JPH10132592A - Navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To search a recommended route along a traveling scheduled route roughly instructed on a monitor by providing a detector for detecting a position instructed on a display screen on the monitor, and searching the recommended route on the basis of the scheduled route instructed from the display screen and detected by the detector. SOLUTION: A traveling scheduled route RT is formed of divided straight lines RT1, RT2, RT3 for connecting a start point SP, routing position DP1, DP2 and an end point EP. When the start point SP, the routing points DP1, DP2 and the end point EP are instructed on a monitor, the scheduled route RT is inputted. A control circuit calculates the inclinations of the divided straight lines RT1-RT3 connecting each point, and calculates the search angle range. A mesh through which the scheduled route RT is passed is retrieved, and the average inclination of each link within the mesh is calculated. Thereafter, a link having the average inclination included in the search angle range is retrieved every mesh, and the link cost is changed to search a recommended route.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation device which searches for a route by inputting a scheduled route from a road map displayed on a monitor.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a vehicle traveling route guidance device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-325096. In such a route guidance device, when a destination is input, one route is searched by various algorithms from among a plurality of routes connecting the current position (start point) and the destination (end point), and is displayed on a monitor. . JP-A-5-325
In Japanese Patent Publication No. 096, the shortest route is set as a recommended route.

[0003] In the route guidance apparatus disclosed in the above publication, a road desired by the occupant can be set as a recommended route. That is, the preferred route actually traveled by the vehicle is stored, and when the start point and the end point at the time of instructing the route search process match the start point and the end point of the preferred route, the recommended route obtained by the route search is stored. Both of the preferred routes are displayed on the monitor.

[0004]

The conventional route guidance apparatus described above determines the starting point and the ending point, and obtains one recommended route from a plurality of roads connecting the two points. It is not possible to specify a desired planned route and search for a desired route along the planned route, and there is room for improvement in operability and usability.

An object of the present invention is to provide a navigation device which can search for a recommended route along a planned route roughly indicated on a monitor.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

(1) The present invention is applied to a navigation device that displays a road map on a monitor based on map data stored in a map storage device and displays a searched recommended route on the road map. And the purpose mentioned above is
The monitor is provided with a detector for detecting a point indicated on the display screen, and further provided is route search means for searching for a recommended route based on a planned traveling route indicated by the display screen and detected by the detector. Is achieved by an improved navigation device. (2) The monitor can be constituted by a touch panel device. In this case, a route connecting a plurality of points designated by a finger on the monitor is set as a planned traveling route, and a route traced by a finger on the monitor is defined as a planned traveling route. can do. (3) Divide the map displayed on the monitor into a plurality of meshes, select a mesh through which the scheduled route passes,
It is possible to search for a recommended route by searching for a road corresponding to the planned traveling route from a plurality of roads existing in the selected mesh. (4) For each selected mesh, it is possible to search for a link having an inclination close to the inclination of the planned traveling route and to search for a recommended route along the planned traveling route.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

-First Embodiment- FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a current position detecting device for detecting a current position of a vehicle, for example, a direction sensor 1a for detecting a traveling direction of the vehicle, a vehicle speed sensor 1b for detecting a vehicle speed, and a GPS signal from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite. It consists of a GPS sensor 1c to detect. Reference numeral 2 denotes a map storage memory for storing data relating to a road map, which comprises, for example, a CD-ROM and a reading device therefor.

The road map data stored in the map storage memory 2 mainly includes road data on a map, name data, background data, and the like. Road data includes link data obtained by dividing a road into multiple lengths, the starting node of each link,
It consists of coordinate value data of the terminal node, road type data such as national roads and kendo, and the like.

Reference numeral 3 denotes a control circuit for controlling the entire apparatus.
It consists of a microprocessor and its peripheral circuits. Reference numeral 4 denotes an input device having various switches for inputting a destination of the vehicle and the like. The detail / wide area switches 4a and 4b are switches for displaying the display map in detail or for wide area display, and the scroll switch 4c is a switch for scrolling the display screen up, down, left and right. The map switch 4d is a switch for setting the display screen to the current position of the vehicle.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a map data memory for storing road map drawing data for displaying a road map, and is created based on the road map data read from the map storage memory 2. Reference numeral 7 denotes an image memory for storing image data to be displayed on a display monitor 8 described later. The image data stored in the image memory 7 is read out as appropriate and displayed on the display monitor 8. The display monitor 8 has touch panel switches arranged in a matrix. The operator can press any point on the map displayed on the monitor 8 with his / her finger at the start point, stopover point, and end point of a route search described later. Is instructed and input.

Reference numeral 9 denotes an FM multiplex broadcast receiver, reference numeral 10 denotes an optical beacon receiver, and reference numeral 11 denotes a radio beacon receiver. Traffic information (hereinafter referred to as VICS information) transmitted by an FM multiplex broadcast radio wave, an optical beacon, and a radio beacon, respectively. ) To receive.

The VICS information is, for example, traffic jam information, regulation information, parking lot information, service area information, and parking area information. The regulation information includes lane regulation information,
Includes highway ramp regulation information and interchange regulation information. Traffic information is divided into upper and lower roads,
Congestion is displayed in red, congestion in yellow, and no congestion in green.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the main processing of the control circuit 3, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are flow charts showing the recommended path calculation processing of the control circuit 3. The operation of this embodiment will be described based on these flow charts. explain.
The control circuit 3 starts the processing of FIG. 2 when, for example, a key of the vehicle is operated to an ignition on position.

In step S10 of FIG. 2, a recommended route search process is executed. In step S20, the current position detection device 1
The current position of the vehicle is detected based on the signal from the vehicle. In step S30, a map display process is performed to display a map on a monitor. At this time, the recommended route searched as described later is also displayed.

In step S40, the current position is detected in the same manner as in step S20. In step S50, it is determined whether to update the road map on the screen, that is, whether to rewrite the road map. Here, based on the detected current position, it is determined that the road map displayed on the screen is updated when the vehicle has traveled a predetermined distance or more since the last map update.

If the determination in step S50 is affirmative, the process returns to step S30, and if the determination is negative, step S60.
Proceed to. In step S60, it is determined whether to continue the main process of FIG. For example, when a power switch (not shown) is turned off or when a switch for stopping the process is operated, the determination in step S60 is denied, and the main process in FIG. 2 ends.

If the determination in step S60 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S70 to update the display of the own vehicle position mark, and then returns to step S40. Although the own vehicle position mark is displayed so as to be superimposed on the current position on the map, the own vehicle position mark is moved on the map according to the traveling distance until the map is scrolled by a predetermined distance in step S50. The display of the position mark is updated. Other additional information is also updated in this step.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing details of the recommended route search processing in step S10 of FIG. In step S11, input of a start point of the route search is waited. When the start point is input, input of a stopover is waited in step S12. When the start point and the waypoint are input, in step S13, a line is drawn by connecting the point input as the waypoint and the point input immediately before by a straight line. In step S14, it is determined whether the point input for the recommended route search has been completed. For example,
An input end button is displayed on the monitor, and when this button is operated, step S14 is affirmed. If it is determined in step S14 that the input of a stopover or an end point has been completed, a recommended route calculation is executed in step S15. The details are shown in FIG. 4 and will be described later.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a road map displayed on the display monitor 8 divided into 72 meshes.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a planned traveling route RT input by an operator. In FIG. 6, the planned traveling route RT includes a dividing line RT1 connecting the starting point SP and the via point DP1, and a dividing line RT2 connecting the via point DP1 and the via point DP2.
Straight line RT3 connecting the route point DP2 and the end point EP
Consists of

The recommended route calculation processing shown in FIG. 4 is for selecting a road, which is a recommended route, from each mesh on the basis of the input scheduled travel route RT as shown in FIG. In step S151 in FIG. 4, a search is made for a mesh through which the scheduled traveling route passes. In step S152, the inclination αr (r = 1 to 3) of each divided straight line is calculated. Step S
In 153, a predetermined deviation angle X is added to or subtracted from the inclination αr of each divided straight line, and stored as a search angle range (αr ± X).
In step S154, the average inclination βmi (m is the mesh number, i
Calculates the number of links existing in each mesh). In step S155, for each mesh, the average inclination βmi of the link in the mesh is determined by the search angle range (α
Search for a link included in (r ± X). Step S15
In step 6, the link cost of the searched link is changed.
That is, in the recommended route calculation, the link cost is changed so that the link searched in step S155 is selected in the mesh searched as described above.
In step S157, a recommended route is calculated. When a plurality of links are searched in step S155, the inclination αr
Is selected with the average slope βmi closest to.

The recommended route search according to such a procedure will be further described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 6, a start point SP and a transit point DP are displayed on the monitor by an operator.
By instructing 1, DP2 and end point EP, the planned traveling route RT is input. The control circuit 3 calculates the inclination αr of the divided straight lines RT1 to RT3 connecting the points, and further calculates the search angle range (αr ± X). The control circuit 3 searches for a mesh through which the scheduled traveling route RT passes, and calculates an average inclination βmi of each link in the mesh. In FIG. 7, the searched meshes are shown by being filled. afterwards,
A link having an average inclination βmi included in the search angle range (αr ± X) is searched for each mesh, and the link cost of the link is changed. In this way, the scheduled traveling route RT passes through the mesh, and the waypoints DP1, D
A recommended route from the start point SP to the end point EP through P2 is searched for as indicated by a thick black line RRT shown in FIG.

Second Embodiment A second embodiment of the navigation device according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 9 shows the detailed procedure of the recommended route search process in step S10 of the main process, and corresponds to FIG. Step S21
In step S22, it is determined whether the input of the planned traveling route has been started from the display screen of the monitor 8, and if it is determined that the input has been started, it is determined in step S22 whether the input has been completed. Upon completion, a recommended route calculation is performed in step S23.

FIG. 10 shows the recommended route calculation processing in step S23, and the planned traveling route R inputted as shown in FIG.
Based on T, a road that is a recommended route is selected from each mesh. In step S231 in FIG. 10, a search is made for a mesh through which the scheduled traveling route passes. In step S232, the average inclination αs (s is a positive integer from 1 to the number of searched meshes) of the planned traveling route in the searched mesh is calculated. In step S233, a predetermined deviation angle X is added to or subtracted from the inclination αs of the planned traveling route in each mesh and stored as a search angle range (αs ± X).
In step S234, the average inclination βmi (m is the mesh number, i is the
Is a positive integer from 1 to the number of links present in each mesh)
Is calculated. In step S235, for each mesh, a link whose average inclination βmi of the link within the mesh is included in the search angle range (αs ± X) is searched. In step S236, the link cost of the searched link is changed. That is, in the recommended route calculation, the link cost is changed so that the link searched in step S235 is selected in the mesh searched as described above. In step S237, a recommended route is calculated.
When a plurality of links are searched in step S235, a link having an average slope βmi closest to the slope αs is selected.

The recommended route search according to such a procedure will be further described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 11, the planned traveling route RT is input by tracing the monitor with a single stroke with a finger. The control circuit 3 selects a mesh through which the scheduled traveling route RT passes. In FIG. 12, the searched meshes are shown by being filled. The average inclination αs of the planned traveling route RT in each mesh is calculated, and the search angle range (αs ± X) is further calculated. Further, the average inclination βmi of each link in the mesh is calculated. Then, for each mesh, the search angle range (αs ±
A link having an average inclination βmi included in X) is searched, and the link cost of the link is changed. In this manner, a recommended route is searched for based on a link in the mesh through which the scheduled traveling route RT passes, as indicated by a thick black line RRT shown in FIG.

According to the above two embodiments, a recommended route can be searched based on an arbitrary planned traveling route specified on the display screen. There is no need to input each time, improving operability and usability. In addition, the degree of freedom for the search condition for the recommended route is increased. Furthermore, since a link with a slope close to the slope of the planned traveling route is searched, even if the point indicated on the display map is off the road, there is no support for the route search and the operability is good.

In the above description, a touch panel switch is provided on the display screen of the monitor 8 so that the operator can input a scheduled travel route by tracing the screen with a finger. The predetermined travel route may be input by touching a predetermined location. Alternatively, an instruction device for instructing the planned traveling route without touching the screen may be used.

In the correspondence between the above embodiment and the constituent elements of the claims, the touch panel switch of the monitor 8 corresponds to the detector, and the control circuit 3 corresponds to the route searching means.

[0028]

【The invention's effect】

(1) According to the present invention, it is possible to search for a recommended route based on an arbitrary scheduled travel route specified on the display screen. In addition to the recommended route that was searched, a road that is close to the desired route specified by the operator can be searched as a recommended route, improving operability and usability, and increasing the degree of freedom in the search conditions for the recommended route. Increase. (2) By inputting the scheduled route by tracing with the finger on the monitor as in the third aspect, it is not necessary to input the start point, the waypoint, and the end point as in the related art, and the operability is improved. (3) As described in claim 4, by searching for a link having an inclination close to the inclination of the planned traveling route for each of the selected meshes, even if the designated point on the display screen is off the road, the route is searched without any support. Can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing main processing.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a subroutine of a recommended route search process according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a detailed process of a recommended route calculation of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a 72-division mesh and a road map on a display screen.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display screen when a planned traveling route is input in the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a display screen showing meshes searched according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a display screen showing a recommended route searched in the first embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a subroutine of a recommended route search process according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing detailed processing of a recommended route calculation in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a display screen when a planned traveling route is input in the second embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram of a display screen showing a searched mesh according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram of a display screen showing a recommended route searched in the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Current location detection device 2 Map storage memory 3 Control circuit 4 Input device 5 Map data memory 7 Image memory 8 Display monitor 9 FM multiplex broadcast receiving device 10 Optical beacon receiving device 11 Radio beacon receiving device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A navigation device for displaying a road map on a monitor based on map data stored in a map storage device and displaying a recommended route searched on the road map, wherein the monitor has a display screen. A detector for detecting the point indicated above, and a route search means for searching for the recommended route based on the planned traveling route indicated by the display screen and detected by the detector. Navigation device. 2. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the monitor is a touch panel device, and the route to be traveled is determined by reading a route connecting a plurality of points designated by a finger on the monitor. A featured navigation device. 3. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the monitor is a touch panel device, and the planned travel route is determined by reading a route traced by a finger on the monitor. . 4. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the map displayed on the monitor is divided into a plurality of meshes, and the determined travel schedule route passes through the meshes. Selecting a link corresponding to the scheduled travel route from among a plurality of links existing in the selected mesh to search for a recommended route, and displaying the recommended route on the monitor. Navigation device. 5. The navigation device according to claim 4, wherein a link having an inclination close to the inclination of the planned traveling route is searched for each of the selected meshes.