection. There is a problem that the user cannot confirm the guidance information on the route in advance because the user cannot receive the guidance unless he / she approaches.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device which allows a user to confirm guidance information on a route in advance.

[0005]

In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, when moving a route set toward a destination, guidance information indicating a direction to take at an intersection to be guided is provided. In a navigation device having a guide means for performing a notification operation based on its own position and having a route guidance function for guiding a user to the destination, the guide information is notified to the guide means in response to a user's request. The control means for performing the forced notification process is provided.

In such a structure, whenever there is a user's request, the control means notifies the guide information on the route by the guide means irrespective of its own position.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the present invention, which has the route guidance function described in the prior art. The navigation device
It has a GPS antenna 1 and a GPS unit 2 that demodulates / decodes the C / A code in the L1 band from the satellite received by the GPS antenna 1 to determine the latitude / longitude of the current location,
The latitude / longitude information calculated by the GPS unit 2 is taken into the CPU 4 via the bus 3. The CPU 4 has a ROM 5 in which programs necessary for its operation are stored, and a RAM in which various data necessary for the operation of the CPU 4 are stored.
6 are connected to each other via the bus 3. Also,
A graphic controller 7 and a CPU peripheral circuit G / A8 are connected to the bus 3 and are connected to the CPU peripheral circuit G / A.
A CD section 9 is connected to A8.

The CPU 4 is the control means of the present invention, and from the map CD-ROM 10 mounted on the CD section 9 via the CPU peripheral circuit G / A 8 to the map / map around the current location.
Road information, that is, road data, place name data, node data indicating intersections of roads, road link data, traffic regulation data used for calculating guide routes, etc. are read, and those information and image information stored in the video RAM 11 are read. Based on the above, the map around the current location is displayed on the screen of the monitor 12 which is the display means. In addition, the CPU peripheral circuit G
A key input unit 13 having various operation keys (not shown) such as a MENU key, a cursor key, and an ENTER key provided for operating the navigation device is connected to / A8. Further, a timer unit 14 used by the CPU 4 for timekeeping processing is connected to the bus 3 and the D / A
A speaker 1 that emits a guide sound composed of a synthetic sound when a route is guided through the converter 15 and the amplifier 16.
7 is connected.

Next, the operation of the above-mentioned navigation device will be described with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG.
It will be described according to. That is, the navigation device
When the route guidance is started, a map around the current location is displayed on the screen of the monitor 12 based on the latitude / longitude data of the current location acquired by the GPS unit 2 (SA1). Next, it is determined whether or not it is the guidance generation timing (SA2). Specifically, it is determined whether or not the distance between the own vehicle position and the next intersection that requires guidance automatically or manually when setting the route is within a predetermined distance, for example, 300 m or less, and the guidance is generated. Display the map around the current location until the timing arrives. On the other hand, when the guidance generation timing arrives, the monitor 1
A guide is generated by the screen of No. 2 and the voice from the speaker 17, and the user is informed of the intersection to turn next and the traveling direction there (SA3).

The screen displayed at this time is, as shown in FIG. 3 (A), an enlarged view of the illustrated intersection for guidance a.
, The intersection name b, an intersection number c (here, “5”) sequentially assigned to all the intersections on the route from the start point side, a feed key d and a return key e. . In addition, the enlarged intersection a is a map CD-
It is based on the data read from the ROM 10,
By color-coding the road corresponding to the set route and the other roads, it is possible to know the traveling direction at the intersection.

Further, the navigation device starts the timer after the guidance is generated and starts counting the elapsed time after the guidance is generated (SA4). Subsequently, it is determined whether or not either the feed key d or the return key e on the guide screen is operated by the key input from the key input unit 13 (SA5), and no key input is made after the guide is generated. When the state has passed for 15 seconds (YES in SA6), the process returns to step SA1 and the monitor 12
Screen is returned to the normal map screen f as shown in FIG. On the other hand, if either the feed key d or the return key e is operated during the 15 seconds (YES in SA5
S), it is determined whether or not the key input is the feed key d, and if the result of the determination is YES, guidance regarding the next intersection is generated (SA8). Along with this, on the screen of the monitor 12, as shown in FIG. 3 (C), an intersection enlarged view a in which "6" is added as the intersection number c and the intersection name b and the like are displayed. To be done. Further, when displaying the guidance screen, the intersection number "6" is changed from the intersection number "5" notified in step SA3.
The route distance to the intersection is calculated, and a distance display g indicating the distance is displayed on the guide screen. However, at the time of the processing at step SA8, if there is no more intersection one ahead, then nothing is done and the process returns to step SA4.

On the other hand, when the determination result is NO and the key input is the return key e, guidance regarding the previous intersection is generated (SA9). Along with this,
On the screen of the monitor 12, as shown in FIG. 3D, the intersection enlarged view a in which “4” is added as the intersection number c,
And a guide screen including the intersection name b and the like is displayed.
Further, when displaying the guidance screen, the distance from the intersection with the intersection number “5” to the intersection with the intersection number “4” notified in step SA3 is calculated, and the distance display g indicating the distance is displayed on the guidance screen. . However, when there is no more previous intersection at the time of processing in step SA9, nothing is done and the process returns to step SA4. Then, after performing the processes of steps SA8 and SA9, the process returns to step SA4, and the above-described processes are repeated.

Therefore, the user is required to carry out the operations shown in FIGS.
On the route, if the feed key d on the screen shown in (D) is operated once, the guidance information is one step ahead, and if it is operated a plurality of times, the guidance information is advanced by that number of times. It is possible to confirm in advance any guidance information to be notified thereafter. Therefore, the user knows in advance the intersection to turn and the direction to turn when traveling, for example,
You can be prepared to change lanes and receive route guidance to your destination with more peace of mind. In addition, the user can instantly confirm the next guidance information that the user is most concerned about when guiding the route, which is convenient for the route guiding. Further, in the embodiment shown in the present embodiment, by operating the return key e on the screen, it is possible to confirm the guidance information that has already been notified. Therefore, the guidance information that was notified immediately before can be confirmed again. You can also do it.

In the present embodiment, the above-described guidance screen feed operation and return operation can be performed only within a fixed time (15 seconds) immediately after the normal guidance generation (SA3). The key input unit 1 has the same functions as the feed key d and the return key e provided on the screen.
By assigning to any one of the operation keys of No. 3, the desired guidance information may be received at any time. Next, the operation of the navigation device in that case will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

That is, when the navigation device starts the route guidance, based on the latitude / longitude data of the current position acquired by the GPS unit 2, as shown in FIG. 3 (B),
A map screen f around the current location is displayed on the monitor 12 (SB1). Next, it is determined whether or not any one of the feed key or the return key (not shown) assigned to any operation key of the key input unit 13 is operated (SB
2). If the result of this determination is NO, it is determined whether or not it is the guide generation timing as in the description of step SA2 in FIG. 2 (SB3). If the determination result is NO, then step SB1 Return to. If the determination result is YES, guidance is generated by the screen of the monitor 12 and the voice from the speaker 17 until the intersection (hereinafter referred to as a guidance point) set on the route is passed. The user is notified of the intersection to turn and the direction of travel there (SB4). At this time, the monitor 12
Shows a guide screen in which the feed key d and the return key e are deleted from the guide screen shown in FIG. 3 (A). Then, the guide point immediately before the current point is stored in the RAM 6 as the designated point (SB5), and the process returns to step SB1.

On the other hand, if the result of the determination in step SB2 is YES, it is determined whether or not the key input is a feed key (SB6). If the determination result is YES, the currently designated guide point is read from the RAM 6, and the guide point one point ahead of the guide point is set as the designated point (SB7), and vice versa. If the result is NO,
The currently designated guide point is read from the RAM 6, and the guide point immediately before the guide point is set as the designated point (SB8), and the process proceeds to step SB9. Although not shown in FIG. 4, when the guide point read from the RAM 6 in step SB7 is the guide point located closest to the goal on the route, or the guide point read from the RAM 6 in step SB8 is on the route. If the guide point is located closest to the start side, step SB9
The process proceeds to step SB14 described below without proceeding to. Separately from this, in step SB7, when the read guide point is the guide point located closest to the goal on the route, the designated point is the guide point located closest to the start on the route. If the guide point read out in step SB8 is the guide point located on the most start side on the route, the designated point is located on the most goal side on the route. You may make it perform the process made into a point.

In step SB9 following steps SB7 and SB8, the route distance from the current position to the designated guide point, that is, the guide point newly designated in step SB7 or step SB8 is calculated. Then, guidance regarding the designated guidance point is generated (SB10). That is, the monitor 12 has a guide screen in which the feed key d and the return key e are deleted from the guide screens shown in FIGS. A guide screen is displayed on which the intersection number c and the distance display g indicating the route distance calculated in step SB9 are displayed. at the same time,
From the speaker 17, for example, a message such as "4 km to the next point" or "3 km from the previous guidance point" is emitted.

Next, the navigation device starts a timer to start counting elapsed time after the guidance is generated (SB11), and then sends a key (not shown) or a return key (not shown) assigned to the key input unit 13. It is determined whether or not any one has been operated (SB12). When it is determined that such a key input has been made, the process returns to step SB6, and the above-described processing of step SB6 and subsequent steps are repeated. On the other hand, if it is determined that there is no key input,
It is determined whether or not 15 seconds have elapsed without key input since the guidance was generated in step SB10 (SB1
3) If the result of this determination is NO, step SB12
Return to. If it is determined that 15 seconds have passed without any key input, after resetting the timer (SB1
4) Go to step SB5 described above, store the guide point immediately before the current point in the RAM 6 as the designated point, and then return to step SB1 to return the screen of the monitor 12 to the normal map screen.

As a result, the same effect as that described with reference to FIG. 2 can be obtained, and unlike that case,
The desired guidance information can be received at any time. In addition, it is possible to easily know the distance from the current position to the desired guide point at an arbitrary time point and the traveling distance from the desired guide point to the current position at that time point.

Next, the operation of the navigation device according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described by taking the operation after the route toward the destination is set as an example and the flowchart and the diagram shown in FIG. A description will be given according to the state transition diagram shown in FIG. That is, when the route setting is completed, the navigation device displays a map around the current location on the monitor 12 on the screen based on the latitude / longitude data of the current location acquired by the GPS unit 2 (SC1). That is, the state of (1) in FIG. 6 is obtained.
Next, it is determined whether or not the automatic guidance feed key is input in this state (SC2). Specifically, as shown in (2) to (4) of FIG. 6, after the menu key is pressed, the automatic guide feed key is selected from the menu screen displayed on the monitor 12, and the automatic guide key is pressed by the ENTER key. It is determined whether or not the input has been decided. If there is no input of the automatic guide feed key, the process returns to step SC1, and if there is input, the process proceeds to the next to generate the first guide on the route (SC3). At this time, on the screen of the monitor 12, as shown in (5) of FIG. 6, a guidance screen showing an intersection enlarged view whose intersection number is “1” explained in the above-described embodiment is displayed. To be done. Furthermore, when displaying such a guide screen, from the start point of the set route,
The route distance to the intersection whose intersection number is "1" is calculated, and a distance display indicating the calculated distance is displayed on the guide screen, as in the case of the one shown in FIGS. 3C and 3D. .

On the other hand, the navigation device includes a timer unit 1.
4, the elapsed time from the time when the first guidance is generated is counted, and the above-mentioned screen state is maintained until the elapsed time reaches 5 seconds (N in SC4
O). Eventually, after 5 seconds have passed (YES in SC4),
It is determined whether or not there is next guidance information (SC5), and if there is next guidance information, it is generated. As a result, on the screen of the monitor 12, as shown in (6) of FIG. 6, a guide screen is displayed which shows an enlarged view of the intersection with the intersection number “2” described in the above-described embodiment. To be done. After displaying the guide screen, the process returns to step SC4,
After that, the above-described processing of steps SC4 to SC6 is repeated until the determination result of step SC4 becomes NO. Along with this, the screen of the monitor 12 shows (5) in FIG.
As shown in (7) to (7), all of the guide screens showing the intersections requiring guidance set on the route are displayed frame by frame at intervals of 5 seconds in accordance with the arrangement order on the route.

When the final guide screen is displayed and the result of the determination in step SC5 is NO, the navigation device determines whether or not the repeat function has been set in the presetting prior to step SC2 described above ( SC7). Then, when the repeat function is set, it is further determined whether or not a key break is performed during the processing of steps SC3 to SC7 (SC8), and when it is determined that the key break is not performed, Returning to step SC3, the frame-by-frame display of the guidance screen is repeated. If it is determined that a key break has been performed or if the determination result of step SC7 is NO, the process returns to step SC1 and repeats all the processes described above.

Although the first guide on the route is generated in step SC3, the next guide at the time when the automatic guide feed key is input in step SC2 may be generated. Further, when the key break is performed, the frame-by-frame display of the guide screen may be stopped and the process may return to step SC1.

As described above, in this embodiment, the user can confirm all of the guidance information known on the route by one operation and in the order of arrangement in the direction toward the destination. The confirmation work for confirming the guide information can be easily performed. In addition, in the present embodiment and the above-described embodiments, the guide screen is configured to display the illustrated enlarged cross-section of the intersection a on the monitor 12, so that the direction in which the vehicle should turn at the intersection should be changed. Is easier to understand. Note that instead of the intersection enlarged view a, a map near the intersection in a detailed view with a small scale used for a normal map screen may be displayed as a guide screen.

Further, in the embodiment described above,
According to the user's request, it is possible to send and return the guidance information on the route in the arrangement order of the intersection, and to confirm it.
I explained that all the guide information can be continuously confirmed according to the arrangement order of the intersection toward the destination, but not limited to this, for example, displaying a mark indicating the intersection to be guided on a normal map screen By designating such a mark as necessary, the guidance information regarding an arbitrary intersection may be confirmed at any time. Further, although the above-described notification information notification operation, that is, the sending (or returning) and the automatic frame-advancing are performed based on the user's key input from the key input unit 13, the present invention is not limited to this. A voice recognition unit for recognizing may be separately provided, and the guidance information notification operation described above may be performed based on a command issued by the user.
In that case, since the user can easily perform a guide information sending (or returning) operation or an automatic frame advance operation even while driving, it is possible to ensure safe driving.

[0026]

As described above, in the navigation device of the present invention, the guide information indicating the direction to proceed at an intersection, which is notified by the guide means based on its own position, is provided to the user by the forced notification processing of the control means. Since the guide means is used to notify in response to the request, the user can check the guide information on the route in advance if desired. As a result, by confirming the guidance information in advance, it is possible to prepare for a lane change, for example, and it is possible to receive route guidance to the destination more safely.

Further, if the forcing notification process by the control means causes the guiding means to notify the guidance information to be notified next in response to the user's request, the next most noticeable thing for the user during route guidance. You can instantly check the guide information. Therefore,
The usability at the time of route guidance is improved. In addition to this
If the control means repeatedly performs the forced notification process,
All the guide information on the route is continuously notified in the order toward the destination. Therefore, the work for confirming all the guide information becomes easy. Further, when the guide means informs the guide information, if the display means for displaying the map displays an enlarged view for guidance showing the intersection and the direction to go there, when the user confirms the guide information. , It becomes easier to understand the direction to turn at the intersection.

[0028]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a navigation device showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of the navigation device.

FIG. 3 is a screen transition diagram of a monitor corresponding to the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing another operation of the navigation device.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the navigation device according to another embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a state transition diagram corresponding to the flowchart of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 GPS part 4 CPU 10 Map CD-ROM 12 Monitor 17 Speaker

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A guide means for notifying guide information indicating a direction to be taken at an intersection to be guided based on a self-position when moving a route set toward a destination,
In a navigation device having a route guiding function for guiding a user to the destination, the guide information is provided with a control unit that performs a forced notification process to notify the guiding unit in response to a user's request. Navigation device. 2. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the control means causes the guide means to notify the guide information to be notified next by the guide means in the forced notification process. 3. The control means repeats the forced notification processing in response to the request.
A navigation device as described. 4. A display means for displaying a map based on the map information stored in the map information storage means, wherein the guide means displays an enlarged view for guidance indicating the intersection and the direction to go there. The navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the navigation device is displayed.