JPH10319840A - Route relative information provision system and on-vehicle information communication device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the route relative information provision system and on- vehicle information communication device which provides information relating to a course at optimum timing for the guidance. SOLUTION: Information on guide places 1, 2, and 3 indicating optimum timing for a guidance of the information that is sent by a server and relates to a course is included in the relative information and the on-vehicle information communication device stores the information on the course obtained from the server, judges when the guide points 1, 2, and 3 are passed through according to the information on the guide points 1, 2, and 3 and data on the current position of the vehicle, and reads out and the information regarding a course reaching a destination to be provided at the guide places 1, 2, and 3 to inform the user of the information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention sends at least information on a destination from a vehicle-mounted information communication device to a traffic information center (hereinafter referred to as a "server"), and a server performs processing for extracting a route to the destination. Along with route information,
The present invention relates to a system for returning information related to a route to the in-vehicle information communication device and an in-vehicle information communication device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At least information on a destination from a vehicle is sent to a server, a calculation for extracting a route to the destination is performed on the server, and a display indicating a route is added to road map information, and various information related to the route is added. 2. Description of the Related Art A navigation guidance system is known in which a response is sent to a vehicle together with regulation information, traffic congestion information, and the like, and the information is displayed on a display device of the vehicle (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 61-1986).
-131100).

According to this navigation guide system, a vehicle-mounted device and a server can be brought online to provide a guide based on information related to a route in real time.

[0004]

In the above navigation guide system, the on-vehicle apparatus provided with the information from the server includes, for example, "road regulation information", "road weather information", "parking empty information", "sightseeing information". Information related to various routes such as “event information” and “store advertisement” can be marked on the road map displayed on the display device of the in-vehicle information communication device. And become hard to see.

[0005] Therefore, it is conceivable that information relating to various routes is displayed in close-up on a screen using a sub-window or the like according to a user's selection, or is played by voice. However, in that case, how to determine when to provide the information related to the route to the passenger becomes a problem.

For example, there is disclosed an invention which provides information related to a route when a vehicle reaches a specific point to be guided (when the current position of the vehicle and the coordinates of the specific point match). (See Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 58-217986.) Depending on the content of information related to a route, there is also information that a passenger wants to know before a vehicle reaches a specific point to be guided.

[0007] Therefore, it is not appropriate to uniformly determine the optimal point in time when the information related to the route is provided to the passenger, depending on the content of the information. The emergence of is desired. An object of the present invention is to realize a route-related information providing system and an in-vehicle information communication device that can guide information related to a route at an optimal timing for guiding the information.

[0008]

A route-related information providing system according to the present invention includes information on a route transmitted by a server including information on a guide point indicating an optimal timing for guiding the information. In-vehicle information communication device
Storing information related to the route obtained from the server,
Based on the information of the guide point indicating the optimal timing for guiding the information and the data of the current position of the vehicle included in the information, the time when the vehicle passed the guide point is determined,
At that time, the system reads information related to a route to the destination to be guided at the guide point, and notifies the user of the information (claim 1).

According to the above configuration, the information related to the route includes the information of the guide point indicating the optimal timing for guiding the information. It is possible to determine the time when the vehicle has passed, and at that time, it is possible to output information relating to the route to the destination to be guided at the guide point at an optimal timing.

[0010] An on-vehicle information communication device according to the present invention stores position detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle, communication means for communicating with a server for acquiring information from the server, and storing information received from the server. Storage means, a destination setting means for transmitting a destination to a server through the communication means, and the information included in information related to a route to the destination obtained from the server and stored in the storage means. The time when the vehicle passed the guide point is determined based on the information on the guide point indicating the optimal timing for guiding the vehicle and the data on the current position of the vehicle detected by the position detecting means. Processing means for outputting information related to the route to the destination to be guided at the guide point stored, and information output by the processing means to the user Those comprising an informing means La Celle (claim 2).

According to this on-vehicle information communication device, the server sends the information related to the route and the information on the guide point indicating the optimal timing for guiding the information. Remember this information,
It is possible to determine a point in time when the vehicle has passed the guide point, and at that point, read out information related to a route to the destination to be guided at the guide point and output the information at an optimal timing for the user.

[0012] In the route-related information providing system of the present invention, the server transmits, separately from the information related to the route, information of a guide point indicating an optimal timing for guiding the information. When receiving the information of the guide point indicating the optimal timing for guiding the information from the server, the communication device determines the time when the vehicle passed the guide point based on the information of the guide point and the data of the current position of the vehicle. At that time, the system requests the server for information related to the route to the destination to be guided at the guide point, and when the information related to the route is received, informs the user of the information (claim Item 3).

This configuration is different from the configuration of the first aspect of the present invention in that the server first transmits information on the guide point, and the vehicle-mounted information communication device receives the information on the guide point, and then the vehicle-mounted information communication device receives the information on the guide point. The time when the vehicle has passed the guide point is determined based on the information, and at that time, the server is requested to provide information related to a route to a destination to be guided at the guide point.

Therefore, every time the vehicle passes the guide point,
Since the information related to the route to be guided at the guide point is divided and received, the communication capacity per operation is reduced, and the communication time per operation is short. Further, the in-vehicle information communication device of the present invention includes a position detecting means for detecting a current position of the vehicle, a communication means for communicating with the server for obtaining information from the server, and a destination for the server via the communication means. Setting means for transmitting the information, information on a guide point indicating an optimal timing for guiding information related to a route to the destination obtained from the server, and a vehicle detected by the position detecting means. At the time of passing the guide point based on the data of the current position, and at that time, the server requests information relating to the route to the destination to be guided at the guide point, and It is provided with processing means for outputting information related to the route when information is received, and notification means for notifying a user of the information output by the processing means. Claim 4).

This configuration is different from the configuration of the invention according to claim 2 in that the on-vehicle information communication device first receives only the information of the guide point from the server, and based on the information of the guide point, The time when the vehicle has passed the guide point is determined, and at that time the server is requested to provide information relating to the route to the destination to be guided at the guide point. Therefore, the in-vehicle information communication device does not need to prepare a storage unit that collectively stores information related to the route, and the configuration of the device can be simplified.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. <System Configuration> The server performs bidirectional communication with the in-vehicle information communication device through a public communication line or a dedicated communication line.

The server has network data of roads within the range of the server and travel time statistics data. Further, the server receives timely, latest travel time information, construction information from a road manager. , Accident information, weather information, and the like. The network data of the road is obtained by dividing a road map (including a highway national road, an exclusive motorway, a national road, a prefectural road, a municipal road, and other local roads) into a mesh having a predetermined size, and dividing each mesh unit. Stores the coordinates of the node and a pointer to the terminal node having the node as the start node.

Here, a node is generally a coordinate position for specifying an intersection or a turning point of a road. The link between the start node and the end node is a link, which is a directional polygonal line along the shape of the road. The server performs “path tree acquisition processing” and “path acquisition processing” using a large computer.

In the “route tree acquisition process”, the server
Using the network data of the roads under the control of the server and the travel time statistical data, the route calculation is performed with all the roads as departure points, and a path tree having the number of departure points is created and stored. The “route tree” is data in which one of links constituting the network is set as a departure point link and the shortest route to all the links is stored.

In the "route acquisition process", the server, based on the route tree, takes into account the latest information on road travel time, construction information, accident information, weather information, and the like, if necessary. The route when traveling on the road from the link to all the links of the road is acquired and recorded in the route result table together with the travel time. In addition, the server has information (hereinafter, referred to as “route-related information”) that is useful when making a drive trip along an arbitrary route. The route-related information includes, specifically, road regulation information (construction, accidents, etc.) around the route, weather information (freezing, fog, wind, etc.) of the road, empty parking lot information, sightseeing information (tour guide, etc.) ),
There are event information (entertainment, etc.) and store advertisements (restaurant and hotel service contents, etc.). These pieces of information are determined in accordance with these links because the links that make up the route are also determined when the path is determined.

The server also has information on guide points indicating the optimal timing for guiding the information. The “guidance point” refers to a point that indicates the optimal timing for presenting the information to the user when driving along the route. For example, when providing the information of "store advertisement" to the user, the user may be confused whether the information is provided far before the store or immediately before the store. Therefore, for each route-related information, a guide point before a point (facility, road position, etc .; hereinafter, referred to as “route-related information corresponding point”) corresponding to the route-related information is determined.

FIG. 1 is a map showing route-related information corresponding points and guide points along a predetermined road (route).
3 is represented by ◎. A broken line with an arrow indicates the relationship between the route-related information corresponding point and the guidance point when guiding the route-related information. Guide point 1 corresponds to route-related information corresponding points a, b, c, and f, guide point 2 corresponds to route-related information corresponding points e, d, and f, and guide point 3 corresponds to route-related information corresponding point. f and g correspond. It is 3 to guidance point 1, guidance point 2, and guidance point 3 from the route related information corresponding point f.
The extended dashed lines in the book mean that the information is important,
This is because the route-related information corresponding point f is to be shown to the user for a long time.

The server has a list of route-related information in mesh units. Table 1 shows a list of route related information possessed by the server.

[0024]

[Table 1]

According to Table 1, guide points are numbered, and the total number of route-related information data and the index of the data are tabulated for each guide point number and for each traveling direction. This index serves as a pointer to the address where the data is stored. Also, by looking at this index, the type of data (for example, hotel guide information, sightseeing spot guide information, restaurant guide information, gas station guide information, road guide information, etc.) can be understood.

According to Table 1, for example, a predetermined traveling direction 0
There are five pieces of data to be guided at the guidance point of 00001 for the vehicle heading for, and the indexes in which those data are stored are 10000001, 10000004, 20000031, ‥
‥. In Table 1, the index of the data is collectively held for each guide point number and traveling direction. However, as shown in Table 2, the guide point number and the data index are associated one-to-one. May be. In this case, since the total number of data is always 1, the column of the total number of data becomes unnecessary.

[0027]

[Table 2]

The server calculates the total number of data of the route-related information,
The index in which the data is stored, the data size (the number of bytes) to be sent, and the actual data are formatted into one for each guide point and sent. Table 3 shows the data format when the server transmits the route-related information.

[0029]

[Table 3]

When a plurality of guide points correspond to the route-related information corresponding points, it is uneconomical to transmit the actual data redundantly for each guide point. Send a sign indicating that <In-Vehicle Information Communication Device> FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the in-vehicle information communication device.

The in-vehicle information communication device is a GPS (Global Positioning) which is a position detecting means for detecting the current position of the vehicle.
System) Antenna 2, GPS receiver 3, CD mount 4 for mounting CD-ROM 8 storing road map database, car or mobile phone terminal 5, navigation unit 1, display device 6, remote control key 7
And a speaker 8.

The GPS antenna 2 and the GPS receiver 3
It measures its own two-dimensional or three-dimensional position by measuring the propagation delay time of radio waves transmitted by a plurality of artificial satellites orbiting in a predetermined orbit. However, in order to detect the position, in addition to the above, the current position of the vehicle is obtained by integrating the distance change amount and the azimuth change amount caused by the traveling of the vehicle using the distance sensor and the direction sensor. Autonomous navigation may be adopted.Furthermore, assuming that the vehicle travels on the road, the obtained current position data is compared with road map data stored in the map memory in advance, and the current The amount of deviation (distance difference and azimuth difference) of the position data from the road is calculated as a cumulative error, the current position data is corrected for the cumulative error, and the current position data matches the road map data. Map matching processing (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-56910, etc.) may be used in combination.

The CD-ROM 8 stores road map data covering a predetermined range in advance.
In addition to ROM, semiconductor memory, cassette tape, DVD
-A ROM or the like can also be used. The car phone or the mobile phone terminal 5 performs bidirectional communication with a server through a public communication line, and plays a role of “communication means for communicating with the server to acquire information from the server”. .
However, the present invention is not limited to a mobile phone or a mobile phone, and a two-way optical beacon system, a two-way radio beacon system, or the like can be used.

The navigation unit 1 has a function of detecting the current position of the vehicle and displaying the current position of the vehicle on the display device 6 together with the map screen.
In the context of the present invention, the remote control key 7 serves as “destination setting means for transmitting the destination to the server through the communication means”, and depending on the type of the route-related information, the user may need to display the information. When it is determined that there is no display, a display non-permission instruction is marked. For example, when the fuel is sufficient, the information of the gas station is unnecessary, and the display of the information of the gas station is not permitted at that time.

The processing unit (CPU) in the navigation unit 1 temporarily stores the route-related information to the destination obtained from the server in the buffer memory, reads the data of the guide point, and reads the data of the GPS receiver 3. Is determined based on the data on the current position of the vehicle detected by the vehicle, and at that time, the route related information to the destination is read out from the buffer memory and output.

Hereinafter, C in the navigation unit 1 will be described.
The processing performed by the PU will be described along the flow of time. FIG.
Is a flowchart. First, a communication line is set with the server during or before traveling (step S1).
This setting may be performed automatically, for example, when the power is turned on, or may be manually performed by the user. Next, the user sets a destination by an appropriate method using the remote control key 7, and transmits the data of the destination and the data of the current location (step S2). If there is an inquiry about the route specifying the destination, the server searches the above-described route result table to find the route, and transmits the route together with the route-related information.

When the route and the route-related information are returned from the server (step S3), for each guide point described in the data, the guide points and the corresponding route-related information are classified and a table is created (step S3). Step S4), storing. This table is similar to Table 1 described above. And
As the vehicle travels, the guide point is searched in order on the route in the traveling direction (step S5).

If the vehicle passes through the guide point (step S7),
With this as a trigger, route-related information related to the guide point is read out and displayed on the display device 6 (step S).
8). As described above, only the necessary route-related information is read at the moment, and the unnecessary route-related information (information that will be known in the future) is not read at the present time. Therefore, the information can be limited and displayed in an organized manner. It should be noted that all lists of the received route-related information may be displayed by a special operation of the user.

When all the guide points have passed (step S6), the output processing of the route-related information ends. FIG.
7 is a detailed flowchart showing a passage process of a guide point. Judgment of the guide point is determined by the radius Xm
After confirming that the user has entered the area A and then exited the area A.

FIG. 5 is a detailed flowchart showing a process of displaying route-related information related to a guide point. If it is determined that the vehicle has passed the guide point, an index of data corresponding to the guide point is obtained (step S81), and it is determined whether or not the display of the data is permitted (step S83). If the data is not permitted to be displayed, the data is discarded because it is not used for displaying the route-related information (step S84). If the display is permitted, the data is displayed (step S85).

FIG. 6 shows an example of the guidance data displayed as described above. According to FIG. 6, the path that the vehicle has passed is indicated by a solid line, and the path that will pass from now on is indicated by a broken line. In addition, the empty window information, the sightseeing information, and the road information of the parking lot related to the route to be passed are shown in the sub window. Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment of the present invention. In the embodiment of the invention described above, the route-related information is displayed on the screen of the display device 6, but the route-related information can be announced through the speaker 8.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the route-related information to the destination obtained from the server is temporarily stored in the buffer memory, and the route to the destination at the time of passing the guide point is stored. Although the related information was read out from the buffer memory and output, first, only the data of the guide point is obtained from the server, and each time the vehicle passes through the guide point, the communication with the server is performed, and the route related to the guide point is related. You may make it transmit information. In this case, the buffer memory can be saved, and the communication time with the server at one time can be shortened.

Specifically, as shown in the flowchart (FIG. 7), when the route and the guide point information are returned from the server (step T3), the guide points are sequentially searched on the route in the traveling direction according to the traveling. (Step T5) If the vehicle passes through the guide point (Step T7), a trigger is used to set up a communication line with the server (Step T8), and the route-related information related to the guide point is transmitted. When the route-related information is received (step T9), the route-related information is displayed on the display device 6 (step T10).

[0044]

As described above, according to the route-related information providing system and the in-vehicle information communication device of the present invention, for each piece of route-related information provided from the server, a guide indicating an optimal timing for guiding the information is provided. Since the data of the point is included, the in-vehicle information communication device can determine the point in time when the vehicle has passed the guide point, and can output the route-related information to the destination at that point. Therefore, the user can always obtain information at an appropriate timing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a map showing a route-related information corresponding point and a guide point along a predetermined road (route).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an in-vehicle information communication device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by a CPU in the navigation unit 1.

FIG. 4 is a detailed flowchart showing a passage process of a guide point.

FIG. 5 is a detailed flowchart showing a display process of route-related information related to a guide point.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a display example of route-related information.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process in which data of a guide point is initially obtained from a server, and each time the vehicle passes through the guide point, communication is performed with the server, and route related information relating to the guide point is transmitted. is there.

[Description of Signs] 1 Navigation unit 2 GPS antenna 2 3 GPS receiver 4 CD mount 5 Car phone or mobile phone terminal 6 Display device 7 Remote control key 8 Speaker

Claims (4)

[Claims] At least information on a destination is sent from a vehicle-mounted information communication device to a traffic information center (hereinafter, referred to as a "server"), and a server performs processing for extracting a route to the destination. In the system for returning information related to the information to the on-vehicle information communication device, the server includes, in the information related to the route, information on a guide point indicating an optimal timing for guiding the information, The information communication device stores information related to the route acquired from the server, and based on the information of the guide point and the data of the current position of the vehicle, which are included in the information and indicate the optimal timing for guiding the information. At the time of passing through the guide point, read information related to the route to the destination to be guided at the guide point at that time, Route related information providing system characterized in that it informs. 2. A position detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle, a communicating means for communicating with a server for acquiring information from the server, a storing means for storing information received from the server, A destination setting means for transmitting a destination to the server through the means; and an information suitable for guiding the information, which is included in the information related to the route to the destination obtained from the server and stored in the storage means. Based on the information of the guide point indicating the timing and the data of the current position of the vehicle detected by the position detecting means, the time when the vehicle passed the guide point is determined. A processing unit for outputting information related to a route to the destination to be guided; and a notifying unit for notifying a user of the information output by the processing unit. Vehicle information communication apparatus, characterized in that. 3. At least information on a destination is sent from a vehicle-mounted information communication device to a traffic information center (hereinafter, referred to as a "server"), a process for extracting a route to the destination is performed in a server, and route information and a route are extracted. In the system for returning information related to the information to the in-vehicle information communication device, the server, apart from the information related to the route, transmits information of a guide point indicating an optimal timing for guiding the information, Yes, if the in-vehicle information communication device receives the information of the guide point indicating the optimal timing for guiding the information from the server, it passes through the guide point based on the information of the guide point and the data of the current position of the vehicle. At which point the server requests information related to the route to the destination to be guided at the guide point, and receives information related to the route. Lever, the route related information providing system characterized by notifying the information to the user. 4. A position detecting means for detecting a current position of a vehicle, a communication means for communicating with a server for acquiring information from the server, and an object for transmitting a destination to the server through the communication means. Location setting means, information of a guide point indicating an optimal timing for guiding information relating to a route to a destination obtained from the server, and data of a current position of the vehicle detected by the position detection means. Judge the time when the vehicle passed the guide point based on the request, and at that time, requested the server for information related to the route to the destination to be guided at the guide point,
An in-vehicle information communication device comprising: a processing unit that outputs information related to the route when receiving information related to the route; and a notification unit that notifies a user of the information output by the processing unit. .