JPH10232135A - Image-data collecting method, image-data providing method, map forming method, position-data providing method, navigation device and vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To utilize the information such as images required by users by using navigation devices and the like by storing the image data photographed with a moving body in a central device together with the position data of the moving body. SOLUTION: Scenery or the like is photographed with a photographing means of a moving body. The image data are transmitted together with the position data of the moving body and stored in a central device 30. At the next step, when the position data from a user is received on the side of the central device 30, the image data stored in accordance with the position are transmitted. As long as the storage of the corresponding image data on the side of the central device 30 is present, the intended image data such as the present position can be obtained in the device on the side of each user. The central device 30 performs two-way communications with terminal devices 10a, 10b, 10c...10n through the specified telephone circuits (radio-telephone circuits and the like). Furthermore, a data memory part 32 memorizes and stores various kinds of data under the control of data control part 31. The stored data are sequentially updated by the communications with the respective terminal devices 10a, 10b, 10c...10n.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of collecting image data and a method of providing image data which are preferably applied to a navigation device which is mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile and displays a map near the position of the vehicle. The present invention relates to a map creation method and a position data providing method, a navigation device to which these methods are applied, and a vehicle equipped with the navigation device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, various navigation devices to be mounted on automobiles and the like have been developed. This navigation device is, for example, a CD RO storing road map data.
It comprises a large-capacity data storage means such as M, a current position detection means, and a display device for displaying a road map near the detected current position based on the data read from the data storage means. In this case, as a means for detecting the current position, a means using a positioning system (hereinafter simply referred to as GPS) using a positioning satellite called a GPS (Global Positioning System), a traveling direction of the vehicle, and a traveling direction are used. There is an autonomous navigation method that tracks a change in the current position from a departure point based on information such as speed.

[0003] The data of a road map near the current position detected by the current position detecting means is stored in a CD.
A video signal for displaying a road map is read out from a large-capacity data storage means such as a ROM, and this video signal is supplied to a display device to display a road map near the current position. In some cases, the navigation device main body and the display device may be configured separately. Further, it is also possible to display a road map or the like at a desired position in a home or the like without mounting it on a moving body such as an automobile.

[0004]

By the way, information displayed by such a conventional navigation device includes:
Basically, it is a road map and its accompanying information, and other information cannot be displayed. When images for guiding sightseeing spots and the like are prepared in the CD ROM, these images can be displayed on the display device. However, even in this case, the image data corresponding to the CD ROM must be stored. This is a premise, and it is not possible to immediately display an image of an arbitrary place required by the user.

[0005] In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide information such as an image required by a user by using a navigation device or the like.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is directed to a photographing means provided at a predetermined position of a moving object, for example, photographing a scenery and the like, and converting the photographed image data into position data of the moving object. The image data and the position data transmitted are received and stored in a predetermined central device, and when the position data and the like from the user are received on the central device side, the image stored corresponding to the position is transmitted. The data is transmitted.

According to the present invention, as long as there is accumulation of the corresponding image data on the central device side, the image data of the desired position such as the current position can be obtained on the device of each user side, and the image data is taken together with the map. Images can be displayed.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIGS.

In this embodiment, the terminal device is installed in a vehicle (moving body) such as an automobile and used as a navigation device. The terminal device communicates with a central device installed in a predetermined place via a telephone line. To do.

First, the structure of the terminal device will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of the terminal device. The terminal device 10 has a system controller 11 composed of a microcomputer. The arithmetic processing of the data is performed. That is, a GPS antenna 12 is connected to the terminal device 10,
The signal received by the antenna 12 is supplied to a GPS signal receiving unit 13. In the GPS signal receiving unit 13, the GPS
A reception process for a positioning system called (Global Positioning System) is performed. That is, a positioning signal for GPS transmitted from a plurality of positioning artificial satellites is received, data included in the signal is analyzed, and the current position (latitude, longitude,
Altitude) data, and the current position data is supplied to the system controller 11. Here, the processing for positioning by GPS has been described, but the positioning of the current position may be performed by another method (for example, autonomous navigation using a direction sensor or a distance sensor).

When the positioning data of the current position is supplied to the system controller 11, a process for displaying a road map near the position is performed. That is, when the positioning data of the position is obtained from the GPS signal receiving unit 13, a command to read a road map near the corresponding position is sent to the map data storage unit 14. The map data storage unit 14 uses, for example, a large-capacity data storage device such as a disk reading device equipped with a CD ROM storing road map data, and stores the read map data in a memory connected to the system controller 11. 15 is stored.

The road map data stored in the map data storage unit 14 includes, for example, data on the coordinate positions of the starting point and the ending point of each road, and vector data connecting the starting point and the ending point. Also, auxiliary data necessary for displaying a road map is stored at the same time.

When the map data read from the map data storage unit 14 is transferred to the memory 15, the system controller 11 draws a road map in a predetermined range in the map data and converts it into an image signal for display. I do. Then, the road map data that has been drawn and becomes the predetermined image data is supplied to the display unit 16 to display the corresponding road map. As the display unit 16, for example, a liquid crystal display panel capable of performing color display with a screen size (diagonal length of the screen) of about several inches is used.

Operation information of the operation unit 17 of the terminal device is supplied to the system controller 11. For example, when displaying a map, the display range, display scale, display direction, etc. of the map are displayed based on the operation of the operation unit 17. The user can set various modes as a navigation device, such as setting a mode related to map display and setting a route to a destination. Various mode settings relating to communication with the central device, which will be described later, are also performed by the operation unit 17.
It can be executed based on the operation of. The operation unit 17 may be configured by a so-called touch panel that allows an operator to input an operation by touching the surface of the display panel forming the display unit 16.

Further, the terminal device 10 of the present embodiment includes two photographing units of a first video camera unit 18 and a second video camera unit 19. The first video camera unit 18 is a terminal device 1
The camera is installed on the front side of the terminal device 10 and captures an image of the front side of the terminal device 10 (for example, the face of a person in front of the device). The system controller 1 is installed to photograph the state of the back of the terminal device 10 (for example, the scenery ahead of the vehicle).
1 is displayed under the control of
Can also be displayed.

An audio input / output unit 20 comprising a microphone, a speaker and an audio circuit connected to the microphone and speaker is connected to the system controller 11, and the input processing and the output processing of the audio signal are executed under the control of the system controller 11. You.

The wireless communication unit 21 is connected to the system controller 11 and communicates with the central device via an antenna 22 connected to the wireless communication unit 21. Here, a wireless telephone device that performs communication through a predetermined wireless telephone line is used as the wireless communication unit 21, and various data (G
It transmits and receives position data measured by the PS receiving unit, image data captured by the video camera unit, and audio data handled by the audio input / output unit. The details of the transmitted data will be described later.

The power supply section 23 for supplying power to each section of the terminal device 10 of the present embodiment is a power supply circuit using a secondary battery such as a lithium ion battery.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the external appearance of the terminal device 10 of the present embodiment. An image display panel constituting a display unit 16 is disposed on the main body of the terminal device 10 and various information such as a road map is provided. Is displayed. In the upper right, the first video camera unit 1
The photographing lens constituting No. 8 is attached in a state facing the front. Although not shown in FIG. 2, a second video camera section 19 having a photographic lens directed substantially opposite to the first video camera section 18 is attached to the back side of the first video camera section 18. . A plurality of keys constituting the operation unit 17 are arranged at the lower right of the main body surface of the terminal device 10, and a microphone 20a and a speaker 20b constituting the audio input / output unit 20 are arranged. A GPS antenna 12 is detachably mounted on the upper part of the terminal device 10, and a radio telephone antenna 22 is fixed.

By mounting the terminal device 10 configured as described above at an appropriate position on, for example, a dashboard of an automobile, a road map or the like displayed on an image display panel constituting the display unit 16 can be displayed in the vehicle. The driver and the like can be confirmed, and the inside of the vehicle such as the driver can be photographed by the first video camera unit 18, and the scene in front of the car can be photographed by the second video camera unit 19 mounted on the back side. become able to.

Next, the terminal device 10 thus configured
The configuration of the central device that communicates with the network will be described with reference to FIG. The central unit 30 is connected to n (n is an arbitrary number) terminal devices 10 via a predetermined telephone line 1 (such as a wireless telephone line).
a, 10b, 10c @ 10n, and a bidirectional communication is performed. The configuration includes a data management unit 31 and a data storage unit 32 that stores various data under the control of the data management unit 31. Prepare. The data storage unit 31 uses a large-capacity storage unit capable of rewriting data, and stores, for example, for each coordinate position corresponding to a main intersection on a road, image data of the position, attached data, and the like.
This storage data is sequentially updated by communication with each terminal device as described later.

The configuration for communicating with the central unit 10 is as follows.
A data receiving unit 33 for receiving and processing data transmitted from any of the terminal devices via the telephone line 1, and a data managing unit for performing a determination process on the data received by the data receiving unit 33 to determine the received data A transmission data generating unit 35 for supplying data to be transmitted from the data management unit 31 to generate data for transmission; and transmitting the data generated by the transmission data generating unit 35 to a telephone line. 1 and a data transmission unit 36 for sending the data to the data transmission unit 1.

Here, the transmission process from the terminal device 10 when the central device 30 receives the data transmitted from each terminal device 10 and stores it in the data storage unit 32 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. explain. First, it is determined whether or not to transmit data to the central unit (step 10).
1). Here, if it is determined that the mode is for data transmission, the current position is measured by the GPS receiving unit 13 and the like, and the traveling direction is determined (step 102).
The scene outside the vehicle is photographed as a still image by the video camera unit 19, and is temporarily stored in the memory 15 (step 10).
3). At this time, the shooting time is also stored. Then, it is determined whether or not to add a voice message (step 104). If a voice message is to be added, a voice message input process using the voice input / output unit 20 is performed (step 105).

When it is determined in step 104 that there is no voice message, and after input processing of the voice message has been performed in step 105, the wireless communication unit 21 uses the central unit 30.
When the line is connected, image data, data indicating the position and direction of shooting the image, data of the shooting time, and voice data (if any) Is transmitted to the central device 30 (step 106).

In the central unit 30, the data transmitted and collected from each terminal device 10 is accumulated in the data storage unit 32. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a storage state of data thus stored in the data storage unit 32. Here, an example in which image data at a certain position of a restaurant is stored is shown. (X1, y1, z1) where the restaurant named "xx shop" exists
Data in each direction (here, images in four directions: north-facing image, east-facing image, south-facing image, and west-facing image) are classified by shooting time (for example, every six hours) ) And memorize it. For example, the time [0: 00-
6:00], the image taken at time [6:00 to 1]
2:00], and the images are classified as shown by ‥‥. Then, the name of the restaurant to which the image indicated by the coordinate position corresponds, “xx shop”, and its telephone number are stored as auxiliary information.

Similarly, in the next example, the coordinate position (x2, y2,
The data of the image in each direction in z2) is classified and stored for each photographing time, and the name of the restaurant "Bistro II" and its telephone number are stored as additional information.

Here, the data of the restaurant location has been described as an example, but image data of various positions such as a main intersection on a road and a main building may be classified and stored for each coordinate position.

The accumulation of these image data in the central device 30 may be performed by each terminal device 10 voluntarily transmitting the data. For example, the data management unit 31 in the central device 30 stores the data. The state may be determined, and image data of a required coordinate position may be requested to a terminal device 10 in a running automobile at a position in the vicinity thereof.

That is, as shown in FIG. 6A, for example, data such as the running position, time, direction, etc. are sequentially transmitted from each terminal device 10 mounted on a running car to a central device 30 via a telephone line. Send to the side. At this time, in some cases, image data taken at any time during traveling is also transmitted at the same time. By transmitting this data, the central device 30 grasps the approximate position of each terminal device (car), and as shown in FIG. 6B, the terminal of the running car moves to the position where the necessary image data is obtained. A request for transmission of the current image data is made to the apparatus 10 via a telephone line. When the corresponding terminal device 10 receives this request, as shown in FIG. 6C, it captures the scenery at the current position (or the designated coordinate position) and obtains the captured still image (or moving image). The image data is transmitted to the central device 30 via the telephone line, and is classified and stored in the data storage unit 32 in the central device 30.

In the processing described above, the image data of each point is stored in the central device 30. Even if the image data is already stored at a point where a long time has passed since the image was stored at the point where the image data is already stored. May send a request for transmission of image data to a car traveling at that position, and update the image data at any time.

Also, an automobile equipped with the terminal device 10
When traveling on a new road, data obtained during the traveling at that time may be automatically transmitted to the central device 30 side. For example, when the system controller 11 determines that the travel position measured by the terminal device 10 is traveling on a road that is not stored in the map data storage unit 14,
The data of the continuous coordinates of the road (ie, the data of the position of the road), the data of the time and the azimuth, and the image data captured while traveling on the road are automatically transmitted to the central device 30. Then, when the central device 30 receives the data, the received data is stored as new road data. By accumulating the data of the newly established road in this way, it becomes possible to transmit the data of the newly established road to each terminal device. When each terminal device obtains the data of the new road, when displaying the map on the terminal device, a map reflecting the data of the new road (that is, a map on which the new road is displayed) is displayed. It is possible to always display the map with the latest data.

Next, the process of using the image data accumulated in the central device 30 in each terminal device 10 will be described. First, the processing when the route setting from the current position to the destination is performed by the terminal device 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7. The system controller 11 of the terminal device 10 performs the route setting to the destination. When the route is set (step 111), the coordinates of the main intersection existing on the route to the destination and the direction in which the intersection travels are calculated, and the calculated coordinates and direction are calculated. The data is stored in the memory 15 (step 112).

For example, as shown in FIG. 8, when a route from the current position a to the destination b is set, and there are intersections P1, P2, P3, P4, and P5 on the route, each intersection P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 coordinate position data (x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3),
(X4, y4), (x5, y5) and the data θ1, θ2, θ3, θ4, θ5 of the traveling direction at the coordinate position are calculated and stored.

When the coordinates and the direction of the main intersection on this route can be calculated, the data requesting the transmission of the image data at each of the calculated coordinate positions is transmitted to the central device 30 via the telephone line (step). 113).

When this request is present in the central device 30, the central device 30 determines whether or not there is data in the corresponding direction of the corresponding coordinate position in the data storage unit 32, and when the image data is stored. , The image data is returned to the terminal device 10 via the telephone line connected thereto. At this time, when there are a plurality of types of image data for each photographing time, the most appropriate image may be selected in consideration of the time (for example, the image photographed at the time closest to the current time may be selected). If the image data at the corresponding position is not stored, data indicating no image data is stored in the terminal device 10.
Will be returned to

The system controller 11 of the terminal device 10
Then, it is determined whether or not any data is returned from the central device 30 via the telephone line (step 114). When it is determined that the data is returned, it is determined whether or not the returned data includes image data. (Step 115) When there is image data, the received image data is displayed on the display unit 16 in a predetermined mode (Step 116).

At this time, for example, the received image of each intersection is displayed on the display unit 16 in order from the position closest to the current position, or after the vehicle has actually started traveling on the route, it corresponds to the display mode. When approaching an intersection,
Displaying an image of the intersection may be considered. The received images may not be displayed on the entire screen of the display unit 16 but may be displayed on a part of the screen on which a map or the like is displayed. If there is some attached data such as a voice message, output processing of the attached data (for example, output processing of the voice message in the voice input / output unit 20) may be performed simultaneously with the display of the image.

If it is determined in step 115 that there is no image data, a display indicating that image data on the route is not prepared is displayed on the display unit 16 (step 117). In addition, even when only the image of a part of the intersection on the route is not prepared, the display indicating the fact is performed.

By transmitting the image data stored in the central device 30 based on the route setting in each terminal device 10 as described above, the set route can be guided by an actual image. Route guidance becomes possible. In particular, in the case of this example, the image data stored in the central device 30 is an image taken when one of the automobiles equipped with the terminal device 10 actually runs, so that the image data is sequentially updated. Will be updated with the latest image of the place, and a better guidance with the latest image will always be provided, compared to a case where guidance is provided only with data stored in a storage medium prepared in advance such as a CD ROM. Becomes possible.

Next, a description will be given of a process in which a guidance display is performed on each terminal device 10 side by using a specific type of image data stored on the central device 30 side. The flowchart of FIG. 9 shows a process of transmitting and displaying image data of a restaurant stored in the central device 30. The system controller 11 of the terminal device 10 collects a specific type of data near the desired position. (Step 121). Here, in the case of this data collection processing, the coordinates of the required position are stored in the system controller 1.
1 confirms (step 122). For example, if data of a restaurant near the current position is desired, the coordinates of the current position are checked. If the user wants data of a restaurant near an arbitrary location other than the current location, for example, the location is set on a map, and then the system controller 11 checks the coordinates of the set location.

When the coordinate position can be confirmed, under the control of the system controller 11, data requesting image data transmission of a specific type (restaurant in this case) near the confirmed coordinate position is transmitted via a telephone line. Central device 30
(Step 123).

When this request is sent to the central device 30, the central device 30 will have a radius of several km around the position corresponding to the coordinate position corresponding to the data storage section 32 (for example, with the position indicated by the coordinate as the center).
It is determined whether the corresponding type of image data (here, image data of a restaurant) is stored in the terminal device 10. If the image data is stored, the image data is stored in the terminal device 10. And return it to the connected telephone line. At this time, when there are a plurality of types of image data for each photographing time, the most appropriate image may be selected in consideration of the time (for example, the image photographed at the time closest to the current time may be selected). If no image data of that type is stored in the vicinity of the corresponding position, data indicating no image data is returned to the terminal device 10.

For example, as shown in FIG. 10, when a data transmission request for a restaurant near the current position a is made, the restaurants near the current position a are referred to as positions r1, r2, r
3 is stored in the central device 30, the coordinate data (x1 ', y1'), (x2 ', y2'), (x3 ',
y3 ′) and the image data at the position and the attached information (telephone number, voice message, etc.) stored together with the image data are transmitted to the terminal device 10.

The system controller 11 of the terminal device 10
Then, it is determined whether or not any data is returned from the central device 30 via the telephone line (step 124). When it is determined that the data is returned, it is determined whether or not the returned data includes image data. (Step 125) When there is image data, the received image data is displayed on the display unit 16 in a predetermined mode (Step 126).

As a display mode at this time, for example, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the location (restaurant) indicated by the image is indicated by a predetermined mark (star mark such as r11 in FIG. 11) on the map, and the location of the location is indicated. The received image is displayed using a part of the display range as shown in FIG. At this time, for example, the name of the place (here, the name of the restaurant) and the telephone number of the place are displayed over the display of the received image.
If there is some attached data such as a voice message, output processing of the attached data (for example, output processing of the voice message in the voice input / output unit 20) may be performed simultaneously with the display of the image.

If it is determined in step 125 that there is no image data, a display indicating that data corresponding to the range is not prepared is displayed on the display unit 16 (step 127).

By transmitting the image data stored in the central device 30 in this way based on the position and the type of information at each terminal device 10, the position where a building of that type exists is guided by an actual image. Can provide good guidance. For example, in the case of the present example, an image of a storefront of a restaurant near the current position (or an arbitrarily set position) and the name and telephone number of the store are displayed, so that the terminal device 10 is used as a navigation device. This is useful when searching for a restaurant near the position where the vehicle is traveling, or for searching for a restaurant existing in the middle of a set route. Also in this case, since guidance can be provided based on the latest image data accumulated in the central device 30, good guidance is always possible with the latest image.

Next, a description will be given of a process in which each terminal device 10 performs a process of confirming the current position using the image data stored in the central device 30. That is, the terminal device 10 described above has positioning means by GPS, but here it is assumed that the terminal device does not have this positioning means, or if the positioning means is present, the current position is determined for some reason. If it is not possible, a process for confirming where the current position is by communication with the central device 30 is performed. The flowchart in FIG. 12 shows the processing in the terminal device 10 in this case, and the system controller 11 of the terminal device 10 determines whether or not to confirm the position (step 13).
1) When confirming the position, the outside of the vehicle is photographed by the second video camera unit 19 at the current position (step 13).
2) Transmit the photographed image data and the position confirmation request data to the central device 30 via the telephone line (step 133).

Upon receiving this data, the central unit 30 performs a process of searching for similar image data from the image data stored in the data storage unit 32 under the control of the data management unit 31. In this search processing, when the substantially matching image data is found in the stored data, the position data and the direction data of the image data are returned to the corresponding terminal device 10 via the telephone line. At this time, the image data of the location stored in the central device 30 for confirmation may be transmitted at the same time. Then, when image data similar to the received image data cannot be detected, data indicating that the position cannot be specified is returned to the terminal device 10.

The system controller 11 of the terminal device 10
Then, it is determined whether or not any data is returned from the central device 30 via the telephone line (step 134). When it is determined that the data is returned, it is determined whether or not the returned data includes position data. (Step 135) When there is the position data, processing such as displaying the coordinate position indicated by the position data on the display unit 16 or displaying a road map near the coordinate position on the display unit 16 is performed (step 135). Step 136). If no position data has been received and data indicating that the position cannot be specified is received, a message indicating that the position cannot be specified is displayed on the display unit 16 (step 137).

As described above, the position is specified by comparing the image data stored in the central device 30 with the image data photographed by the terminal device 10 so that the terminal device 10 does not have the positioning means. , The current position can be detected. When the position confirmation processing is performed, for example, as the image data stored on the central device 30 side,
The data of the characteristic points of the image data is classified and stored by some method, and the data is compared with the characteristic points in the transmitted image data, thereby enabling a quick search.

Next, an example in which data transmission is performed between a plurality of terminal devices 10 via the central device 30 of this embodiment will be described. In this case, for example, as shown in FIG.
The plurality of terminal devices 10 are connected to the central device 30 via telephone lines, respectively, and required data is transmitted via the central device 30. For example, in the example of FIG. 13, the first video camera unit 1 of the terminal device is transmitted from the terminal device A.
The image data of the driver photographed in step 8 and the input voice message data are transmitted to the central device 30, and the data for requesting the images and voices of the other three terminal devices B, C, and D are simultaneously transmitted. .

When the central unit 30 receives the data,
The three terminal devices B, C, and D are called over telephone lines, and data requesting images and sounds is transmitted to each terminal device. This data is stored in each of the terminal devices B, C, D
, The current image is captured and a voice message is input, and the image data and voice data are transmitted to the central device 30.

When the data is transmitted to and stored in the central device 30, the terminal device A is called over a telephone line, and the image data and the audio data from the terminal devices B, C, and D stored by the central device 30 are transferred. Transmit to terminal device A. At this time, the position data of each of the terminal devices A, B, C, and D may also be transmitted.

By performing the data transmission process in this manner, for example, in the terminal device A, as shown in FIG. 14, the image data transmitted from the terminal devices B, C, and D via the central device 30 is transmitted. , Is displayed on the display unit 16 separately.
The obtained voice messages are sequentially output from the speaker 20b. When the position data of each terminal device is obtained, the positions of the terminal devices A, B, C, and D may be displayed together with a map on a part of the display unit 16 as shown in FIG. good.

By doing so, image data and audio data can be transmitted between a plurality of terminal devices, and their positions can be confirmed. Data transmission via the central device 30 can be performed well. . For data transmission between such a plurality of terminal devices, for example, transmission of images and sounds is performed by designating the intended partner of the user by specifying a telephone number known from the position or a direct telephone number. Can be. Alternatively, the user sets some conditions and calls a partner (for example, a terminal device installed in a restaurant within a radius of 500 m from the current position) that matches the conditions,
Images and audio may be transmitted.

The terminal device 10 has two video camera units, a first video camera unit for photographing the inside of the vehicle and the like, and a second video camera unit for photographing the scenery outside the vehicle. Although the video camera unit is provided, only one video camera unit may be provided in the terminal device so that the terminal device is also used. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 15, the video camera unit 18a provided in the terminal device 10 '.
As a configuration, the video camera unit 18 is configured to be rotatable with respect to the apparatus main body as shown by an arrow θ so as to be able to face both directions of the front and rear of the apparatus.
a can also be used.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG.
The video camera unit 18b included in the 0 "is detachable from the main body of the apparatus, and the main body of the apparatus and the video camera unit 18b are connected by a cable 18c. May be adopted.

Next, an example in which the terminal device of this example is installed in a car will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and 2
Although the terminal device 10 described in the above is a device in which each unit is integrally connected, here, each unit provided in the terminal device is dispersed into a plurality of units, and the units are connected to each other, so that the terminal device An example is shown in which a device configured to obtain the same function as 10 is installed in an automobile. That is, an apparatus main body 41 including a map data storage unit, a position positioning unit, and a system controller for controlling processing of each unit is installed in a predetermined space such as a lower side of a dashboard, and a steering wheel 51 in front of a driver seat 52 is provided. The display device 42 is installed on a dashboard next to the device. In this case, the display device 42 is installed so that a person sitting in the driver's seat 52 can check the display on the display device 42 without obstructing the front view. The display device 42 includes a video camera unit 43 and an image display unit including a liquid crystal display panel and the like.
An audio input / output unit 43 and an operation unit 44 are provided.

Here, a separate portable telephone 46 is used as a wireless communication unit, and this portable telephone 46 is connected to the apparatus main body 41 by a cable 46a so as to function as a wireless communication unit. A communication function of the mobile phone 46 installed at a predetermined position 53 such as the side of the mobile phone is connected to a predetermined telephone line to perform data transmission with the central device.

In the above embodiment, only one central device is provided and all the data is stored in one central device. However, as shown in FIG. 18, for example, a plurality of central devices 30a and 30b are provided. , 30c to store data in a distributed manner among the plurality of central devices 30a, 30b, 30c, and also to connect to the terminal devices 10a, 10b # in a distributed manner. In this case, by performing data transmission between the central devices 30a, 30b, and 30c, image data and the like distributed and stored in the central devices can be commonly used, and the central device can be configured as one central device.
The same service as in the case of only a unit can be provided.

In the above-described embodiment, the wireless telephone line is used for data transmission between the central unit and each terminal unit. However, other wireless communication means may be used. It is. For example, any wireless communication line dedicated to data transmission may be used.

[0063]

According to the image data collecting method of the present invention,
A scene is automatically photographed by photographing means provided at a predetermined position of the moving body, the photographed image data is transmitted together with the position data of the moving body, the transmitted image data and the position data are received, and a predetermined center is received. By storing the data in the apparatus, the central apparatus can collect image data at various positions, and can efficiently create a database of image data.

In this case, by transmitting audio data or image data intentionally photographed by the user together with the image data and the position data, various data accompanying the image data such as a message can be collected.

According to the image data providing method of the present invention, the image data corresponding to the position data is stored, and when a position request is made from the user, the stored image data corresponding to the position is transferred to the user. It is possible to provide image data at any location to the user by transmitting it to, for example, even if each user does not have image data etc., accurate various guidance with the latest data Can be.

In this case, the stored voice data or the image data which is intentionally photographed and stored by the user is also used.
By transmitting the data to the user, audio data and image data accompanying the image data such as a message can be provided to the user.

In the above-described image data providing method, if there is additional data in the stored data to be transmitted, the additional data is also transmitted, so that various additional data can be provided.

Further, in the image data providing method described above, the image based on the image data received by the user is displayed simultaneously or selectively with the map of the position, so that the user can easily understand the image. Display of the received image or map becomes possible, and good navigation can be performed.

According to the map creation method of the present invention, the scene is photographed by photographing means provided at a predetermined position of the moving object.
The photographed image data is transmitted together with the position data of the moving object, the transmitted image data and position data are received and stored in a predetermined central device, and a map is created based on the stored data. As a result, a map is created based on the image data that is updated as needed, and it is possible to always create the latest map.

According to the position data providing method of the present invention, the central device receives the image data transmitted from the user, and the central device stores the position data corresponding to the transmitted image data in the database stored in advance. By searching and transmitting location data to users,
The position at that time can be detected from the image taken by the user.

Further, according to the navigation apparatus of the present invention, the communication device for transmitting the position data measured by the position measuring means or the image data photographed by the photographing means through a predetermined communication line and receiving the predetermined data is provided. ,
By transmitting image data or the like, data other than the map can be obtained and displayed from the outside, and good navigation can be performed.

In this case, by displaying the image data received based on the transmission of the position data on the display means, it is possible to display, for example, an image of a place close to the current position, and Guidance can be provided by images.

Further, in the above-described navigation device, the display of the image data is performed simultaneously with the display of the map data, so that the image can be guided in a good display state.

Further, according to the vehicle of the present invention, the wireless communication means for transmitting the data of the measured own vehicle position or the image data photographed by the photographing means through a predetermined communication line and receiving the predetermined data is provided. By transmitting image data or the like, data other than a map can be obtained from the outside and displayed in the vehicle, so that navigation corresponding to the current position of the own vehicle can be favorably performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of the appearance of the terminal device according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a central device according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a transmission process from a terminal device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a data storage state according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an image data accumulation process according to an embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process at the time of setting a route according to an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a route setting state according to an embodiment;

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing processing at the time of collecting data at a desired position according to one embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a data collection state at a desired position according to one embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a display example of a received image according to one embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a position search process using an image according to an embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of data transmission between a plurality of terminal devices via a central device according to one embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a display example during data transmission between a plurality of terminal devices according to an embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a plan view showing a terminal device (an example in which a camera unit is made rotatable) according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a plan view showing a terminal device (an example in which a camera unit is made detachable) according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing an example of installation of the terminal device according to the present invention on a car.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the system configuration according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 telephone line, 10 terminal device, 11 system controller, 13 GPS receiving unit, 14 map data storage unit, 16 display unit, 18 first video camera unit, 19
Second video camera unit, 20 audio input / output unit, 21
Wireless communication unit, 30 central unit, 31 data management unit, 32
Data storage unit, 33 data reception unit, 34 reception data judgment unit, 35 transmission data creation unit, 36 data transmission unit

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. Automatically photographing by photographing means provided at a predetermined position of a moving body, transmitting the photographed image data together with the position data of the moving body, and receiving the transmitted image data and position data. An image data collection method for storing data in a predetermined central device. 2. The image data collection method according to claim 1, wherein together with the image data and the position data, audio data or image data intentionally photographed by a user is transmitted. 3. Image data which stores image data corresponding to the position data and transmits the stored image data corresponding to the position to the user when a position request is made by the user. Delivery method. 4. The image data providing method according to claim 3, wherein the stored voice data or the image data that is intentionally photographed and stored by the user is transmitted to the user. Method. 5. The image data providing method according to claim 3, wherein, when the stored data to be transmitted includes additional data, the additional data is also transmitted. 6. The image data providing method according to claim 3, wherein an image based on the image data received by the user is displayed simultaneously or selectively with a map of the position. 7. A scene is photographed by photographing means provided at a predetermined position of the moving body, the photographed image data is transmitted together with the position data of the moving body, and the transmitted image data and position data are received. And accumulating the data in a predetermined central device, and creating a map based on the accumulated data. 8. A central unit receives image data transmitted from a user, and the central unit searches position data corresponding to the transmitted image data from a database stored in advance, and retrieves the position data. A method of providing position data to be transmitted to a user. 9. A map data storage means, a position positioning means, a display means, an imaging means for photographing the periphery, and map data near a position measured by the position positioning means are read from the storage means and read out from the storage means. A navigation system comprising: display control means for displaying on a display means; and communication means for transmitting position data measured by the position positioning means or image data photographed by the photographing means via a predetermined communication line and receiving predetermined data. apparatus. 10. The navigation device according to claim 9, wherein image data received based on the transmission of the position data is displayed on the display means under the control of the display control means. 11. The navigation device according to claim 10, wherein the display of the image data is performed simultaneously with the display of the map data. 12. A storage means for map data, a positioning means for the position of the vehicle, a display means, a photographing means for photographing the surroundings, and map data near the position measured by the position positioning means from the storage means. Display control means for reading and displaying the data on the display means; and communication means for transmitting the position data measured by the positioning means or the image data photographed by the photographing means by predetermined wireless communication and receiving predetermined data. Vehicle. 13. The vehicle according to claim 12, wherein the image data received based on the transmission of the position data is displayed in a predetermined manner on the display means under the control of the display control means.