JPH1030931A - Vehicle-mounted navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vehicle-mounted navigation system for enabling a user to determine the position of a facility and the distance to it easily. SOLUTION: The vehicle-mounted navigation device 10 has a CD-ROM 15 that stores data regarding a map, a microprocessor 24 for calculating the current position of a vehicle, and a display 17 for showing the current position of the vehicle. The microprocessor 24 searches for a road where a current position exists and a facility that is located along a specific road being connected to the road and calculates the distance to each searched facility from the above current position. Further, a table including type and/or name regarding each facility, distance from the current position, and position viewed toward the advance direction of a vehicle is created and is shown on the screen of the display 17.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an on-vehicle navigation system which is mounted on an automobile and displays a road on which the automobile travels and its surroundings.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a current position of a vehicle traveling on a road is calculated and displayed on a screen such as a liquid crystal display, and a guidance route which is a road on which the vehicle should travel toward a destination is calculated. There is known an in-vehicle navigation system for displaying a message. In this system, the current position of the vehicle is calculated based on the traveling direction of the vehicle measured by a direction sensor such as a gyro and the traveling distance of the vehicle measured by a vehicle speed sensor or a distance sensor. In general, the distance is measured by measuring the number of rotations of the output shaft of the transmission and the like.
It is obtained by multiplying a distance coefficient which is a distance traveled by the vehicle per rotation of the tire.

Further, in order to correct the error of the current position obtained from the obtained traveling direction and traveling distance of the vehicle, as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-148115, based on the traveling distance and the azimuth change amount, Obtain the error amount based on the estimated position of the determined vehicle and the error of the road map, register the estimated position as its own position corresponding to all roads located within the range of the error amount centered on the estimated position A technique is known in which a correlation coefficient of each of the registered estimated positions with respect to each road is calculated, and an estimated position associated with the correlation coefficient indicating that the error with respect to the road is the smallest is set as the current position. An image obtained by superimposing the mark (for example, an arrow) indicating the current position thus obtained and a map corresponding to the map data stored on the CD-ROM is displayed on the screen of the liquid crystal display.

[0004] In the vehicle-mounted navigation system as described above, when the vehicle is traveling along a guidance route or an appropriate road, facilities located in the current position of the vehicle or in the traveling direction of the vehicle. A user may want to know the location of a restaurant (eg, a restaurant, a convenience store, a gas station, or a tourist spot). JP-A-6-250586 and JP-A-5-216404 disclose a technique in consideration of such a demand.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-250586, by switching a switch, a traveling direction of a vehicle, a traveling route, a route intersecting a traveling route, or a route in a direction indicated by a direction indicator are indicated. The characters or symbols on the map (for example, the display of the road name, the display of the town name, the display of the gas station, etc.) are selected from the symbol character information storage unit and read, and these characters or symbols are selected according to the selection of the switch. The symbols are displayed superimposed on the map.

In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-216404, a guide point (for example, a sightseeing spot) existing around a guidance route to a destination is searched from a CD-ROM, and is searched for on a map. The names are superimposed or displayed separately from the map.

[0007]

However, in the above-described technology, characters and symbols indicating road names, sightseeing spots around a predetermined road, or facilities such as gas stations are displayed on a map. It is merely superimposed or displayed, or the name of a guide place such as a tourist spot is merely displayed on another screen. For this reason, when it is superimposed and displayed on a map, its position can be understood to some extent, but it is difficult to grasp the distance to that position or which side of the road it is on. There was a problem.

On the other hand, when displaying on another screen,
There was a problem that it was difficult to grasp the position of the guide place.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an on-vehicle navigation system that allows a user to easily know the location of a facility around a road and the distance to the facility.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a road,
Road data storage means for storing data relating to a map including facilities around the road, current position calculation means for calculating the current position of the vehicle, and display means for displaying a map based on the data and the current position of the vehicle. An on-vehicle navigation device provided with the data stored in the road data storage means, and based on the calculated current position, where the current position of the vehicle is directed toward the road on which the vehicle is located and the traveling direction of the vehicle. Facility search means for searching for a facility located along a predetermined road connected to the road; distance calculation means for calculating a distance from the current position to each of the searched facilities; and each of the facilities Table creation means for creating a table including at least one of the type and name, and the distance from the current position obtained by the distance calculation means. Comprising, a table obtained by the table creating means is accomplished by a vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus characterized by being configured to display on the display means.

According to the present invention, a table including the type or name of the facility, the distance from the current position to the facility, and the location of the facility as viewed in the traveling direction of the vehicle is displayed on the display means. The user can easily grasp the contents of the facility.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the table obtained by the table creating means may include the location of the facility as viewed in the traveling direction of the vehicle.

In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the display means is configured to display both a map and an image showing a current position of the vehicle, and a table obtained by the table creation means. . This allows the user to
The contents of the facility can be confirmed while referring to the map and the position of the vehicle.

In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the table creation means assigns each distance value to a center column, and the facility corresponding to the assigned distance value is assigned to a left column. At least one of the type and name of the facility located on the left side in the traveling direction of the vehicle is assigned so as to be adjacent to the distance value, and the facility corresponding to the assigned distance is provided in the right column. The table is created so that at least one of the type and name of the facility located on the right side in the traveling direction of the vehicle is assigned to be adjacent to the distance value.

According to this embodiment, the type or name of the facility is arranged in the table in accordance with the distance from the current position to the facility and on which side the facility is located in the traveling direction. Therefore, the user can easily grasp these.

In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, when the current position of the vehicle calculated by the current position calculating means changes, the distance calculating means calculates again the distance from the current position of the vehicle to the facility. It is configured to be.

In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, even when the current position of the vehicle changes, the distance calculating means can be used to determine the relationship between the changed current position of the vehicle and the facility without operating the facility searching means. Since only the distance between them is calculated again, the number of searches by the facility search means can be reduced, and as a result, the processing time can be reduced.

According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, a predetermined road connected to the road on which the current position of the vehicle is located and the traveling direction of the vehicle guide the vehicle to the destination. Included in the guidance route.

In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the traveling direction of the vehicle, a predetermined road connected to the road belongs to the same name as the road on which the current position of the vehicle is located. Corresponds to the road.

In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the facility searching means is operated when the name of the road on which the current position calculated by the current position calculating means changes is changed. ing.

In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the distance from the current position in the table obtained by the table creating means substantially corresponds to the distance in the map. This allows the user to more easily grasp the location of the facility.

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, an on-vehicle navigation device 10 includes an angular velocity sensor 11 that detects a change in a traveling direction by detecting a yaw rate of a vehicle, and a direction sensor 12 that detects a traveling direction of a vehicle by detecting geomagnetism.
And a vehicle speed sensor 13 that outputs pulses at time intervals proportional to the rotation of the output shaft of the transmission of the vehicle.

Further, a display 17 for displaying a map around the current position, a mark indicating the current position, and the like, and a switch 14 for receiving commands from the user (driver) for inputting information to be displayed on the display 17 and switching screens, etc. And a CD-ROM 15 storing digital map data in advance, and a driver 16 for reading map data from the CD-ROM 15. Further, a controller 18 for controlling the operation of each peripheral device described above is provided. In the present embodiment, the digital map data stored in the CD-ROM 15 includes road data composed of coordinates indicating the ends of a plurality of line segments, or road width data indicating the width of the road, Stores such as restaurants, convenience stores, gas stations, and the like located along, and store data indicating the position (coordinates), types, and names of public facilities and the like are also included.

The controller 18 includes an A / D converter 19 for converting a signal (analog) from the angular velocity sensor 11 into a digital signal, and an A / D converter 20 for converting a signal (analog) from the azimuth sensor 12 into a digital signal. , Vehicle speed sensor 13
A counter 26 for counting the number of pulses output from the PC every 0.1 second, a parallel I / O 21 for inputting the presence / absence of pressing of the switch 14, and a DMA (Direct) for transferring map data read from the CD-ROM 15. Memory Acces
s) It has a controller 22 and a display processor 23 for displaying a map image on the display 17.

The controller 18 further has a microprocessor 24 and a memory 25. The microprocessor 24 outputs a signal of the angular velocity sensor 11 obtained through the A / D converter 19, a signal of the azimuth sensor 12 obtained through the A / D converter 20, and an output pulse of the vehicle speed sensor 13 counted by the counter 26. Number, whether the switch 14 is pressed through the parallel I / O 21 and whether the map data from the CD-ROM 15 obtained through the DMA controller 22 is received, and performs processing based on these signals.
Calculate the current position of the vehicle and display it
Is displayed on the display 17 via the. As shown in FIG. 2, the display of the vehicle position is already performed on the display 17.
This is realized by overlaying an arrow mark or the like on the map displayed on the screen. Thereby, the user can know the current position of the vehicle on the map. The memory 25 includes a ROM storing a program for defining the contents of processing (described later) for realizing such an operation, and a RAM used as a work area when the microprocessor 24 performs processing. I have.

Hereinafter, the operation of the on-vehicle navigation device 10 thus configured will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart schematically showing processing executed by the vehicle-mounted navigation device 10 according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, these processes mainly include a step of calculating the traveling direction and the traveling distance of the vehicle (step 301) and a step of determining the current position of the vehicle from the calculated traveling direction and the distance (step 302). ), And a step of displaying the obtained vehicle position and direction on a map together with stores and the like located in the vicinity thereof (step 30).
3) can be divided into three.

First, the process of calculating the traveling direction and the traveling distance of the vehicle (step 301) and the process of determining the current position of the vehicle from these (step 302) will be described.

In step 301, the following processing is executed at regular intervals, for example, every 100 ms. First, the output value of the angular velocity sensor 11 is read via the A / D converter 19. . Since the azimuth change is output as the output value of the angular velocity sensor 11, only the relative value of the traveling direction of the vehicle can be detected. For this reason, the azimuth sensor 12 composed of a geomagnetic sensor is next passed through the A / D converter 20.
Is read, and the estimated azimuth of the vehicle is determined using the absolute azimuth calculated from the output value of the azimuth sensor 12 and the azimuth change (angular velocity output) output from the angular velocity sensor 11.

For example, when the vehicle speed is low for a long time, the error of the angular velocity sensor is large. Therefore, when the vehicle speed is low for a certain time or more, only the direction of the direction sensor is used. . Next, the counter 26 counts the number of pulses output by the vehicle speed sensor 13 every 0.1 seconds, and reads the counted value. By multiplying the read value by a distance coefficient, a distance advanced to a predetermined period is obtained.

Next, the travel distance value per predetermined cycle thus obtained is integrated with the value obtained last time, and
Check whether the traveling distance of the vehicle has reached a predetermined distance, and if less than the predetermined distance, terminate the processing,
Start a new process.

On the other hand, when the traveling distance of the vehicle has reached a predetermined distance, the traveling direction and the traveling distance R at that time are output, and further, the integrated distance is initialized to newly add the traveling distance. Start integration of.

Next, a virtual current position of the vehicle is calculated based on the traveling direction and the traveling distance of the vehicle obtained in step 301, and based on the calculated virtual current position, the vehicle becomes a candidate for the current position of the vehicle. The process for obtaining candidate points will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

The process of step 302 is executed when the vehicle has traveled a predetermined distance and in step 301 the traveling direction and travel distance of the vehicle have been obtained. Now,
In this process, first, the traveling azimuth and the traveling distance obtained in step 301 are read (step 401). Next, based on these values, the moving amount of the vehicle is separately obtained in the latitude and longitude directions. Further, the amount of movement in each of these directions is added to the position of the candidate point of the vehicle obtained in the previous process of obtaining the candidate point of the vehicle, and the virtual current position (the position where the current vehicle is estimated to exist) is added. A) is obtained (step 402). If, for example, immediately after starting the device,
If there is no candidate point obtained in the process of obtaining the candidate point of the previous vehicle, the virtual current position (A) is obtained by using a separately set position as the position of the previously obtained candidate point.

Next, a map around the obtained virtual current position (A) is read from the CD-ROM 15 into the driver 16 and the D
The data is read out via the MA controller 23, and road data (line segments) within a preset distance D around the virtual current position (A) is selected and taken out (step 403). In the present embodiment, a map included in an area corresponding to a square having a length L1 centered on the virtual current position (A) is read from the CD-ROM 15. As described above, in the present embodiment, as the road data, as shown in FIG.
Approximation is made by a plurality of line segments 51 to 56 connecting points, and the line segments are represented by the coordinates of the start point and the end point. For example, line segment 53 has its starting point (x
3, y3) and the end point (x4, y4).

Next, from the line segments extracted in step 403, only those line segments whose azimuth is within the predetermined direction and the predetermined direction are selected (step 40).
4) Further, with respect to all of the extracted n line segments, a perpendicular line is lowered from the virtual current position (A), and the perpendicular line L
The length of (n) is obtained (step 405).

Next, an error cost value ec (n) defined by the following equation is calculated for all the line segments extracted in step 404 based on the lengths of these perpendicular lines.

Ec (n) = α × | θcar−θ (n) | +
β | L (n) | where θcar is the vehicle direction at the virtual current position (A), θ (n) is the direction of the line segment, and L (n) is from the virtual current position (A) to the line segment. The distance of the perpendicular, α
And β are weighting factors. The values of these weighting factors are
The deviation between the traveling direction and the azimuth of the road, or the deviation between the current position and the road may be changed depending on whether the current position emphasizes the road above it. For example, when importance is attached to a road whose direction is close to the traveling direction, α is increased.

Here, the candidate points will be described. In an initial state such as immediately after the start of the device, the virtual current position (A) is uniquely determined by the user (driver) inputting predetermined information using the switch 14, and the like.
And this position exists on the line segment corresponding to the road. However, after the vehicle has traveled, the virtual current position (A) may no longer exist on the line segment corresponding to the road due to an error in a direction sensor such as a gyro. As a result, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, when the road is branched, that is, when two line segments 64 and 65 appear from the node 68 of the line segment 61 corresponding to the road, In many cases, it is not possible to clarify whether a vehicle exists on a road corresponding to.

Accordingly, in such a case, in this embodiment, predetermined points existing on two conceivable line segments are set as candidate points, and their current position, error cost, The calculation error cost and the like are each stored in a predetermined area of the RAM of the memory 25. For the sake of simplicity, in the following description, one or more new candidate points will be generated from a single candidate point, unless otherwise specified.

Next, the calculated error cost ec
According to (n) and the accumulated error cost es related to the candidate point calculated in the previous process, the accumulated error cost es (n) in the current process defined by the following equation is calculated ( Step 406).

Es (n) = (1−k) × es + k × ec (n) Here, k is a weight coefficient larger than 0 and smaller than 1. The accumulated error cost es (n) indicates how much the error cost calculated in the previous process is reflected in the error cost calculated in the current process. Further, based on the calculated accumulated error cost es (n), the reliability tr defined by the following equation is calculated.
st (n) is calculated (step 406).

Trst (n) = 100 / (1 + es (n)) As is apparent from the above equation, the accumulated error cost ec
As (n) increases, the reliability trst
(N) decreases and approaches 0 (zero). On the other hand, as this becomes smaller, the reliability trst (n) increases, and its value approaches 100.

By performing such processing, n existing within a predetermined range D from the current position A for a certain candidate point
The reliability trst (n) associated with the line segments is determined. When there are a plurality of candidate points, the reliability trst (m, n) relating to n line segments existing within a predetermined range D from each candidate point Cm may be calculated.

Then, based on the calculated reliability trst (n), a point advanced from a certain candidate point by a length corresponding to the distance R traveled by the vehicle along a corresponding line segment is calculated as follows:
A new candidate point C (n) is set (step 407). Therefore, if the number of line segments that exist in a predetermined range D from the current position A for a certain candidate point and the difference between the azimuth and the vehicle azimuth is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value is n, n A new candidate point C (n) will be generated.

Further, these new candidate points C (n) are sorted according to the value of the reliability trst (n) corresponding to each of the new candidate points C (n) (step 408).
The candidate point C (i) having the highest reliability value is set as a display candidate point CD, that is, as a candidate point to be displayed on the display 17, and its position, accumulated error cost, reliability, and the like are stored in the memory 25. In addition to storing the information in a predetermined area of the RAM, the positions of the candidate points other than the display candidate points, the accumulated error cost, the reliability, and the like are also stored in the predetermined area of the RAM (step 409).

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, suppose that the current position A is represented by the position indicated by the point 63 with respect to a certain candidate point 62 existing on the line segment 61. In such a case, the line segments 64, 6 that are present in the predetermined range D from the current position A and whose difference between the azimuth and the vehicle azimuth is equal to or less than a predetermined value.
5, the distances L (1) and L (2) from the current position A to the line segments 64 and 65 are calculated, and the calculated distances and angles θ (1) and θ ( 2) and related error costs based on the vehicle orientation θcar, etc.
Calculate the accumulated error cost and reliability. Further, based on the traveling distance R of the vehicle obtained in step 405 of FIG. 3, a length corresponding to the traveling distance R from a certain candidate point 62 along the line segments 61 and 64 or the line segments 61 and 65. Is calculated, and points corresponding to this position are set as candidate points 66 and 67, respectively. Of the candidate points 66 and 67 obtained in this way, the reliability trs
The one with a large value of t is a display candidate point.

After the display candidate points are obtained in this manner, an image in which an arrow is superimposed on the map corresponding to the map data is displayed on the screen of the display 17 (FIG. 3). Step 303).

Next, the processing of step 303 will be described in more detail. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process for displaying an image on the display of the vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the present embodiment. In this embodiment, various images can be displayed on the screen of the display 17 by operating a predetermined switch 14.

First, it is determined whether or not the user operates any of the switches 14 to give a display indicating that a menu screen is to be displayed (step 700). If the determination in step 700 is NO, a normal display, that is, an image (see FIG. 2) in which a map is overlaid with an arrow at a position corresponding to a display candidate point is displayed on the display 17. It is displayed on the screen (Step 701).

On the other hand, if it is determined YES in step 700, the microprocessor 24 instructs the display processor 23 to display a menu screen (step 702). Thereby, an image as shown in FIG. 8 can be obtained on the screen of the display 17.

Next, button 8 on menu screen 800
It is determined whether any of 01 to 806 has been turned on (step 703). For example, button 801
Indicates that a facility that can eat is searched for. Similarly, the buttons 802 to 805 indicate that a facility where the user can get off the vehicle and take a rest, a gas station, a facility with a toilet, and a convenience store are searched.

When none of the buttons is turned on, the process returns to step 703. When any button is turned on, the process proceeds to step 704. In step 704, it is determined which button has been turned on (button type). For example, if it is determined that the end button 806 has been turned on, the process proceeds to step 701. If it is determined that any of the buttons 801 to 805 has been turned on, the process proceeds to any of steps 705 to 709 according to the type of the button that has been turned on.

For example, the processing when the button 801 is turned on will be described below. FIG.
6 is a flowchart showing the processing of No. 5 in more detail. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 7, in this process, first, the microprocessor 24 causes the display processor 23 to display the meal search menu screen on the screen of the display 17.
(Step 901). As a result, FIG.
The image shown at 0 is obtained on the screen of the display 17.

As shown in FIG. 10, the meal search menu image 1000 includes a road designation column 1001, a distance designation column 1002, and a priority order definition column 1003.

As will be described later, the road designation column 1001
It is used to specify whether or not to extract only facilities located in the traveling direction of the vehicle along a road on which the vehicle is traveling or a guidance route for guiding the vehicle to the destination. More specifically, the button 10 in the road designation field 1001
By specifying 11, only facilities located along a predetermined road can be extracted, and by specifying button 1012, facilities can be extracted irrespective of the road on which the vehicle runs.

The distance designation column 1002 is used to designate whether only facilities located within a predetermined distance range from the current position of the vehicle are to be extracted. More specifically, by specifying the button 1021 in the distance specification column 1002,
Facilities located within a predetermined distance range can be extracted. On the other hand, by specifying the button 1022, facilities can be searched regardless of the distance from the current position of the vehicle. When the button 1021 in the distance designation field 1002 is designated, the distance designation frame 1023 becomes active, and the user can input a desired distance by operating the switch 14 appropriately.

The priority order definition column 1003 is provided to arrange the categories of facilities that can eat or purchase meals in the order desired by the user. In the present embodiment, for example, the category of facility includes “restaurant”, “fast food”, and “convenience store”. By operating the switch 14, the user can arrange the categories in a desired order as desired, thereby setting the search priority. For example, in FIG. 10, “restaurant” is selected in the first frame 1031 having the highest priority in the priority order definition column 1003, and the second frame 1032 having the next priority is
“Fast food” is selected, and “convenience store” is selected in the third frame 1033 having the lowest priority.

As described above, the meal search menu is displayed, and when the user performs a predetermined setting and turns on the search execution button 1041 (YES in step 902).
es)), a candidate search process is executed (step 90)
3). FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the candidate search process. As shown in FIG. 11, in the candidate search process,
First, parameters indicating the presence / absence of road designation, the presence / absence of distance designation, and the priority obtained in the search menu display (step 901) are accepted (step 1100).
Next, map data is read out based on the received parameters, and a predetermined candidate is searched for by referring to the store data indicating the location (coordinate), type and name of the facility in the map data.

The logic of this candidate search will be described below. When a parameter indicating that there is a road designation is given, the following processing is executed. If the vehicle is traveling regardless of the guidance route to the destination, the microprocessor 24 searches the map data for the link on which the current position is located, and then, based on that link, Then, it is determined whether or not a facility according to the parameter exists, and if so, data related to the facility is stored in a predetermined area of a work memory (not shown). Further, when the facility does not exist on the link, or when data related to the predetermined facility on the link is stored in a predetermined area of the work memory, the current position is determined according to the traveling direction of the vehicle. A link having the same road name as the name of the road to which the existing link belongs is searched, and it is determined whether or not a facility according to the priority parameter exists on the searched link.

On the other hand, when the vehicle is traveling according to the guidance route to the destination, the microprocessor determines the link on which the current position exists (this link forms a part of the guidance route). Is searched from the map data, and it is determined whether or not a facility according to the priority parameter exists on the link, and if so, data related to the facility is stored in the work memory (not shown). ) Is stored in a predetermined area. Further, when there is no facility on the link, or when data related to a predetermined facility on the link is stored in a predetermined area of the work memory, the information is displayed on the guidance route according to the traveling direction of the vehicle. It is determined whether a facility according to the priority parameter exists on a certain link.

On the other hand, if a guidance route is obtained and a parameter indicating that there is no road designation is given irrespective of whether the route is used or not, the facility is searched regardless of the road where it is located. You. Even in this case, a higher priority is given to a road having the same name as the road where the vehicle is located, or to a facility located along the guidance route.

When the parameter indicating that the distance is specified is accepted, further, when searching for a facility,
The distance between the coordinates of the facility and the coordinates of the current location of the vehicle is
It is determined whether the distance is smaller than the set distance.

Further, in this processing, when comparing facilities having the same category, the facility which is located closer to the current position of the vehicle is given higher priority.

In the processing shown in FIG. 11, first, i indicating a candidate number is initialized (step 1101).
According to the above-described logic, facility candidates are searched (step 1102). As described above, data relating to the facility of the retrieved candidate (first candidate in the case of step 1102 executed first) is stored in a predetermined area of the work memory (not shown). In this embodiment, an area of the work memory for storing data related to facilities has a capacity enough to store a set of five data. Next, it is determined whether there is a facility that can be the next candidate based on the parameters of the road designation, the distance designation, and the priority (step 1103). If there is a facility that can be the next candidate (Yes in step 1103),
It is determined whether or not i indicating the number of the candidate has reached a predetermined number N (5 in the present embodiment). If it is determined to be no (No), i is incremented (step 11).
05), the process returns to step 1102, and the next candidate is searched for and stored in a predetermined area of the work memory.

In step 1103, it is determined as No, or in step 1104, Yes.
If it is determined that the search is completed, the search process is terminated, and the obtained result is displayed on the screen of the display 17 (step 1106). FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of the obtained image. As shown in FIG. 12, in each of the result display columns 1201 to 1205, based on data included in the map data, its category, store name, and distance from the current position of the vehicle are displayed. For example, the result display field 120
1 shows the category of the facility with the highest priority (column 12).
11), a store name (see column 1212), and a distance from the current position (see column 1213). Similarly, in the result display columns 1202 to 1205, the contents related to the second highest priority facility or the contents related to the lowest priority facility are displayed.

After the display of such an image (step 1106 in FIG. 11) is displayed, the user operates the switch 14 so that the end button 12 in the image in FIG.
20 is turned on (Yes in step 1107)
(Yes)), and the process ends. In this way, the meal search processing in step 705 of FIG. 7 ends.

The processing in steps 706 to 709 is almost the same as the processing in step 705. For example, in the resting place search process (step 705),
In substantially the same manner as in step 901 in FIG. 9, a process for displaying a resting place search menu is executed, and an image different from that in FIG. That is, in FIG. 10, the frames 1031 to 1031 of the priority
At 32, a category of a facility where a meal can be eaten or a meal can be purchased is displayed. In a rest area search menu, a category of a facility where a passenger can get off the vehicle and take a break, for example, is displayed. , "Service area or parking area", "public facilities", "restaurants" and the like are displayed. Also, the candidate search process in this case is almost the same as that of step 903 in FIG. By such processing, the category of the searched resting place, its name, and the distance from the current position are changed as shown in FIG.
The image is displayed on the screen of the display 17 in substantially the same manner as the image 1200 of FIG.

It can be understood that the search for the gas station (step 707 in FIG. 7), the search for the toilet (step 708), and the search for the convenience store (step 708) are realized by substantially the same processing as described above. There will be. In a search for a gas station and a search for a convenience store, a store name may be used instead of a category to define a priority.
Furthermore, it is clear that higher priority may be given to facilities located on the left side of the road (the side on which the vehicle is traveling) in the traveling direction of the vehicle.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when searching for facilities existing around the road, the user sets priority as desired, and based on the set priority, The facility is searched, and this is displayed on the display screen. Therefore, the user can more easily know the desired facility.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, the configuration of the on-vehicle navigation device is the same as that of the first embodiment (FIG. 1).
Reference). The calculation of the traveling direction and the traveling distance of the vehicle and the calculation of the current position of the vehicle-mounted navigation device are the same as those in the first embodiment.

In this embodiment, when a predetermined facility is searched and displayed, it is possible to display that the facility is located on the right or left side of the road.

The operation of the on-vehicle navigation device according to the second embodiment will be described below.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a process for displaying an image on the display of the vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 13, the processing for displaying an image according to this embodiment is the same as the processing in FIG. 7 except for the processing in steps 1305 to 1310.

First, it is determined whether or not the user has operated one of the switches 14 to give a display indicating that a menu screen is to be displayed (step 1300). If the determination in step 700 is NO, a normal display, that is, an image (see FIG. 2) in which a map is overlaid with an arrow at a position corresponding to a display candidate point is displayed on the display 17. It is displayed on the screen (step 1301).

On the other hand, if it is determined YES in step 1300, microprocessor 24 instructs display processor 23 to display a menu screen (step 1302). Thus, an image as shown in FIG. 14 can be obtained on the screen of the display 17.

Next, it is determined whether any of the buttons 1401 to 1407 on the menu screen 1400 in FIG. 14 has been turned on (step 1403). These buttons 1401 to 1406 correspond to the buttons 801 to 806 in FIG. Button 1407 is for meal,
It is a button for instructing that facilities are searched collectively regardless of the type of facility such as a resting place.

If none of the buttons is turned on, the process returns to step 1303. If any button is turned on, the process proceeds to step 1304. In step 1304, which button has been turned on (button type)
Is determined. For example, if it is determined that the end button 1306 has been turned on, the process proceeds to step 1301. Also, the buttons 1301 to 1305 or the button 130
7 is determined to have been turned on, step 13 is performed in accordance with the type of the button that was turned on.
Go to any of 05 to 1310.

Hereinafter, button 1 on screen 1400 in FIG.
The case where 407 is pressed will be described.

FIGS. 15 and 16 are flowcharts showing processing executed when the button 1407 is pressed. Here, the processing in FIG. 15 is performed when a guidance route to a destination set by the user is calculated and the vehicle is traveling according to the guidance route, that is, in a so-called guidance mode. And, on the other hand,
The process of FIG. 16 is a process executed in other cases.

In FIG. 15, based on the current position of the vehicle and the guidance route, a facility located along the guidance route ahead of the current position of the vehicle in the traveling direction is searched (step 1).
501). As described above, in the map data, roads are indicated by data on a plurality of links connected by nodes. Therefore, the microprocessor 24 follows the links constituting the guidance route, and searches for a facility located along the guidance route based on the position of each link and the location (coordinates) of the facility.

Next, the distance between each of the obtained facilities and the current position of the vehicle is calculated (step 1502).
This step can be obtained based on the coordinates indicating the current position of the vehicle and the respective coordinates of the facility found in step 1501. Next, the obtained type of facility, name, distance from the current location, and the position of the facility as viewed in the traveling direction, in order of the distance from the current location,
The images are sequentially displayed on the screen (step 1503). FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image obtained on a screen of a display 17. As shown in FIG. 17, on the screen 1700 of the display 17, the type of facility obtained by the processing and the like are displayed. For example, information about the facility located closest to the current position of the vehicle along the guidance route is displayed in the top column 1701 thereof. This facility is of type “convenience store” and its name is “C
It can be understood that the distance from the current position is "2 km" and is located on the "left" side when viewed in the traveling direction of the vehicle. Note that the direction in which the facility is located as viewed in the traveling direction of the vehicle can be determined based on the link data in the map data and the data of the facility coordinates.

Further, in other columns 1702 to 1705, “restaurants” are arranged in ascending order of the distance from the current position.
"R1", "gas station""G1","conveniencestore""C2" and "gas station"
It can be understood that various information related to “G2” is displayed.

Further, in this embodiment, when the user operates the switch 14 to turn on the button 1710, the image shown in FIG. 18 can be obtained.
This image is a combination of a map display and a table showing facilities located on the guidance route. That is, screen 1
In the left portion 1801 of the 800, the calculated guidance route and the current position of the vehicle are displayed on a map based on the map data read from the CD-ROM. In addition, the name of the facility is displayed on the right part 1802 of the screen 1800 according to the distance from the current position of the vehicle and the position viewed in the traveling direction of the vehicle.

In particular, in this embodiment, the table in the right portion 1802 displays the distance from the current position of the vehicle in the central column 1810, respectively. Further, in the left column 1811, the names of the facilities located on the left when viewed in the traveling direction of the vehicle are displayed so as to be adjacent to the corresponding distance, and the right column 1812 is displayed.
, The name of the facility located on the right side when viewed in the traveling direction of the vehicle is displayed adjacent to the corresponding distance.
In the example of the screen of FIG. 18, the names of the five facilities shown in FIG. 17 are displayed in the left column 1811 or the right column 1812 according to the distance from the current position and the position viewed in the traveling direction. Column. For example, “convenience store” “C1” (column 1820)
However, the user can easily understand that the distance from the current position is 2 km and is located on the left side when viewed in the traveling direction. In the left part 1801 of the image 1800, it is preferable that the distance value displayed in the center column of the right part 1802 increases as the distance from the current position of the vehicle increases (above the part 1801). Furthermore, the distance in the map displayed in the left part 1801 (the distance from the current position to a certain point)
It is more preferable that the distance and the distance displayed in the center of the right side portion 1802 substantially correspond to each other.

When the user operates the switch 14 to turn on the button 1830 when the screen shown in FIG. 18 is displayed, the image shown in FIG. 17 is displayed again.

After the display of the image (step 1503 in FIG. 15), it is determined whether or not a request to end the display of the facility information has been made (step 1504).
In this step, when the user operates the switch 14 to turn on the button 1711 on the screen 1700 in FIG. 17 or the button 1831 on the screen 1800 in FIG. 18, it is determined to be Yes and the process ends. . That is, FIG.
In the screen 1800 of FIG. 8, unless the button 1831 is turned on, both the image of the map on which the current position of the vehicle is superimposed and the image of the table showing the facility information are displayed on the screen of the display 17.

On the other hand, if the determination in step 1504 is NO, it is determined whether the current position of the vehicle has changed (step 1505). If the result of this step 1505 is NO,
Returning to step 1504, on the other hand, if it is determined to be yes (Yes), the process returns to step 1502. That is, when the current position of the vehicle changes, the distance between the facility that was originally searched for and the current position of the changed vehicle was calculated and obtained without searching for a new facility. A table is created in step 1503 based on the distance. With this configuration, it is possible to reduce the number of times of executing the facility search processing, thereby shortening the processing time.

In this way, the user can determine the type, name, distance from the current location, and the location of the facility as viewed in the traveling direction along the guidance route ahead of the vehicle in the traveling direction. Can be easily grasped.

Next, the processing (FIG. 16) executed except in the guidance mode will be described. In this process, a link on which the current position of the vehicle exists is specified based on the map data, and a link having the same road name as the link and the road name to which the link belongs is searched for (step 1601).

After the name of the road on which the vehicle is traveling is specified, a facility located along the road (a plurality of links) is searched for in front of the traveling direction of the vehicle (step 1602). Next, the distance between each of the obtained facilities and the current position of the vehicle is calculated (step 160).
3). This processing corresponds to step 1502 in FIG.

The processes of steps 1604 to 1606 executed thereafter correspond to steps 1503 to 1505 of FIG. 15, respectively. Therefore, also in step 1604, images as shown in FIGS. 17 and 18 can be obtained.

In the processing of FIG.
If it is determined in 6 that the current position of the vehicle has changed, then it is determined whether or not the name of the road on which the vehicle is traveling has changed. this is,
This is realized by determining whether the name of the road to which the link on which the vehicle is located has changed has been changed. If the determination in step 1607 is yes (Yes), the process returns to step 1601, while if the determination is no (No), the process returns to step 1603. With this configuration, when the vehicle turns at an intersection or changes the name of the road on which the vehicle is traveling, a search for facilities located along the road on which the vehicle is traveling is again performed (steps 1601 and 160).
2) is executed.

In this way, the user can identify the type, name, etc. of the facility located along the road in front of the vehicle in the traveling direction.
The distance from the current location and the position of the facility as viewed from the traveling direction can be easily grasped.

Although the processing of step 1310 in FIG. 13 has been described in detail, steps 1305 through 1309
Is almost the same as step 1310. In each of these processes, instead of searching for an arbitrary facility located along a predetermined road as in the process of step 1310, facilities included in a certain type (for example, in step 1305, a meal is taken) Facilities where food can be purchased or where food can be purchased, step 130
6 is designed to search for a facility that can take a break by getting off the vehicle.

According to the present embodiment, the user can determine how far the desired facility is from the current location of the vehicle.
Alternatively, it is easy to know on which side of the road the facility is located.

Further, according to the present embodiment, when the current position of the vehicle changes, in a predetermined case, the facility obtained from the originally obtained facility and the changed current position are searched without searching for the facility. Since the distance between them is calculated, the number of times of the search processing can be reduced, and thereby the processing time can be reduced.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the invention described in the claims, and these are also included in the scope of the present invention. Needless to say, this is done.

For example, in the first embodiment, as a condition for obtaining a desired facility, a facility is searched according to parameters indicating whether or not a road is specified, whether or not a distance is specified, and a priority. A parameter other than these (for example, the position of the facility as viewed in the traveling direction) may be used, and the facility is configured to search for a facility according to any of these parameters. Is also good.

In the first embodiment, the position of the facility (right side or left side) when viewed in the traveling direction of the vehicle may be displayed.

Further, in the first embodiment, a meal search process (step 705 in FIG. 7), a rest area selection process (step 706), a gas station search process (step 707), a toilet search process (step 70)
8) and convenience store search processing (step 7)
09) is executed, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is apparent that a process of searching for a menu of meals (a process of determining the priority of each of Japanese, Western, and Chinese foods) may be executed.

Further, in this specification, means does not necessarily mean physical means, but also includes a case where the function of each means is realized by software.
Further, the function of one means or member may be realized by two or more physical means or members, or the function of two or more means or members may be realized by one means or member.

[0103]

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an in-vehicle navigation system that allows a user to easily know the location of a facility around a road and the distance to the facility.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a map and a current position according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a process executed by the on-vehicle navigation device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of calculating a current position of the vehicle according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining map data according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a line segment corresponding to a road, a virtual current position, and a candidate point;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process for displaying an image on a display of the vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a display screen of the vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a meal search process according to the first embodiment in more detail;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a display screen of the in-vehicle navigation device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a candidate search process according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a screen of a display of the in-vehicle navigation device according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a process for displaying an image on a display of the vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a display screen of a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed when a predetermined button is pressed in the second embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a process executed when a predetermined button is pressed in the second embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a screen of a display of the vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the second embodiment;

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of an image displayed on a display screen of a vehicle-mounted navigation device according to the second embodiment;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 On-vehicle navigation device 11 Angular velocity sensor 12 Geomagnetic sensor 13 Vehicle speed sensor 14 Switch 15 CD-ROM 16 CD-ROM reading driver 17 Display 18 Controller

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. Road data storage means for storing data relating to a map including a road, facilities around the road, etc .; current position calculation means for calculating a current position of a vehicle; a map based on the data; and a current position of the vehicle. And a display means for displaying the data, the data stored in the road data storage means, and
Facility search means for searching for a facility located along a predetermined road connected to the road, based on the calculated current position, toward the road on which the current position of the vehicle exists and the traveling direction of the vehicle, and A distance calculating means for calculating a distance from the current position to each of the searched facilities; and for each of the facilities, at least one of a type and a name, and the current position obtained by the distance calculating means. And a table creating means for creating a table including the distances, wherein the table obtained by the table creating means is configured to be displayed on the display means. 2. The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the table obtained by the table creating means includes a position of the facility as viewed in a traveling direction of the vehicle. 3. The display device according to claim 1, wherein said display means displays both a map and an image indicating a current position of the vehicle, and a table obtained by said table creation means. 3. The in-vehicle navigation device according to 2. 4. The facility according to claim 1, wherein the table creating means assigns each of the distance values to a center column and assigns the left column to the assigned distance value in the traveling direction of the vehicle. At least one of the type and name of the facility located on the left side is assigned so as to be adjacent to the value of the distance, and the right column is a facility corresponding to the assigned distance, facing the traveling direction of the vehicle. The in-vehicle navigation device according to claim 3, wherein the table is created so that at least one of the type and name of the facility located on the right side is assigned to be adjacent to the distance value. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein when the current position of the vehicle calculated by the current position calculating unit changes, the distance calculating unit calculates the distance from the current position of the vehicle to the facility again. The in-vehicle navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein: 6. A road on which the current position of the vehicle is located and a predetermined road connected to the road toward the traveling direction of the vehicle are included in a guidance route for guiding the vehicle to a destination. The in-vehicle navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: 7. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined road connected to the road in the traveling direction of the vehicle corresponds to a road belonging to the same name as the road on which the current position of the vehicle exists. The in-vehicle navigation device according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 8. The facility search means is operated when the name of a road on which the current position calculated by the current position calculation means changes is changed. 8. The in-vehicle navigation device according to 7. 9. The table obtained by the table creating means,
5. The on-vehicle navigation device according to claim 3, wherein a distance from a current position substantially corresponds to a distance in the map.