JPH11160090A - Navigation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate operation of specifying a desired image pickup device in a system enabling visual confirmation of road conditions transmitted from image pickup device, by selecting an image pickup device in advance on the basis of a searched route, and displaying location of placement of the image pickup device together with the route. SOLUTION: A navigation device constitutes a traffic image information communication system together with the side of a base station to gather images of road conditions picked up by each camera. Then when a user specifies, for example, a destination B, route searching is performed on the basis of a predetermined algorithm, and a map displaying a searched route 31 including a starting point A and the destination B by a predetermined method is displayed in a display. Cameras (t), (s), (m), and (h) along the route 31 are, for example, automatically selected and displayed on a screen. By specifying a desired camera among them and selecting a picked-up image fetching key 32, image requesting data to request images picked up by the camera is transmitted. By this, response data is transmitted from the base station, and picked-up images are displayed in the display.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a navigation device, and more particularly, to a navigation device for selecting a predetermined imaging device from a plurality of imaging devices for traveling roads in connection with a route search.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to know the traffic congestion of a road, it is necessary to receive road traffic information by FM broadcast or to contact a traffic information center by telephone to determine "how many kilometers of traffic from point XX to point XX". It is general to know the outline of the congestion state of a predetermined location or a predetermined road, but it is difficult to specifically recognize the actual congestion state at the present time in the congestion state mediated by voice. Therefore, a plurality of cameras are arranged on a main road, a main place, and the like, and an actual road condition transmitted from a designated desired camera is displayed on a screen, thereby visually confirming an actual congestion state of the road. Such a system is also conceivable.

[0003]

In order to effectively function such a system for confirming the traffic congestion at each point from images taken by the cameras, it is necessary to install as many cameras as possible. become. But,
The number of installed cameras is 1000, 5000, 10,000
The more units, the more convenient it is for the user in terms of the number of road locations that can be confirmed in the image,
When the number of cameras increases, there is a problem that the operation of designating a desired camera becomes complicated. That is, even when it is desired to check the congestion status at a predetermined one point on the screen, it is necessary to select a desired one from all the cameras. When selecting a desired camera from a list, it is difficult to make correspondence between a place name and a place, and it is difficult to use the camera. As in the case of a destination input of a navigation device, a method of classifying each camera into hierarchies and sequentially selecting from the upper hierarchy to the lowest hierarchy is conceivable, but it is necessary to repeat a plurality of designation operations, which is complicated. In addition, it does not always lead to the classification including the desired camera. In addition, even if a camera can capture the traffic congestion status and display the captured image, if no camera is installed on the traveling road searched for in the route search, the The system of confirming the actual congestion status by the image does not function effectively.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a navigation device capable of easily designating a desired imaging device from among a plurality of imaging devices for imaging a traveling road using a traveling route searched for a route to a destination. The primary purpose is to provide. It is a second object of the present invention to provide a navigation device capable of searching for a traveling route including more roads imaged by an imaging device.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image pickup apparatus position information storage means for storing information on installation locations of image pickup apparatuses arranged at a plurality of points, and an object of inputting a destination. Ground input means, road information storage means in which road information relating to the road is stored, and a travel route to the destination input by the destination input means based on the road information stored in the road information storage means. A route search unit to be searched, an imaging device selection unit that selects an imaging device stored in the imaging device position information storage unit based on the traveling route searched by the route search unit, and a search performed by the route search unit. Display means for displaying the travel route and the installation location of the imaging device selected by the imaging device selection means, and imaging for obtaining an image captured by the imaging device selected by the imaging device selection means It is provided and an image acquisition unit to the navigation system to achieve the above purpose. According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the first aspect, the imaging device selection unit selects an imaging device that images a traveling road on a traveling route searched by the route searching unit. According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the first aspect, the imaging device selection unit selects an imaging device arranged within an area at a predetermined distance from a travel route searched by the route search unit. I do. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the navigation device according to the first aspect, the imaging device selecting unit is disposed in a predetermined area including two special points on a traveling route searched by the route searching unit. The selected imaging device is selected. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the navigation apparatus according to the fourth aspect, at least one of a starting point, a passing point, a destination point, and a course change intersection is used as the special point. According to the invention described in claim 6, in the navigation device described in claim 1,
The route searching means further achieves the second object by searching for a traveling route by assigning a higher weight to a road imaged by the imaging device than a road not imaged by the imaging device.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a navigation device according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. (1) Overview of Embodiment In the present system, a camera that is highly likely to be selected by a user from among all cameras (imaging devices) based on a travel route (hereinafter referred to as a search route) searched by a route search by a navigation device. Is automatically selected.
Then, the search route and the camera position of the selected camera are linked to and displayed on a map displayed on the display device, and can be specified, thereby improving operability.
In addition, regarding the automatic selection of a camera, a camera installed on a road or a side of a road (hereinafter, referred to as an installed camera) is automatically selected so as to image a predetermined area on a search path, or a camera is selected from the search path. A camera installed within a predetermined distance range is automatically selected, and a camera installed within a predetermined area including two special points such as a passing point and an intersection on a search route is automatically selected. Further, when performing a route search, a mode for performing a route search by setting a larger weight for a road on which a camera is installed than on a road on which no camera is installed can be used together.

(2) Details of Embodiment FIG. 1 shows a system configuration of a traffic image information communication system used in the navigation device of the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the traffic image information communication system includes a navigation device 1 mounted on a vehicle and a base station side 2 that collects images obtained by capturing road conditions. The base station side 2 is
Wireless communication networks such as wireless telephone lines (including satellite communications)
Can be connected. In the navigation device 1, the camera number of the camera selected by the present embodiment and further designated by the driver and the image request data for requesting the image taken by the camera are transmitted.

On the base station side 2, cameras 23a, 23b,... For capturing traffic driving information at each point are installed at predetermined points.
, And transmitted to the base station 21.
The communication network 22 transmits the captured image data to the base station 21 at high speed.
For transmission, a dedicated communication line such as an ISDN line or a wire is used. Alternatively, a wireless communication network including satellite communication may be used. Camera 23
Can be remotely controlled from the base station 21,
In accordance with the control signal from the base station 21, the imaging of the predetermined area is performed periodically or when the control signal is received. The camera 23
It has a function of capturing an image and compressing an image, and compresses captured image data and transmits the compressed data to the base station 21. The image compression is performed by an image compression board (printed board), but may be compressed by software such as software JPEG. In the base station 21, the compressed image received from the camera 23 is stored in the image database 2 together with imaging data such as the imaging camera number and the imaging date and time.
4, the data on the traffic congestion at each camera position is accumulated.

The image compression performed by the camera 23 includes well-known JPEG, FST compression described in JP-A-5-227547, TIM compression described in JP-A-8-154261, and other images. After compression using a compression method, the data is transmitted to the base station.

In the FST compression, an A / D converted video signal is encoded into a matrix block composed of a plurality of pixels representing one of two types of reference values and a bit map,
Removes inter-block and inter-frame redundancy by finding, identifying and coding the non-redundant information in the coded blocks, and comparing each block to the corresponding block in the immediately preceding frame; Further, the amount of information is compressed by coding the current color value in the form of a difference from the immediately preceding color value. This FST compression is performed on a block of nxm bits for RGB data from a luminance value and a bitmap (bm) indicating which of two colors A color or B color indicates each pixel. Is generated.
Then, the generated block component is compared with the previous block and the immediately preceding frame and encoded according to a predetermined encoding rule by a method similar to the encoding unit in the present embodiment.

The TIM compression is an image compression method that enables the image data receiving apparatus to easily perform expansion processing of compressed image data. In image compression, TIM compression has the following characteristics: (1) the human eye is sensitive to luminance changes but insensitive to color changes; and (2) is often used when pixels constituting an image are appropriately blocked. The image compression is performed based on the assumption that there are usually only two colors in one block which is generally established in the natural image. That is, each pixel data divides the image data composed of the luminance signal Y and the color difference signals U and V, and nxm
(Usually 4 × 4) block data is generated.
Then, two colors of a first color component (y1, u1, v1) and a second color component (y2, u2, v2) having a luminance signal and a color difference signal, which represent the generated block, and a first color component and a second color component are represented. Data is compressed by generating a block component consisting of an n × m bitmap indicating the distribution of two color components. And
Encoding the generated block component from the block component, a similar block having the same or most similar block component, and code data indicating the similar block and difference data for the block component of the similar block. This is a compression technique in which data is further compressed and transmitted to an image data receiving device.

The base station 21 receives an image from the camera 23 or an image database 24 according to image request data transmitted from the navigation device of the vehicle 1.
, And sends the image together with the camera number to the navigation device 1 as response data.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the navigation device 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the navigation device performs a route search process (route search means) for searching for a travel route from the departure place (current position) to the destination, and guides the searched travel route to the driver by images and sounds. Route guidance processing, camera selection processing for automatically selecting the camera 23 based on the searched search route (imaging device selection means), and linking the searched travel route and the automatically selected camera position to the map. Display processing (display means) to be displayed on a display device 131 to be described later, image acquisition processing (captured image acquisition means) for acquiring an image captured by a camera designated by a user such as a driver from the base station 21, An overall control unit 10 that performs control and arithmetic processing is provided. The navigation device 1 includes an input unit 12, an output unit 13, a current position detection unit 14, a main storage unit 15, a communication control unit 16, and other units (not shown). It is connected to the overall control unit 10 via a line 11.

The overall control unit 10 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 101 for performing data processing and various controls for each unit. The CPU 101 has a bus line 11, a main storage unit 15, a ROM 102, a RAM 103, and the like.
Timer 104 is connected.

The ROM 102 is a read-only memory in which various data and programs for controlling the CPU 101 are stored in advance. The RAM 103 includes the CPU 10
1 is a random access memory used as a working memory. The RAM 103 stores a travel route area 1031 in which information on the travel route searched by the route search is stored, an automatically selected camera position area 1032,
An imaging area 1033 for storing an imaging image received from the base station 21 and other various areas are secured. Note that an area for storing both the compressed image data and the decompressed image data is secured in the captured image area 1033.

In the overall control unit 10 of this embodiment, a CPU
101 reads various programs stored in the ROM 102 and executes various processes such as a vehicle travel information providing program. The CPU 101 reads a computer program from an external recording medium set in the recording medium driving device 121 and
1 may be stored (installed) in a storage device such as a hard disk (not shown) connected thereto, and necessary programs and the like may be read from this storage device into the RAM 103 and executed. Further, a necessary program or the like may be directly read from the recording medium driving device 121 into the RAM 103 and executed. The timer 104 is used when recording the time at which various operations and processes in each unit are performed, and when checking the current time.

The input unit 12 includes a storage medium drive 121,
The apparatus includes a voice recognition unit 122 connected to the microphone 123, an input device 124, and a touch panel 125, and functions as a destination input unit and also functions as an input unit for performing input by various operations. The output unit 13 includes a display device 13 functioning as a part of a display unit.
1. It has a voice control unit 132 to which a speaker 133 is connected.

The storage medium driving device 121 of the input unit 12
It is a drive device used for the CPU 101 to read a computer program or data for performing various processes from an external recording medium. The computer programs recorded on the recording medium include various programs and data. Here, the recording medium refers to a recording medium on which a computer program is recorded, and specifically,
Magnetic recording media such as floppy disks, hard disks, and magnetic tapes; semiconductor recording media such as memory chips and IC cards; recording media such as CD-ROMs, MOs, and PDs (phase change rewritable optical discs); It includes a recording medium using a paper card or a paper tape, and a recording medium on which a computer program is recorded by various methods. With these storage medium and storage medium drive device 121,
It is possible to input camera position data relating to the newly installed camera 23. The storage medium driving device 121 can also function as a part of the output unit 13. In addition to reading a computer program from various recording media, when the recording medium is a writable recording medium such as a floppy disk, Can write various data of the RAM 103 and the main storage unit 15 to the recording medium.

The voice recognition unit 122 converts a voice signal input from the microphone 123 into a digital signal, extracts characteristic parameters from the digital signal, compares the characteristic parameters with a standard pattern, and converts the input voice into a digital signal. The input signal to the navigation device 1 is generated according to the content of the recognized and recognized voice. The input device 124 is for performing various operations and inputting data, and various devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a light pen, a joystick, and a remote controller using infrared rays or the like can be used. The input device 132 includes
A remote control using infrared rays or the like and a receiving unit that receives various signals transmitted from the remote control may be provided. The remote control includes a joystick for moving the cursor displayed on the screen, a menu designation key (button),
Various keys such as a numeric keypad are arranged. Touch panel 12
5 is arranged on the display surface of the display device 131,
By touching a key or menu displayed on the display screen with a finger or the like, a key or the like displayed at the touched position is input.

The display unit 131 of the output unit 13 displays various images and character information in addition to a normal route guidance road map, and various display units such as a liquid crystal display, a CRT, and a plasma display. Is used. The voice control unit 132 synthesizes and outputs voice such as confirmation of input contents according to a command from the CPU 101.
The voice control unit 132 is connected to the microphone 123 of the input unit 12.
To form a hands-free unit with base station 2
1 may be performed in the voice mode via the communication control unit 16. The speaker 133 may also be used as an audio speaker.

The current position detecting section 14 is for detecting an absolute position of the vehicle based on latitude and longitude, and is a GPS (Global Posit) for measuring the position of the vehicle using an artificial satellite.
ioning System) receiving device 141 and a beacon receiving device 14 for receiving position information from beacons arranged on the road
2, or all or a part of the azimuth sensor 143, the distance sensor 144, the steering angle sensor 145, and the like. The current position detector 14 functions as a current position detector. The GPS receiving device 141 and the beacon receiving device 142 can measure the position independently, but in a place where the GPS receiving device 141 and the beacon receiving device 142 cannot receive the position, both the direction sensor 143 and the distance sensor 144 are used. The current position is detected by dead reckoning. An azimuth sensor 143, for example, a terrestrial magnetism sensor that detects terrestrial magnetism to obtain the azimuth of the vehicle, a gyro such as a gas rate gyro or an optical fiber gyro that detects the rotational angular velocity of the vehicle and integrates the angular velocity to obtain the azimuth of the vehicle, A wheel sensor or the like is used in which a wheel sensor is arranged, and the amount of azimuth displacement is calculated by detecting the turning of the vehicle based on the output pulse difference (movement distance difference). The steering angle sensor 145 detects the steering angle α by using an optical rotation sensor, a rotation resistance volume, or the like attached to a rotating part of the steering.

The main storage unit 15 stores a drawing map data file 151, a road data file 152, an image database 153, a camera position data file 154, and other data files 155.
The main storage unit 15 uses, for example, various recording media such as a floppy disk, hard disk, CD-ROM, optical disk, magnetic tape, IC card, and optical card, and a driving device therefor. Note that the main storage unit 15 may include a plurality of types of different recording media and their driving devices.

The drawing map data file 1 in the main storage unit 15
51 stores map data drawn on the display device 131. This map data is a hierarchical map,
For example, map data for each layer, such as Japan, the Kanto region, Tokyo, and Kanda, is stored from the highest layer, and the map data for each layer including the current position of the vehicle detected by the current position detection unit 14 is selected. It has become. Map data of each layer is provided with a map code. The road data file 152 includes the road number, the thickness of each road,
Various data such as an intersection number of an intersection serving as a starting point of each road, an intersection number of an intersection serving as an ending point of each road, coordinates of each intersection, presence / absence of a signal at each intersection, and information on entry prohibition at each intersection are stored. ing. This road data file 15
Reference numeral 2 functions as road information storage means, and a traveling route to a destination is searched based on various data stored therein.

The image database 153 contains the base station 21
Are stored in a compressed state. The captured image stored in the image database 153 includes captured data transmitted from the base station 21 such as a camera number and a captured date and time, and traveling data such as an average traveling speed of the vehicle (calculated from the captured image). It is stored in association with each image. The image is stored in the image database 153 by, for example, reading out a past image at the same (or similar) time on the same day of the week at the same camera position, and comparing it with the current image acquired in real time to display the road. This is because it is possible to recognize the congestion situation of the past by comparing it with the past.

In the camera position data file 154, the cameras 23a, 23b,... Arranged on the base station side 2 are automatically selected by the navigation device 1, and the camera number and the camera are included as information for the user to specify. Stored coordinates (latitude and longitude), camera installation locations and facility names (Tamakawa-dori Kamima, Tomei Expressway Yokohama Inter Entrance, etc.) are stored for each camera. When the camera 23 is automatically selected by the navigation device 1, the coordinates of the camera are used. However, the camera position data for each camera includes the road number where the camera is installed, and the road number is automatically selected from this road number. You may. The camera position data file 154 also stores the number of times each camera 23 has been accessed, that is, the number of times each camera 23 has received a captured image from the base station 21. The number of accesses is converted into a point, and the number of points is large and small, and is used for a route search. For example, when a user ID for the base station 21 is determined, the other data file 155 stores the user ID, and is used when data is transmitted / received to / from the traffic information providing station. .

The communication control section 16 is for performing wireless communication (including satellite communication) using a telephone line or the like with the base station 21 or the like. The communication control unit 16 includes, for example,
It has a connection terminal for a wireless communication device such as a mobile phone or various mobile phones, and transmits image request data to the base station 21. The communication control unit 16 functions as a part of a captured image acquisition unit.

Next, the first to third operations at the time of route guidance including automatic selection of an effective camera 23 and camera designation by the navigation device 1 configured as described above will be described. The first to third operations can be freely selected by the user by operating the input unit 12. FIG. 3 shows main roads and locations where the cameras 23 are installed. In the drawings, each camera is represented by a, b, c,. As shown in FIG. 3, the navigation device 1 moves from the starting point A to the destination B.
It will be described below assuming that the vehicle travels by a vehicle equipped with.

(A) First Operation First, a user such as a driver firstly operates the navigation device 1.
The destination B is input from the microphone 123, the input device 124, and the touch panel 125 of the input unit 12. The input of the destination B is performed, for example, by inputting from the name of the destination B or displaying a map including the destination B on the display device 131 and then using the mouse pointer such as the touch panel 125 or a joystick. And input by various other methods.

When the above-mentioned destination input is completed, the CPU 101 of the navigation device 1 sets the input destination as RA.
It is stored in a predetermined area of M103. After that, when a key operation for instructing a route search is performed, the CPU 101 stores the current position (coordinate position in latitude and longitude) of the vehicle detected by the current position detection unit 14 in the RAM 103 as a departure point A. A route search to the destination B is performed, and the search result is stored in the travel route area 1031 of the RAM 103. If the departure place A is further input from the input unit 12 before the key operation for instructing the route search, the inputted departure place A is stored in the RAM instead of the current position of the vehicle. A route search to the destination B is performed.

The route search is performed based on, for example, a well-known A-star algorithm.
Then, the number of accesses of each camera stored in 4 is converted into a score, and the score is weighted for the road on which each camera is installed, and then a route search is performed. As a specific method of weighting, a route search is performed with the distance of the road corresponding to the point set to be short, or the route is searched with a road width one rank wider for each predetermined point. As a result, a road on which the camera is installed is preferentially selected over a road on which the camera is not installed for roads with the same conditions. In addition, a road on which a camera with a higher access frequency is installed is preferentially selected on a road with the same conditions and on which a camera is installed, than on a road with a camera with a lower access frequency. Will be. It should be noted that there is an upper limit on the score based on the number of accesses.

FIG. 4 shows a map screen displayed on the display device 131 after the route search. As shown in this figure, when the route search is completed, the CPU 101 displays a reduced-scale map including both points of the departure place A and the destination B on the display device 131, and displays the search route 31 to the destination.
Is displayed in red to distinguish it from other roads. Furthermore, CP
U101 is a camera t, s, installed on the search path 31.
m and h are automatically selected and the data on the
It is stored in the automatically selected camera position area 1032 of the AM 1032. Then, the installation positions of the automatically selected cameras t, s, m, and h are linked to the search path 31 on the map screen and displayed, and other cameras not on the path search 31 are not displayed on the screen. In the present embodiment, the route search is performed by weighting according to the number of times of access of the camera. Therefore, in the search route 31 shown in FIG. 4, a route in which four cameras are installed to the destination B is searched. .

When the user wants to display any of the captured images of the cameras t, s, m, and h displayed on the display device 131, the user moves the camera t on the touch panel 125, for example.
Alternatively, after specifying by voice input or the input device 124, the captured image capture key 32 is selected. Then, CPU
101 connects a line with the base station 21 via the communication control unit 16. Then, it transmits the camera number of the designated camera t and image request data for requesting the captured image, and waits for response data from the base station 21.

On the other hand, upon receiving the image request data from the navigation device 1, the base station 21
It is confirmed whether or not a captured image captured by the camera t specified within the minute is stored in the image database 24. If the captured image corresponding to the image database 24 is stored, the data such as the captured image and the date and time of the captured image is read out and transmitted to the navigation device 1 as response data using the connected line. On the other hand, if the corresponding captured image is not stored in the image database 24, the base station 21
The captured image is received from the (camera 23t), and transmitted to the navigation device 1 as response data along with data such as the date and time of the image capturing using the line being connected. Base station 21
Disconnects the line when the transmission of the response data is completed, and stores the captured image and the captured date and time received from the camera t in the image database 21.

In the navigation device 1, upon receiving a captured image from the base station 21, the image is stored in the compressed image area of the captured image area 1033 of the RAM 103. Then, the stored captured image is expanded and stored in the expanded image area, and the expanded captured image is displayed on the display device 131 together with the camera installation location of the camera h and the name of the facility. Further, the captured image in the compressed state stored in the compressed image area of the captured image area 103 and the capturing date and time are stored in the image database 153.
To be stored. There are a plurality of display modes of the captured image on the display device 131. Depending on the user's selection, only the captured image is displayed, or the captured image is displayed together with the map screen including the search route 31. Further, a plurality of cameras, for example, a camera t
When the camera and the camera s are designated by the user, the images captured by the cameras t and s can be displayed together on the same screen.

According to the first operation of this embodiment, the installation positions of the cameras t, s, m, and h installed on the search path 31 are displayed by linking to the map screen and the search path 31. A desired camera can be easily specified by an extremely simple operation, and an image captured by the camera can be displayed on the display device 131. Particularly, according to the first operation, unnecessary installation locations of the cameras a to g, i to l, and n are not displayed on the screen, and only the installation locations of the cameras installed on the search path 31 are displayed. It is easy to find a desired camera. Further, according to the first operation, the road on which the camera is installed is weighted according to the number of times of access of the camera, so that the number of cameras installed on the search route 31 to the destination B increases. The congestion status of each road can be visually confirmed by the captured images at many points. In addition, the number of cases in which no camera is installed on the search route is reduced, and the system for visually confirming the actual congestion state of the road with an image can be made to function more effectively.

(B) Second Operation Next, the second operation will be described. In the second operation and a third operation to be described later, operations such as a destination setting process, a route search process, an operation of automatically specifying a camera selected by a user and an operation of receiving a specified captured image from the base station 21 are performed. Is the same as the first operation, and thus the description thereof is omitted.
The description focuses on the automatic camera selection process. FIG.
It shows a map screen displayed on the display device 131 after a route search by an operation. As shown in FIG. 5, in the second operation, the camera is picked up along the vicinity of the search path 31. That is, in the second operation, the CPU 101 gives the set search path 31 a width, and places the search path 31 in an area of a certain width (N kilometers left and right) along the search path 31, that is, sandwiches the area between the dotted lines 33 and 34 in FIG. It is determined from the coordinates of each camera whether or not there is a camera installed in the specified area, and if so, it is automatically selected. Note that N = 10 kilometers is set as a default value for how many kilometers on the left and right of the search route to be in the range of automatic camera selection, but the user should change the value of N as appropriate, and It is possible to return to the original default value.

Then, as shown in FIG.
Cameras t, s, m, installed in the area sandwiched by 4
The installation positions of h, u, q, n, and g are linked and displayed on the map screen, and other cameras not within the area are not displayed on the screen. In the present embodiment, the dotted lines 33 and 34 indicating the area for automatically selecting the camera in FIG. 5 are not displayed on the screen, but may be displayed on the screen by the user's selection. Hereinafter, the dotted line indicating the automatic selection area can be handled similarly in the third operation described later.

As described above, when a camera is automatically selected based on the search path 31, the driver automatically selects a camera within an area having a width of a fixed left and right distance from the search path 31. In the vicinity, it is possible to confirm whether or not there is a road (a road with a low degree of congestion) having a higher passage efficiency than the route recommended by the system. For example, in FIG. 5, when traffic congestion starts before the intersection 41,
The driver designates the camera s installed on the search route 31 and the camera u installed around the search route 31 and then selects the captured image capture key 32 to thereby congest the road on which the camera s is installed. By comparing the situation with the congestion state of the road on which the camera u is installed, it is possible to select a route with less congestion.

FIG. 6 shows a screen displaying the image 61 of the camera u, the image 62 of the camera s, and the map screen 63 at the same time. The captured image display screen is a screen when a mode in which the captured image and the map screen are simultaneously displayed is selected. If the mode in which only the display screen is displayed is selected, the captured image can be displayed large. As shown in FIG. 6, the camera positions of the cameras u and s (camera installation locations and facility names such as “Tamakawa-dori Kamima”) are displayed at the upper left of the captured images 61 and 62. Also, map screen 6
In No. 3, the corresponding camera positions u and s blink so as to make the camera position of the displayed captured image easy to understand. Further, in order to make the correspondence between the captured image 61, the captured image 62, and the camera position clearer, the color of the outer peripheral frame of the captured image 61, the color of the upper left camera position display, and the display color of the camera position u on the map screen 63 are displayed. (Blinking color) are displayed in the same green color. Similarly, captured image 6
The color of the outer peripheral frame 2, the color of the upper left camera position display, and the display color (blinking color) of the camera position s on the map screen 63 are displayed in the same yellow. Although not shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, on the actual map screen, the current position of the vehicle is displayed, and the route on which the vehicle has actually traveled is the color of another road or the color of the searched route (red color). ) Other colors (for example, orange)
Is displayed in the same manner as in the conventional navigation device.

From the screen shown in FIG. 6, it can be determined that the road on which the camera s is installed is considerably less crowded (the degree of congestion is lower) than the road on which the camera u is installed. Turn left at the intersection 41, right at the intersection 42, and left at the intersection 47, avoiding the installation road, and return to the original search route 3
By returning to 1, the traffic congestion area around the installation location of the camera s can be bypassed. Further, in FIG. 5, not only the comparison of the captured images of the camera u and the camera s, but also the comparison of the captured images of the camera m and the camera n is performed.
If the camera m road is also congested, the intersection 4
It is also possible to return to the original search route 31 by a detour route passing through 1, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46. The cameras s, u, m, and n correspond to each other as shown in FIG.
Although it is possible to display every screen, it is also possible to display the same four screens at once.

As described above, according to the second operation,
In addition to the cameras t, s, m, and h installed on the search path 31, the installation positions of the cameras u, q, n, and g existing within an area of N kilometers left and right from the search path 31 correspond to the corresponding positions on the map screen. Since the link is displayed on the road, the traffic congestion point on the search route can be efficiently detoured.

(C) Third Operation Next, the third operation will be described. In the third operation, a camera is automatically selected from the following viewpoint.
That is, even if the driver searches for a route from the departure point A to the destination B, the driver does not necessarily travel on the searched route as described in the second operation, but should select a somewhat patterned route. It is. Therefore, in the third operation, the automatic selection of the camera based on the searched route is performed in a form in accordance with the traveling pattern.

FIG. 7 shows a map screen displayed on the display device 131 after the route search by the third operation.
As shown in FIG. 7, in the third operation, the starting point A, the passing point C, the destination B, and the intersections D and E on the search route 31 are turned.
Is a special point where the driver is likely to pass. Then, the CPU 101 determines that the adjacent two along the search path 31
The camera included in the area determined by the three special points is automatically selected. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 7, a diamond-shaped area having two special points as vertices is an automatic selection area of the camera. For example, the length of the diagonal side of the diamond is proportional to the distance between the points. However, a common sense range is limited to, for example, a maximum of 20 km. By setting the diamond-shaped area having two special points as vertices as the automatic selection area, the CP
U101 automatically selects cameras t, s, m, h, u, and g, and links and displays the installation positions on a map screen.
Other cameras not in the area are not displayed on the screen.

According to the third operation, an unnecessary camera position (for example, camera n) is displayed by setting the vicinity of the special points A to E, which are unlikely to make a detour, to be outside the automatic selection area of the camera. Since it is not displayed on the device 131, the user can easily specify only the desired camera.

In the third operation, a diamond-shaped area is used as the automatic selection area of the camera. However, a circular area having a diameter between two special points may be used. In addition, since cameras installed near the special point are also selected,
A straight line connecting the special points is placed on both sides by a predetermined distance (for example, 500
A diamond-shaped area having a vertex at a point extended by m) or a circular area having a diameter between the extended points may be set as the automatic selection area of the camera. Further, an ellipse having two special points as focal points and a direction connecting the two special points with a major axis direction may be used as an automatic selection area of the camera. In this case, the user can change the ratio between the major axis and the minor axis. Regarding the above determination of each area, the rhombic area is set as a standard setting,
The user may be allowed to change the setting to a circular area, an extended rhombic area, an extended circular area, or an elliptical area.

In the first operation, the cameras installed on the search route are displayed on the screen of the display device 131.
In the second and third operations, it has been described that the cameras installed in a predetermined range (in the automatic selection area of the camera) are displayed from the route search, but a weight (numerical value) is added to each camera.
The camera selected based on the comparison result between the weight and the predetermined threshold value may be displayed. For example, all the cameras whose weight (numerical value) exceeds a predetermined threshold value are displayed, and among the cameras selected in any of the first to third operations, the weight (numerical value) is set to a predetermined threshold value. Or more than one camera can be displayed.

Further, a range for selecting a camera based on a result of comparison between the weight and the threshold value may be combined with a range for simply selecting a camera regardless of the weight and the threshold value.
For example, among the cameras installed in the automatic selection regions of the cameras in the second and third operations, a camera installed along the search path is selected based on a comparison result between the weight and a predetermined threshold. May be displayed, and all other cameras may be displayed.

In this case, among the cameras installed in the camera automatic selection ranges of the second and third operations, all of the cameras other than the cameras installed along the search path are not displayed but are further limited. May be displayed. For example, a predetermined rectangular range including one camera along the search path selected based on the comparison result between the weight and the threshold is defined as a camera limited range,
All the cameras installed in the overlapping portion with the camera automatic selection area in the second and third operations are displayed. It is expected that the camera limited range (predetermined rectangular range) usually includes some routes in addition to the searched route. If all the cameras within the range are displayed, the operator (driver) can easily determine whether or not to proceed with another route of the search route. In this case, all the cameras included in the camera automatic selection range but not included in the camera limited range may not be displayed, and the weight may be set to a predetermined threshold (cameras along the search path). (Threshold value different from the threshold value) may be displayed. The camera limited range may be a rectangular range centered on one camera along the search route, a square range, a circular range, an elliptical range, or a rhombic range.

For the weighting, for example, a relatively high value is set for a camera installed on a route, an intersection, a junction, or the like where congestion is expected empirically, and a camera installed at other places is set. Is performed by setting a relatively low numerical value. The threshold value may be fixedly set in advance, or may be set to an arbitrary value by a user operation. Also,
The user may be allowed to change the camera weight (default value). For example, the user may arbitrarily set the weighting target and the degree thereof, for example, by increasing the weight (numerical value) of the camera installed at the intersection to make it easier to display (select). In addition to the change of the weight for the grouped cameras such as the intersection-installed cameras, by allowing each camera to be individually designated and its weight changed,
Camera that is always displayed (set a weight above the threshold)
Alternatively, the user may be able to specify a camera that is not always displayed (a weight smaller than the threshold is set).

[0050]

According to the navigation apparatus of the present invention, an image pickup device is previously selected based on the travel route searched by the route search means, and the image pickup device is installed together with the searched travel route. Since the location is displayed, a desired imaging device can be easily specified from among a plurality of imaging devices for imaging a traveling road. According to the navigation device described in claim 6, a road that is imaged by the imaging device is searched for a travel route with a higher weight than a road that is not imaged by the imaging device. A travel route including more roads to be imaged can be searched, and the system can be effectively used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a system configuration of a traffic image information communication system used in a navigation device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a navigation device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an installation location of each camera in the traffic image information communication system.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a map screen displayed on the display device after a route search by the navigation device.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a map screen displayed on the display device after a route search by the second operation of the navigation device.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen in which captured images of a plurality of cameras and a map screen are simultaneously displayed by a second operation.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a map screen displayed on a display device after a route search by a third operation of the navigation device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 overall control unit 101 CPU 102 ROM 103 RAM 1031 travel route area 1032 automatically selected camera position area 1033 captured image area 104 timer 12 input unit 121 storage medium drive device 122 voice recognition unit 123 microphone 124 input device 125 touch panel 13 output unit 131 display Device 132 Voice control unit 133 Speaker 14 Current position detection unit 15 Main storage unit 151 Drawing map data 152 Road data 153 Image database 154 Camera position data 155 Other data 16 Communication control unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Yukio Yamamoto 10 Takane, Fujii-cho, Anjo, Aichi Prefecture Inside Aisin AW Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Seiichi Suzuki 2- 19-12 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. Equos Research Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Yamakawa 2-19-12 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo (72) Inventor Toshihiro Mori 2-19 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo No. 12 Equos Research Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroki Ishikawa 2-19-12 Sotokanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Inside Equos Research Co., Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image pickup apparatus position information storage means for storing information on installation locations of image pickup apparatuses arranged at a plurality of points; a destination input means for inputting a destination; and road information on roads. Road information storage means; route search means for searching for a travel route to the destination input by the destination input means based on the road information stored in the road information storage means; An imaging device selection unit that selects an imaging device stored in the imaging device position information storage unit based on the obtained traveling route; and a traveling route searched by the route searching unit and the imaging device selected by the imaging device selection unit. A display unit that displays an installation location of the imaging device; and a captured image acquisition unit that acquires an image captured by the imaging device selected by the imaging device selection unit. Navigation device. 2. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the imaging device selection unit selects an imaging device that images a traveling road on the traveling route searched by the route searching unit. 3. The navigation device according to claim 1, wherein the imaging device selection means selects an imaging device arranged within a region of a predetermined distance from the travel route searched by the route search means. . 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said image pickup device selecting means selects an image pickup device arranged in a predetermined area including two special points on the traveling route searched by said route searching means. The navigation device according to claim 1. 5. The navigation device according to claim 4, wherein at least one of a starting point, a passing point, a destination point, and a course change intersection is used as the special point. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the route search unit searches a traveling route by assigning a higher weight to a road imaged by the imaging device than a road not imaged by the imaging device. The navigation device according to claim 1.